"We are not sacking this city. We are leaving it intact and marching on Contara."
"Why? These are our enemies. The Contara are our allies."
"Not anymore," Kerrion retorted. "You have not been attending my meetings, have you? Verone is an upstart and a murderer. He has laid waste to half of Jashimari, and I will make him pay for that. I intend to conquer Contara, since Jashimari is no longer an option. Why do you suppose they put up no resistance? Why did I ride in here with not a single sword raised against me?"
Batian glanced at the carnage on the floor, and Kerrion snorted. "Aside from these guards, who were defending the Queen's body from what they regard as savage Cotti, and these stupid soldiers did nothing to give lie to that reputation. Blade killed most of them, anyway. But they had orders to allow me entry, just as I have entry to the throne room where the Regent waits. This kingdom is already mine, by virtue of the fact that it now belongs to my daughter."
"Your daughter!" Batian frowned. "How is that possible, Sire?"
"I will not bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, she was conceived while I was a prisoner of the Jashimari Queen."
Batian chuckled. "A fine conquest, though perhaps ill advised."
Kerrion smiled. "Minna-Satu planned this, and she has succeeded in bringing peace between our people after generations of war. I cannot make war on my daughter."
Batian turned away, looking thoughtful. "Many will be unhappy with this arrangement, Kerrion. There will be those who will say she is just a girl, and cannot rule a country. A great many will demand that she be brought to the desert and raised as your daughter should be."
"She is not just my daughter. She is the Jashimari Queen, and she must be raised here as her mother would wish. Those who love war so much will have to be satisfied with conquering Contara. I have a firm enough grasp on power now to deal with those who would turn against me, I think."
Batian threw up his hands. "I am with you. But expect trouble."
"I will, and I have planned for that, too."
A knock at the door made them swing around. An officer stood in the doorway, a group of soldiers behind him. "Sire, we've found the throne room, and the litters have arrived."
Kerrion beckoned to the men who hovered outside, four of whom entered, bearing two litters. Kerrion scooped up the Queen and placed her on a litter, then took the folded shroud and covered her. Two soldiers lifted Blade onto the second litter and covered him as well. Kerrion turned to the officer in charge of the men.
"Take them to the camp and place them in my carriage. Take a troop of men to guard them, and do not allow anyone to lift the shrouds, understand?"
The officer bowed and turned to accompany the litters as they were carried out. Kerrion faced Lord Batian again.
"It is time I met my daughter."
The King followed one of the soldiers through the palace, marching along corridors lined with golden pillars and hangings woven from the wool of rare antelope and embroidered with gold thread. He glanced through open doors into vast rooms filled with furniture crafted from rare woods and carpeted with rugs woven from wool dyed in brilliant colours. The profusion of wood delighted the desert dwellers, for to cut down a tree in an oasis was a crime punishable by death. Here wood was used for many things, while in Cotti it was reserved only for a few treasured items of furniture or carvings and picture frames. Only the king and a few wealthy lords could afford the luxury of wooden doors. The rest made do with curtains or woven reeds.
Batian admired the scenery as they walked, commenting on Jashimari's riches, now theirs to plunder. Kerrion shot him a wry look, pointing out that whatever Jashimari had to offer now belonged to his daughter, and trade would be established between the realms. Batian, a war veteran and seasoned warrior, shook his head in gentle reproof at his King's soft-hearted approach to what he considered to be a conquered land.
They arrived outside the throne room's massive golden doors, where a group of Cotti soldiers stood, looking sour. Ten stern-faced Jashimari officers clad in golden armour and black tabards, their helms crested with white plumes, guarded the door with drawn swords. At Kerrion's approach one stepped forward and raised his sword in challenge.
"None may enter the throne room save King Kerrion, by the order of Queen Minna-Satu."
"I am Kerrion," the Cotti King replied.
The officer stepped back and lowered his sword, and two others pulled open the doors. Kerrion walked forward with Batian beside him, but when his soldiers followed, the Jashimari guards stepped into their path. One pressed a blade to Batian's neck, and the Cotti soldiers reached for their weapons.
