“I would have had you arrested for high treason.”
“That would be why I didn’t consult you.”
Laskenay grabbed her elbow to stop her arm from trembling. “We’ve changed the subject somehow. Just tell me, will you keep your distance from my son?”
“If he can cast no spells,” said the sorcerer. “He would be of no use to me then. No use to anyone, in comparison to what he’s called to be. It’s diabolical, what you plan.”
“Now you worry about the boy. After taking his father from him, forcing me to abandon him….”
“I never forced you to do a blasted thing.”
“Do I have your word?”
“You have my word.”
“Your most solemn?”
“Solemn and begrudged.” Laskenay backed away, falling back in line beside Neslan. “What else did you call us here to discuss? You wouldn’t have come as three to speak only of the tot.”
“There’s my brother,” said Kora.
“Ah.” Zalski nodded. “Indeed there is. Master Zacry Porteg. If you’re still enough of an imbecile to keep him with you, I suggest for his sake you find some other arrangement.”
Anger flashed over Neslan’s face. “Bidd and Hal may have been of age. Zacry Porteg’s a minor and will be for years to come.”
“Calm yourself, I’m not threatening the boy. But I imagine Miss Porteg would want to spare him the trauma of seeing his sister die. Consider Hune’s fate a timely warning, all of you. It’s against my better judgment I don’t kill you here and now.”
Neslan said, “You don’t kill us now because we set conditions in that letter. You agreed to them when you met us here. You’re a man of principles, you always have been.”
Kora could not stop herself. “A man who imprisoned a twelve-year-old! Zacry’s twelve! Neslan, whose side are you on?”
Neslan continued, unflustered. “A man who, I’m sure, is willing to work to some kind of compromise, so that Zacry’s past misfortunes don’t repeat themselves. No one wishes that upon him, do we agree?”
“Of course we agree,” said Zalski. “But the problem’s complex. He’s shown himself quite stubborn and quite willing to work against me.”
Neslan said, “If he detests you, you made it so.”
“I fully believed he would come to his senses and agree to become my pupil.”
“But he didn’t,” said Kora.
“You never gave him the necessary time.”
“Did you expect me to sit back and let you browbeat him ‘til he gave in? You’re a bully. A grand bully, and you, you justify everything to yourself, don’t you?”
Argint spoke for only the second time that day. “This is getting us nowhere.”
“So it isn’t,” said Zalski.
Kora started to respond, irate, but Neslan calmed her by squeezing her hand. She let him speak for her, as difficult as that was, reminding herself why Laskenay had asked him there.
“Zacry Porteg is a sorcerer. I believe, by your mindset, the fact entitles him to certain considerations. We’ll do all within our power to ensure his distance from us, and from our cause. He’s simply too young.”
“However….” Malzin pressed.
“However, Zalski, you yourself noticed a mulish quality about him. He can’t be led easily. Should he act despite our precautions—and we will take precautions—we ask amnesty for any deed you may deem criminal. Any crime he should commit while underage, I mean to say.”
Zalski said, “I still dare to hope for great things from Mr. Porteg. He will attend my school.”
“No he won’t,” said Kora.
“He’ll attend my school, or I’ll see to it he leads a miserable life and a short one. No employment, no rooms to rent. He’ll have to beg. The first item he steals will lead to his arrest.”
“This isn’t right,” said Kora. “It’s just not right. You can’t make him pay for the things I’ve done.”
“He’ll receive an education or learn the consequences of lacking one. This has nothing to do with your crimes, Miss Porteg. You’re not nearly as important as you imagine, or as interesting. I simply wish all the empowered to develop their full potential. You don’t plan to strip your brother of his powers?”
“He’d never stand for it.”
“As he shouldn’t.”
“He wants to use his magic to show we’re not all egotistical, murderous louts.”
“You twit!” Malzin marched toward Kora; before the sorceress could react beyond clearing her mind, forcing herself to visualize one of the room’s stools, the woman had grabbed her by the hair and yanked her forward. “You common twit, my husband is no murderer!”
