by Karen Myers
“Your husband, I presume.”
Without waiting for a response, the emperor waved over his guard captain. “Please escort our lupjuwen guests to rooms where they may be refreshed, and where my… champion may have her injuries seen to.”
“Tun-chi,” he called. “I have immediate duties to see to, but in two hours time I will expect you to attend me to perform a proper introduction to these allies of yours. Meanwhile… sort this out for me.” He gestured expansively at all the people, and bodies, in his courtyard.
He rose from his low seat and walked serenely to his personal archway. Those on the platform bowed as he departed, and everyone else bowed as he approached, and held the posture until he had passed. As a turn in his path took him briefly in the direction the viewing wall, the public audience also bowed in respect until he turned away again and vanished into the interior, trailed by his guard.
CHAPTER 30
Too little and too late to be of any use.
Najud nursed uncomfortable thoughts as he waited for Penrys to return from the emperor’s healers. She had it well in hand without us.
He was glad for the outcome, of course—Penrys alive, the emperor preserved, the Kigali bikrajab in charge of their own, even the chained ones, with a place in the society, if they can keep it. But he couldn’t help feeling it would’ve come out much the same way if he’d accompanied his sister Rubti and the others on the Biziz Rahr, the Grand Caravan, and left her here on her own.
Whenever he’d seen her deep in some technical discussion with Vylkar, he’d felt like an ill-educated country boy on his first visit to a great city. Did she miss the resources of Ellech and the Collegium? Was he wrong to tie her to this notion of a new caravan and its base in the west?
This is pointless. It’s not her I doubt, it’s me. Men have married powerful women before and remained men. And they manage it by the work they do, not by envying their wives.
Movement at the doorway to the elegant room with its several low tables caught his eye. Penrys walked in alone and paused there, searching the room with a furrowed brow until she spotted him, and a broad smile broke out on her weary face.
It lifted his own spirits. I have to believe she’s made her choice, and she’s happy with it. I’ve seen it in her—I know it’s true.
Her torn outer robe, in the Zannib style, had been replaced with a wide-sleeved floral Kigali robe that placed no constraint on her bandaged arm. The hair around her face was damp from a quick washing.
He made a place for her at the table he shared with Munraz. Servants had provided small platters of food for each of the seating areas, and the rest of the foreign wizards were gathered in two groups—Vylkar with Mpeowake, and Chosmod with his countryman Mrigasba.
Penrys sat down heavily and looked at the samplings of fried bits and sauces as if it were too much effort to reach for anything. She was white with reaction after a hard struggle—he recognized that pinched look around the eyes.
“You should eat something, it’ll make you feel better,” he advised.
She visibly pulled herself together. “Do you suppose this is left over from the celebration for the ceremony that never happened?” The thought made her chuckle.
Munraz said, “I’ll put some samples for you on a plate, jarghalti. It’s… tasty, most of it.”
“How’s the arm?” Najud asked.
“Not so bad. The slashes were impeded by my sleeve, and they’re not very deep. Not saying it doesn’t hurt, but it won’t take that long to heal—you know how I am.”
He knew. In a couple of weeks, you wouldn’t be able to find the scars.
“Reckless, is how you are. You can bleed to death as well as anyone. What possessed you to try that without backup?”
She sent him an apologetic glance. “What choice did I have? And what happened to all of you, anyway?” Taking the plate that Munraz handed her, she popped a morsel in her mouth as if to evade any further justification of her own actions.
Najud skewered her with his eye to tell her he wasn’t deceived, but proceeded to tell her the tale.
“So, picture us all, in our best clothes—the foreign bikrajab, Tun Jeju with Gen Jongto and, oh, at least thirty brown-robes, and Wok Tori and Rin Tsugo with Kit Hachi. That’s a full load for one of the cages.”
