by Katy Winter
"Perhaps I've had enough to drink," he suggested. Sarssen shook his head and looked meaningfully at the goblet. With a faint sigh, Bethel lifted it to his lips and drained it.
Sarssen looked at the over-bright eyes and the slight flush on Bethel's cheeks and decided the boy would cope perfectly well with the rest of the evening. However, before Bethel left him, Sarssen had something to say to him, rose in a leisurely way and waited for Bethel to do likewise. He then beckoned the boy to stand in front of him and placed very strong hands on the thin shoulders, his grip as powerful and painful as the warlord's.
"Are you listening to me, boy?" Bethel nodded nervously, his eyes staring up into unexpectedly cold, green ones. He saw no gentleness in the warrior's expression. "I want to warn you, boy, and I would advise you to listen to me most carefully." Bethel's heart raced and his mouth felt suddenly dry. "If," came the stern voice," you cause the death of another, you will be whipped to within an inch of your life." As Sarssen spoke, he took one hand from the boy's shoulder and stooped to pick up a whip. "Look well, boy. I shall flog you with this."
Bethel looked down and his cheeks whitened. It was not the ordinary whip with which he was painfully familiar: it was multi-lashed, barbed, and terrifying.
"M-my l-lord, I -." stammered Bethel huskily. He was cut short as the warrior flexed the whip to bring it down with considerable force right next to him. Bethel flinched violently as the lashes whistled by.
"I never listen to excuses, boy. You caused a death, whether wittingly or not. That is more than enough." The one hand on the boy's shoulder tightened. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, my lord," came through very dry lips in a whisper. "Very clear."
"Look up at me, Bethel."
Bethel obeyed without a second thought, conscious of deep green eyes that seemed to swallow him whole. He felt swamped. He went quite limp in the warrior's hold. They stood thus for a few minutes before Sarssen spoke gently and in an undertone.
"Bethel." Bethel blinked. The unfocused look to his eyes cleared. Only apprehension remained in the beautiful eyes. "Return to your master."
Bethel sighed infinitesimally as he turned away. He didn't see the thoughtful stare he got from the warrior, nor did he see the softened expression in the green eyes that followed him.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Sarssen sat cross-legged on a woven mat laid in a corner on the ground of his pavilion. He sat quite still, his face inscrutable. He concentrated deeply, his breaths coming in long, regular intervals. He didn't blink. Then he sent, quietly, but extraordinarily powerfully.
"I am here, Reverence."
"It's kind you spare us some of your time," came an icily civil voice in his mind, but the words were a measure of reproof all the same.
"I have been busy," sent back Sarssen curtly.
"What can you tell us?"
"The boy is temporarily neutralised. I have taken the precaution of limiting access to his mind in a way only an Adept can recognise."
"We're indebted to you," said the icy voice conversationally. "And?"
"It was not the boy's fault. He could not have acted in any other way."
"No?" came interrogatively.
"No."
"You will, perhaps, explain."
"It seems we have a problem with Jaden."
"Ah."
"Do you wish me to widen the link?"
"It would save us a lot of later communication. We also thank you for your courtesy in doing so when you spoke of our brother Morsh, whom you refer to as Morjar. We know such a mind link caused you considerable difficulty, pain and not a little distress, as did the way you came to Adepthood, Sarssen. You are extremely young to be thrown into such a position, but we acknowledge Morsh chose you deliberately at the time of his death. We wish our first contact could have been gentler and more leisurely to allow you to adjust, but the delicacy of your position and our distance from you made any alternative impossible. We do genuinely and warmly welcome you among us an Adept, young one." There was a long silence, then the voice became remote again. "We all wish to know clearly how matters stand." There was another pause. "We await your pleasure."
Sarssen sensed when the other minds melded with his. He sifted the mental strands so he knew exactly which Adept he spoke to.
"I shall show you how matters are here. Things are delicately poised, as our Reverence has just said. I advise extreme caution. Morsh told me much during our meld, but I have had no time to absorb and analyse all I learned in that traumatic and lengthy moment. That will take a very long time. As you know, this comes as a sudden and unwelcome shock. I ask your forbearance until I am more conversant with the acceptable forms you follow. I am ready to be read."
