THE SHADOWLORD

by Charlotte Boyett-Compo

  "Tell her Queen Erudite plans to throw her to the wolves once she's home. I agree Orithia should be here, but I don't want to see her shamed before the Council. Bid her tell the Council she was held against her will."

  "Everyone knows that isn't true," Ulivia protested.

  "We have only Aradia's word of these so-called plans to Join with the Rysalian king, and we know Lykopis' word is nothing short of suspect," Kydoime said. "She would say anything to usurp Orithia's position.

  Ulivia nodded. "I'll do as you ask, Your Grace." She bowed and was about to turn when Kydoime grabbed her arm, gripping so tightly Ulivia winced.

  "If you get the chance," Kydoime said, "slip a dagger through that troublemaker's ribs and I'll pay you well."

  Ulivia's eyes grew wide. "You want me to kill the Princess Aradia?"

  "Do it and I'll make you my Lady-In-Waiting when I ascend the throne as Defense Queen."

  A sly smile stretched Ulivia's full lips. She bowed once more, the pain of Kydoime's grip no longer a concern. "I'll see what I can do, Your Grace."

  Kydoime released her hold on the woman and stepped back. She began her laborious walk through the throne room, her crooked leg dragging along the marble floor.

  * * * *

  With his assignment completed in Yulcaf, and two rebel soldiers in tow, Jaelan and his men headed back to Abbadon. A messenger caught up with them near Syskel.

  "What is it?" Aluino asked, bringing his horse alongside Jaelan's.

  "An order to pick up a prisoner in Uadjit."

  "Who?"

  "It doesn't say." Jaelan nodded curtly at the messenger, who turned his horse and galloped away.

  "That's a day's ride out of our way," Aluino complained.

  Jaelan rolled up the parchment missive and stuck it in his saddlebag. "Convenient, eh?"

  Aluino crossed his hands over the pommel. "You think you're being sent there to prolong your return to the fortress?"

  Jaelan unhooked his water skin from the saddle and uncorked it. "Either that or the prisoner's someone meant to hurt me." He squirted water into his dry mouth. He offered his friend a drink, but Aluino declined.

  "You don't think it's him, do you?"

  "Not a chance," Jaelan replied, though like Aluino, his first thought was of the only other man in Rysalia who knew the Shadowlord was the rebel leader, Asim.

  "I suppose it's too much to ask that it's that evil aunt of yours."

  "The gods would never be that generous." Jaelan turned in the saddle and informed his Death Lords that they would make a side trip to Uadjit. Though no man complained, their faces said they were not happy.

  * * * *

  Orithia tried to mask her disgust in the presence of Arch-Deacon Jahannum Dahur. The man smelled if stale sex, and she suspected he'd come to their meeting fresh from the bed of his latest victim. She eyed him with as much repugnance as she would a leper.

  "My brother," Jahannum said, "Prelate of Justice Gehenna Dahur, will be awaiting our mutual enemy in Uadjit. Matters will be attended to that are long overdue."

  "I do not follow," Orithia replied. "Of whom do you speak?"

  "Come now," Jahannum tittered. "Do you have so many enemies that the names of them escape you, woman?"

  "I have my share of detractors," Orithia answered. "Are we speaking of Ben-Ashaman?"

  The Archdeacon giggled. "None other."

  "And how will matters be handled regarding that vile son-of-a-whore?"

  Jahannum's loud laughter filled the room, making Orithia wince. "Oh, if you only knew who his dam was!" He slapped his hand on his knee. Tears of mirth filled his eyes, and he swiped them away with the heels of his hands.

  "I care not who his dam was," Orithia snapped. "All I want is his head on a pike!"

  Jahannum grinned. "I'm afraid that's not an option, handsome head that it is. But our recalcitrant Shadowlord will be made to atone for his many transgressions against the Temple."

  "I don't care anything about your precious Temple!" Orithia sneered. "Just tell me he'll be punished in ways that will cripple him!"

  The Archdeacon leaned back in his chair. "What ways would you suggest?"

  Orithia's eyes gleamed with malice. "Take my bewitched sister away from him and sell her to the filthiest whorehouse you can find. That'll teach them to dare interfere in my plans!"

