Kingmaker

by Eric Zawadzki

CHAPTER 12

  “Can we trust him?” Zhek said suddenly, and loudly.

  Aeklan snorted. “Keep your voice down, sir.”

  Pater sounded even less amused. “He’s reliable, in his way. The timing of Aesh’s proposal couldn’t’ve been an accident. I’m inclined to believe he knows what he’s doing.”

  “They’re not going to be ready in time,” Aeklan said. “If we do it this way, the Kadrak will suspect the truth, to say nothing of our own troops. I need more time.”

  Butu froze as he felt another sordenu approaching. Blay? Is that who they are talking about? Then why is he coming?

  “There isn’t any. The fighting has begun. The clans are moving. The Akdren and Nankek are there.”

  “They’re freshly fallen,” Zhek said. “If we wait too long, they won’t be, and this becomes impossible.”

  “It’s already pretty close to impossible,” Aeklan muttered, but the others didn’t respond.

  “You shouldn’t have let her join,” Zhek said. “She’s your granddaughter.”

  “It was her choice to make,” Pater reminded him. “Besides, it would have been suspicious if I’d denied her request.”

  “It works in your favor,” Aeklan said to Zhek. “You can do what you need to, and she’ll be safer that way.”

  “Only if it works,” Zhek said, not sounding so sure it would. “I’d almost rather see her wed Aesh.”

  Butu felt Blay join them and salute. He risked a glance. The two older soldiers stood at marginal attention, Aeklan a smaller version of Pater. Zhek stood near them but slightly aside. And Blay, at full attention before his general, looked unhappy.

  “At ease, corporal.” Pater commanded. “Will your squad be ready?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good,” Pater said. “I don’t have to remind you how important what you’re doing is to the Ahjea.”

  “No, sir.”

  “Have you met the final member of your squad?” Zhek asked, stepping closer to the other officers.

  “Yes, sir.” Butu watched Blay direct a remorseful look on the kluntra’s son. “With all due respect, is that wise? This could kill her.”

  “It won’t come to that. I know what I’m about.” Zhek’s voice was granite.

  “And if my grandson fails in his project, I trust you’ll make good use of her talent,” Pater said.

  “But she’s ...”

  “I’ll hear no more about it,” Pater said, cutting him off. “Do you want us to find someone else, corporal — someone who doesn’t question his superiors?”

  “No, sir,” Blay said. “I will do whatever is necessary, just like I always do. I will repay the Ahjea clan for taking me in when I was an orphan wailing in the shanjin.”

  Butu gaped. Karp may not like Blay, but he spoke the truth.

  The four men left, and Jani hesitated only for a few seconds before heading toward one of the other barracks. I’m not the only one who heard something not meant for me. Now to get back to his barracks and let the others know what he had learned. He began the hide-and-seek chant in a low voice.

  “You seek and search, but never see. I’m hiding, and you won’t find me. No sound I make, no shadow cast. No tracks I leave in sand I’ve passed.”

  After a handful of repititions, he began to walk.

  What exactly did I hear? What was Jani’s choice? Some of the conversation returned to him. There’s a woman in Blay’s secret squad. Zhek was concerned, so it must be Jani. Suddenly he wanted to be in Blay’s squad again, and at the same time, he knew he already was. Blay’s probably our corporal — and Karp’s right about him. And something very shady is going on that involves all of us.

  Confident he was hidden, Butu snuck toward the barracks entrance. Someone chanted quietly just inside the entrance. Butu felt Karp and three more sordenu he didn’t know — one a woman — hiding right there. He paused a few paces away, certain he still wouldn’t be seen.

  “Don’t think about the magic hiding you from me,” Karp said, clearly. “Don’t think about what’ll happen if I catch you. Don’t think about another day polishing with Kira. Don’t think about the magic hiding you from me.”

  Butu frowned as he came closer, trying to figure out why the sordenu didn’t want him to think about hiding with magic. He understood too late, as an evil grin split Karp’s face and a large hand grabbed his shoulder. He looked up at the gap-toothed cook, who had alertly looked anywhere but at his charge.

  Butu threw a punch at the cook’s mid-section, but it was like hitting a side of beef. His grip only tightened. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, and a calloused hand covered it.

  He looked up into the eyes of Tesa. “We can’t stop boys from being boys,” she said. “We can put the fear of the desert into ‘em, though. After tonight, you won’t think of breaking any more rules.”

  A strip of cloth silenced Butu, and the cook tossed him to the ground next to Nolen, similarly trussed.

  Retus’ arrival was as quiet and cracked as the boy — the bruise on his head soon faded. Phedam didn’t even fight back, just went in mute astonishment at the situation. They waited some more time, and Butu sweated in his boots.

  “Tesa, post chanters,” Karp barked suddenly, making all four boys jump and someone mutter in their bunk. “We’ll deal with these failures.”

  Lujo never came back, Butu noted as the cook dragged him to his feet and ungagged him. That or he got here before the chanters.

  Karp and the other sordenu lined up the four boys in front of the barracks.

  “You want to run around in the dark instead of sleeping,” he said. “I’m happy to grant your wish. March. And keep quiet. Other sordenu are trying to sleep.”

  They marched, and Butu fumed. He’d been caught before, and punished, but never so often or belligerently as today.

  It’s probably because I’m still trying to figure out how things work.

  Karp and the others flung baby jokes and insults at them all the way to the area behind the training ground, to the obstacle course. Even in the dark, Butu could make out the hurdles, walls, ropes, climbing bars and other traps — including a broad pit filled with cracked sand. Butu grinned, then, earning a warning cuff from the cook.

  They think this will stop us? He glanced at the other three, to gauge their reactions, and was surprised to see them looking beaten already. Come on, guys. The rooftops of Jasper are worse than this!

  “This is Zurburan,” Karp said, gesturing to a black-robed figure who appeared seemingly from nowhere. “He’s a blood priest. Whatever he says, you will listen. Obey him, or a day with Kira will seem like a night spent playing marbles and eating sweets.”