He heard the other conversations in the room subside as they listened. “There we were, at the base of the southwest hoist, the one you can see from our embassy, waiting for the empty cage to come down. And then our bright nal-jarghal Munraz here observed that it wasn’t moving. The cages were stopped, suspended between top and bottom.”
“I don’t understand,” Penrys said.
Chosmod spoke from his table, “The Tsek clan had broken into the building housing the crane and taken it over from the workers. They kicked them out and mounted a guard.”
Najud watched her sort through the ramifications. “And you had no way to reach them. What about the other hoists?”
He shrugged. “The nearest one was a mile away, and you could see well enough from where we were that its cages weren’t moving either. I think Tun Jeju was almost pleased to have his belief that the ambush would be today confirmed, but for once I thought he was at a loss.”
Chosmod laughed. “Until Vylkar stared at him as if he were dense and said, ‘surely we have plenty of wizards around to deal with this.’ That didn’t help the notju’s understanding any, but Kit Hachi understood what he meant. She bound all of us together, and we could see the minds of the men who were keeping the cages from moving, wizards all.”
Vylkar smiled tightly. “That was all very well, but seeing wasn’t acting. We weren’t strong enough. Wok Tori sent out a call for any wizard in the area, and Rin Tsugo did the same for the chained ones. Najud helped pull them into the bond, and I guided the winnowing.”
In response to Penrys’s puzzled expression, Mrigasba said, “We killed the members of the Tsek clan we found there, guards and all. The workers broke back in and restored the hoists.”
Najud finished the story. “So many of the volunteers wanted to come along, it took us two trips. That’s why we were late.”
He cleared his throat. “And we come in to find two dead chained wizards and another subdued. Time for us to hear your story.”
Penrys described what happened once she decided to leave the rendezvous, and everything that followed her cry for justice.
Najud was horrified at the risks she’d taken, considering the completely predictable treachery. Characteristically, Vylkar was more inquisitive about the technical means she employed.
“You seem to have learned more about the chains, then. You always thought they were devices.”
“Now I’m sure of it,” she said.
“But they’re not related to power-stones.”
“Who says power-stones are the only way to make devices?” she countered.
Najud interrupted. “You two can debate this later. Do we ever get to go home, do you suppose?”
“To sarq-Zannib?” Penrys asked him.
‘”I’d settle for the embassy for now.”
Vylkar shook his head. “We’ll have to wait for the emperor to dismiss us, and that won’t happen until Tun Jeju has things under control out there.”
Despite the pleasure of being clean, tended, and fed, Penrys was ready for this day to be over, and the whole week, too.
Instead she stood as respectfully as she could manage with the rest of the foreign wizards in a row before the emperor who was seated in fresh yellow robes on yet another raised platform in yet another elegant room.
Does he ever conduct an audience from ground level?
Tun Jeju was there, too, with Gen Jongto behind him, standing to their left but closer to the emperor than the foreign wizards. On their right, similarly placed, was a little group of wizards—Wok Tori for one, with his advisor Char Nojuk, Char Dazu at his uncle’s shoulder, and Rin Tsugo with his second, Kit Hachi.
No other members of the emper
or’s family were present. The emperor occupied his dais alone, surrounded by flat cushions—seats for the missing.
For a moment, Penrys entertained a vision of the emperor having wiped the slate clean of everyone who had been on the afternoon platform, family and all.
Most of them would have been innocent. He can’t have.
Can he?
At a nod from the emperor, Tun Jeju stepped forward and bowed. “Allow me to present our guests to you, liju.”
As he named each of the foreigners, the wizard bowed and said nothing. Mpeowake’s bow was abbreviated in deference to her healing ribs.
Penrys and her companions were last. The emperor commented, “‘Penrys’—not a very suitable name for a friend to Kigali. It will present difficulties for the scribes.”
Tun Jeju coughed deferentially. “May I suggest a more civilized name? ‘Sar Luplen’ has a more comfortable feel in the mouth. And ‘Sar Tobek’ for her husband.”
