Empire - 03 - Mistress Of The Empire

by Raymond E. Feist

  Hokanu steered her across the threshold with hands that by some miracle did not tremble. He did not pause to object that such a call to arms must certainly draw reaction from the Assembly, but in a stony voice said, 'Incomo, see to this. Send our fastest messengers, and ones who are loyal enough to give their lives in this service.' To Mara he added, 'In your absence, I have set up relays of messengers to pass between here and the Shinzawai estates. Arakasi helped, though he did not approve of the project. It was done in haste, and requires much manpower, but precaution was needed to see our dispatches through without delays. My cousin Devacai has caused difficulties enough that he might as well be acting as one of Jiro's allies.'

  As Incomo hurried off, his spindly legs pumping beneath the flapping hem of his adviser's robe, Mara waved for Lujan and Saric to stay and give counsel. Spotting Kamlio looking lost as she trailed in their wake, Mara indicated that the girl should follow also.

  Then her mind returned to the trouble at hand as Hokanu added, 'Our supporters will be brought to the field in swift order. For a while we may be able to hide some of our troops under the banners of our allies, but that won't suffice for long. Gods smile on our cause, and send chaos and dust to confuse the eyes of the Great Ones! It will be a relief to see an end to this inactivity at last!' His eyes narrowed. 'The Anasati have too long avoided Shinzawai revenge for ordering my father's assassination.' Then, he paused, and spun Mara into the longer embrace he had withheld in the public view of the docks. 'My dear, what a terrible homecoming. You left on your journey to Thuril to avert the ugliness of war, and now you return to find the Game of the Council causing bloodshed once again.' He gazed down at her face and waited, tactfully not inquiring about the success of her mission.

  Mara caught the drift of his unspoken questions, among them a wonderment that she no longer seemed to hold his mishandling of Kasuma's birth against him. Her near-brush with death had reordered her priorities. As if all the world had not thrust pending disaster upon their combined house, she murmured answer to the matter that lay closest to her heart. 'I have been told of a certain fact you should have revealed to me, and at once.' Her lips curved in a sad little smile, 'I know I can have no more children. Let that not be an impediment to your begetting the son you desire.'

  Hokanu's brows arose in protest, first, that she seemed to receive such news with equanimity, and second, because the greater significance of her journey had been ignored by her. But before he could speak, Mara added, 'Husband, I have been shown wonders. But we must speak of them later and in private.' She stroked his cheek, and kissed him, and then, still loving the sight of him, she demanded without averting her eyes, 'Has Arakasi sent any messages?'

  'A dozen since you have left, but nothing since yesterday. Not yet, anyway.' Hokanu's hands firmed around her waist, as if he feared she might draw away as the exigencies of Ruling Lady stole her attention.

  To Saric, Mara commanded, 'Send word through the network that I want Arakasi back here as soon as possible.'

  Mara turned to see Kamlio standing with a look both fearful and determined. Whatever she had said to Mara in the distant mountains of Thuril about dealing with the Spy Master now vanished with the realisation that he would soon be here. The former courtesan saw Mara's eyes upon her, and she threw herself prone on the floor in the lowliest obeisance of a slave. 'Lady, I will not displease you.'

  'Then do not distress Arakasi at this time,' the Lady replied. 'For all of our lives may come to depend upon him. Rise.' Kamlio obeyed and Mara said more kindly, 'Go and refresh yourself. Gods know, we have endured a harsh journey, and there will be little enough time to rest in the days to come.' As the girl crept away, Mara said briskly to Lujan, 'Help Irrilandi finish deploying our warriors, and when they are away to their mustering point — ' Here she paused and asked of her husband, 'Which mustering point did you designate?'

  Hokanu gave her a half-smile in which anxiety outweighed amusement. 'We gather on the riverbanks at the edge of the estate, on the assumption that Jiro will float his main army down the Gagajin. The Assembly cannot fault us for defying any edict if we maneuver within our own borders. Under clan colors, Shinzawai forces will march toward Kentosani from the north, and a mixed garrison of Tuscalora and Acoma forces split off from your estate near Sulan-Qu will march by road to intercept any companies of traditionalist allies, or Anasati troops that take the slow route overland.'