Kerrion swung around. "Hold!" His men released their swords, glaring at the Jashimari guards. "You men wait outside."
One of his officers protested, "Sire, it could be a trap!"
Kerrion looked at the Jashimari officers, recognising Captain Redgard amongst them. "It is not a trap, is it, Captain Redgard?"
"No, King Kerrion, it is not. Only the Queen, her Regent and handmaidens wait within."
"Allow My Lord Batian to accompany me."
Captain Redgard glanced at Batian. "If he relinquishes his sword."
Kerrion nodded to Batian, who unbuckled his weapon and handed it to the Cotti officer. The Jashimari guards stepped back, and Redgard sheathed his sword and marched ahead of the Cotti King. Passing the pillars that lined the walls and obscured the view of the throne, he stopped in the centre of the room.
"Regent, King Kerrion and Lord Batian are here."
Kerrion walked past the pillars and turned to gaze at the group of women around the throne. They sat on piles of cushions, clad in flowing gowns of drab mourning grey. All possessed red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks. One rose as he approached them, a slender woman with bright chestnut hair and soft grey eyes, who cradled a dove in her hands. She stood beside the empty throne and waited for him to arrive at the bottom of the three shallow steps that led up to it, then stepped forward.
"King Kerrion, I am Regent Chiana."
Kerrion nodded. "I remember you. You used to be the Queen's chief advisor."
"That is correct."
"All this is unnecessary." He waved at the doors. "My men would not have harmed you."
"The Queen must be protected."
"She was never in any danger. We are not savages." He stepped closer. "I would like to see my daughter."
Chiana turned to a girl behind the throne, and the handmaiden came forward carrying a silk-swaddled bundle. She descended the steps and stopped before him, pulling back the edges of the wrappings to reveal a tiny pink face nestled against the cloth. Kerrion leant forward to study the visage with its button nose and rosebud mouth. Dark lashes fanned her cheeks and a shock of golden hair curled around her head.
He held out his arms. "Let me hold her."
The handmaiden glanced at Chiana, who nodded. She handed over the infant Queen, and Kerrion held his daughter. Cradling her against the gold-ornamented steel of his armoured chest, Kerrion turned to Lord Batian.
"My daughter."
Batian peered at the child. "She looks like a Cotti. I have never heard of a blonde Jashimari."
Kerrion stroked his daughter's cheek, and she opened her eyes, yawning. "She is my daughter, I do not doubt it." He turned to Chiana. "What is her name?"
"Queen Kerra-Manu."
"Kerra." The King rocked her, evincing a toothless smile, and he returned it, blinking. "My first-born daughter. My little Queen. How I wish your mother could be with us now."
Chiana clutched the dove to her breast, clearly struggling to keep her face expressionless. "You have seen her?"
"I have just come from there." He glanced at her, noting the despair in her eyes. "She is at peace."
Chiana bowed her head, and several handmaidens wept. The Regent swung on them. "Silence!"
They subsided, and she faced Kerrion again, who asked, "How long are they going to keep ringing that damned bell?"
"Three
days, until the Queen's mother ceases to breathe."
"Is that all she is now, the Queen's mother?"
"She is the Elder Queen, but she is dead to us."
Kerrion snorted. "A barbaric custom. And you call Cotti savages."
"Are you going to honour your daughter's legacy?"
"Your former Queen was far wiser than you, Chiana, if you have to ask that question. Even your husband asked it, but I expected it from him. He hates and distrusts the Cotti, with good reason. Yes, I intend to honour my daughter's legacy. I shall withdraw from Jashimari lands just as soon as I have driven the Contara from my daughter's kingdom. However, I will leave some of my people here, some advisors to help you with your decisions and a company of men to guard my daughter."
Chiana raised her chin. "That is not acceptable. The advisors, yes, but no soldiers. The Queen is quite safe here."
"You realise that if anything happens to this child, the war between our realms will start again."