  "The filthiest whorehouse I can find." Jahannum shivered delicately. "That would assuredly be a vile punishment for her, but do you feel it'll be one Lord Jaelan will find equally unpalatable?"

  Orithia arched a brow. "The man was willing to have the flesh flayed from his body in order to keep her. What do you think knowing she's being pawed by every diseased sailor in the Rysalian fleet would do to him?"

  Jahannum steepled his fingers and rested them under his chin. "I believe it would destroy our fierce Shadowlord."

  "Then do it. Place her well out of his reach, but make it possible for him to know where she is, what she's suffering because of him."

  "She'll be well out of his reach for a while, at any rate."

  "Not for a while--but forever!"

  "That may not be possible, for once he returns from Ghurn Colony, he'll no doubt go looking for her."

  "You're speaking of the penal colony? You're sending him to prison?"

  "For a year," Jahannum said, then shrugged. "That was all the King would agree to, and even that was like pulling teeth."

  "Unacceptable! I never want him to be able to hold my stupid sister in his lecherous arms ever again!"

  "We could kill her," Jahannum suggested eagerly.

  "That's too final a punishment for her, though it would hurt him more than anything else, I suspect."

  "Many things can happen within the span of a year, Pale One. Perhaps we'll find a place to hide your sister where Ben-Ashaman will never find her."

  "Such as?" Orithia asked, her eyes narrowed.

  "If you don't know, you can't tell him, can you?" The Archdeacon laughed. "Let me assure you, we have another woman with close ties to our Shadowlord interned in the same place we could send your sister. Jaelan knows nothing about her, either."

  "His mother?"

  "Alas, Jaelan's mother is dead." When Orithia asked whom he meant, Jahannum held up his hand. "You do not need to know."

  "You think it'll be easy to capture Ben-Ashaman?"

  Jahannum grinned. "Oh, yes! Once he arrives in Uadjit, he'll have a surprise waiting for him. Even with his loyal Death Lords at his side, there will be nowhere in that village he can run that Gehenna's men or the villagers will not block the escape. As powerful as his gifts, they will be useless against so many."

  "I'm told he can wield invisible armies," Orithia said, sitting forward. "How do you propose to thwart such power?"

  Jahannum's smile turned pure evil. "With a well-placed arrow to his shoulder."

  "With his recuperative powers--"

  "A well-placed iron arrow tipped in Maiden's Briar. A missile that will bring him down like the dog he is."

  "Aren't you afraid he'll read the minds of those lying in wait for him?" she asked, her heart beating faster.

  "Every man, woman, and child in Uadjit has been subjected to the tender mercies of my brother's chosen Healer, Hajib Kielos. The man has a fine talent of his own. He can mesmerize his subjects at will so that no stray thought will enter the ether for our crafty Shadowlord to hear."

  Orithia's lips moved into a slow, hateful smile. "I think I like you, Excellency."

  * * * *

  Sulaimon hurried to the Shadowlord's quarters. He had followed the pale one and listened in on her conversation with the Archdeacon. What he heard had alarmed him.

  Tarsis came to Lord Jaelan's door. After hearing news of the evil goings-on between the Amazeen princess and Jahannum Dakur, Tarsis ordered a guards to make ready his mount. He thanked Sulaimon and asked that he stay with Aradia until another guard could be summoned.

  "It would be my honor, Sir Tarsis," Sulaimon agreed.


  Aradia came out of the bathing chamber as Tarsis made to leave. "Where are you going?"

  "I've something to see to," Tarsis mumbled. "Sulaimon will keep you company."

  Something about the look on the old warrior's face bothered Aradia, but she knew better than to pry. If anything, Tarsis was more closed lip than Jaelan. So she turned her questions to the Nubian.

  "I know nothing of Sir Tarsis' plans," the dark man said, spreading his hands. "He asked only that I watch over you."

  Aradia knew the man was lying and knew, too, that whatever had sent Tarsis hurrying from the room had something to do with Jaelan. Worried that her husband had been hurt, she also decided she must find a way to leave the silken prison in which she'd been thrust.

  "Is my sister in the seraglio, or has she moved into the King's chambers?" she asked idly, running a hand along the edge of a table.

