The Dead Falcon (The Eastern Slave Series Book 4)

by Victor Poole

  "You seem very thorough," Sharo said suddenly. "Do you work for Delmar?"

  "Does Delmar know that he's going to marry you?" Ajalia asked.

  "Oh, of course he doesn't," Sharo said with a frown. "Delmar's just like a baby," she added. "I only see him sometimes, and he doesn't know I'm watching. He doesn't know about me yet," Sharo added.

  "When have you seen him?" Ajalia asked. She was thinking of the time that she had called Delmar a baby; in her defense, she reflected, he had acted very strangely for most of the time she had known him. She remembered that Delmar had called her a baby once, the night he had married her. Ajalia stifled a happy sigh, and turned her attention to Sharo, who was preening again, a look of bloated satisfaction in her eyes.

  "He came and saw his grandfather sometimes," Sharo said. "Tree was his grandfather, you know," she said. Her eyes went over Ajalia's Eastern robe, and her mouth primped a little. "You aren't from here," Sharo said, "so I wasn't sure if you'd know that."

  "Oh," Ajalia said. They were moving slowly up the broad shallow steps of the dragon temple now; the sun was moving just past its highest point. Soon, Ajalia thought, Delmar would come.

  "They chose me when I was twelve," Sharo said. "One of the priests, his name is Thell, can see the brands, and when he saw that I had one, he made me go and work for Tree, and he brought me to the silver temple, to see if I could get through the door."

  "What happens," Ajalia asked, "if you can't get through the door?"

  "Oh, you burn up inside," Sharo said eagerly. "You get a fever, and sometimes," she added, her voice tense, "you get so sick that you die."

  "And they had you walk through the door, to see what would happen?" Ajalia asked. Sharo nodded importantly.

  "I'm glad you're sensible," Sharo told Ajalia. "I thought at first you were going to be like my mother, and tell me I was a liar. I knew it would be all right," she said, "as soon as you saw I was the sky angel."

  "I don't see that you are," Ajalia said. "You said that you were." Sharo's eyes faltered, and she glanced uneasily at Ajalia.

  "But you didn't say I wasn't," Sharo said, "when I said that. Everyone says whether you are or aren't, if you bring it up."

  "Why do they do that?" Ajalia asked. Sharo let out an unbelieving laugh.

  "Well, you don't know anything, do you?" she demanded. Ajalia saw that Sharo's estimation of her importance was dropping swiftly. "Because," Sharo said, "the sky angel has to have the whole city behind her, or the spells won't work."

  "What spells?" Ajalia asked. She and Sharo were passing slowly along the main hall of the dragon temple. Minna was nowhere to be seen. When they drew near the steps that lay at the back of the temple, Ajalia went into a side room, and retrieved three chairs. She set these chairs out in the main hall, and sat in one. "Sit down," she told Sharo. "This way, we'll be able to see Delmar, when he comes," she added, when Sharo hesitated.

  "I'm very important," Sharo said doubtfully, "but it's difficult."

  "Because it had to be a secret," Ajalia finished. Sharo sighed, and nodded.

  "It's nice to talk to you about it," Sharo said. "I know you don't know anything, but it's so stressful to know that everyone is relying on me."

  "What are the sky angel spells?" Ajalia asked. Sharo glanced at her swiftly, her eyebrows drawn down.

  "I'm not supposed to talk about it," Sharo said.

  "You're right to keep secrets," Ajalia said agreeably. She sat in her chair, which faced the entrance of the dragon temple, and crossed her ankles. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, that Sharo was watching her guardedly.

  "I could tell you," Sharo said, "because I'm so important that I can probably do what I like, but the priests wouldn't like it." Ajalia nodded peacefully, and stared out at the sunshine. Cross, with the lush rattle of coins sounding in his pockets, dashed down the stairs, and past the three chairs. Ajalia saw Cross skid to a halt, and run back towards her.

  "I'm going to take care of Delmar," Cross told Ajalia, his eyes shining brilliantly. "I'm just going now." He glanced disinterestedly at Sharo, who had stiffened at the boy's approach. "I'll see you," he said happily to Ajalia, and ran down the hall at top speed. Ajalia smiled after the boy, and Sharo looked over at her with compressed lips.