"I know that. No one will harm the Queen."
Kerrion's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. "Very well. In ten years' time, I will send tutors to teach her the ways of the Cotti, our history and customs. I shall visit her each year to ensure that she is happy and well cared for. I would also like her to visit my city and see the desert, but I know that Jashimari Queens do not leave the palace."
"Perhaps some arrangement could be made."
"Good." Kerrion rocked Kerra, who gurgled and waved her arms. "I will be sending envoys to negotiate trade agreements, and I shall expect them to be treated well. I shall also expect your arms' merchants to provide weapons and armour for my men, which you will pay for. Whatever armies you have left will help to oust the Contara, after which you may do with them as you please. Until Kerra is old enough to rule, you will inform me of all your major decisions, and I will tell you whether or not I agree with them."
"Traditionally, the Queen's father has no power in Jashimari," Chiana pointed out.
"Traditionally, the Queen's father is not the Cotti King."
"Indeed. Very well. I agree."
"You have little choice. At this moment Jashimari is mine, and I am giving it to my daughter only because she is my child. I do not have to. And for chasing the Contara from her lands, I shall expect a yearly stipend to be paid in goods, the value of which I will work out later, until she is of age. In return your people will remain free, and Jashimari will enjoy the protection of Cotti."
Chiana turned a little paler, and her lips compressed in a grim line. "Next you will be choosing her consort."
"Husband. My daughter will marry, and she will raise a family. Her eldest daughter will inherit when Kerra is fifty years old, at which time she will abdicate, not kill herself. But she will choose her husband."
"You are flouting ancient Jashimari traditions. Next you will demand that her husband rule as King and make her choose from Cotti warlords."
"No." Kerrion shook his head. "I am not being unreasonable. Her husband will have no power, just some fancy title. As for your traditions, they are barbaric. I will not have my daughter taking the damned Queen's Cup."
"May I suggest that you argue that point with your daughter when she is older."
Kerrion smiled, tickling Kerra's cheek. "I am sure she will agree."
"Anything else?"
"Yes. You will show me proper respect in the future. You will bow as you would to your queen and you will call me 'Sire'."
"Will your daughter have to do this as well?"
"No." He frowned at her, annoyed. "You are only the Regent. Kerra is the Queen and my equal in rank, but you will never be, understand?"
"Yes." She lowered her gaze to the grey dove she cradled.
"Good." He bent and kissed his daughter's forehead, making her gurgle. Smiling at her, he turned to the handmaiden, who stepped forward to take the child.
"One more thing," he said. "My army will occupy this city until that damned bell stops ringing, and no one will enter the room where Minna-Satu and Blade lie."
Chiana's head jerked up. "The Elder Queen is in state. Her people must be allowed to pay their last respects."
"No. In this I will not be swayed, and I will place guards at the doors to ensure it. Let her people pay their respects outside. They are doing it in the city now anyway."
Chiana blinked. "How did Lord Conash... meet his end?"
"He took the Cup."
The Regent bowed her head, hiding her expression as he turned away and marched to the doors, re-joining his men outside. The Jashimari guards closed the portal behind them, and Kerrion led the way back to the courtyard where his war stallion waited. He issued orders to the officers, then spurred his steed through the gates and into the city, a troop of men surrounding him.
In the big tent that had been erected for him in his camp outside the city, Kerrion called a meeting of his lords, advisors and senior officers. In a succinct speech, he explained the situation, claiming a victory to soothe their pride. His daughter was now the Jashimari Queen, and through her he would rule Jashimari. Most of his advisors seemed delighted with the news, and some of his lords smiled and nodded, but many of the officers looked unhappy until he told them that they would be invading Contara, thus conquering two kingdoms.
Kerrion sensed undercurrents of dissatisfaction, but he had expected that, and tried to spot the dissenters amongst his lords. Batian vouched for the Cotti appearance of the Jashimari Queen, and Kerrion explained her conception, omitting his reluctance, which brought delighted growls from the men. He went on to recite the terms he had dictated to the Jashimari Regent, which mollified them further. When he sent them on their way, he was satisfied that he had most of their support.
