The Swordsman's Oath toe-2

by Juliet E. McKenna

  “She’s been using tahn berries on Irith,” I volunteered.

  “What’s that?” Laio looked mildly curious.

  “It’s a plant; physicians steep its leaves to get a tisane that dulls pain but the berries are very addictive, narcotic, deadly after a while.”

  Laio shrugged. “If Kaeska wants to poison her body slave, that’s her business. If she makes a habit of it, Shek Kul will be entitled to rebuke her for the wasted trade, but other than that he has no rights in the matter.”

  “She’s had the poor bastard’s tongue cut out!” I objected with some heat.

  Laio arched her finely plucked eyebrows. “How odd. Mutes haven’t been fashionable since before I was born. Still, we’re getting away from the point. How does this foreign man propose to get Kaeska with child?”

  I forced myself to ignore these further unpleasant sidelights on Aldabreshin life. “I imagine he is going to use magic. He has all the signs of being a sorcerer of some kind.”

  “Magic!” Laio breathed, eyes bright with exultation, clasping her hands to her face.

  “Can Shek Kul divorce Kaeska for that?”

  “He can execute her!” Laio looked like a child who’s woken to find Solstice come a season early. “You will get a substantial reward for this, for enabling us to get rid of her permanently, for such a crime!”

  “Magic is punished by death?” I swallowed my mouthful with difficulty, almost choking on my incredulity, but Laio was too pleased to even get annoyed with my ignorance.

  “Oh yes, it is absolutely forbidden. The elements are holy, they give us life and nurture us all. Interference with the balance is a desecration only redeemed with the lives of those involved.”

  I breathed a silent prayer of heartfelt gratitude to Dastennin that I had not yet mentioned my own connections with wizardry or magic. “The man has been using thassin smoke on Kaeska,” I reminded Laio. “He’s turning her own senses until they betray her and using her desperation for a child to help him dupe her.”

  Laio shrugged again, a favorite gesture of hers. “More fool her. Ignorance is no defense to bring before Shek Kul’s justice.”

  “What will happen?”

  “I will accuse her, Shek Kul will sit in judgment and weigh your evidence against her denials.” Laio bit into a juicy red fruit and licked her sticky fingers. “Then they’ll both be executed.”

  This all sounded a little too easy but I tried to keep my disbelief out of my voice. “The Warlord will take the word of a mainlander slave against his own first wife?”

  “You are an Islander now, you really must remember that,” Laio reminded me sternly. “Your word is as good as Kaeska’s.”

  “When will you accuse her?” I remembered I had my own reasons for speeding up this plot, especially now I didn’t want to have to explain the Elietimm’s interest in my sword in any way.

  “I will have to pick my time carefully.” Laio’s eyes darkened with cunning, focused on some point in the middle distance. “I think we should isolate Kaeska first. If we let Gar and Mahli know what she has been up to, Gar will want to get clear of her plots at once or risk being executed herself. That should net us some valuable information.”

  “When will you tell Gar?”

  Laio turned her gaze on me, irritated. “I will not tell Gar. You will tell Sezarre, who will tell her, so that she can come to us of her own accord and make it clear she is acting on her own suspicions and behaving as a good wife.”

  I should have seen that coming. “All right. The thing is, that man, the Elietimm priest, he wants Kaeska to make a trade to get me as her body slave. He’s dangerous and if you want me alive and with enough of a grip on my wits to give evidence, you had better not delay too long.”

  “What does he want of you?” Laio frowned, then laughed like a greenjay. “Perhaps Kaeska wants you to father this child of hers!”

  That notion rocked me back on my heels; could the vision really have been Kaeska’s child after all? I shook my head firmly. No, the Elietimm wanted the sword, he had made that clear enough.

  Laio wiped happy tears from her eyes. “So, what does this man want of you?”

  I took my time chewing a mouthful of fruit before answering. Telling Laio that this man wanted to possess an enchanted sword, somehow mystically linked to me, probably in order to frustrate the magical plans of the wizards of Hadrumal, now sounded like a very bad idea.

