She glanced around. “My mother thought so too. That's how I concluded that the Bandit does have the Sword.”
“I wondered how you derived that conclusion,” Snarling Jaguar whispered. “Listen, Lady Water, my brother told me not long ago that the Bandit doesn't even know what he wields. So to give the Eastern Empire a respite, you'll want to keep this very much to yourself, eh?”
She nodded. “If the Bandit finds out, he'll gather all the bandits and launch a siege against Emparia Castle.”
“Worse than that, Lady Water, if he asks me or the Emperor Condor for help, we'll have to commit our help, because legally the Northern Imperial Sword belongs to him.”
“Lord Infinite, help us then!”
“Help who when, Lady Water?” Healing Hand asked, approaching.
“Didn't my mother once give you a lesson in discretion, Lord Hand?”
“Indeed she did, Lady Water.” The Wizard-Medacor smiled. “About an infant girl with a sickness no medacor could cure. I've told no one the cause of it since.”
“Forgive me, Lord Hand. I guess I needed a reminder of your priorities.” Looking around to insure no one would overhear her, she briefed her friend.
“Lord Infinite, help us then!” Healing Hand said. “The bandits have the means to destroy the Eastern Empire—and don't know it!”
“Lord Emperor,” Rippling Water asked, “wasn't the Bandit a member of the Elk Raiders not long ago? I thought so. I feel as if there's a way to resolve everything peacefully. I know there is! I just don't have all the details.”
Snarling Jaguar nudged the Wizard-Medacor to indicate they should leave her by herself. Rippling Water seemed to have slipped into a semi-trance. They strolled off together, belatedly following Guarding Bear.
“I hope we find a solution, by the Infinite,” Healing Hand said.
“I hear more fervor than I'd expect from an Imperial Warrior.”
“I'm also Flaming Arrow's Imperial Medacor, Lord Emperor. He too wants to find a peaceful resolution. Besides, I've wanted to meet a man. The reason I haven't is he's a bandit.”
“Someone special, Lord Hand? Your father Easing Comfort, perhaps?”
Healing Hand smiled. “Not exactly a secret, eh Lord? This whole affair has a strange feel to it. Everyone's now referring to Seeking Sword as 'the Bandit' disturbs me considerably. I can hear the emphasis when someone says that, as if it were a title.”
“I too have heard the emphasis—and have adopted it myself,” Snarling Jaguar said, shrugging, his glittering wrists jingling.
“There's more to this strange feeling though, Lord. The Heir, the Bandit, the Heir Swords, the psychic storms, the physical, mental and psychic similarities between the two men. All of it. Have you ever faced a situation that doesn't feel right at the deepest levels of consciousness, Lord Emperor? Somehow, I feel I've made a bad assumption somewhere. If I could only find it, I'd have solved the bandit problem and that of the empty northern lands.”
“I empathize, Lord Hand. I too feel something's not right. As you might already know, I have a trace prescient talent. When the twins were born, something shifted, as if their birth had set the world upon its side. Even before then, when my armies faced those of Guarding Bear that first time, something defying definition lurked in the back of my mind. Consistent with that, I felt relieved when Brazen Bear died. Of the Brothers Bear, he seemed to embody more this unsettling mood, feeling, whatever you call it. My intuition tells me that if the bandits besiege Emparia Castle, all four Empires will crumble until chaos reigns. So a solution must exist. It must!”
Silence settled between them as they approached the bear and his General. They stopped at a safe distance. Animal and man bonded inside the barrier of electrical shielding. Any external interference, such as their stepping across the invisible boundary, would have serious consequences for both.
“What a sanctuary insanity must be in times like these,” Snarling Jaguar said.
“Indeed, Lord,” Healing Hand said, nodding.
The Emperor looked at him sharply, detecting hesitation and obfuscation. “Oh, master of secrets, Lord Hand, perhaps you have the key. Long ago, I recognized that when the Eastern Empire fell, the Southern Empire would be in danger of falling as well. In helping your Empire, I helped my own. When the Northern Empire fell, my brother was already a bandit, living in the Craggy Mountains. I was Emperor, forbidden by law to do anything but hunt him down.” Snarling Jaguar lowered his voice, sadness upon him. “Despite my fervent wish to grant him pardon and bring him home.” The Emperor shrugged. “When Flying Arrow refused to colonize the northern lands, I sent my brother north, declaring to all how much I hated him and wanted him dead.