As soon as the meeting was over, he went to the carriage where Minna and Blade lay. Pulling off the Queen's shroud, he sat beside her and took her hand, its warmth and her soft, shallow breaths reassuring him that she still lived. With a sigh of relief, he dug inside his jacket and pulled out the small pottery flask he had carried with him for the last three tendays. He gazed at it, remembering his strange encounter with the gentle-eyed old man who lived in a cave.
Shamsara had been expecting him, it seemed, for he was not surprised when the Cotti King appeared outside his cave, red-faced and panting from the steep climb. Over a strange, meagre lunch of crushed leaves and herbs, Kerrion had explained his dilemma and begged for a way to save Minna-Satu.
Shamsara regarded him with sad eyes. "She has done it then? She is having your child?"
Kerrion nodded. The Idol of the Beasts sighed and shook his head. "Changing the future is a terrible thing, and now you want to change it again."
"Yes, I do."
"You cannot stop her from taking the Cup."
"Is it her fate?"
"No." The old man pondered. "My prediction changed her fate. You just cannot get there in time. She will take it as soon as they see you coming."
"But is there a way to save her?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"The antidote to the Queen's Cup, of course," Shamsara replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I did not know there was one."
"No one does, except me. But you must have suspected that there was, otherwise why did you come?"
"I hoped, is all. So what is it?" Kerrion asked. "And where can I get it?"
"You can get it right here. It is my blood."
Kerrion stared at the old man, astounded. "Your blood?"
Shamsara glanced around. "Is there an echo in here? Yes, that is what I said. But it will change the future of the whole world if I give it to you." A yellow viper coiled into his lap, its forked black tongue flickering as it tasted the air.
"How?"
Shamsara stroked the snake's scales with a finger. "I have lived for eight centuries, Kerrion, and I am destined to live for two more. If I spill my blood to save the Jashimari Queen, I will start to die. It will take a long time, perhaps another hundred and fifty
years, but it will cut short my existence by fifty years or more. Each Idol lives for an era, a thousand years. This will bring the dawning of the new Age sooner. The next Idol will be born before I die, and I fear that she will be an Idol of the Elements."
"What does that mean for the world?"
"Well, it changes many things. There are three Ages; of Plants, of Beasts, and of the Elements. The Age of Plants is an innocuous one. People discover the power to control certain growing things, just as they now bond with certain beasts, like your desert eagle. The Age of Elementals is always tumultuous, however, for then people gain control over certain elements, fire, water, air or earth. It is an Age of magic and sorcery, of good and bad mages with different powers. It is very exciting, of course, but that is what will happen if I save Minna-Satu."
"But it is going to happen anyway, is it not?" Kerrion enquired.
"Yes. It just brings it about sooner."
"And what harm can that do?"
Shamsara looked down at the deadly viper curled in his lap. "It upsets the rhythm of the Ages. At the beginning of each Age, people are still attuned to the last one. When I was young, people were shy and peaceful, and had a strong love for the forests and plants. Your people almost worshipped trees, and your oases were formed during the Age of Plants, when men had the power to grow trees in the desert.
"Because of their gentle natures, when the new Age dawned they bonded with harmless familiars such as deer, birds and butterflies. But with each generation they grew bolder and more aggressive, and started to form bonds with the predators.
"Then the war started, and that made them even more inclined to bond with dangerous animals. I had hoped that they would have a long enough time of peace to forget their warlike inclinations and become gentler before the Age of Elements arrived, but if I give you the antidote, they will only have a hundred and fifty years."
"So what will happen?"
The Idol of the Beasts shrugged. "It means that bold, aggressive people will be born with power over the elements, a dangerous combination. The Idol of the Elements will have plenty of work preventing them from tearing the world apart. With each Age, the duties of the Idols are different.
The Queen's Blade II - Sacrifice Page 20