  Mara speculated, 'Jiro would have prepared for this day.'

  Lujan expanded her thought. 'The siege engines? Do you think he has them hidden in the forests south of the Holy City?'

  'South or north,' said Hokanu. 'Arakasi reports that the location of the Anasati engineers is a closely kept secret. Several of the messages he sent in your absence mention their being dismantled and shipped via circuitous routes to points unknown. He also wrote that the saboteurs we sent in with the toy maker's plans have reported back only once. By the code, we can assume all is well, and that they are in place with the siege engines. But their location has been effectively guarded.'

  'I would have hidden troops away also, were I in Jiro's place,' Mara mused, then finished her last orders to Lujan before dismissal. 'I want conference with you and Irrilandi before the last boat leaves the docks. We do not know any of Jiro's plan of deployment?' She read the negative on Hokanu's face, and knew that they shared the same thoughts that Arakasi's fears might be realised and that Chumaka's spy network had evolved to surpass the Acoma's. How else could such massive engines be moved without observation? Mara went on, 'We can only guess, and design our campaign to match all contingencies.'

  While the Acoma Force Commander saluted and hurried out, Hokanu looked upon his wife in fond exasperation. 'My brave commander of armies, do you think we have been idle during your absence?' And he drew her through the archway into the scriptorium, where cushions were clustered for a council meeting, and a sand table now replaced the copy desks. There, shaped of clay, was a replica of Szetac Province, complete with the arrays of pins and markers that a tactician would use to represent companies of warriors in the field.

  Mara glanced over it. Her body took on a rigid set, and her face became stamped with purpose. 'What I see is a defensive deployment.'

  Her gaze traveled from the sand table and lingered on Saric, her last adviser still present. She ended with an entreaty directed toward her husband. 'What we sought to prevent, an all-powerful Warlord, has brought us to a worse pass: there is no High Council to ratify the girl Jehilia's blood right of ascension to the throne as Empress. Unless the Assembly itself intervenes, Justin is caught between the jaws of a coup as a legal claimant; as such, he is a dead puppet, or a sharp weapon that any dissident contingent can use as an excuse to rip this land asunder in civil war. Bereft of the council, we cannot appoint a regent to bind the government to stability until the rational solution of marriage can reinstate a new Emperor of the line. Even if we had enough loyal supporters in the Imperial Precinct to seize control and reconvene the council, we would have deadlock and bickering and murder to make the Night of the Bloody Swords look like a practice match between companies of green recruits. The violence would continue until one house emerged strong enough to force support to favor his cause.'

  Saric looked grim. 'Which cause, mistress? After Ichindar's boldness in seizing absolute rule, what Lord's ambition would be sated with the restoration of the Warlord's title?'

  'You do see.' Mara's words were crisp. 'A ratification will not happen. Even with all of our backing, can you imagine a girl of twelve ruling? With Ichindar's pampered First Wife as regent? If Lord Kamatsu were still alive as Imperial Chancellor, perhaps, with our resolve, we might see a woman where now there is a girl. But if I read your comments aright, Hokanu, Kanazawai Clan support has fragmented under pressure from your rivals and discontented cousins. You hold the office, but not yet the unified clan that your father had forged. Possibly Hoppara of the Xacatecas would stand forth as our ally, but Frasai of the Tonmargu is still Imperi
al Overlord. Feeble old man that he is, he still commands Hoppara's office, and as clan brother to Jiro, if chaos breaks loose I doubt he can hold out for a stalwart and independent course. No, a new council could not stem the bloodshed now. Instead, the first Lord who can take control of the palace will force the priests to place Jehilia upon the throne, then take her to wife and see himself anointed Emperor.'

  Saric concluded, as always, with another question. 'You believe that Jiro was behind the Omechan assassination of the Emperor?'

  But his words went unheard. Hokanu was staring into the deep eyes of his wife in something close to outright horror. He said very quietly, his voice edged with menace, or a note of great pain, 'You are not thinking of defenses, Lady. You will not be calling out our troops to join with the Imperial Whites against the storm that must soon beset Kentosani?'

  'No,' Mara admitted into an icy quiet. 'I will not. If I get to the Holy City first, I mean to attack.'