Kora stumbled after her. She dared not cast a spell out of fear of provoking Zalski. She strained to keep a hold on her armful of mementos, especially when Malzin clawed her face. After that, Laskenay used Mudar to pull Kora back, and Neslan caught her as she fell. Her balance regained, she raised Hal’s bandana to her bleeding cheek. “You really are a malicious bitch.”
Malzin’s glare of indignation turned to one of surprise. “What did you call me?”
“Am I not the first?”
Neslan cut in before either woman could say another word. “We were discussing Zacry, I believe. Let’s stay on task. Zalski, you heard our proposal. Do you agree to it?”
“Amnesty until he comes of age, are those your terms? I consent, provided that….”
“Provided what?” said Laskenay.
“Provided Miss Porteg here explains exactly how she knew where I was holding Bendelof Esper.”
Kora’s knees buckled. For the second time in as many minutes, Neslan’s arm was all that prevented her crashing to the floor. He whispered in her ear, “This is worth it.” Her strength returned, but she failed to speak when she first tried.
To admit she had invaded Zalski’s whereabouts, his very mind…. She would become the target, sole and primary, of his mindstone scheme. He would torture her for revenge, for pure revenge, even without the Librette, even if her friends had already fallen and he had nothing material to gain from her. To die was inevitable, a stage of life, but to die that way….
“This is worth it,” Neslan told her again. Kora blinked to clear her vision; Zalski’s features had all blurred together.
“I await an explanation,” he said.
Kora had to make sure. “Zacry’s pardon,” she said, “it’s unconditional?”
“For anything he’s done or may do as a minor.”
“Unconditional? No matter what I tell you?”
Zalski raised an eyebrow. “Yes.”
‘I’m fighting back, with or without you.’ ‘I’m not hiding out anymore. I’ve got the right to join the resistance after what he did to me.’
“All right. All right, I’ll speak.” Kora told the sorcerer about the chain of red gold. Though Malzin gasped, horrified, and even Argint’s eyes grew two sizes, Zalski took the news better than expected, seething in silence. When she finished he asked, “How long have you been doing this?”
“That wasn’t part of our deal.”
“Where did you get this piece of metalwork?”
“I hardly think that matters.”
“It matters to me. Where, Porteg?”
Protecting Petroc was no priority. But keeping Zalski’s knowledge limited, avoiding any hint the League had traveled north, these were essential. Kora said, “You asked me how I knew where Bennie was. That was your condition, the only condition, and I told you. You’re bound, and I’m saying nothing more.”
“Where is this chain?”
“Not here, that’s where it is.”
“You will turn it over, or no one today has bound me to a single concession. No one.”
The League’s only access to information. Their lifeline. How could Kora have been such a coward as not to use it this past week? Perhaps they could have saved Hal and Ranler. Perhaps she could have learned something critical….
“What are you a
waiting, Miss Porteg?”
Neslan said, “Go on.” Kora looked at Laskenay, who nodded encouragement. Neslan took from her the items Zalski had returned, and moments later Kora stood outside Wheatfield’s barn, staring at the clouds.
Without Petroc’s chain she would be defenseless. The entire League would be less safe than the day before. She had never meant to compromise the others.
Her heart heavy, she swung open the door. Zacry, Hayden, Bendelof, and Lanokas all jumped at the sight of her swollen cheek. “What happened?” cried the prince. “Where are the others?”
“They’re still in conference. I came back to get my necklace.”
“The chain?”
“I have to bring it…. Lanokas, I have to turn it over.”
Lanokas’s face turned white. “He knows about the chain?”
Kora had no inclination to talk specifics in front of Zacry. He would never learn about that cursed piece of magic, or the concessions she had made on his behalf. Lanokas sent her sack flying over to her.
They’ll all support this. They’ll support my decision, no matter what it costs. Even if it ruins us. Even Menikas would agree, I have to turn it over.
