The Queen Maker

by Kristen Gupton

  Emperor Betram unclasped the bottom of the cuff and opened it as the two halves of the bottom swung up independently of one another.

  “Your arm, please,” he said.

  Thana lifted her right arm, remembering the others wore their bracers on that side. If she managed to escape, surely this bracer would have some monetary value she could redeem. The idea made her smile, and the emperor reflected the expression, laying the opened cuff over her forearm.

  He let his hands fall away from it, the bottom halves of the bracer lowering of their own accord and locking together with a muted click.

  It covered her arm from the wrist to just a few inches below her elbow and had a considerable weight to it. While she’d been impressed with the necklace Keiran had given her before, this item had to be thousands of times more valuable.

  She gave an approving nod. “Thank you, Your Eminence. It is quite beautiful.”

  “It is my honor, Asashi Thana,” he replied, offering a shallow bow. “We are pleased to welcome you to your new home. I know you must be tired after so much. Sarit will show you to your room. Tomorrow, we can begin training you to speak Sadori, so our ears need not be assaulted with this crude and inelegant northern tongue, yes?”

  Thana forced a smile at the backhanded insult to her speech. “Thank you again, Your Eminence.”

  Sarit took her hand and led her away to a room with a large bed. Thana was left alone inside, and she tested the door to find it locked.

  She sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her bracer, unable to see how it opened up. After a time, she gave up and flopped onto her back, trying to remember the layout of the building, and where she’d seen guards stationed. It was likely she would need several days to find her chance to flee the palace if not longer. There was no reason to rush her escape, not knowing what the consequences for failure would be. Thana realized she needed to be very careful for the time being.

  ***

  “Sir, the king seems to be missing.”

  Kanan turned around. “Excuse me?”

  The man looked painfully uncomfortable and averted his eyes. “The king isn’t anywhere to be found, and his horse and tack are all gone, too. Your son appears to be absent, as well.”

  He drew in a long breath and looked up at the sky momentarily. It was still early in the morning, and the Royal Guard had planned to leave Lodain with Keiran to go back to the castle. Kanan wasn’t completely surprised to hear the news, and he wasn’t certain if he was proud of Keiran and Jerris or not. Still, he’d given Jerris permission the night before to do what was needed.

  The sentry awaited Kanan’s reaction and grew impatient. “Should we send men out to look for them?”

  The elder guard looked at his subordinate and shook his head. He wasn’t about to send men off to follow the two, believing they might actually have a shot at slipping across the border to get Thana. Sending more men would draw attention they didn’t need.

  It had been Keiran’s decision, and Kanan was going to honor it. “We all know the two of them like to slip off together. We will hold up here until they return. Inform the military officers that we will remain for a short while amongst them. Offer our help with getting the survivors situated again.”

  The other man blinked, taken aback with his leader’s casual attitude about the king and his son missing. “But, Sir—”

  Kanan shook his head and narrowed his eyes. “You have your orders, now, move.”

  ***

  Keiran and Jerris had covered a good distance by the time late afternoon rolled around. They’d followed the trade road along the river all night and morning.

  They could see the river change course where it headed southward a few miles ahead. That point marked the spot where they would exit Tordania and enter Ibia. From there, it would only be another day’s travel before they made their way to the Takrahn Bridge, or so Keiran figured based on his geography studies.

  Jerris was fading in his exhaustion. As they sat there on their horses and scanned the route ahead, he admitted he’d had enough. “We have to stop at some point, Keir. I’m not invincible like you.”

  The vampire glanced over and saw how tired his companion looked. They had traveled hard, and not only did they both need the rest, their horses certainly did, too.

  “All right. There is a town just ahead. I will pay for a room so we may rest,” Keiran said.

  “And get something to drink and eat. I’m starving.”

  Keiran closed his eyes and sighed, knowing he owed it to Jerris to get him whatever he wanted. The guard had been relatively restrained about complaining after they’d gotten under way.

  He urged Porter forward. “Whatever it takes to keep you happy.”

  Within an hour, they had stabled the horses and gotten a room above a local tavern. Before turning in, however, they needed something to eat and drink.

  Sitting in the crowded tavern, they looked around and studied the other patrons. Though they had officially crossed the border, and the majority of the customers were Ibianese, there were plenty of people speaking Tordanian. It caught his attention, however, that many of those present seemed to be Sadori.

  One such man moved from table to table, and he eventually came and dropped himself down into a free chair at their table. He was several years older than the two Tordanians and greeted them with a wide smile.

  He spoke with an unmistakable Sadori accent. “Are you two men traveling anywhere in particular?”

  Jerris and Keiran looked at one another and silently debated what they should disclose. The man’s Tordanian was easily understandable. His clothes didn’t hint at any wealth nor did he wear any jewelry like they’d seen on Danier.

  The redhead opted to leave the talking up to Keiran and shoved another chunk of gravy-soaked bread into his mouth. Eating was a far greater priority for him than talking to strangers.

  Keiran leaned forward on the table a little and locked gazes with their visitor. “You speak excellent Tordanian. Who are you?”