  "Until the Tribunal has granted permission for the King to join with the Pale One, she will be in the seraglio."

  "Think you I could see her?"

  Since Tarsis had not said the Shadowlord's lady could not visit her sister, Sulaimon saw no harm it in. He would escort her, with guards following, to the seraglio. Once inside, he had no doubt Lord Jaelan's woman would be safe.

  "If it would please you, Lady." Sulaimon swept a hand before him to indicate she could proceed him out the door.

  Aradia was relieved to see only one guard, though she wondered where the other had gone. She walked slowly down the corridor, despite an overwhelming urge to break away and run. The closer they came to the room where Jaelan had shown her a secret passageway out of Abbadon, the more nervous she became.

  She recalled her husband's words: "No one knows of the hidden panel. Once, when I was a child, trying to escape my teachers, I hid in this room. Something led me to the panel, and when I put my hand on it, I felt a chill run through me. I pressed against it in several places until it opened. It leads into the dungeons and through a passageway concealed by a boulder on the outside. I've left the fortress many times without it being known I was gone. Abbadon is not as impenetrable as the Brotherhood believes."

  Now, she pointed at the door Jaelan had shown her. "Is there a bathing chamber in that room?"

  "I would imagine so," Sulaimon answered. "Why do you ask?"

  "I need to...I must..." She looked shyly at the floor. "I..."

  Sulaimon nodded his understanding, then stepped to the door and rapped. When no one answered, he opened the door and poked his head inside.

  "I may be a few minutes," she said.

  "We will wait," the dark man assured her.

  Once alone, Aradia rushed to the panel Jaelan had described. She put her hands low on the door and the wood slid sideways into the wall, revealing a dark passageway.

  "There's no need for a light," Jaelan had said. "The floor slants downward to the dungeon, but there's a railing set in the stone. If you ever need to use this escape route, keep your hand on the railing and keep moving down. Once you reach the dead end, put your hand at the base of the wall and you'll feel a stone set slightly farther out than the rest. Press it until it makes a clicking sound, then turn it to the right. The boulder wall will open."

  Once inside the passageway, Aradia reached above the opening and along a wide ledge until she found the latch that would close the panel. Depressing it as her husband had instructed, she knew a brief moment of panic as the wall slid shut, throwing her into a darkness blacker than a moonless night.

  Knowing she had only minutes before Sulaimon became suspicious, she took hold of the railing and began her swift descent.

  "You'll see a sea chest when you reach the passageway's end," Jaelan had told her. "Inside, you'll find several black robes in different sizes. Over the years, I put them there to facilitate my own disguises once I left Abbadon. They'll be musty, perhaps mildewed, but one is bound to fit you."

  "But won't someone see me once I'm outside?" she had asked, remembering the guards on duty watching the road into Abbadon.

  "Merchants mill around the fortress in the hopes of finding travelers who'll buy their wares. Mingle amongst them until you find a man named Fizel. You'll know him by his crooked nose and the braying laugh that sets him apart. Go tell him you wish to rent a horse for the afternoon. He'll ask where you're going. Tell him to the wadi at Hsotem and that you'll be back before his Aunt Vestra can bake a goose."

  "That's a password, eh, warrior?"

  "He'll take care of you, aziza."

  "Should I ride to Hsotem?"

  Jaelan had frowned. "If you're making use of the passageway, that will mean I'm not where I can protect you. You're to make for the border as quickly as you can. Fizel will have put enough gold in your saddlebag for you to buy passage to Odess. Once there, book passage to Serenia. It's a neutral country. If I can, I'll come for you. This I promise."

  Now, as she made her way down the ebon passageway, Aradia refused to think that her husband would not make good on his promise. Her woman's instinct told her Jaelan was in trouble and needed her. A niggling name kept intruding, though she tried to keep it at bay--Uadjit.

  Upon reaching the dead end, Aradia wasted no time locating the sea chest and finding a robe that felt small and lightweight enough to fit her. She would not know for sure until she opened the boulder wall and let in sunshine. Tossing the robe over her shoulder, she squatted, feeling for the trigger rock. Soon, a blinding shaft of sunlight flooded the passage. She snatched the robe from her shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief that it looked the right size. Ignoring its foul odor, she shrugged the fabric over her clothing and ventured into the harsh desert.

