by Devin Madson
‘And yet you betray me.’
The words shot out like a slap, catching me off guard. It wasn’t a question – he knew. My hand shook as I took up my pieces. He probably wouldn’t notice, but it was worse that I did. The shield was cracking.
‘One must surmise that you have been talking to Lady Hana,’ I said, eyes on the board while I set my pieces in place.
‘And why is that?’
‘She has a way of leaving people fuming.’
‘Is it inconceivable that I am angry with you, Darius? I trusted you. I told you what would happen if I ever stopped trusting you. Do you remember?’
‘Very well, Majesty. Once you promised to behead me, but on another occasion you assured me that I would be cut into a thousand pieces and scattered to the winds.’
A smile twitched the corners of his lips, but he repressed it so severely I knew there was no getting out of this. My impudence might save my head if I was very lucky indeed, but there was no going back.
With the board ready our eyes met. In the third and deciding round of any Errant game, the pieces were placed at random. The king could be anywhere. It added an element of chance, the winner the one who created the best lines, using the opponent to their advantage.
‘Do you know how to tell the truth, Laroth?’ Kin asked, his fingers pinching the first piece in readiness.
‘Yes, Majesty.’
‘Then I will make a deal with you. I want honesty for every piece of yours I turn. Answers may yet encourage me to be lenient. Shall we play?’
I wanted to laugh at the simplicity of his suggestion. Was it really such an easy thing for other men? Honesty. Openness. They were things I had to avoid, knowing well the chinks they found in my armour. I had long ago learned to become the mask. I could not wear my heart on my sleeve and pretend I did not. I had to not have one at all. And if I let it go, after all this time? Had I changed enough?
‘Yes, Majesty.’
‘Swear on your name. I would ask you to swear on your oath, but you’ve broken that. But Laroths, Laroths care about their name. I sometimes wonder if it is the only thing you do care about.’
‘As you wish.’ I touched a finger to my left cheek. ‘I, Darius Laroth,’ I began. ‘In the presence of my emperor, do swear on my honour and my name to speak the truth for the duration of this game. But not a second longer.’
Again I thought I saw a smile, but perhaps it was just hope.
Kin nodded, and making no further acknowledgement, began to play. He moved a piece and I mirrored, considering my strategy. I could play into his hands and let him ask his questions, but he would want to fight for them, to know they were true. I would have to protect my pieces and make a play for his. I would have to act as though inside I was not breaking.
We played in silence, the dull, muted sounds of the palace all that dared disturb our game. Heavy footsteps passed in the passage, doors slid closed and distant voices droned. The teapot chilled at my elbow, its sweet smell fading.
The first question came too soon. Kin took two of my pieces. I watched him turn them over, black for red, neither the king that would have released me from hell.
‘How long have you known Lady Hana Otako?’
‘Since I was ten years old,’ was my reply, lips dry, each word easy to speak though the whole was hard. They were just words, but I knew there was no lie, no protection from vulnerability. ‘She was just a baby.’
‘How did she escape alive?’
‘My father saved her. I don’t know how. He never told me.’
Kin gave a curt little nod and we played on. I felt cold despite the squares of hot sunlight pooling on the floor. By a turn of skill I managed to regain a piece, but dared not demand a prize in return. His mood was too uncertain for that.
‘Why didn’t you tell me she was alive?’ he asked, turning another piece. He seemed to have no interest in reaching the Gate, instead pushing all his pieces to conquer mine.
‘“I swear on the bones of my forebears”,’ I said. ‘“On my name and my honour, that I will do all in my power to protect you from harm. I will mind not pain. I will mind not suffering. I will give every last ounce of my strength. I will give every last ounce of my intellect. I will die in service to you if the gods so will it. I will renounce every honour. I will give every coin. I will be as nothing and no one in service to you”.’
‘The Imperial Pledge with a few additions.’
