“I see,” Loethar said, his fury barely controlled. “And this happened right before I saw you?”
She shrugged helplessly. “Well, no. We argued over it for a brief time. And then I had to travel from just outside the bailey to this chamber.”
“Too long,” he growled. “Who were these men of mine?”
“I don’t know their names.”
“Could you recognize them again?”
“Of course.”
He grabbed her and there was nothing gentle about it. “Come with me,” he snarled.
Seventeen
Kirin and Clovis looked around. Their accommodations were sparse but airy and light. Herbs in jars around the room lent a fresh fragrance to what was clearly a long unused chamber.
“All right?” Freath inquired, pushing open a window and allowing a soft breeze to blow in.
Kirin thought he was jesting but realized the former aide to the now dead queen spoke in earnest. “I’m surprised we have this much,” he admitted.
Clovis nodded, looking pensive. “What a strange day this has been.”
“And each will get stranger, I’m sure,” Freath said. “I’m glad you are friends and can look out for each other. Now I must leave. If you are sent for, don’t dally. If I speak to you cruelly, ask odd deeds of you, or even strike you, you’re welcome to scowl but do as you’re bid. Behave reluctantly but don’t overdo it; I may not be able to protect you. The barbarian will be suspicious if you don’t resent my lordship over you but it will seem equally questionable if you disobey me and I don’t impose harsh punishment. Feel free to be very frightened.” He sighed, then warned, as he opened the door to leave, “We walk a fine line now, my friends.”
“Freath, wait,” Kirin implored. “I’m still not sure why we’ve been chosen like this.”
Freath closed the door again. “I must be brief. I asked Loethar for two of the Vested for my own purposes. I used the excuse that it was to ensure my protection, and of course he agreed because he thinks I am a coward as well as a traitor. I also think he readily agreed knowing that he would see to it that Stracker offered me a choice of only those they believed were not truly possessed of any high magic.”
“I see,” Kirin said, glancing at Clovis, knowingly. “They thought they were granting you false security.”
“Just so,” Freath replied.
“So how can we be of any use to you?”
“Come now, Master Kirin. I think we both know that you have set out to disguise your true talents. I knew any Vested worth his salt wouldn’t admit to possessing real power. Those who made big noise of their abilities I knew were destined for a poor end—for even Stracker is not completely stupid. He was clever enough to siphon off those who seemed genuinely talented, leaving behind a few vaguely empowered individuals from whom I was permitted to choose. I saw straight away that both of you were hiding something and I took the risk that it was your powers that you were underselling.” He shrugged. “And I was obviously right. I saw how sick you became after engaging in what I assume was prying into Stracker. Is this so?” Kirin nodded. “We have no time to talk now but I will need to learn the extent of your abilities. Master Clovis, the same goes for you. As far as Loethar is concerned I have demanded you as my protectors in exchange for whatever I can tell them about the Valisars.” He held a hand up as they both began to speak. “Of course I intend to tell them nothing of any use. Just as they intend that I have very little protection.”
Clovis wore a baffled expression. “But, Master Freath, how are we supposed to offer you protection when we can’t even protect ourselves? I am a diviner but although Kirin can pry, neither of us can offer you safety against injury.”
“I realize that. Hopefully it no longer matters—hopefully I have proven myself to Loethar with my act of barbarism against the queen. I do not want your talents to protect me. I need your talents for what I seek.”
Kirin held out his hands. “I really don’t get how—”
“Your skills will help me to find an aegis,” Freath interrupted.
Clovis shook his head in dismay. Kirin responded for both of them. “But surely you know that most people don’t believe such a person even exists?”
“Do you?” Freath asked pointedly.
“I…I’ve never really thought about it.”
Clovis sighed. “I’ve always thought aeges were simply myth, to tell the truth.”
Freath flicked at a bit of lint on his dark clothes. “Well, I have to believe such a person does live. The history books say King Cormoron had an aegis. It is written that for every Valisar king, there is one.”
“Surely that’s just legend?” Clovis said, bemused.
“I’ve never even heard rumor of someone being able to champion with magic,” Kirin said.
Freath shrugged. “Until very recently I sneered at the suggestion that prying existed.”
Kirin stared at Freath. “You didn’t know?”
The older man shook his head. “I have read a lot and listened a great deal to people cleverer than myself. But until I met you I had never met a Vested. Only now do I realize they are everyday people, living everyday lives…and probably half the time wishing they were not special.” Kirin looked down as Freath’s words struck a chord. “But neither of you can be considered ordinary, no matter how everyday your lives are. You do possess powers and you must now use them for the good of your realm. I beg you. Put all your skills to use. If such a person as an aegis lives, I want to know his name. And this is not for my sake but for my king, whenever we can find him.”
“Freath, even if such a person does exist—he could be anywhere.”
The aide’s expression was rueful. “Do you think I don’t know that?”
Kirin shook his head. “It’s pointless, surely?”
