“Gorm! Why are you here?”
“To congratulate you, of course. It wouldn’t do for me to approach you at the banquet. They think I’m only a manservant.”
Kol said nothing as he waited to hear the true reason for Gorm’s visit.
“You’ve risen high, Queen’s Man. I hope your quick ascension hasn’t left you dizzy.”
“Dizzy?”
“Forgetful might be a better word. You’re here for a reason, and my master sees little progress.”
“He needs to be patient,” said Kol.
“Patience doesn’t fit his nature. He wants war. If you can’t get him blood, you’ll provide it yourself.”
“You present me with a puzzle,” replied Kol. “Why does a man with his powers need a war? You could carry him about the city and slaughter a battle’s worth in an afternoon.”
“You don’t understand,” said Gorm.
“But I do understand. Othar could destroy every soul in Taiben, but where would that leave him? Alone. You’ve told me he’s no longer a man, and I suspect his appetites are both inhuman and bottomless. Am I right?”
Gorm didn’t reply.
“Of course I’m right! Your master wants war because it’s like a conflagration. Spark it right, and a war can burn on and on. Why slay all Taiben, when you can destroy whole kingdoms? That’s why Othar won’t hurt me. I’ll set the blaze that feeds his cravings though I’ve only a timid woman and a boy for tinder.”
“Bravely said, General Kol. But my master wants acts, not words.”
“You can’t slay a doe until she’s in range. A wise hunter waits until success is sure. A fool blunders into action and scares the game. You’ve seen the court. Who can do this but me? Voltar and the other generals are fat and lazy. Their wars were fought by orcs, not against them. And what noble will sully his velvet gloves with blood?”
“I understand you,” said Gorm. “Everything you say is true, but you must understand this: It’s not Othar I truly serve, but that which possesses Othar. My master’s needs gnaw at him. Reason won’t curb his hunger or his wrath. Press for war as though a thousand demons were at your back, for something very much their like is at your heels.”
A chill went down Kol’s spine. Its cause was less what Gorm said than the manner in which he said it. For all its hardness, Gorm’s voice held an edge of terror. He’s made some infernal bargain, thought Kol, and glimpsed something no man was meant to see. His own ambitions, ruthless as they were, seemed benign in comparison. Yet Kol needed Gorm to achieve them, just as Gorm needed him.
“I know what you want,” said Kol, “and I’m proceeding as fast as I can without losing the prize.”
Gorm seemed reassured. “How can I speed things along?”
“Obtain a woman and a child that look like Girta and her son. Keep them safe and have them ready. Have Lokung find them clothes that match the queen’s and the prince’s attire.”
“What do you need them for?”
“I’m playing this game as I go,” said Kol, “but I think they may prove useful.”
“Anything else?”
“Dar’s key to my plans. When she finds out I’m Queen’s Man, she won’t be able to stay away. Othar must forbear his revenge until she’s served her purpose. Can he do that?”
“If it leads to war, he can.”
“Good,” said Kol. “When I feed your master’s hunger, Dar will be his dessert.”
Twenty-four
When dawn came, the first thing Kovok-mah wanted to do was bathe. The orcs still took their baths in a horse trough in the stables. Zna-yat offered to show him where it was. “Be warned,” he said, “water will be icy.”
“Yet I want to be clean when I speak with washavoki great mother.”
“She won’t notice,” said Zna-yat. “She reeks like all washavokis.”
“Regardless. I will bathe.”
“Of course. We may live among washavokis, but we needn’t sink to their level.”
Kovok-mah undressed and followed Zna-yat out to the stables. As he walked through the palace, the claws of his feet clicking on stone floors, he noted that the washavoki mothers seemed agitated by his body. Zna-yat was right, he thought, they squeak like mice. Their behavior was amusing, but it also made him aware of how little he understood washavokis. I wish Dargu were here. She could explain it.
When Kovok-mah reached the “bath,” he and Zna-yat had to break a layer of ice to reach the water. Kovok-mah washed quickly while horses watched, then dashed across the courtyard into the palace. Though accustomed to the cold, he resolved to ask the washavoki queen for a warmer bathing facility. Kovok-mah hoped that conversation would take place soon.