  "I don't think you have any right to send boys to feed Delmar," Sharo said. Her words were sharp at the ends, like defending daggers. "I think it should be me who looks after him," Sharo added. Ajalia looked out at the sun. "Because Delmar belongs to me," Sharo said. She was watching Ajalia; Ajalia could feel the girl hoping for some resistance, or a reaction of some kind. "Anyway," Sharo said, settling herself in the chair, and looking out in the direction that Ajalia's eyes were turned, "the priests have promised him to me, and Delmar will do whatever the priests tell him to."

  Ajalia kept her hands folded quietly in her lap. She could feel the thin lump that the folded paper and the piece of leather made, that she had taken from the dead witch in the tenement. She wanted to ask Delmar what the old Slavithe letters said, when she had a chance. She half-closed her eyes, and thought over the things that Rane and Ocher had told her, while the heart stone had bled gently onto the floor. If Ajalia had looked over at Sharo, she would have seen that the dark-haired girl was biting her lip, and trying to arrange her legs in just the way Ajalia had placed hers. Sharo's eyes were beginning to grow anxious, and her cheeks had begun to redden.

  DELMAR RETURNS

  "I'm not stupid," Sharo said suddenly to Ajalia. Ajalia raised her chin a little, to show that she was listening. Sharo took a deep breath, and words tumbled out of her in a rush. "Because I know that Delmar is a person," she said, "and there's a chance that he won't like to marry me. He might want to marry someone else." Sharo was watching Ajalia closely, trying to gauge the expression on her face. Ajalia, who prided herself on the impassivity of her countenance, began to arrange a list of details that she still wanted to clear up with Delmar. What, she asked herself, was the way that women used magic, and was there an actual difference in women's powers, or was the difference culturally enforced?

  Ajalia rather suspected the latter, especially since she had found that Daniel could see the colors clearly, as she could. Delmar, she was sure, would be determined to find out how to see colors; she had seen him trying to work out how in Tree's apartment. She thought of the slim leather book that was yet in the bag she carried; she had forgotten entirely about her bag. It had been slung over her shoulder when she and Delmar had met Hal and his companion, the now-banished Valos, on the white road outside Slavithe. She thought that if the bag had not been so light, and so well-fitted around her body, that she would have shed it some time ago. Her hand began to move towards the bag, to feel for the book, but she caught sight of Sharo's assiduous eyes, and instead she drew out her knife. She made the change in the motion of her hand seamless; Sharo would not be able to tell that Ajalia had meant to reach for her bag.

  The hilt of the knife was plain and ordinary; it was the same familiar hilt as it had ever been. Ajalia felt now that every dark memory of her father, who had given her the knife, had been expunged; she no longer felt a whisper of his presence when she looked at her knife. The blade of the knife danced yet with shivers of brilliant white; Ajalia wondered if the magical imbuement would prove to be permanent.

  "Why do you carry a knife?" Sharo asked. The girl's eyes were fixed on the blade Ajalia held. Ajalia dug in her bag, and retrieved her whetstone.

  "Tell me about the angel spells," Ajalia said. The gentle grind of her knife made a grating whisper in the temple hall.

  "They're called the sky angel spells," Sharo said, her eyes following the blade of Ajalia's knife. "And they're very special. I shouldn't even have told you that they exist," she added, gaining back a little of the buoyancy she had lost. Her eyes went over Ajalia's robe again, and Ajalia knew Sharo was trying to decide how beautiful Delmar would find her. Very beautiful, Ajalia thought of telling the girl, and suppressed a smile. "I'm not very young," S
haro put in. "I'll be fifteen next month."

  "Does everyone marry so young here?" Ajalia asked, keeping her expression light. She sharpened her knife, and pretended not to be watching Sharo, who expanded like a bullfrog, and prepared to speak. Ajalia knew it was not common; she had seen the families and couples in Slavithe, and the vast majority of partners were near to each other in age. She waited to hear the pile of words that Sharo was evidently preparing to expend upon her.

  "Most people don't get married, because it's not legal," Sharo said, "but I'm going to get married. I'm not a proper servant, like Minna," she added with a smile. "The priests bought me from my parents, and they're going to keep me for Delmar. They wanted to keep me until I was older, because I wasn't grown up yet, and they thought that the Thief Lord would live for a long time." Sharo peered under her eyelashes at Ajalia. "Now he's gone, though," Sharo said, "and Tree is, too."