None of the four people staring at her knew about Menikas. Trembling, Kora walked outside. Then she snatched the necklace and transported back to Yangerton. She threw the artifact to Zalski without looking at him; the sorcerer let the chain hang from his wrist. “Encanta,” he said, and the red metal links glowed bright. Kora gulped.
“What did you…?”
“Ensuring you turned in the proper chain.”
“I did. Though it won’t work for you. It only works for me.”
“Is that so?”
“You’ll know for yourself soon enough. You’ll try to use it. You’ve been itching for that kind of power.”
“Power you yourself have employed without reserve.”
“Because I had to. Because I had to, not because I wanted to.”
“It seems I’m not the only one who can justify his actions. You’re a hypocrite, Miss Porteg. A raging hypocrite.” He balled the chain in his fist. “Do you have other business?”
“We’ve none,” said Laskenay.
“Are you certain? I won’t be doing this again.”
“We’re certain,” said Neslan. “We thought it best to settle any confusion about the minors, while that was still possible.”
Malzin said, “While you’re still alive, you mean. I never disliked you, Neslan. Don’t euphemize your position. That bars acceptance.”
Neslan crossed his arms. “We’ll accept our defeat when we’re defeated. We’re merely putting things in order, for any eventuality.”
Malzin shook her head. “For being so intelligent, you’re remarkably an idealist.”
“I’d say the idealism stopped when your brother-in-law died in my arms.”
Zalski said, “How intriguing. Are we finished here?”
“We’re finished.”
“Until we meet again,” said the sorcerer. “If I were you, I would pray that fails to happen.”
Zalski and his party transported back to wherever they had come from, probably the Palace. They left Neslan staring at nothing, while Laskenay started pacing and Kora dropped onto Argint’s stool.
“I tried to warn them,” Kora said. She ran a hand down her face. “When we first met them, I warned them. Sedder had just died and I, I told them not to join us, that they didn’t understand what we were up against.”
Neslan drew himself out of his thoughts. “Hal and Bidd? If they didn’t understand then, they learned, and quickly. They could have left at any time, I made that clear to them. You weren’t the only one concerned by their lack of life experience.”
“They did leave,” said Laskenay. “They left, and so must we. This place is not the haven it once was.”
She transported Kora and Neslan to the clearing in the woods north of Yangerton. The weather was balmy, the foliage full. Neslan sat on the grass, laying the personal effects he carried in a heap. Kora joined him; she suspected her legs would not support her much longer. Laskenay began to pace again. Her outburst made Kora jump.
“Podrar? What the hell was he thinking? PODRAR? Of course he got them killed! Two adolescents, dead, and for what? For what cause? His damned pride! For the sake of his bloated ego! I could have told him they would stop him at the border. Any one of use could have told him….”
“He wouldn’t have listened,” said Neslan.
“That’s exactly my point. My God! He led them to the capital. They might as well have thrown themselves in the river. At least then we’d be sure they gave no information. Who knows what Zalski forced Hal to disclose, or Ranler?”
Neslan said, “I know you’re distraught. We all are. This is a horrible blow logistically, not to mention the fact that none of them deserved…. You knew Ranler and Hal as well as I did, and if you imagine for one second they’d talk, under any circumstance….”
“Are you saying a sixteen-year-old could withstand the kind of….” Laskenay’s face blanched, “the kind of treatment Wilhem suffered?”
Neslan replied, “Can you be certain Zalski treated Hal that way? Hal didn’t betray the new order. He never was a part of it. Wilhem was a spy, a viper Zalski nourished at his own table and that grew to strike him. The antipathy your brother felt for that man, it’s nowhere near comparable in Hal’s case.”
“It is in mine,” muttered Kora. She was beginning to understand how Bendelof must have felt locked in that tower room. Powerless. Wondering. Waiting….
Neslan told her, “We won’t let him get that book. And he has to have that book, doesn’t he?”
Did Neslan really think Zalski needed the Librette to torture her? “Forget it,” said Kora.
Neslan did; he asked, “Are you both ready? We have news to report.”