  “I imagine he knows that I can expose him, tell you all how barren his islands are, how little he has to trade.”

  Luckily Laio was still so full of the notion of getting rid of Kaeska that she let this rather meager explanation slide past her. I realized that the Aldabreshin obsession with trade would make this sound perfectly reasonable to her, as would the notion that all the Ice Islander sought was an entry to commerce with the Archipelago.

  A knock on the inner door startled us both and I scrambled to my feet to answer it. Grival stood on the threshold, looking more agitated than I could recall seeing him.

  “The child, it comes.” He managed a rather forced smile. “Mahli wants you with her, my lady.”

  “Tell her I’m on my way.” Laio ran her hands through her hair and tied it back all anyhow with a convenient scarf. She turned to me on her way out. “Keep yourself out of mischief and I think you might like to have that conversation with Sezarre today.”

  I bowed low and watched her run lightly down the corridor, Grival striding purposefully beside her.

  Chapter Seven

  A letter written by the Archmage Holarin of Imat River in

  the 3rd year of Emperor Aleonne the Valiant,

  (original held in the Archive of the Archmage,

  Trydek’s Library, Hadrumal).

  Dear Dretten,

  I note with interest your news of increased Relshazri trade with the Islanders from the Aldabreshin Archipelago. Now that you are living in the city, it is important that you understand somewhat of the basis of their hostility to magic, if only for your own protection. Most will tell you this antipathy stems simply from blind prejudice; this may be true in some cases but the origins of such a prevalent bias go much deeper. I will attempt to explain, given the limits of our present knowledge.

  Although the Aldabreshi do not worship the gods as we do, it is a mistake to dismiss them as unthinking barbarians. The complex philosophies of the Archipelago are spun from their observations of the natural world, the behavior of animals, the seasons of flower and fruit, the shifting patterns of the stars and moons. More than this, the Aldabreshi believe in a wide range of unseen forces at work in the world about them. They have no concept of the Otherworld, rather believing that the essence, the spirit of a dead person, remains an intangible part of their household, their family. Do not mistake my meaning; they do not worship their ancestors like the barbarians of the far West, but see both the deceased and the still unborn as continuously linked to the living. Imagine, if you will, a tree felled by a storm later sending up a shoot that blossoms, death, growth and the prospect of new life all contained within the one plant.

  The Aldabreshi believe that all things, material and intangible, seen and unseen, are linked and interdependent, hence their many and varied methods of divination, practiced freely by all levels of their society. A Warlord will quite literally hold or commit his forces to battle depending on his interpretation of the flight of a flock of birds. His prospects when hoping to take a wife will stand or fall on the movement of precious stones placed on a hot sheet of metal. Aldabreshin astronomy has reached heights of sophistication that we can only envy; they believe actions at a time of eclipse can benefit an individual enormously or, conversely, promote an enemy’s ruin. Day-to-day life is influenced in countless minor ways by the most trivial events, while major events such as eruptions or tempests can lead to warfare, reconciliation or some other entirely unexpected conclusion. There seem to be few fixed rules; if there are, we have yet to discover them.

  Putting such store in rand
om events may seem whimsical and even futile to ourselves, with our generations of more sophisticated learning and debate, but that is not my point. This principle of belief is central to Aldabreshin life and holds the key to their hatred of magic. To see the elements that make up all living matter deliberately manipulated and altered by a wizard is at once obscene and supremely menacing in their eyes. Magic is a chaotic, destructive force; it is inconceivable that it could be used for good. Whatever temporary advantage might accrue would be as nothing compared to the damage done. One might just as well set light to the corner of a tapestry in an attempt to illuminate the whole.

  You will understand therefore, when I advise you to steer well clear of Aldabreshi traders. Their hostility will remain implacable and any attempt to win them over will only place you in peril. Remember the foul torments reserved for those convicted of practicing magic in the islands of Archipelago.