Penrys managed a straight face with difficulty. The personal name rendered as “shining magic” for her, and “lucky” for Najud, a literal translation of his Zannib name. Someone on the notju’s staff had given some thought to this.
The emperor appeared to consider these names for a moment, and then nodded. “Yes, that’s better. If there are no objections…”
She glanced at Najud and they bowed together. In this room full of wizards they didn’t dare share their private thoughts, but she had no difficulty reading his insufficiently suppressed amusement.
“My foreign minister and Tun Jeju will be visiting each of your embassies to discuss reparations and to assist in any way we can with your return home. We are shamed to have been the unwitting cause of injury to the representatives of your nations and are in the process of ensuring that the people responsible are… held accountable for their actions.”
Penrys tried not to picture dungeons and chopping blocks.
“And you, Tun-chi, what is the state of affairs within Imperial Security?”
A small, satisfied smile flickered on the notju’s lips. “As you commanded, we have left Noi Shibu to your care, though I have men with him even now, asking him questions—politely—and taking notes. It may be that we will need to ask those questions more than once. And perhaps less politely.
“Many of my superiors and peers are undergoing questioning in our own hands, backed by your authority. I should have a preliminary report on the extent of the conspiracy for you by morning.”
The emperor nodded acceptance. “And the Tsek clan and its wizards?”
“The clan buildings and compounds are thoroughly occupied by my people and by wizards appointed by the guild.” He cocked his head at the guild representatives across from him. “We have found no other tekenwen, but there are many lupjuwen, besides the five we found dead when we arrived.”
Penrys shrugged internally. They weren’t innocent. She hadn’t intended their deaths deliberately, but she wasn’t going to mourn them.
“It may be,” Tun Jeju continued, “that we haven’t found all of them, if any were away from the compound, though we accounted for the ones that rigged the hoists. We have searches underway throughout the city, upper and lower.
“Meanwhile we’re just starting to go through their commercial records and their correspondence. And, of course, the questioning. You will receive a preliminary report on what we find tomorrow.”
“That is satisfactory.” The emperor raised his hand and addressed them all. “We are well-pleased with this afternoon’s work.”
Fine. So can we go now? The excitement of seeing the exotic emperor of fabled Kigali up close had worn off about two hours ago. More freedom to get out of here, less ceremony. Though the guild members do look pleased with the results.
She glanced sideways at Najud and took in the gratified look on his face. Ah, well, I can stand it a few more minutes for his sake. And Munraz’s. If his eyes were any rounder, they’d roll out of his face.
“I’m sorry to have taken so much time,” Penrys told Najud, in the privacy of their rooms at the Zannib embassy.
Their reception by Talqatin and his family had been warm. And relieved. Penrys had been startled to find a new Kigalino katsom directing all the staff—Mir Tojit was unaccountably absent. Part of Tun Jeju’s cleanup?
“Time from what?” Najud asked. He sat crosslegged at the low table in their work room transferring notes from wax tablets to a more permanent form in ink on papyrus sheets.
“You wanted to find merchants and goods for the caravan next year, set up some working partnerships. And look what I got you into.” She squirmed, looking for a more comfortable position in the padded chair, trying to keep her throbbing arm from distracting her.
He raised his head and looked across at her. “We weren’t summoned to make my caravan easier. Now I can really start that work.”
He laid down his quill, and a smile flickered around the edges of his mouth. “How long do you think we’ve been here?”
“I don’t know, I’ve lost track.” She tried to count but so much had happened it was hard to separate the events.
Deadpan, Najud looked at her. “We crossed the river seven days ago.”
Impossible. “That can’t be right.” Can it?
He took her through it, and she was convinced. While she was still shaking her head, he added, “And our position is much improved as a result.” He started to tick off his fingers. “We have names—that’s more important than anything else. It’s the rare foreigner who is granted a Kigali name. Merchants will be willing to work with us and take a chance on a new caravan route. And there will be tangible rewards in a day or two, you’ll see.”