Kora said, “Let’s get this over with.” Laskenay agreed, and they transported back to the barn. When they arrived, Lanokas led a stampede down from the loft.
Hayden demanded, “What’s the deal with Zalski and the necklace?”
Zacry: “What’s the deal with the necklace, period?”
Bendelof: “Did something go wrong?”
The prince: “Did they agree to our proposals?” He saw Neslan’s armful of objects. “What are you holding?”
“Wait,” said Kora. “Just wait, for a minute, a blasted minute.” She pulled her brother away. “My sack is next to the door, outside. You’ll find some coins in there. Go get dinner.”
For once, Zacry offered no protest. Something in her tone of voice, or in her face, alarmed him. He stared at her, torn between his desire to hear the coming discussion and his yearning to fill his empty stomach. None of those present had eaten all day. “What should I get?” he asked.
“Anything you can find, I don’t care what it is. Try to get enough for everyone.”
Zacry went off, and Lanokas said, “All right, now we talk. No more games. What’s the news?”
Neslan handed him his brother’s ring. Lanokas stared at it, open-mouthed, oblivious to everything else. Hayden took the bandana and deck of cards with downcast eyes. Bendelof stepped away when Neslan offered her the lockpick; she shook her head. “No,” she said. “No….”
“Son of a bitch,” said Lanokas.
“Zalski returned these,” Neslan told them: unnecessarily, it so happened, as Bendelof had already begun to sob and Hayden had fallen back against the wall that was shaking from the impact of Lanokas’s fist.
“Son of a bitch,” Lanokas repeated. “So that’s how he knew. Which one of them talked?”
“None of them talked,” said Neslan. Bendelof wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Take the pick,” he told her. “Ranler would want you to have it.”
Bendelof took the memento. “He got them all? All four of them? How? Did he tell you?”
Neslan recounted the story. Laskenay stood with tight-pressed lips, but held back any comments along the li
nes of those from the clearing. Those with her now had lost too much: a brother, a cousin who may as well have been a brother, a mentor. The unlikelihood of Bennie and Ranler’s friendship had always impressed Kora; she had never considered how deep that friendship ran. She realized now, as Bennie covered her face, that if Ranler had been at Wheatfield when the apprentice thief returned, he would have been the one she confided in.
There was silence for about thirty seconds after Neslan finished speaking. The only sounds were Bendelof’s quiet sobs, her sharp intakes of breath. Then Lanokas asked, “If no one told him, how did Zalski learn of the chain?”
“Kora told him,” said Neslan. “She had to.”
Kora explained, “He put a condition on Zac’s amnesty, demanded to know how I found Bennie. So I told him. I realize what I did affects everyone. I wish I could have consulted more people, consulted all of you.”
Hayden told her, “You did the right thing.”
Bennie said, “What the heck do we do now?”
“We try to turn Argint,” said Lanokas.
“Right,” said Kora. “Who exactly will be involved in this?”
Laskenay said, “You or I will have to be, and you’re the better choice. If we’re appealing to his sense of decency, to have Zacry’s sister reminding him what Zalski did….”
“I’m the one who invaded Zalski’s mind. Did you glance Argint’s way when I explained the necklace? He looked pretty disgusted.”
Neslan told Kora, “That’s exactly why you should speak with him. I know what reservations you had about that magic. You didn’t abuse your power, and you’re the only one who can make him understand that.”
Kora thought back to her conversation with Fontferry’s mayor. “My history convincing people of the truth’s pathetic.”
“Don’t let the past constrain you,” said Neslan.
“Will you come with me, Laskenay?”
“If you truly would like me to, I will. But a one-on-one meeting would serve best. We don’t want Argint to feel threatened for being outnumbered. He’d turn defensive.”
“That’s a good point,” said Neslan.
“I agree,” Hayden mumbled. He held Bidd’s deck of cards so tightly he crushed the parchment wrapping. Lanokas signaled for everyone’s attention.
The Crimson League (The Herezoth Trilogy) Page 49