  The man smiled and bowed his head for a moment. He’d spotted them the moment they’d walked into the tavern, but he had taken his time in approaching them. It was clear from their clothing they weren’t impoverished peasants, likely meaning they were wealthy travelers.

  “My name is Etras. Knowing many languages is part of my job, but I thank you for the compliment.”

  “And what job is that?” Keiran asked, his curiosity piqued.

  “I am a travel guide. I help people go into the Sador Empire and serve as a translator. If you are thinking of going that way, you will be required to have an escort.” He continued to smile.

  The vampire concentrated hard and tried to work his way into the stranger’s mind to look for any feeling of deception, but he didn’t pick up on anything. “And how do you do that? I thought the Sadoris weren’t fond of visitors and didn’t allow foreigners into their empire.”

  The man quirked a brow. “That is often believed, yes, and for most of the empire, completely true. Takrah is controlled by the Onawa tribe, however, and we are more open to travelers willing to bring gold in on business as long as they leave most of it behind.”

  Keiran looked over at Jerris again. The guard gave up a small shrug, mouth still stuffed with food. The vampire turned his attention back toward the man.

  Given Keiran’s lack of contact with people who traveled any great deal, he knew it was entirely possible he’d been misinformed about Sadori travel restrictions. They may have changed to some degree over the years. Few outside travelers ever ventured to the castle during his father’s reign.

  “And what sort of business would we be allowed to conduct if we hired you?” Keiran asked.

  “Gemstone buying, mostly. The quality of which are unparalleled in the known world. The skill of the Onawa stone cutters is the envy of jewel smiths the world over,” he replied. Etras motioned with his hands, somewhat over-dramatic in his attempt to sell the idea. “Textiles are also a great bargain, and we
have fabrics you have certainly never seen!”

  “I’ve heard the Sadoris don’t trade with outsiders, though,” Keiran said before he picked his ale bottle up from the table and drank.

  The man gave a small nod. “For the most part, they do not. While the empire isn’t rich in many resources, the one thing they do have are gems and silk. However, you cannot eat those things, and they need gold to trade for grain with Ibia. For this reason, they allow buyers in, again, provided they have a travel guide to go along with them.”

  “How do we know we can trust you? Maybe you just want to take us off somewhere alone to rob us,” Jerris snorted, finally speaking up.

  Etras shook his head and flattened his hands against the table’s surface. “I make enough to support my family by putting in honest work. If word got out someone was hijacking travelers through this region, my source of income would wither up. No, no. I speak the truth and am an honest businessman.”

  Keiran reached out harder with his mind, trying to mine deeper into Etras’ thoughts. While he didn’t pick up on anything questionable, he pushed further, wanting to be absolutely certain.

  Etras looked to the side and frowned, bringing his hands up to his temples. He slouched down as a sudden and profound headache drilled down into his skull.

  The vampire didn’t immediately relent until he saw the outright pained expression Etras wore. Quickly, he sat back and tried to clear his own thoughts, retreating from the Sadori’s mind. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, I think so,” Etras replied as his hands fell back to the table.

  Just as quickly as it had set in, the headache seemed to abate. He blinked his eyes hard several times before he donned his smile again and looked at the others.

  The vampire fell into an awkward silence for a few moments, ashamed he’d hurt Etras. It hadn’t been his intent, and he retreated inward, trying to calm himself down.

  Jerris instinctively knew Keiran was going into one of his quiet spells, so he stepped in to take over. Even without being able to pry into the Sadori’s mind, he’d started to gain some confidence in the man.

  The redhead leaned forward. “So then, back to it. How far away are we from the Takrahn Bridge at this point?”

  Etras’ eyes beamed, and his smile widened. It looked like these men were interested, after all. “Ah, not too far. A day’s ride if the weather holds out to be calm.”

  The Tordanians looked at one another briefly. Keiran gave a nearly imperceptible nod to his guard.

  Jerris did the same before his attention returned to Etras. “Now, since you’re not doing this simply out of the goodness of your heart, how much?”

  “To leave your horses in our traveler’s camp, and have me escort you across the bridge into the town for up to five days, five ounces of silver,” Etras stated, again motioning out with his arms to indicate what a great bargain it was.

  Five ounces of silver wasn’t a small amount, but both he and Keiran carried enough money to cover it. One of their Tordanian gold pieces would be more than sufficient.

  Jerris leaned forward and frowned. “Leave our horses? Why can’t we take them?”

  The Sadori shook his head and waved with his hands. “No, no. Sadoris are very strict on the bloodlines of their native horses. Foreign horses are never allowed into the empire! If you try to cross the bridge with any breed of horse other than Sadori, the sentries on the bridge will kill it without question. The banks of the river near the bridge are covered in the bones of such unfortunate animals.”

  “I see,” the redhead sighed as he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, we just got here and are rather exhausted. Any chance we could leave in the morning?”

  Etras reached out and took one of Jerris’ hands, bringing it up and touching the back of it to his forehead in an unfamiliar gesture of agreement. “Yes, yes. I can meet you here in the morning. Sunrise!”

  Jerris withdrew his hand, not accustomed to being touched by complete strangers. Tordanians tended to be more reserved in that regard.