“The names matter that much?”
He shook his head at her unsophisticated understanding. “They mean we’ve been recognized by someone important, and there is no one more important than the emperor. The story of how we earned them will also become known. They give us standing, status. Merchants will be eager to partner in the hopes that the caravan will be successful because of our own good fortune. That’s how they’ll look at it.”
He leaned toward her over the low table. “We’re bikrajab—foreign wizards who’ve been granted Kigali names. I’m sure that’s never happened before. That’s an elevation of the status of all wizards in Kigali. And the story itself… the story will spread, of how the first thing the wizards did once the guild was licensed was to defend the emperor from his enemies, and defense of the emperor is defense of the nation.
“Oh, no, those names aren’t just for us—they’re for the benefit of the whole wizard community. The emperor and Tun Jeju are very subtle. No one is offended, because no one has lost anything, but their own goals are furthered. We foreigners didn’t clean up the mess—their own guild did. We just… helped. That’s how the tale will be told.”
“But all those chained wizards, all those bodies… and the tables covered in chains.” She couldn’t get the images out of her mind.
Najud shrugged. “I believe Tun Jeju’s account, that they made a bad mistake in how they tried to identify them. But it’s Rin Tsugo who has to live with it, and if his gewengep can put it behind them, then… The work he’s doing to help the guild will save the rest of them.”
He stared at her as if she were dense. “They’re going to have an established, working community of chained wizards, in a Kigali suddenly conscious of what wizards can do. A professional group, as you like to say. Would you have thought that possible, a week ago?”
Slowly, she shook her head. “Never. I can’t get my head wrapped around it, now. What will Chosmod tell his superiors back in Rasesdad, after their experience with the Voice?”
“If he has any brains, and I think he does, then he’ll do what I’m doing—spread the Kigali news as broadly as he can. If there’s a home for chained wizards in Kigali, of all places, then why not in Rasesdad? Or sarq-Zannib? They don’t have to become monsters, a threat to everyone else, like that poor qahulajti Munraz had to kil
l.”
“I wonder if Mpeowake will see it the same way,” Penrys said.
“Who can speak for Ndant? But we can only do what we can do. Speaking for myself, I’m pleased with the outcome. Now if I can only convince the Ghuzl mar-Tawirqaj, the assembly in sarq-Zannib. I don’t know most of them, but Talqatin does. We’ll have to work together on his official reports.”
He stood up then. “That’s for another day. We have our own healing to do before we can get too busy with other affairs. I don’t plan on leaving the embassy until you look less… worn, and I can bow without wincing—sends the wrong message to a merchant you’re trying to impress.”
His grin provoked an answering one from Penrys. She pushed herself clumsily to her feet. “Sounds good to me. Maybe Munraz can make progress with Baijukti, if he’s stuck in the embassy with her for a couple of days.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Pen-sha,” Najud said as he slid his uninjured arm around her waist and guided her into the other room, where a welcoming bed awaited.
CHAPTER 31
Penrys waited for Vylkar on the raised steps of the Imperial Security building the following afternoon. She was back in her accustomed Zannib work clothing, all of her more formal attire having been destroyed, and the small bag clutched in her fist weighed more heavily to her than the three neck chains Gen Jongto had allotted to her from the heap of the dead in the underground level could account for.
She fingered her own chain nervously, exposed to public view again. Where is he?
Najud was off speaking with merchants, and he’d taken Munraz with him. She’d told him she had something to discuss with her old mentor, but hadn’t given him the details. He’d simply nodded and wished her a profitable afternoon, and a certain amount of guilt weighed upon her for not filling him in. Time enough afterward once we find out a little more. If we do.
Eventually her eye was caught by the tall, thin form coming from the direction of the Ellech embassy. She trotted down the steps to meet him, and to turn him to the northeast, to the location she had in mind.