It wasn’t a question, but I nodded. ‘My father wanted to be sure. He wrote it out for me and I spoke it to a sleeping child. I couldn’t take a risk with her life.’
Was that pity that crossed his face? I wanted to know for sure, but dared not tread that ground.
Kin had returned to the game, his brow creased. I had to finish this before he had my soul laid bare upon the table. There were many routes to his Gate, but the deeper I pressed into his territory the more pieces I sacrificed to his hunger for knowledge.
‘What do you know of Katashi’s plans?’
‘Nothing. I have never met him.’
‘Did you know Lady Hana was masquerading as Regent?’
‘Not until it was too late. I hadn’t seen her for five years. I thought she was in the country.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me as soon as she was caught?’
‘I needed time to think. I had to be sure she would be safe.’
Kin nodded. Then: ‘What did you do to my guards?’
I hesitated. I hadn’t expected that question. The words sat on my tongue, their poison insidious after so many years of pretence. I had sworn honesty, but the moment I framed the truth I knew I could not speak it, could not explain without destroying everything I had worked for.
‘A compound produced from seaweed, Majesty,’ I said, appalled at the ease with which the lie came, destroying my honour in a single sentence. ‘They will be well again soon, I assure you.’
‘I’m glad to hear it.’
Wanting nothing more than for the game to be over, I clustered my remaining pieces. Kin’s were spread out, no strategy in their pattern. A few turns could get me to the corner, but I would have to take his pieces, risking more questions.
I moved a piece, turning his. Its underside was plain black. I could hardly remember what the white crown looked like, and was beginning to doubt it existed at all.
Kin grasped a piece, looking up at me through thin lashes. His options were clear, would be to even the poorest intellect. He could make a play for the Gate, or convert a whole string of my men. I held my breath, my heart hammering as I waited for the axe to fall. He lifted the piece and held it hovering over the board. Then, with a muted click, he lowered it.
Toward the Gate.
I let out a long breath, hating his mercy as much as his questions. It meant he knew how hard this was for me and I wanted to hate him, wanted to feel as sure about the world as Hana did.
I made my move. The end was in sight. He could not convert my lone attacker and could do nothing to break the string that led all the way to his gate. His only choice was to make a throw-away move, or turn one last piece.
He took the question. Turning my piece, black for red, Kin folded his arms on the edge of the table. ‘Why did you enter my service?’
Was this the question I had dreaded most? There were so many answers, so many explanations, but they clogged my mind and I could not speak. I could remember the fire, Malice laughing, and the way my father had looked at me with such hatred. And then the storm had come.
I met Kin’s gaze. I wouldn’t lie again, but neither would I give details where none were requested. I would not let him win.
‘To escape,’ I said.
He hadn’t expected that and he gave himself away. His lips parted as though he would speak, but I gave him no chance. I took my final piece and leapt it along his string to the Gate.
/> The game was over.
Kin sat back and the room came into focus. The pot of tea still sat upon its tray, steam no longer issuing from its spout. At the desk in the corner the secretary’s unfinished work lay scattered, his brush discarded with ink drying upon its bristles. I could smell the oil Kin used in his hair and the faint traces of wood smoke seeping up from the kitchens. It all seemed more real, louder, brighter than it had before.
Kin let out a sigh. ‘You are an unusual man, Darius,’ he said.
‘I wouldn’t want to be the same as everyone else, Majesty.’
‘I don’t know whether to like you, hate you, or pity you.’
‘I don’t want your pity.’
‘That doesn’t leave me with many options.’
‘Nor me, Majesty.’
The muscles around his jaw tightened, as they always did when he was thinking. ‘Anyone else would advise me that you are too dangerous to keep alive. Whatever it is exactly that everyone fears about you would see your head upon the block. And yet you are a man of your word and no one ever worked as hard in my service as you.’
Kin sighed again and splayed his fingers upon the table. ‘I will not relieve you of your oath. You may do no harm to me, and I will do no harm to you. Perhaps I am a fool, but I cannot and will not see you destroyed.’