“When my brother reported this strange old man who possessed a talisman worth an Empire, I concluded as he did that only one Wizard could have fashioned the staff: Lurking Hawk. The Sorcerer wouldn't build such a talisman for just anyone. Therefore, Icy Wind had to be none other than Lofty Lion.
“Tell me, Lord Medacor, how Lurking Hawk died.”
* * *
Not understanding the disjointed progression of the other man's thoughts, Healing Hand wondered which story to tell. The public story—the one he and Flying Arrow had fabricated—was that the infant boy had suffocated in his crib. The real story—the one only he and the Emperor Arrow knew—was that Lurking Hawk had suffocated the boy and then manipulated the other twin.
Deciding to trust this man completely, Healing Hand said, “This is what happened, not the official history:
“Three days after the twins were born, I arrived at the castle for my second day as Medacor Apprentice and discovered that one twin had died in the night. Shortly after I got the Medacor's offices, the Captain in charge of Lurking Hawk walked in. Lurking Hawk was facing charges of trespass, evasion of Imperial authority, psychic assault upon an Imperial officer, possession of a talisman—everything short of treason. The Captain needed a medacor. Since Soothing Spirit was doing an autopsy on the dead twin, another medacor and I went with the Captain. Lurking Hawk and one of his guards were dead. The guard had died an hour or so before his murderer; Lurking Hawk had slit his throat. The Traitor had completely ruptured the pre-frontal lobes of his brain, as well as several other vital cranial organs. Lurking Hawk's abuse of his talents ultimately killed him.
“The hour between the guard's death and Lurking Hawk's death made me suspicious. I found the Sorcerer's blood where I shouldn't have. The Captain showed us the exit leading to the secret passageways. Nearly every noble in the castle had access to them—not much of a secret, eh? I retraced the trail of blood Lurking Hawk had left to the Medacor's offices, to the nursery. I concluded that Lurking Hawk had killed one of the twins.
“The other twin, Flaming Arrow, seemed perfectly healthy when I examined him later. The psychic activity monitors registered nothing, which they had since the twins' birth. I did detect a change, though: He didn't register on my psychic sight. Before, I had been able to probe him, see him, heal him. Then, nothing! As if Flaming Arrow lived in a world without psychic power, without talent.
“I reported my observations to Flying Arrow. He decided to conceal the manner of Lurking Hawk's death. We'd have had to endure so much shame as an Empire if the manner of the boy's death became common knowledge. Few people had seen the twins, so obscuring how he died wasn't difficult. Both the Emperor and I knew though that Lurking Hawk had finally exacted his vengeance.”
Many minutes later, after a long silence, Snarling Jaguar said, “Thank you for trusting me with the truth.”
Content with silence, Healing Hand watched the bear, remembering the stuffed grizzly at the Bear residence in Emparia City.
“The staff itself must have carried the information.”
“What information, Lord Emperor?”
“Where they had hidden the Heir Sword.” The Emperor glanced down at the Wizard-Medacor's hip, at the shiny sword sheathed there. “Beautiful weapon, looks new. Why do you wear it, Lord
Medacor?”
“I participated in the siege of Seat, Lord, where they issued it to me. Being a trained warrior, I felt comfortable keeping it.”
The sapphire on the Imperial Sword at Snarling Jaguar's hip began to glow. The Emperor's brow wrinkled. “When did you acquire the talisman, Lord Hand?”
“It should have concealed itself, Lord.” He had felt the circuits straining to keep themselves invisible from Snarling Jaguar's talent.
“It did conceal itself, Lord. I only guessed.”
“Oh,” Healing Hand said, relieved. “It lay hidden for scores of years inside an oak tree. No one detected it there. Now only you and, uh, I know the nature of the weapon.”
“In the empty northern lands? Ah, then it is the sword forged by Skulking Hawk to Assuaging Comfort's specifications. I'd heard the tale about the Medacor Sword, but didn't think it true.”
Healing Hand nodded, feeling a familial shame, his grandfather having broken the ancient proscriptions against making talismans, as well as the laws in all four Empires. By accepting and wielding this talisman, he was equally guilty of breaking the law.