  Ajalia nodded, her eyes on her knife. She heard faint voices near the entrance of the dragon temple, and looked up to see the distant figures of Delmar and Card coming up the steps. Chad, and the boy Cross, were behind the two men. Ajalia stifled a smile, and carefully sharpened the blade of her knife. Sharo had seen the approaching figures; the girl blushed a violent red. She glanced hurriedly at Ajalia, and straightened up like a poker iron in the seat of her chair.

  "You know," Sharo said quickly, looking almost desperately at Ajalia, "I wouldn't mind very much, if Delmar liked other women, too. Or if it took him a while," she added, "to realize that he's marrying me."

  Ajalia watched the whetstone grind softly along the edge of her blade, and she could feel Sharo beginning to squirm with discomfort.

  "I wouldn't even mind," Sharo said, panic spreading through the sound of her voice, "if he was already a little in love." Sharo looked at the approaching figures, and she looked as though she wanted to stand up, and run away. She glanced again at Ajalia, and Ajalia looked over at her, an unreadable expression in her eyes. Ajalia's eyebrows raised up a fraction, as if to remind the girl of what Ajalia had said earlier, about running away, and Sharo glowered, and hunkered down deeply into the chair. "I bet Delmar likes you a little bit," Sharo said, her eyes flickering to the approaching figures. Delmar and Card were about halfway through the hall; Delmar had seen Ajalia, and was coming straight towards her. "Does he?" Sharo asked Ajalia quickly.

  "I guess you would have to ask Delmar," Ajalia suggested, and she stood up. She put her knife away, and went to meet Delmar. "There's a girl," Ajalia told him in a low voice, before he could reach out to touch her. "The priests, it seems, have arranged a little wife for you."

  Delmar's eyes did not change, but his lips pressed together in annoyance. He and Card had been talking, and Ajalia saw that Card held a piece of paper in his hand. Cross was following a little distance behind Delmar, and the little boy's eyes were fixed eagerly on Delmar's back. Ajalia thought that the boy looked as though he were expending constant effort, and attempting to discern when Delmar was going to feel a twinge of hunger. Cross looked as though he were ready to burst into action at the slightest twitch Delmar gave; Ajalia imagined Cross dashing to an eatery, and purchasing soup and rolls with all the solemnity of a doctor procuring a life-saving elixir. Ajalia smiled at Cross, and Cross raised his chin, and frowned importantly at her. His lips squirmed a little at the edges, and she saw that he was infernally pleased with himself, but determined to maintain the dignity and sobriety that he felt his new position demanded. Ajalia remembered again that Delmar was now that Thief Lord, and she examined the new ruler's clothing critically. Delmar had gone to an empty chair, and Card had followed him. Ajalia called for the girl, Sharo, to come to her. Card and Delmar were still in talk; Delmar's eyes turned occasionally towards the dark-haired girl in dislike, and Ajalia saw that he felt the young woman was in the way.

  Sharo stood up like a rocket, and came straight to Ajalia. Ajalia saw that Sharo was distinctly uncomfortable around the men, and that she was overcome with blushes in the presence of Delmar. Ajalia reminded herself of how bold and uncouth Sharo had been, and suppressed a surge of pity that threatened to rise up in her heart.

  "Go up those stairs," Ajalia told Sharo, "and find the girl named Ossa." Sharo met Ajalia's eyes with relief; she turned, and walked very quickly towards the stairs. Delmar shifted a little in his seat when the girl had gone, and looked up at Ajalia. Chad was standing a little behind Cross, his arms folded before him, and his own face solemn. Delmar held a hand out towards Ajalia, and she went towards him. Delmar pulled her down into his lap, and fixed his arms securely around her. Ajalia saw Chad glancing at the two of them out of the corners of his eyes, and she saw that his mouth was a curl of disappointment.

  "Come and sit down," Ajalia told Chad, and gestured to the empty chair. Cross hovered still in the hall, his eyes fixed determinedly on Delmar, and on any sign of potential discomfort that Delmar may yet exhibit. Chad took a partial step towards them, and hesitated. Ajalia waved at him, and the young Slavithe man edged to the empty chair, and sat down.

  Card and Delmar were discussing the construction of the huts in the quarries; Ajalia listened with only partial attention as she examined the bloodstains that Delmar yet wore upon his hands. His clothes were still stained with the marks of the fruit and refuse that the screeching metheros had flung at him, and on his neck were the angry red half-circles, where one of the metheros had bit him. He had another bite just over his shoulder, where the fabric of his tunic was a little torn, and Ajalia remembered that his clothes had smoked a little, when she had cut his mother's soul out of his body. She was sure that there was a mark on the fabric there.