I could not thank him. I just sat waiting, almost wishing he had signed for my execution and had done.
‘You will leave Mei’lian,’ he said. ‘General Jikuko has sent word from Ji. The situation is getting worse. The trouble is spreading. Tomorrow I travel to Koi to take my oath, with or without the Hian Crown. It is too dangerous to travel with the full court, but I will take half of the Council, General Ryoji, and Lady Hana.’
He paused then, almost as though waiting for my permission. But she was not my prisoner.
‘If you join Katashi,’ he went on, ‘you make yourself my enemy and you will not be spared again, but if you go back home and make me no trouble, you may live out your life in whatever way you wish. I no longer require your services.’
The day I had found the strength to live as I wished I had travelled to Mei’lian and sworn an oath to Emperor Kin. And now he needed me more than ever. If Katashi had the crown then Kin was walking into a trap and he knew it. But even worse, what he did not know, the truth I still could not bring myself to set in words: Malice and Takehiko Otako. Even without the Otako name, an Empath was dangerous. Two of them together more dangerous still.
War was coming. General Kin had dealt with many wars, but Emperor Kin had not. He was too close to his empire now, loved it too much, and that would be his greatest failing.
But what could I say? I would not plead, and even if I did he would not listen. Only marriage to Hana could shield him against the coming storm.
‘What will happen to Hana?’ I asked.
‘She will travel with me to Koi, either as my wife or my hostage, whichever suits her best.’
There was hope there and a strange look in his eyes. No doubt then they had spoken, and things had not gone so very ill. But it was impossible to forget how she had glowed in speaking her cousin’s name.
‘And Katashi Otako? Do you seek a meeting with him before this comes to war?’
Kin looked a little surprised. ‘You know me so well.’
‘He will not talk,’ I said.
‘And you know Katashi Otako so well?’
I shook my head. ‘No, Majesty, but you have always said he is like his father. You called him honourless, and so he may be, but I think you are mistaken as to what he wants.’
‘The throne. What else?’
‘Vengeance. For the death of his father and the insult to his family. What I see are not the actions of a man determined to take back the Crimson Throne, but a man so consumed by his need for revenge that he will do anything, anything, to see you suffer.’
‘A pleasant thought, though you may have a point. You’ve always had a skill for reading people, Darius. Perhaps there is one last service you can render me before I relieve you of your position.’
‘Anything, Majesty.’
His smile twisted bitterly. ‘You will fast make me wish we had never had this conversation, but I need full and undivided loyalty, and that you cannot give me. But you can earn my forgiveness. Come north with me to Koi and meet Katashi Otako by my side. I want to know everything I can about him, as much as he knows about me. Will you do this?’
‘Yes, Majesty.’
Kin rose from his place at the table, assuming his full height. There seemed little else to say, but he stood his ground, hands clasped tightly. ‘Your ward,’ he said, ‘Lady Hana. She will have none of me. She is a particularly childish young woman.’
‘I am aware, Majesty,’ I said, unable to suppress a smile. Almost, it was as though nothing had changed. We were not quite friends, yet more than just an emperor and his minister. Neither of us was good at friends. ‘I beg you will not ask me to persuade her. I assure you, she detests me quite as much as she detests you.’
He seemed to feel the same awkwardness in our situation, the same bitterness as I, and pressed his own smile flat between his lips. ‘And yet you are caught in her service, held fast by your own words, your own choice.’ Kin walked to the door, but lingering with his hand upon the frame, he said: ‘My poor Darius,’ and was gone.
Chapter 14
Hope was watching. Hope was always watching. I was not allowed out of his sight.
Prince Takehiko Otako. The shock had held me motionless for a full minute, staring into Malice’s laughing eyes. It had been on my lips to refute such a ridiculous suggestion, but the words had died without form. Jian had wanted me to know. He had always known. Kokoro had known. And from the moment Lord Laroth entered my prison he, too, had known. He had known and he had condemned me anyway, seen me branded a traitor in my homeland.