  The Palace of Shek Kul,

  the Aldabreshin Archipelago,

  6th of For-Summer

  I looked at the mess that Laio invariably managed to create and hurried through a perfunctory tidy-up, not about to waste the only chance I’d had so far of exploring the compound on my own. Strapping on my sword in case the Ice Islander came snooping, I left my armor rolled in its corner. Wearing it without being in attendance on Laio would simply make me too noticeable. Walking briskly down the stairs, head high and confident, I nodded to the pages who were bent over some incomprehensible game of colored stones in their little vestibule.

  Once outside, I walked purposefully in the direction of the main gate, racking my brains for some excuse to give at the gate that might get me down to see what else the foreshore might offer as a means of escape. I might have a chance if some of the younger guards were on duty, all cocksure arrogance in freshly burnished chainmail, the type I remembered only too well from my days training Messire’s militia levies. Would there be any possibility of stowing away on a galley from another domain? What good would it do me if I could?

  The path turned a corner around a glossy tree whose razor edged leaves I had learned to respect and I took a hasty step backward into its cover as Kaeska Shek entered the compound. She was plainly dressed in white cotton, a long scarf worn up over her head, which she hastily removed as she entered. Pausing to look behind her before she crossed the threshold, she said no word to the guards as they opened and closed the tall black gates for her. Her hands were clasped at her midriff, holding something close.

  “And where have you been, my lady, while Mahli’s laid up in child-bed?” I wondered.

  I looked at the gate guards; a trio of hard-faced men a handful of years older than myself with a generation more experience of guile and deception, if Laio was any guide to life in the Archipelago. Abandoning any hope of getting outside the compound, I listened to the soft sounds of Kaeska’s stealthy steps on the stony path instead. The more evidence I could get against the woman, the safer I would be. I took a path between dense stands of a ubiquitous berry-plant that thrived on the rich black soil, its dark leaves providing excellent cover. Advancing slowly, I saw Kaeska’s bright hair through the foliage and after a moment’s thought realized she was sitting on the stone edge of a fountain basin where a motley collection of fish lived their lives in aimless circles.

  I couldn’t see exactly what she was doing and stood stock. still, burning with frustration until she rose and walked briskly in the direction of the main residence. I followed after allowing her a suitable distance, glancing briefly at the fountain as I passed. What I saw stopped me in my tracks. Several of the dull, bluish fish were floating on the surface of the water, their pale bellies stark, fins flapping feebly and in one instance not at all.

  I quickened my step, determined not to loose sight of Kaeska as I tried to work out what play she was setting the board for this time. There were various fountains with fish in them around the compound and she visited them all in her apparent wanderings. Her path also took her through the section of the grounds where each wife had an aviary where she kept a variety of birds, some bright and tuneful, others with no apparent virtue unless they tasted better than they looked. As Kaeska mounted the steps to the main residence, I wondered if she was heading for those creepy lizards in the dining hall. All these animals had some significance that I had yet to determine. All I had established so far was that the first thing Laio did each morning was release a bird from her balcony and study its flight intently. What it chose to do could significantly affect her mood for anything up to the rest of the day; I had already learned to be wary on the mornings the stupid creature headed for the mountain that dominated the center of the island.

  Was Kaeska poisoning the fish an end in itself? Was she testing the efficacy of whatever it was she had concealed inside her gown before slipping someone else a dose? I had better warn Laio and Grival too, I decided. He would be able to keep Kaeska from getting too near the baby, wouldn’t he? Newborn babes must be even more vulnerable than usual in this pestilential climate and Kaeska might be hoping to pass its death off as a natural tragedy.

  I walked briskly back to the residence and hurried up the stairs, pleased to hear voices above. As I reached the top floor, Mahli turned the corner, leaning heavily on Shek Kul’s arm, Grival offering support on her other side. She looked at me without apparent recognition as some spasm seized her and wrenched a hoarse groan from the very depths of her being. Laio and Gar appeared, wiping her forehead, murmuring encouragement, rubbing her back until the torment passed. Mahli began her ungainly progress again, muttering a startling selection of Grival’s practice-ground obscenities under her breath. The woman looked to be in extremis to me but the midwife was smiling and nodding and, since no one else was either panicking or shouting, I had to suppose they knew what they were doing. I certainly didn’t, childbirth being an exclusively female mystery in decent Tormalin households.