Though Dar dreaded seeing Muth-tok, she knew delay would only make matters worse. Thus she bathed and dressed in her finest. Afterward, she sent Lama-tok to tell his matriarch that Muth Mauk was thinking of her. Then Dar ascended the throne expecting another long wait. Muth-tok surprised her by arriving promptly.
The matriarch of the Stone Clan was older than Muth-mah but equally hearty. She had a large, muscular frame and the look of someone used to heavy work. Dar knew that many Tok clan mothers worked stone, and she assumed this was true of their matriarch. “May Muth la bless you, Muth-tok.”
Muth-tok bowed low. “Shashav, Muth Mauk.”
“One son you sent me has already joined my mintaris.”
“I’m pleased you found Lama-tok worthy, but not surprised. I hope you’ll find Kak-tok also deserving of honor.”
“He’s made good impression.”
“As you have,” said Muth-tok. “For long time, Lama-tok spoke little of his journey. Only recently have I learned its entire tale. I’m much amazed. Rarely is Muth la’s will so plainly revealed.” Muth-tok pressed her hand against her chest in the sign of the Tree. “These are wondrous times.”
“I think some matriarchs would disagree,” said Dar.
“Wondrous times are not easy times. I think hardship lies ahead. Why else would Muth la send you for our queen?”
“Some believe hardship could be avoided if I’m not queen.”
Muth-tok’s face darkened. “Bears vanish when you shut your eyes, but they still bite.”
Dar smiled. “I believe I’ve found friend on council.”
Muth-tok returned the smile. “After council, there is feast. There, I hope you’ll honor me with tales of your travels. By custom, I must keep this greeting short; otherwise I would beg to spend this day with you. Lama tells me that you saw Tarathank, visited Pah clan, and had many other adventures. Your visions particularly interest me.” She gave Dar a meaningful look. “Lama mentioned Velasa-pah.”
“That encounter is much on my mind,” said Dar, not wishing to reveal too much.
“I shouldn’t stay overlong, Muth Mauk. I’d rather not have Muth-yat and Muth-mah understand my mind as yet.”
“You have pleased me, Muth-tok.”
The Tok clan matriarch thanked Dar, bowed, and departed.
Kol made a brief visit to Balten’s house to obtain funds, then went to a tailor’s shop. There, he ordered clothes suitable for his new rank. He eschewed the bright colors worn by Voltar and the other generals in favor of a severe look. He ordered long-sleeved doublets of fine black wool trimmed with just enough gold to mark his new station without flaunting it. The trousers he ordered were also black with thin gold piping down their sides. He kept his old boots and sword.
Kol saw his situation in military terms. He had just taken favorable ground that also rendered him more visible. The crucial point was not to advance unprepared. He planned to consolidate his position and test the resistance first. For the time being, he would keep a low profile and be a paragon of humility.
Meanwhile, Kol would use others to advance his plans. He had already come up with a list of enemies in court, and he expected his promotion would reveal a few more. Gorm can arrange for their elimination. Othar’s ability to seize minds would make it simple. Kol envisioned a rash of
murders. Deranged servants…jealous lovers…robbers. Death can come so suddenly. And I’ll be blameless every time.
While Gorm cleared the opposition, Kol planned to use Lokung for double duty. First, he would have the steward feed Girta’s fears with rumors of intrigues against her. Nothing clear enough to act upon, just enough to keep her insecure. Second, he wanted Lokung to find recruits for a new guard. They’ll be called the Queen’s Men. They’ll wear black to set them apart. Kol would be their commander, and despite the guard’s name, it would swear loyalty to him.
Kol’s primary concern was time. Despite Othar’s impatience, he could not afford to move too quickly and alarm Girta. The creation of the Queen’s Men must not be seen as a power grab. He had to continue to win the queen’s trust while wooing the prince. Kol was beginning to believe that the boy—though currently powerless—might prove the means to achieve his goal. He planned to give him a black uniform when the Queen’s Men were created. What boy doesn’t want to protect his mother? When Kol was the prince’s age, he had hoped to do the same. He smiled sadly at the thought of his boyish naïveté. Then Kol grimly recalled his father’s most brutal lesson, a lesson he was prepared to give the prince if necessary.