I gripped the edge of the running board. Beneath my dangling feet the lantern-lit road disappeared, snatches of grass visible between the stones. A team of black horses drew the wagon on, their sweating coats gleaming in the moonlight. Ahead of them, a covered lantern swung ponderously from the back of Katashi’s cart. I couldn’t see the rebel leader, but I knew he was there, wisps of his great aura drifting back to me.
‘Has the message come?’
Avarice was sitting on the box holding the reins in his competent hands. I had spent the first night up beside him, watching him handle his skittish team, but unlike Jian, the man barely spoke at all – grunts and monosyllables his standard fare.
‘Not yet,’ Hope said from his seat wedged in front of the closed door. He was never far away. Whether I was stretching my legs or ducking into the trees to piss, he was always there, barely out of earshot and never out of sight. He might not have been in Malice’s confidence, but I was beginning to resent his constant presence.
Koi was our destination. And while we travelled there via little-used roads and dirt tracks, Emperor Kin made the journey along the Willow Road, Kisia’s busiest highway. Lord Laroth was with him, along with half his court. That was all we knew for sure, although other rumours buzzed about the countryside. They said that Emperor Kin planned to abolish the avowal ritual. They said the Hian Crown had been stolen. They said the Monstrous Laroth had sucked out the emperor’s soul and was wearing him as a skin.
I leant back, lulled by the movement of the wagon. Both the Vices and the Pikes preferred to travel at night, but adjusting to their nocturnal habits wasn’t easy. I spent the days lying awake and the nights fighting drooping eyes.
The wagon slowed as we caught up to the cart ahead. Katashi was sitting on its backboard, Hatsukoi watching over him like an ever-present sentinel. ‘He’s your cousin,’ Malice had said, liking the effect his words had on me. ‘His father was executed for ordering the assassination of yours. Was it true? That is a matter of opinion.’
>
There was no love between Pike and Vice, and the tension had become prickly. We had the same destination, but that could not be the only reason we travelled together. There was something yet left unspoken.
‘He’s signing.’
Avarice’s growl brought me out of my half-doze. Katashi had lifted his hands and was moving them with something like slow sarcasm, from one shape to the next.
‘What does he say?’ Hope stretched his neck to see.
‘No doubt the same thing he says every night,’ Avarice said. ‘Turn off ahead.’
‘And if it isn’t?’
Hope got to his feet. Katashi had only deigned to teach the Vices a few necessary words of his strange sign language, but since he made the signs slowly it was easy enough for a novice to guess the rest.
‘He says it’s five miles until the turn off. There’s a river he wants us to follow.’
‘Five miles?’ Avarice growled. ‘It will be getting light by then.’
Avarice was right. By the time we reached the river a pale, pre-dawn glow touched the horizon. Hope’s hand hovered over the hilt of his sickle. It had been days since we last saw a dawn patrol, but he was still on edge. Katashi was not so troubled. This was Otako territory.
The cart ahead slowed.
Avarice tightened his grip on the reins and his horses slackened their pace. Katashi’s cart began to turn. It banked steeply as one wheel left the road, followed by the rest, and I caught a glimpse of men beneath the canvas cover, huddled like animals in the dark.
We followed, the wagon lurching off the road. I gripped the rail. Onion grass brushed my dangling feet, its sharp reek upon the air.
Our pace slowed. Ahead of us, Katashi’s cart pushed through the thick grass, squeezing between a stand of cedars and a thread of water more mountain brook than river. On the opposite bank the ground rose steeply, the tip of the hill disappearing in a mass of pale bamboo.
It was slow going. Avarice had to focus on navigating the narrow pass. At one point low branches scraped the wagon’s roof, but while someone else might question his skill with the reins, I had watched Jian drive long enough to know it had been that or tip into the brook.