Sarssen sensed the surge of probes and let them come, though he still found this new sensation highly disconcerting. He knew with time and experience the meld at this level would cease to worry him. He felt the imperceptible withdrawal after a short time and then the icy voice spoke again.
"What's to be done about Jaden? Morsh dealt with Lokar."
"As I am here it falls to my lot to deal with him," was the warrior's abrupt response. "I do not know when he will next respond to his southern master, or when he will make another attempt on Bethel, or why."
"I'm not happy about your being placed in this position."
"Neither, Reverence," sent Sarssen tersely, "am I. Morsh - "
"His loss causes me deep grief. It was a risk one of us had to take, but he's on my conscience."
"It may seem difficult for you, remote as you are, to understand why Morsh took the action he did, Reverence, but I know he had his reasons, even if I have not yet sorted what they are. With respect, he saw so far ahead, probably more than any Adept before him. What he did, first for me, and then for the boy, was in the form of protection for us all. His sacrifice was utterly selfless. I have not yet solved the riddle of the boy, but I know Morsh deliberately chose to teach him as he chose me and brought us both to an understanding of our talents very quickly, though Bethel is still very young and untutored. None of us expected Jaden to betray one of his own."
"It seems to fit with what we learned from Morsh about Lokar, once one of our most senior and honoured practitioners, doesn't it?" said the cold voice. "Betrayal comes easily to some."
"You will be comforted to know Morjar did not suffer at the end, Monseignore. I saw to that. His passing was painless and peaceful."
"We thank you for that, young one. However, you're at risk, Sarssen, with Jaden. He's no fool and is a Level Three."
"Post-Level Three, Reverence," corrected the warrior. Had he spoken aloud Sarssen's voice would have been colder than the voice in his head. "I do not underestimate Jaden, you may believe that."
"I do," came the response, with a faint touch of humour. "And the boy?"
"Scared for the moment. I threatened him with a Vaksh flayer if he so much as put a foot wrong."
"Kind of you," came a different, gentle voice on a sigh.
"It was effective."
"Who will control and mould the boy now?" asked a third voice.
"I will," Sarssen replied promptly. "But I will not open his mind for a while. It puts us in too much danger. He is, after all, but a child, and I do not care to lay myself open to attack through the folly of an unformed mind. His broadcasts are too uncontrolled and erratic still, as well as mostly instinctual. Also Jaden will be watching and waiting."
"Be careful with Jaden," came an icy caution.
"I will be."
On that, the warrior closed the link and tiredly crossed to his bed. He'd monitored the boy every day and night of his being with the slaves and now felt he deserved some rest, though his mind revolved around thoughts of the pikeman who stepped in to help Bethel at the moment Sarssen felt he would have to. That he'd managed to save Bethel without risk to himself he felt was some feat, especially more so now he understood exactly what had happened with Bethel and Morsh and why, so now he sighed and closed h
is eyes, allowing himself the luxury of drifting into a heavy doze.
~~~
He woke an hour later to a movement outside his pavilion. Instantly, he was alert, a boy trained into manhood by Lodestok a formidable adversary. He waited, a hand gripping a half-unsheathed knife. There was a fumble at the pavilion entrance. Jaden stood cautiously.
"Have you been asleep, my lord?" Sarssen sat casually, deliberately adopting an aggressive stance.
"What is it to you, healer?" Jaden became obsequious at the typical Churchik tone of voice.
"Nothing, my lord," he hastened to assure Sarssen. "It's just that I've waited a while for you to answer. I thought then you must be resting."
"Then you were a fool to risk waking me, were you not?"
"I've come to speak about the boy."
"What about him?" was the incurious response. "Personally, I am tired of the pup. I seem to do little other than bath him." Jaden gave a small snigger, unaware of hard eyes that watched him.
"The warlord wants what the boy learns to be controlled. The child is fairly limited I find, so teaching him will be no hardship."
Sarssen raised an eyebrow, replying disinterestedly, "Then do it. Why do you come to me, you fool?"
"He spends much time training with you. I thought it was courteous to let you know I'll be closely watching the boy, certainly for a time, and he will also study with me as the warlord requests. Would you ensure he comes to me after training?"