“No! I think he does exist. I’ll tell you why. When we first got wind that the barbarians were encroaching into Set lands Brennus began to put certain steps into place. I cannot tell you what those were.” He raised a hand to silence Kirin. “Trust me, please. One of the duties he gave me was to read all the ancient texts to find out everything I could about the phenomenon of the aegis. Interestingly, it was well documented. I discovered two in Valisar history, although most of us only know about the most famous—the one bonded to Cormoron. The other, more obscure aegis was hunted and supposedly bonded to a wealthy merchant during the reign of the 4th Valisar king. But we have only sketchy details of that one. I suspect it’s not true.”
Kirin, exasperated, was glad when Clovis responded for both of them. “So if we have two that we know of in eight kings or however many centuries—nearly five, perhaps?” At Freath’s nod, he continued, “What makes you think one exists now?”
“There are signs,” Freath replied.
“What signs?” Kirin demanded. “I know a bit about magic, Freath. I’ve read plenty too and I’ve never heard about signs that herald an aegis.”
“That’s because after the aegis was bonded by the merchant, the Valisars deliberately set out to destroy all information about them. The merchant was cagey about his protection anyway, so that worked in the Valisars’ favor. He didn’t want anyone to know that the little girl he bonded to him was anything more than a servant.”
“So it was easy to cover all trace of the aegis and how the magic works, you mean?” Clovis asked.
“Precisely so. No other Valisar king has needed that sort of protection. The Set has lived in peace since Cormoron’s times.”
“So various aeges have come and gone,” Clovis remarked.
“Most will have lived and died without anyone knowing, without even the aegis really grasping his potential.”
“I think you’re clutching at straws, Freath.”
“Straws of hope are all we have to cling to, Master Kirin. I mean to discover the aegis originally born for Leonel. The fact is, Loethar has already done most of the hard work. Everyone who is Vested, anyone who was even whispered about as having a talent, is bei
ng held somewhere in and around this palace.”
“Or dead,” Clovis added sourly.
“Indeed,” Freath replied. “All I’m asking is that you try. If an aegis exists, you two can probably seek that person more effectively than anyone else I can think of. Plus, you can do so without suspicion.” They both nodded unhappily. “Kirin, don’t make yourself too sick, though. We need you alert. Wander around the palace, see what you can learn. Now I must go. I have left a length of fabric in that drawer over there,” he said, pointing. “Wear it around your arm at all times. It will permit you certain freedoms as it marks you as my servant. Be careful.”
“Wait!” Kirin urged. “You said there were signs the aegis would display?”
“Ah yes, although they are subtle. He will be marked by Lo. Something about him will be different, although it’s different each time and we never know what it may be. Cormoron’s aegis was said to have never grown hair anywhere on his body. The merchant’s child was mutarl—”
“What’s that?” Clovis asked, frowning.
“A Penraven expression,” Kirin explained. “White haired, pale skinned, strange eyes, poor sight.”
“Ah, we call this pearled.”
“Aeges also tend to be restless souls. Until they are trammelled, they tend to wander, though they remain isolated.” Freath gave them both a final glance of encouragement and then the door closed and he was gone.
Clovis sighed. “An aegis?” he repeated.
“He’s dreaming,” Kirin replied. “Confusing his myths with history.”
“We must stay optimistic. If we exist, who is to say an aegis is simply folklore?”
“Do you know what is said to be involved in binding an aegis?” Kirin asked. Clovis shook his head. “You have to trammel them. And to trammel an aegis requires you to bind them with a powerful magic that you draw from them alone.
“You have to consume part of him,” Kirin continued, turning away in disgust. “Their spirit is then bound to you. Their magic protects you.”
“Consume. You mean eat them?” Clovis asked, in a tone of disbelief.
“Yes, eat. So that part of their body is now part of yours and they are helplessly bound, by their very creation, to your needs. It’s hideous. There have been tales of suspected aeges having fingers and toes hacked off, even whole limbs, in order to be roasted and eaten. Most of the time the hunters are wrong and innocent people die. An aegis will hide himself to the utmost of his ability.”
“Because he doesn’t want to be consumed,” Clovis finished.
“That, too, but mainly because his skills are only good on behalf of others. It’s only once he’s been trammelled that his true powers are potent. Then he can protect both himself and the person who bound him. Until then, he’s as helpless as you or I.”
“That’s a good thing, though, isn’t it? I mean, to come into one’s powers?”
“No, think about it. You’re living your normal life, perhaps not happily ignorant of what you possess but certainly not required to use it—not even capable of using it, in fact. Along comes any old stranger, who recognizes your inherent power and trammels you. Suddenly you’re under their complete control.” As Clovis frowned, Kirin added, “Oh, didn’t I mention the trammelling binds you so closely to this stranger that you follow him against your own inclination? You no longer possess a mind of your own. You cannot leave your binder, or lie to him, or do anything to harm him. When he walks, sleeps, eats, so do you. To be too far from him makes your very bones ache. To be separated for any length of time threatens your sanity, although your powers do not wane. You share his sufferings but not his joys. The aegis gives without cease but cannot take. It is not a gift; it is a curse from the gods.”
“I had no idea. And how do you recognize someone cursed in this way?”