“Filthy law,” Snarling Jaguar said. “I ought to repeal it. It condemns equally the person who'd use a talisman against his or her Empire, and the person who'd use it toward the betterment. A talisman is as constructive as the mind that wields it. Not to worry, Lord Hand, I've broken the law a few times myself.” The Emperor reached into his sleeve and pulled out the gold pendant that the bear had torn from Guarding Bear's neck.
Healing Hand felt better, but cautioned himself to remain discreet about the Medacor Sword. Furthermore, while the Sword was a useful, invaluable tool, all tools were crutches. He wondered if it would change the neurological structure of his brain, as the Heir and Imperial Swords did to Heirs and Emperors. He hoped his grandfather had constructed the Medacor Sword better than that.
“The siege of Seat, eh?” Snarling Jaguar said. “I understand you met an acquaintance there.”
Healing Hand laughed sardonically. “Lord Emperor, I was two feet from the Bandit, and even I thought he was Flaming Arrow!”
“No differences between the two—at all, Lord Hand?”
“None I could see, Lord.” The Wizard-Medacor's brow wrinkled. “His sword! The Sword! It had a ruby on the pommel!”
Snarling Jaguar nodded, looking at him.
“I saw it and thought nothing of it! We could have killed him then and solved all our problems! Infinite blast it, why didn't I see!”
The Emperor chuckled. “Ah, Lord Hand, be not so sure that you could have killed him, eh? I hear he's a fearsome swordfighter.”
“True, Lord Emperor. With the Sword, he's probably invincible,” Healing Hand said, shaking his head at the lost opportunity, regretting he hadn't ended all strife.
Shrugging, Snarling Jaguar asked, “Do you think Lurking Hawk killed the other boy, Lord Hand?”
“No,” he said, surprised at his own answer.
“Why not?” Snarling Jaguar asked.
“Lord Emperor, I don't know. I know, I just told you that he did. Now I'm telling you he didn't. I don't know why I said that. Have you ever felt one answer to be right, despite all contradictory evidence? What I've never understood is why he left the twins alive at all. Perhaps that's why I doubt that he killed the twin who died.”
Snarling Jaguar nodded. “Trust that feeling, Lord Hand. Somewhere inside, you know it's the right answer, eh? If he didn't kill them, he must have had an alternative far more appealing.”
“Leaving the twins debilitated?” Guarding Bear asked.
Both men jumped, not having noticed his approach.
The General turned his back to everyone in the valley. “No one will see my lips move, this way. We ought to be able to talk without anyone the wiser. The bear's hearing is most acute, Lord Emperor.” The silver chain in his hands, Guarding Bear scratched the animal's back.
“To what end, Lord Bear? Leaving the twins debilitated?”
“An Emperor without an Heir finds a way to sire one, as Flying Arrow did in siring the twins. An Emperor with an Heir—no matter what the Heir's abilities—feels satisfied with that Heir. Had Lurking Hawk killed them, Flying Arrow would have found a way to sire another.”
Healing Hand asked, “You don't think Flying Arrow arranged the death of his son so he'd have only one left, do you?”
“Absolutely,” Guarding Bear replied immediately. “All Emperors, with perhaps the exception of the Lord Jaguar's father, know the dangers of having more than one worthy Heir.”
Snarling Jaguar chuckled. “Having two eligible sons caused considerable difficulties for my father, yes. Especially because the first son didn't have an aptitude for the duties required of him. The second son took to them like a fish to water. I agree, Lord Bear, that leaving the twins alive but debilitated does seem the more prudent course for Lurking Hawk, but also seems inadequate vengeance for Flying Arrow's annihilation of the Northern Empire.”
Guarding Bear nodded. “Well, here comes my daughter, poor child.”
* * *
Wishing for more time to speak with the wily General, Snarling Jaguar looked toward the north. That fallacy, the bad assumption Healing Hand had mentioned, had felt close to the surface of consciousness, the Medacor's last question having stirred something deep inside his mind. Committing the question to memory and regretting he couldn't discuss this further with Guarding Bear, Snarling Jaguar turned to greet the approaching woman. “Lady Matriarch,” the Emperor said.