  Ossa came down the stairs, and made for Ajalia in a straight line. Ajalia got up from Delmar's lap; he released her reluctantly, and squeezed her hand. She let her fingers twist around his for a moment, and put pressure on his fingers. He glanced at her, and a shadow of a smile went over his face. Ajalia went to Ossa, and gave the girl instructions. Ossa went up the stairs again, and Sharo appeared, standing shyly at the bottom of the stairs. Ajalia went to Sharo, and put an arm around her waist.

  "I didn't know I would be so nervous," Sharo told Ajalia in a whisper, when Ajalia touched her. The girl looked acutely miserable. "I'm so worried that he will not understand," Sharo added. Ajalia drew her forward towards the circle of chairs, and waited for the conversation to draw to a natural conclusion. When it had, Card stood up, to make room for Ajalia, but she waved the older man down again.

  "I prefer to stand," Ajalia said, and Card sat down. Sharo looked with dislike at Ajalia, and Ajalia saw that the girl had noticed again how the others all seemed to obey what Ajalia said. Card still held the paper in his hands, but he watched Ajalia, and waited for her to speak. Chad and Card were both looking up with open curiosity at Sharo, and the girl fixed her eyes on Delmar's knees, and blushed.

  "Would you like to tell these people who you are?" Ajalia asked Sharo. Sharo glanced at her in terror, and shook her head a little. "Come on, now," Ajalia coaxed. "Tell them what you told me, about the priests."

  Sharo looked as though she were about to sink into the ground and die. Her face was a vivid flame of red, from her collarbone to the top of her forehead, and her mouth and jaw were clenched together firmly. Delmar looked as though he were enduring the encounter with very little patience; his eyes were turned towards the front entrance of the dragon temple, and Cross, evidently taking the annoyance in Delmar's eyes for desperate hunger, turned, and dashed efficiently away.

  "Sharo was one of Tree's servant girls," Ajalia told the others. Chad smiled, and made a friendly wave at Sharo. Sharo pressed her lips together a little, and glanced unhappily at Ajalia.

  "That is not what I told you," Sharo said under her breath to Ajalia.

  "What did you say?" Delmar asked. His voice was clear and bright, and Sharo looked at Delmar in abject terror, before turning her eyes again to the ground. "What did you say?" Delmar asked again. He sounded, Ajalia thought, very like a Thief Lord.
Despite the muss of his hair, and the blood on his hands, and despite the slight smears and the mess of his clothes, Delmar sat in his chair, and he looked like the king of the world. Ajalia did not know how anyone could avoid staring at him; Delmar glistened with power, and with authority and rightness that seemed to pour straight out of his eyes. His chin was strong, and level, and when he looked at Sharo, she thought that she could see his eyes piercing right through the girl, and slicing her into pieces.

  "Answer me, girl," Delmar commanded, and Sharo blushed, and frowned.

  "The priests took me," Sharo said. Her voice was so low that Ajalia could hardly hear her, though she stood right beside her, and Delmar frowned more deeply.

  "I cannot hear you," Delmar said.

  "The priests took me," Sharo said loudly, her ears and cheeks blushing crimson, "and they wanted me for you."

  "I don't need any servants now," Delmar told the girl. "You can go home."

  Sharo glanced in despair at Ajalia, but Ajalia watched Delmar, and smiled. She told herself that she liked Delmar more than anyone had ever liked any person in the history of the world. She wanted to wind her arms around Delmar's neck, and to cover his face with kisses.

  Ossa returned, bearing a pile of clothes in her arms. Ossa came, and Ajalia went a little way to her, and began to go through the things. Ajalia chose what she wanted, and sent Ossa to lay down the rest in the chamber that lay near the stairs. Ossa came back, and Ajalia took the sewing things that the girl held out.

  Sharo was still standing stock still; Ajalia thought that she was working up the courage to say something. Delmar was looking straight at the girl, waiting, an impassive and solemn look in his eyes. Card had relaxed into his chair, and was looking as though he might settle down for a brief nap. Chad was staring avidly at Delmar, and at Sharo. Ajalia noticed for the first time that Chad was wearing a pair of boots that were very like the ones that Delmar wore. She suppressed a smile; Ajalia suspected that Delmar had not yet noticed this.