Kirin smiled without a skerrick of warmth. “You don’t. Any aegis will go to any length to hide his potential power—though, as Freath said, they are supposed to be marked somehow. I suspect many are marked in such subtle ways that they live their lives unnoticed. But clever Freath knows our skills can look beneath the skin. He knows if anyone can find an aegis we can, no matter how hard he may try to mask what he possesses.”
“Cunning,” Clovis agreed.
“Well, I’ll do it for the Set. If Penraven’s young king is all that is left of our royal families, we must fight for him.”
Clovis handed Kirin one of the lengths of fabric. “We’d better heed Freath’s warning with these. Here, let me tie it on you.” Once the cloth was secured, Kirin tied the other around Clovis’s arm. “It’s probably wise I try some divining first,” Clovis added.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Kirin said, relieved.
“Where do we begin?”
“We need to find the first group, or at least learn where they’ve been sent.”
“And let’s keep away from that Stracker,” Clovis added.
They found Stracker eating in the barracks that had once housed the Penraven army.
“Brother!” he exclaimed, unable to hide his surprise, “welcome, join us—not that you look like us any more!” There was a question in his voice, his expression.
“Not now,” Loethar said, walking to a more private corner. Stracker followed. “I need you to assemble the Blues and Greens that were on duty this morning,” he said.
“Why?” His brother stared at him.
“It’s important,” Loethar growled. “Do you know who accompanied Valya this morning on her ride?”
“No, but it’s easy enough to find out. What’s happened?”
“She thinks she might have seen the Valisar and De Vis escaping.”
Stracker’s eyes widened. “What?”
“You heard me,” Loethar said in shared disgust. “She asked the men to investigate but according to her they refused.”
“How long ago?”
“More than two hours now.”
“Is she sure?”
“That it was them?” At Stracker’s nod, Loethar said irritated, “No, of course she’s not sure. But the two people she saw running into the woods fitted the description of the two we seek. I can’t believe they might have slipped our net.”
“How could they, Loethar? There is no entrance or departure point we haven’t got guarded day and night. We rotate the guards every hour. They couldn’t slip past us.”
“Just bring them in,” Loethar said, wearily. “Let’s hear their side.”
Stracker turned to bark orders and before long men were noisily assembling in the courtyard outside.
Loethar walked to where he’d left Valya. She looked good in her riding garb, he noted. She had taken to wearing Set clothes when they’d first arrived into the region; gone were the highly colorful skirts that the Steppes women favored. Although, in truth, even though she’d done her best to fit in, her bright golden hair and pale skin had always identified her as an outsider. Now she draped herself in finer fabrics of richer, more elegant colors that she’d obviously looted along the way of their various conquests. He noted that her riding skirt was too big for her and the jacket a touch small for her heavy breasts but she carried it all magnificently on her statuesque body. He couldn’t deny the lust Valya fired in him. He knew that she loved him but he couldn’t feel the same way. It wasn’t even her fault, really; he had carried so much hatred for so long that he didn’t think he had room for love. He could not imagine love ever entering his consciousness, as long as he continued to hate the Valisars, until every last one of them was destroyed.
“Come, Valya, I want you to find the two men in question.”
“Must I?” she asked, looking self-conscious.
“For me,” he replied.
She moved, took his hand and allowed herself to be guided before the assembled men.
“These aren’t all the Blues and Greens, only those who were on duty earlier,” Stracker said.
Loethar nodded. “Is anyone still on duty who was on this morning?” He ignored
the surprised stares from the men at his new appearance.
“No. We rotate them too often,” Stracker replied.
“Good. Valya, if you please.”
She picked out the messenger easily enough. “Him,” she said, pointing. “He was the Blue runner who brought the message that I was to be brought before you.”
Loethar nodded at Stracker, who motioned to the young man. “Come here, Farn.”
The man approached, looking appropriately wary.
“And the other?” Loethar asked her.
“Green. I don’t see him,” she said, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the rows of men.
“Walk among them,” Loethar urged.
“No need,” Stracker said, his head dipping over to the far end of the further line where a man moved toward them. “Him.”
“I was the escort,” the Green bellowed. “There is no need to seek me. I come of my own choice.” He knelt before Loethar. The Blue followed suit.
“These two?” Loethar asked Valya once again.
“Yes. Him especially,” she nodded at the Green. “He treated me with disdain.”
“What is your name, warrior?”
“I am Belush.”
“And, Belush, I am given to understand that despite the lady’s urging, you ignored her requests to follow the people she saw slipping into the woods.”
“That’s true. I had strict orders to get her to you. We follow orders. We did not wish to let you down.”
Loethar nodded. He could not fault the man’s logic. “Did you not think it would be prudent to ask anyone else to check into the strangers?”
Belush didn’t answer immediately. Finally he nodded. “I should have. But the woman treated me with such contempt, my lord, I was angry at her attitude.”
“I see. Do you know who she is, Belush?”
“She is the Princess of Droste, as I understand it.”
“Then you already know she is of royal blood and should be accorded some respect. Did you also know, Belush, that the Princess of Droste is soon to be not only the Empress of the Set but also the queen of the Steppes?”
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