"Nothing you readers find to amuse yourselves interests me, but I'll make sure the boy is sent to you." Sarssen made his tone contemptuous, saw the intended insult had gone home and noted with satisfaction that Jaden flushed with anger. He hoped the man would lose a little control in response. "Is that all you have to tell me?"
"If," muttered Jaden through clenched teeth, "you weren't chosen by the warlord -." He broke off. Sarssen stared at the healer, his face unreadable.
"What would you do, reader?" he asked provocatively. "You could not fight me and poison might be too obvious. Would you perhaps try to read my mind to see if there was anything there that would interest the warlord?" He saw fury in the healer's eyes. "I am nothing more nor less than you see. I am a Churchik warrior." Jaden took a step forward, his expression ugly, but he dropped back when Sarssen rose from the bed, an extremely menacing snarl on his face. "We both know the warlord no longer looks on you, Jaden, any more than he looks much on me. He has chosen for now and you would be wise to accept that. You would not plan any petty harm to the pretty boy now, would you?"
It was a guess, but when Sarssen looked at the expression on Jaden's face he knew his suspicion that Jaden had once, even briefly, been graced by Lodestok, was an accurate one. That Jaden meant mischief where the boy was concerned was patent, whereas the reason wasn't.
Sarssen was sure it wasn't purely based on misguided jealousy and was convinced something else motivated Jaden - the healer either definitely knew or guessed something about Bethel, or he acted on someone's behalf. Jaden clearly answered to other than the warlord and it wasn't to the Conclave. Sarssen wondered exactly who Lokar betrayed the Conclave to, though he was, slowly, starting to have an unpleasant understanding as he struggled to make sense of the flood he experienced with the final mind meld with Morsh. The boy was clearly marked out, but why? The warrior watched as the healer wrestled with control.
"What are you suggesting, my lord? I'm not out of favour with the warlord nor do I plan harm to anyone."
"Come now, reader," Sarssen rallied Jaden, the menacing glare fading from his face. "I suggest nothing. All I remind you is that neither you nor I has the eye of the warlord. It is the boy who warms his bed. It is to me the warlord passes responsibility for the boy's training in Churchik ways." He added gently, "I merely protect myself and my immediate interests, you see, healer."
He watched the healer and saw a flicker of understanding in the pale, almost translucent eyes. The angry flush on Jaden's cheeks died, the healer acutely aware how close he'd been to a very thorough chastisement. The look on Sarssen's face had been distinctly murderous and though the warrior may not be in Lodestok's immediate graces he was very much in the warlord's favour and was known to still irregularly attract Lodestok's attentions. Once Jaden thought he might enlist Sarssen to his cause, but even if it was no longer a suitable option it was no part of Jaden's plan to antagonise this noble savage.
Jaden apostrophised himself for a fool. He thought he'd neatly disposed of Bethel by betraying both child and one of his own kind, but it seemed that wasn't so, the boy merely severely punished but not put to an appropriate death. The one Jaden answered to expected the child would be long gone. All Jaden knew was that Bethel was from a family that was mostly disposed of, as the boy now should be. He didn't know Bethel told the warlord of a healer's incursion into his mind, so he still believed Bethel knew very little and acted at a singularly basic level. Sarssen was well aware of the reader's thoughts and sensed pure venom in the little man.
Jaden swallowed hard, kicking himself for having risen to a warrior's bait so easily. Readers of his calibre never showed any part of themselves as he'd just done. He wondered if Bethel's escape had unsettled him more than he thought, his fury at the boy's continued presence over-riding both his commonsense and training. It mustn't be allowed to happen again.
He still sought the source of power alluded to by Lokar just before he died. He knew it had to be close. No one else could have so easily dealt to Lokar, certainly not a child, and that was another thing that made the reader both tense and suspicious. Jaden wondered uneasily just how much this very large and aggressive young man had seen. He looked quickly at the warrior, but saw only mild curiosity.
"I'm taken at fault," he responded, with one of his disarming smiles. The warrior noticed it didn't touch the clear eyes.