  Aradia pushed against the stone shaped like a pyramid, as Jaelan had also instructed, and the boulder slid into place. She pulled the hood of the robe close to her face and started around the side of the fortress, toward the sound of raucous voices.

  Now, she just prayed she could find Fizel.

  * * * *

  The cry of her pet raven awakened Kathleen McGregor. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and rushed to the window. "What is it?"

  The raven landed on the iron railing and locked its sharp black eyes on her. It cocked its head, then cawed.

  "How close to Uadjit is she?" At the raven's answer, Kathleen nodded. "What of her friends? Are you still tracking them?"

  Lifting its wing, the raven craned its throat to peck at a mite.

  "You can do that anytime!" Kathleen complained. "What of her friends?"

  A harsh sound, like a human sigh, came from the bird. It shook itself, then returned its beady gaze to Kathleen. "Lady, I have needs of my own."

  Gritting her teeth, Kathleen acknowledged as much. "But you are sworn to me, or did you forget that, Cree?"

  "Not in a million lifetimes could I."

  "Do you know where her friends are?"

  "On their way to Daedel. They should be there by midday."

  "And Daedel is how far from Uadjit?"

  "An hour, as the crow flies," the raven replied, making a chuckling sound.

  "I must get word to her friends."

  "What is your bidding, Lady?"

  "Among those friends of the Amazeen is one like me. Find her and tell her where I am."

  "You believe she will help free you?"

  "She will know how. She will find a Sentinel to do the job."

  "Then I will go now, Lady." The bird sprung into the air, its black wings shimmering.

  "Wait, Cree!"

  Banking into the brisk wind, the bird sailed past the railing, its head turned toward its mistress.

  "Tell the one named Okyale, the one like me, to go first to Uadjit. Jaelan's bondmate will need the help of the Amazeen." She swiped at the tears suddenly coursing down her cheeks.

  "My Lady, do not cry."

  Kathleen waved aside the bird's concern. "Do as I ask. They can come after me when things are settled in Uadjit."

  A piercing caw came from the raven's throat, then it winged toward th
e West.

  Chapter 7

  * * *

  Aluino cursed the Temple Guard sitting astride his back, locking the shackles binding his wrists. Beside him, Tarsis lay on his belly, the old warrior's arms pinned by two burly guards as a third clipped shackles into place around the thick forearms.

  "Is he alive?" Tarsis asked, humiliated he had walked into a trap.

  Aluino looked toward Jaelan. "I think so, but he's bleeding badly."

  Twenty feet away, unconscious and pale, the Shadowlord lay spread-eagle on the ground.

  "The prophet-be-damned arrow was tipped in Maiden's Briar," Tarsis said from beneath clenched teeth. "He's barely over the first dose the bastards gave him!"

  "Where's his lady?" Aluino asked. "That'll be the first thing he'll ask when he regains consciousness."

  "She's safe with Sulaimon."

  "What the hell's happening?" Aluino asked. "Has Gehenna lost what little mind he has?"

  "They're going to send the lad to Ghurn for a year," Tarsis replied. "They're planning something evil so they need to get rid of him for a while."

  Tarsis grunted as the guards lifted him and Aluino to their feet. Around them, two Death Lords lay dead in pools of blood while others were lashed securely to handy posts and trees. Staggering against the vicious push a guard gave him, Tarsis snarled like a cornered tiger.

  "Behave yourself, old man," the guard said and guffawed, "or you'll join those two as they make Peace with the Wind."

  "Murderers!" Aluino hawked a wad of phlegm at the guard's boot. A backward slap of the guard's hand sent the Diabolusian crashing against Tarsis, who stumbled beneath the onslaught.

  "Riders coming," Tarsis mumbled.

  Aluino grimaced. "I'll wager that's Hell's spawn, himself, coming to make sure Jaelan is trussed up like a feast goose."

  "I don't bet on sure things, greaser."

  At the north end of Uadjit, the villagers stood clustered, their eyes glazed, their mouths slack, still under the spell of Gehenna's Healer's hypnotic control. Nothing registered with them as Temple Guards strolled by, Death Lords cursed, or harnesses jingled as Gehenna and his personal guard rode into the square.