  I stepped forward, hoping to speak to Laio, but she waved me off with a scowl and an unmistakable dismissal. I moved backward again, frustrated but not about to risk pressing the issue given the tension knotting Laio’s brows. I went down the stairs, increasing my pace somewhat when Mahli let loose a gut-wrenching yell which I swear rattled the shutters as I passed them.

  Turning a corner on the ground floor, I came face to face with the Elietimm. This time, rather than challenging me, he looked startled, almost frightened and turned instantly on his heel, running down a white-tiled passage that I knew led to the suites of reception rooms each wife commanded. I was about to head in the opposite direction when intense curiosity seized me and I found myself following the man into the labyrinth that made up the lower level of the residence. Apprehension warred with a sudden, iron determination to find out what that precious pair were up to, but I locked the warning away in the back of my mind, dimly thinking how Aiten would have mocked such uncharacteristic behavior but dismissing the notion.

  The sound of a door shutting drove all such considerations out of my head. It was the main entrance to Kaeska’s reception rooms and I could hear a faint murmur of voices, which set my frustration fully alight. Moving slowly, bare feet silent on the marble floor, I edged toward the door, but I could still hear nothing clearly. Well, with the penalties for using magic around here, she was hardly going to be chanting sorceries at the top of her voice. I caught my breath as I heard a low-voiced murmur, cursing silently to myself as I saw that a muffling curtain had been drawn across the inside of the door, scarlet silk bright against the black wooden slats.

  “When the child is born, you will take this message to my cousin, Danak Nyl. He will tell you—”

  Who was Kaeska talking to?

  “Behind you!”

  In the instant that voice sounded inside my head a shadow fell across the wall in front of me and I looked back to see the Elietimm priest, arm raised as he brought down a mace to spill out my brains across the patterned tiles. I launched myself forward, crashing straight through the flimsy louvers of the door, saving my sk
ull but taking an agonizing strike on one thigh. I found myself face to face with a startled Kaeska; she was on her own and with a shock of understanding I cursed myself for an imbecile, taking their bait like that.

  “Seize him!” The Elietimm was ripping the tattered drape aside as Kaeska fluttered like a startled cage-bird. She made a futile grab for me and squealed with a mixture of outrage and fear when I put both hands around her narrow waist and threw her bodily at her enchanter. They went clashing to the floor and I ran for the shutters that opened to the gardens, vaulting over a day-bed in my haste to get away. Excruciating pain in my leg felled me like a poleaxed beast as I landed and lost my footing. I rolled around, screaming, clutching my thigh where the mace had landed. When I could blink the tears of agony from my eyes, I looked down to see ivory shards of bone sticking through a ruin of bloody flesh, torn rags of skin. Dast’s teeth, how had he done that much damage with just the one glancing blow? As I whimpered with the torment of it, the bastard came to gloat over me, a mocking cadence to the incantation he was running under his breath.

  “More fool you, dungface,” I thought savagely, using the last of my strength and will to kick out with my sound foot, catching the priest in the side of the kneecap with a strike I’d used to disable bigger men than him. Sure enough, he fell like cut timber, screeching as the fine-turned legs of the day-bed splintered under his weight. I caught a mean kick in the kidneys from Kaeska for my trouble, but that hardly bothered me. As soon as the priest’s incantation had unravelled, the agony in my thigh vanished, my hands were gripping bruised but otherwise unbloodied flesh and I scrambled to my feet, shaking with a combination of rage and terror. The bastard was messing with my mind again, scrambling my own wits to trick and betray me. Shoving Kaeska full in the belly, I sent her clean off her feet into a rack of delicate vases, which shattered beneath her. I spared a scant breath to hope she collected a good few shards in her arse, the vicious bitch.