"Indeed you are," he agreed. He lounged back onto his bed, yawning, and stretched out his long legs. He flexed a booted foot and studied it. Thinking Sarssen wasn't watching him, Jaden gave the warrior a quick look of intense dislike. "If we," continued Sarssen casually, "are both in the warlord's favour, is it the boy you think is not?"
"Well, he isn't, is he?" asked Jaden ingenuously. He got a long, cool appraising look from Sarssen.
"He is now," the warrior replied. "He is with his master." Sarssen could be ingenuous too.
"He caused the death of one of my people," said Jaden piously, adding in sanctimonious tones, "Blessed be the essence of one of our lesser brethren."
"You refer to Morjah, the executed healer, is that not so?"
"Morjah, yes," concurred Jaden, almost purring.
"Foolish Bethel," said the warrior, with a shrug. "You wonder the boy would be so obvious as to attract the warlord's anger, would you not? I had not previously thought Bethel such a fool, but then, he is but a child, I suppose, and children make silly and often costly mistakes."
"Calling him foolish is an understatement," protested the healer. "Of course the warlord would punish one who so flagrantly disobeyed him."
"Boys will," demurred Sarssen, watching the healer through narrowed eyes. "Enlighten me, healer, as to why foolish is an understatement."
Jaden was unsure if the warrior fenced with him, but thought, on second consideration, that Sarssen was like so many Churchik, more brawn than brain. He smiled pleasantly.
"Your protégé -."
"My what?" interrupted Sarssen, surprised.
"Is he not?"
"Certainly not, reader. Protégé has overtones of protection. I assume no protection over the boy. He learns from me and he returns to his master. Absolve me of finer feelings." Jaden was taken aback. He'd indeed misread things. If this warrior had no interest in the boy, then this altered things immeasurably. Jaden didn't observe the warrior's scrutiny through almost shut eyes. "You were saying, about Morjah?"
"The boy attempted to learn what a reader-seeker can do and then tried to use that skill in an unacceptable way, well above his station as a slave - d
oesn't that seem like arrogant presumption to you?"
"Is that what the boy did?"
"From what I've been able to discover, yes, that's so, my lord."
"Then extremely arrogant presumption it is, healer, and there can be no doubt the boy thoroughly deserved the barkashad's cane and his days of punishment. He was very hurt, I can assure you, and most chastened. I hope that mollifies your outrage a little."
"I explained, as was only right and proper in one who has his warlord's best wishes at heart, that the boy was foolish trying to so use a reader, for what devious or ill-intentioned ends I can only guess at."
The healer's unctuous tone ruffled Sarssen's serenity, but he replied mildly, "Very wise of you."
"It's always sensible to let the warlord know one constantly works on his behalf," said Jaden, his plausible hypocrisy bringing a decidedly unpleasant glint to the warrior's still half-shut eyes. "I was most unhappy with the boy's use of a reputable healer like Morjar."
"Indeed," agreed Sarssen. "Most thoughtful and appreciated, I am sure."
"I wouldn't have it thought, by any of you, especially the warlord, that readers of humble level would gratuitously or flagrantly disobey specific commands I laid down that govern their behaviour - Morjar didn't. It was the boy who was at fault, not Morjar. I thought you, as one involved with the child, would wish to be informed and warned about his behaviour. I have told the warlord too."
"Quite right and very proper," approved the warrior, rising and crossing to a cabinet. "Is there anything else you wish to advise?" The reader lowered his head.
"Not unless you have something to say to me, my lord."
"Not that I can think of, reader, unless -." Sarssen paused, watching Jaden lift his head expectantly. The warrior frowned thoughtfully. "I have a thought, reader, that may be unwelcome to you, but perhaps you might want to consider it." Jaden gave a sharp nod. "Could it be that Morjah deliberately tried to betray you all, by incurring the warlord's wrath and lasting suspicion of all healers? Would a sacrifice of life be worth that, do you think? You should not be surprised if that is so. Many among a people, reader, will sell their essences to an over-ruler. That would not come as any shock, surely?" Before he stooped to pick up a goblet, Sarssen saw he'd caught Jaden completely unaware and glimpsed the flash of anxiety in the reader's eyes before reader controls took over.