  'Justin?' Saric's voice held a high note of awe. 'You would set your son on the throne as Jehilia's husband?'

  Mara spun around fast as a cornered beast. 'And why not?' Her whole body quivered with stressed nerves. 'He is a lawful contender for the divine office of Emperor.' Then, into the shocked stillness that followed, she cried out in heart-wrung appeal, 'Don't you see? Don't any of you see at all? He's just a little boy, and it's the only possible way to save his life!'

  Saric's mind had always been nimble. He was the first to sort the ramifications, and see past Mara's wounding fear. To a stiff-faced Hokanu, he added with no trace of his customary tact, 'She's right. Justin alive would pose a threat to any outside faction who took the girl and forced wedlock. No matter how strong the self-styled Emperor's army, he would draw his enemies to the throne with him. No point of law would be overlooked, and Mara's popularity as Servant must force recognition of Justin's adoptive blood tie. Dissidents would seize upon Justin's cause as a rallying cry, whether we willed it or no. Others might be willing to kill us all to win the opportunity to put the boy on the throne as their puppet.'

  'Civil war.' Mara sighed, sounding wrung to her very core. 'If Jiro or any other Lord gains the crown, we would have no Emperor, no revered Light of Heaven, but only a more glorified Warlord. It would be a merging of the worst of both offices, when we would hope to wed the best.'

  Hokanu moved suddenly. He caught her shoulders, turned her face into his chest in time to conceal her dissolution into tears, then stroked her in sad gentleness. 'Lady, never fear to lose my support. Never fear that.'

  Muffled into his warmth, Mara said, 'Then you don't disapprove?'

  Hokanu smoothed back the hair torn loose from her headdress in the fever of their earlier embrace. His face looked suddenly lined with care and no small foreboding. 'I cannot pretend to love the idea, Lady of my heart. But you are right. Justin will make a wise ruler, once he reaches maturity. And until then, as his guardians, we can continue to reject the atrocities of the Game of the Council and enforce a new stability in the Nations. The people must all bow before his and Jehilia's combined claim, and the gods know, the unfortunate girl deserves a mate close to her own age and inclinations. She would indeed be miserable as a puppet, wed to a man viciously driven by ambition, as Jiro is.'

  Then, as if sensing that Ayaki's loss lay very near to the surface of his wife's thoughts, and that with this chilling threat to Justin her need for solace at this moment must outweigh all other matters, Hokanu lifted his Lady bodily in his arms. He cradled her tenderly against the breastplate of armor and bore her out of the scriptorium. As he turned down the corridor in the direction of their bedchamber, he called to Saric over his shoulder, 'If you have brought back from Thuril some means to stay the hand of the Assembly of Magicians, pray to the gods it will work. For unless I am totally mistaken, it must soon be Jiro of the Anasati we face across the field of war.'

  * * *

  Once in the privacy of the master suite, Mara pushed impatiently against Hokanu's cradling embrace. 'So much to do, and so little time!'

  Ignoring her struggles, Hokanu bent and laid her down on the sumptuous cushions of their sleeping mat, and only his fighter's reflexes permitted him the necessary speed to catch her wrists as she immediately tried to shove herself erect. 'Lady, we are not caught unprepared. Arakasi has kept us well informed, Keyoke is a craftier strategist than you or I, and Saric will waste no time in giving them word that Justin's claim must of necessity be pressed.' As Mara's eyes bored furiously up into his, he gave her an ungentle shake. 'Take an hour! Your people will all be the better for being left free of distraction. Let your Force Commander consult with Irrilandi and Keyoke and do his job! Then when he has had time to assemble his ideas, we can hold council, and forge the wisest course between us.'

  Mara looked again as if she might crumble. 'You're not worried for your Shinzawai holdings in the north, or your cousin Devacai's meddling?'

  'No.' Hokanu was bedrock-firm. 'I inherited Dogondi for Shinzawai First Adviser, remember? My father relied on him for years, particularly when he was absent from home as Imperial Chancellor. Dogondi's as crafty as any man alive, and with our new messenger relay in place, he will hear of your need for aid in Justin's cause before sundown tomorrow. Incomo and he have worked together like old cronies. Trust the efficiency of your good officers, Lady. My own servants you have won over shamelessly. Not one who wears Shinzawai blue would do less than give their lives for you, but not if you throw your uninformed opinion into their works just now.'