  He glanced at Keiran again and saw his expression of approval. “All right, we’ll be down here at sunrise.”

  Etras stood up and smiled widely. “Good, now, what are your names? Perhaps I missed them before?”

  It was instinct for Jerris to reply to that question as he and Keiran had frequently gone outside of the castle and traveled around Tordan Lea incognito. “My name is Jerris, and this is my cousin, Saoirse.”

  Keiran winced at his hated alias, but it was too late to say anything else. “Aye. We will see you at sunrise.”

  Chapter 8

  On her second day in the palace, Thana awoke and went with the other women into the communal bathing and dressing room again. She did her best to participate, and all of them were readied for their day before too long.

  Next, they moved into yet another room. This one was vast, and inside were a multitude of children, which ranged in age from infants to around eight years. As Thana and the others entered, the nannies who’d supervised the children overnight moved out. The women fanned out across the room, each having her own area where she joined her children.

  Thana felt out of place and moved over toward Sarit as the older woman didn’t seem to have any children in the room.

  “You are welcome to join me. They will bring our breakfast soon.” Sarit offered her a smile and patted some of the pillows next to where she sat.

  “Thank you,” Thana replied before gingerly placing herself down.

  Her eyes scanned the room, seeing the mothers around her playing happily with their children. There was one other woman in the room who didn’t have any offspring, but she sat removed from Sarit. She was minding her own business with a book open upon her lap.

  Sarit motioned vaguely with her right hand. “Soon, you will have children of your own. It will be joyful for you to know your children will have such a privileged life.”

  Thana looked over at her, trying to cover her skepticism. “And your children? Are they grown now?”

  “Yes, the youngest of mine is now nearing twenty and has a family of her own. We are allowed to keep our children here with us until they reach ten, and then they go off for their education,” she replied.

  Thana’s eyes settled back on the other childless woman who had tuned out the rest of the activity in the room. “And what of her?”

  Something flashed behind Sarit’s eyes, and she gave a small shake of her head. “That is Cinat, Asashi of the Quitam tribe. She is still…adjusting to her title and place here. Soon, she will need to choose a father for her first child, or one will be selected for her. She is rebellious. You should not follow her example.”

  Thana’s blood suddenly ran cold, her eyes widening. “A man will be chosen for her?”

  Sarit gave a disappointed shake of her head. “What value do we have as wellsprings of our tribes if we do not produce? Once she’s had her first child, she will see the joy in her duty.”

  With a small nod, Thana looked down at her hands folded in her lap. Her original thought about being bred like a farm animal returned. The notion of a man being given permission to essentially rape them if they refused to reproduce sparked an inward terror.

  The older woman didn’t seem even remotely fazed by what she’d just said, however. Instead, she perked up and clapped her hands together as a flood of servants entered the room carrying heavily laden trays of food. “Ah, it is time for us to eat!”

  Thana accepted her tray, finding it covered in exotic fruits she’d never seen before. They smelled wonderful, and she quickly began eating, not realizing how hungry she’d gotten with all the stress around her. On the tray also sat a cup of aromatic tea and a small stack of sliced, dark bread.

  When she finished, it was all she could do not to simply roll onto her side and fall asleep. She’d definitely over eaten, but it did seem to please Sarit on some level.

  After their trays were taken away again, Thana started another line of questi
oning. “I’m surprised you speak Tordanian.”

  Sarit smiled and shook her head. “Onawa speak many languages. This dialect is good for communication with Tordanians and Weslenites. We are a people oriented on business, and business is best conducted when you can communicate directly with your patrons. The emperor is Onawa, also.”

  “What of general Danier?” she asked, now curious.

  The older woman knit her brows, deep lines being set from the frown she immediately donned. “General Ahman Danier’s mother was Quitam.”

  Thana was able to piece together the fact Sarit didn’t like the Quitam tribe easily enough. She wondered if there was value in pushing the subject further and opted to do so. Any information at all may prove helpful.

  “Another troublemaker?” she asked.

  She only chose to continue speaking to Thana because none of the other women in the room would understand. Truthfully, Sarit’s distaste for the Quitam had brewed all of her life, and to have someone to vent it to appealed on some base level.

  Sarit scoffed before lowering her voice. “The whole tribe is. They produce nothing, only steal from others. Thieves, thinly-veiled thieves. All of them.”

  Thana gave a nod, seeing some truth in her statement if Danier was an honest example. After all, he’d tried to steal the coal territories from Tordania.

  She opted to change gears, not wanting to anger Sarit too greatly. “And what of my tribe? Aroothi, as you say?”

  The old woman looked around the room to make sure no one was paying them any mind. There were things Thana needed to be aware of regarding her ancestral lineage.

  Her voice barely above a whisper, she spoke. “Aroothi were a small but noble tribe. The land they occupied was coveted by the thieving Quitam. When the Mother’s Plague erupted, the Aroothi were hard hit. The emperor at the time, a man of Quitam ancestry, ordered the Aroothi across the river into territory we’d captured in Tordania. It was told to them doing so would spare their tribe further death from the plague. However, he had no intention of supporting them once they were there. It was merely a ruse to get the Aroothi out of the empire, so the Quitam could seize their lands far to the south.”