“Lord Emperor,” she said, bowing deeply. “Lord Hand, Lord Father.”
“Lady Water,” Healing Hand said, returning her nod.
Guarding Bear farted, and the bear copied him.
An idea came to Snarling Jaguar: “I wonder, Lady, if you might allow the Lord Bear to accompany me south. Perhaps a return to places familiar might bring him out of this insanity of his, eh? That way, my trainers can finish with the animal.”
She shrugged. “I don't know, Lord Emperor. Father,” she said loudly, trying to get his attention, “do you want to go with the Lord Emperor Jaguar?”
“Jaguar, Jaguar, Jaguar,” the imbecilic General said.
“All right, Father,” she said, frowning. “Follow this man. Do as he tells you.”
Guarding Bear nodded vigorously.
Sadness upon her face, she said, “Quite a pleasure to meet you, Lord Emperor Jaguar. May the peace of the Infinite be upon you, but not for a while, eh Lord?”
The sixty-seven year old smiled, liking the young woman greatly. “Thank you for your blessing, Lady Matriarch Water. Infinite be with you as well.” Snarling Jaguar bowed to her as an equal, honoring her, then nodded to Healing Hand. Snarling Jaguar walked away, Guarding Bear and the animal following him.
Twenty minutes later as Emperor and entourage crossed the border, the retired General hadn't stopped bobbing his head.
Chapter 24
I knew intuitively that the time to speak of the Sword hadn't arrived. Whatever higher being or universal force or spiritual power contrived to twist the bow and send an arrow into my conversation with the Bandit to stop me from revealing the nature of his weapon would've most certainly applied more drastic means if I'd have insisted on telling the young man immediately. Not superstitious, I still felt a shadow lift from my soul when I decided to hold my tongue.—Personal Accounts of Events before the Fall, by Keeping Track.
* * *
The mood was jubilant, the assassination attempt common knowledge.
Like prisoners granted a reprieve, the bandits played all the day long. Of the bandit nobles invited from other bands, only Leaping Elk had come. He too was reluctant to join the frolicking bandits. His sword loose in his hands, guards at his back, he wandered among the revelers, frowning.
Earlier, Leaping Elk and Seeking Sword had talked after pulling against each other on the archery range.
“Why so dour, Lord Elk?”
“It trick be, Sword Lord. Bandit vig
il relax, die when Heir not expect return,” Leaping Elk said, his eyes shifting from object to object as if expecting attack from each. Then his gaze alighted on the Sword at the Bandit's hip. He opened his mouth to speak.
Just then an arrow bounced harmlessly off Seeking Sword's ceremonial helmet. The two men looked whence it had come. A warrior ran up from the range and knelt before the Bandit. “Forgive me, Lord Sword, the bow twisted in my hands.” He held up a bow that looked like a noodle and was little more useful. Seeking Sword laughed and waved it away.
Leaping Elk had shivered with foreboding, his latent prescience stirring.
An hour later, Leaping Elk walked toward the center of the festivities, where a raised circular wooden platform stood, upon which priests of the Infinite would later mate Seeking Sword and Purring Tiger. As Leaping Elk made his way through the loose throng, it parted for him, the two warriors a pace apart and a pace behind him, his sword in hand.
Ahead, beneath a shady alder gathered a small dense crowd.
Curious, yet too cautious to lower his shields or step into the crowd, Leaping Elk waited on its fringe. A laugh rippled through the crowd, followed by whispers and glances in his direction.
First one bandit, then another stepped back. A path cleared.
Standing on toes in utmost readiness, Leaping Elk waited, not knowing what to expect.
A last bandit stepped away, revealing Purring Tiger.
Leaping Elk froze, bedazzled by the sight of her.
Remembering the stringy-haired girl wearing warrior's leathers, her stride truculent and her carriage insolent, her expression scorn and her eyes filled with ice, Leaping Elk struggled to grasp that the girl he had known was the woman before him now.
Her hair falling around her shoulders like midnight waterfall, her face full of joy and happy mischief, her eyes so warm his manhood stirred, her posture proud but without aggression, her robes matching her hair so well he could hardly tell where one ended and the other began, Purring Tiger bowed formally, correctly.
The Heir (Fall of the Swords Book 3) Page 26