  Another more violent tremor coursed through Mara's body. 'How have I done without you all these months?' she marveled in a voice shaved thin by jangled nerves. 'Of course you are right.'

  Hokanu felt her relax. When he judged it safe, he released her from restraint and waved for a maid to remove her travel clothing. As the woman set about her ministrations, he soon found he could not resist joining in the unwrapping. As the Lady's overrobe came off, and the ties to the underrobe were loosened, he played his hands along the smooth warmth of her flesh. 'A bitter homecoming,' he mused.

  'Not the one I would have chosen, husband. I have missed you.'

  The maid attendant might as well have been invisible.

  Hokanu smiled. 'And I you.' He reached to unbuckle the fastenings of his breastplate, then lost his concentration at even so simple a task as the maid let Mara's inner robe fall away. The sight of his Lady, even tired and dusty from the road, with her hair tumbling loose from its pins, took Hokanu's breath away. She noticed his bemusement and at last managed a smile. Putting her hands over his, she began to work the leather straps through the buckles until he laid his lips upon hers and kissed her. After that, neither noticed as the maid took over the task of his undressing, then bowed to master and mistress and softly stole from the room.

  Later, when the couple lay replete with their lovemaking, Hokanu ran his finger gently along the line of Mara's cheek. The light through the screen silvered the streaks of age starting to grow in her black hair, and her skin showed weathering from the harsher sun of the southern lands. Even as he caressed her, she stirred and murmured again, 'There is so much to do, and little time.'

  Mara pushed herself up onto her elbow, a restlessness to her manner that now could not be denied.

  Hokanu loosened his embrace, knowing he could not hold her. A war waited to be fought, in open repudiation of the Assembly's disapproval; young Justin's life depended upon the outcome.

  Yet as Mara did arise, and clapped for her maid to return to attire her in battle dress, her husband stared after her with a terrible, gnawing poignancy. Hereafter, nothing between them would be the same. Either Jiro would sit on the golden throne, and Mara and all he loved would be destroyed; or they would perish in their attempt to make Justin Emperor; or perhaps most painful of all, Lady Mara would become ruler of Tsuranuanni. Still, he simply had no choice; for his own daughter's sake, he must add his knowledge of war and trust that the legendary luck of the Good Servant would keep both them and their c
hildren alive. He pushed away from the mat, reached Mara in one stride, and while she had one arm helplessly caught in the process of her robing, took her face in his hands and gently, lovingly kissed her. Then he said, 'Take time for a bath. I will go ahead of you and take counsel with Lujan and Irrilandi.'

  Mara returned the kiss, and flashed him a brilliant smile. 'No bath would ease me so much as one we could share.'

  Hokanu let that cheer him, but as he slipped into his discarded clothes and hurried to the council of war, he could not help but recognise that whether they would survive or fall in this full-scale conflict, inevitably their lives would embrace change. He could not shake the foreboding that the events must force distance between him and the Lady he held most dear.

  25 — Assembly

  Chumaka smiled.

  He briskly rubbed his hands together as a man might do to warm them, but the day outside his window was hot. What the Anasati First Adviser reacted to was a chill of deep excitement. 'At last, at last,' he muttered. He swooped amid his clutter of papers and correspondence to grab what looked to be a nondescript notation of tally marks on a creased scrap of paper. But the markings hid a complex code, and the imbedded message was precisely the one that Chumaka had prodded and plotted and cajoled to bring about.

  Ignoring the raised eyebrows and questioning manner of his clerk, Chumaka hurried out to seek his master.

  Jiro preferred to pass midday in indolence. He never took a siesta, nor, like so many Ruling Lords, did he amuse himself through the heat in lascivious play with concubines. Jiro's tastes were ascetic. He considered the chatter of women distracting, so much so that on a whim he had once ordered all of his female cousins consigned to chaste service in the temples. Chumaka chuckled at the memory. The girls would have no sons to become rivals, which made the master's short-tempered arbitration a wiser move than he knew. Jiro instinctively preferred privacy. At this hour he would be found at his bath, or else reading in the cool, breezy portico that connected the library with the scribes' copy chamber.