Winter tightened its grip on Taiben. The city became like a frozen lake, its still surface hiding currents in the dark below. The queen grew ever more afraid. All the while, Kovok-mah waited for a summons that didn’t come.
Meanwhile in the Yat clan hall, Dar continued to hold her nightly feasts and wait for Kovok-mah’s report. As the days passed, she began to grow concerned that events had gone ill in Taiben. There was little she could do about it, for the round of feasts and the upcoming council occupied her. Muth-hak arrived on the day she held her seventeenth feast. The Hak clan matriarch was a wiry mother, with bright yellow eyes and an animated manner. She was cordial during her brief meeting, and Dar counted her as an ally.
By the time Muth-jan came to the Yat clan hall, Dar had added three more sons to her mintaris—Tatfa-jan, Dil-hak, and Kak-tok—and was about to hold her twenty-first feast. The matriarch of the Iron Clan was shorter than Dar, barrel-chested, and quick to smile. Dar felt comfortable with her immediately. The matriarch ignored custom and spent the entire afternoon talking with her. Muth-jan proved to be the aunt of Magtha-jan, whom Dar had met in the garrison outside of Taiben. Dar told the matriarch about the queen’s rescue and death, the orcs’ revolt, and the treaty it produced. By the time Muth-jan left, Dar tallied three allies on the council.
Two days later, sons from the Smat clan arrived and presented themselves as candidates for Dar’s mintaris. They had been sent by their matriarch, and their attitude was disquieting. Although outwardly respectful, they were clearly displeased to have been chosen. Dar thought their discontent boded ill. It seemed a sign that the Smat clan matriarch had given little thought to the candidates’ selection, expecting their service to be brief. The following day, candidates from the Zut clan arrived. They were equally unsuitable.
Muth-zut and Muth-smat arrived together as Dar was preparing for her twenty-seventh feast. She postponed seeing them until the following day, and spent the evening dreading the encounter. Her dread proved well-founded when she met the pair. Muth-smat was elderly and dour. She spoke little and stared stone-faced at Dar throughout their meeting. Muth-zut, who was younger, bluntly questioned Dar’s suitability to reign. After the brief meeting was over, Dar feared that the Zut clan matriarch’s attitude reflected her companion’s. In five days, Dar would host her final feast. Then the Council of Matriarchs would meet. By Dar’s count, four of its seven members would oppose her.
“Tanath dovat,” said Sevren in a low voice. Something happen.
Kovok-mah woke. It was night, and the only light within the orcs’ quarters came from the embers on the central hearth. He was surprised that Sevren had been able to find him in the dark. “Atham?” asked Kovok-mah. What?
Sevren replied in Orcish. “See you washavokis in black?”
“Your queen has not yet summoned me,” replied Kovok-mah in the Speech of Mothers. “I have only left this room to bathe.”
“They are new guards.”
“Like washavokis in blue and red and urkzimmuthi?”
“Like, but not like. Queen’s Man leads them.”
“Queen’s Man is dead.”
“Bah Simi is now Queen’s Man.”
“Why have you not told me this before?” asked Kovok-mah.
“It is danger for me see urkzimmuthi. Washavokis watch. I think that…that…” Sevren switched to the human tongue. “I think Kol’s planning something. The royal guard has been disbanded. You’re either one of the Queen’s Men, or demoted to the city garrison. Word came out today. This is probably the last time I can get into the palace. As of tomorrow, only the orcs and the Queen’s Men will guard Girta. That doesn’t make sense. I know most of the guards who became Queen’s Men. They all hate orcs.”
“Many washavokis do.”
“There’s more to this than meets the eye. Why have two sets of guards? Especially two sets that are at odds. It looks look a power play to me.” Sevren paused, for even in the darkness he could tell that Kovok-mah was bewildered. Such intrigue is alien to him. Then Sevren tried to explain his concerns more simply. “Bah Simi is Muth Mauk’s enemy,” he said in Orcish. “He gathers friends. He grows strong. This is bad for Muth Mauk.”
“I understand,” said Kovok-mah. “When I speak to washavoki great mother, I will ask her why she has done this.”
Sevren thought Kovok-mah’s forthright approach was pointless, but he doubted he could explain why. It troubled him that the queen would replace the royal guard with Kol’s men, while retaining her orc guards. He suspected Kol was behind that decision. If the rumors were true, he was her principal adviser. Sevren was puzzled why Kol would want the orcs to remain. He suspected the reason involved Dar. “Muth Mauk should hear this,” he said.
“I cannot leave until I speak with your great mother,” said Kovok-mah.
“I could go.”
Kovok-mah considered the suggestion. “You should not go alone.” He rose, then walked among the sleeping orcs, woke one, and returned with him. “Zna-yat serves Muth Mauk. Speak to him.”
With Kovok-mah translating occasionally, Sevren repeated his story to Zna-yat, who seemed to grasp its implications better than Kovok-mah. “I should tell Sev-ronz tale to Muth Mauk,” said Zna-yat. “But there is no need for it to come.”
“He sees things that we don’t,” said Kovok-mah.
Zna-yat regarded Sevren. “Tell them to me and avoid long journey.”
“I want to go,” said Sevren.
“Why?”
Thamus had cautioned Sevren against lying to orcs, and he heeded that advice. “I wish to see Muth Mauk again.”
Zna-yat gave Kovok-mah a meaningful look. “Should it?”
“Sevren understands washavokis better than you or I. He may be helpful.”
“You may come,” said Zna-yat. “I will leave tomorrow.”
“I see you on road. Not inside city,” replied Sevren. “I go now.”
As Sevren slipped away, Kovok-mah turned to Zna-yat. “What’s happening?”
“I’m not sure, but I know this: Washavokis are cruel. Expect some new outrage.”
Zna-yat left Taiben the following morning, and soon afterward, Kovok-mah received the long-awaited summons to talk with the washavoki queen. He wondered if the two events were connected. Zna-yat guarded the queen. Perhaps his departure had displeased her. If it did, Kovok-mah didn’t care. He was tired of washavoki rudeness.
Kovok-mah noted that the washavokis that escorted him to the queen all wore black. They took him to the large room he had visited before. The queen was seated on the object Kovok-mah assumed was a throne. Only sons dressed in black stood about her. Bah Simi was among them.
“I regret it has been so long since we last spoke,” said the queen.
Unfamiliar with polite falsehoods, Kovo
k-mah found Girta’s explanation puzzling, for a queen could do as she pleased. “I regret it also. Now that we speak, need others be present?”
Kovok-mah noted that the queen’s face grew paler and the scent of fear wafted into the air. “These are the Queen’s Men. They protect me.”
“So do urkzimmuthi.”
“Queen’s Men also serve me.”
Her mintaris, thought Kovok-mah. “I understand now. Great Mother, after you and Muth Mauk spoke together, you promised to house us according to our custom so urkzimmuthi mothers could live with us. This has not happened.”
“I gave you a fine room to use.”
“It was not suitable.”
“The Queen’s Man has told me so,” said the queen, glancing at Bah Simi. Kovok-mah noticed that his black clothes were colored with yellow iron. “He has found better place for you.”
Bah Simi showed his dog-white teeth and spoke. “There are halls nearby. Round, so each is Zum Muthz la.” Muth la’s Embrace. Evidently pleased to show off his Orcish, he continued. “Each has teemhani.” Hearth. “We have also built proper spluf.” Bath.
“Where are these buildings?”
“You stayed there when you fought for Great Washavoki.”
Kovok-mah realized that Bah Simi was speaking of the orcs’ former barracks. “I know these halls. They lie outside the city. How can we protect your great mother from there?”
“You’ll only live there,” said the queen. “You’ll still come into the city to guard me.”
“Muth Mauk said we were to live close to you. It is wise to have protectors near.”
Bah Simi spoke. “And you will be close when we build proper rooms inside the palace. That will take time. Until then, Great Mother wishes to honor your customs.”
[Queen of Orcs 03] - Royal Destiny Page 15