“I know.”
“But if I have to . . .” Tamar straightened up. “I want to get them out, all of them. I am going to get them out, even Aislan, even Meruert’s baby.”
“Boradai?” Boradai was the elderly woman who acted as housekeeper and mistress, keeping the slaves in line.
“Ugh.” Tamar wrinkled her face. “Boradai . . . I don’t know.”
“She should be sold to a sorceress. She’d like Nurzhan’s idea.”
“Ha. If only we could somehow get her on our side. She’d probably be an asset to Nurzhan’s conspiracy, they could send her to some sorceress who needed a firm hand. But she’s happy with the power she has, and clings to it like you’d cling to your shelter in a storm.”
“Does she have a weakness? A soft side?”
“Boradai?”
“A child?”
“No, she’s barren.”
“A lover?”
“N— yes, actually. Or maybe, once. I heard rumors.”
“A man, or a woman?”
“A man; that’s why she knows she’s barren. They were separated, oh, at least ten years ago. Well before I came to live there.”
“Why were they separated?”
“It was a strange story.” Tamar spread out her fingers against her horse’s withers, thinking hard. “I didn’t meet him, remember, I had it in bits and pieces from the other slaves. Boradai was a harem slave herself, a long time ago—not for Sophos but for some predecessor of his in the post. When she was still fairly young, though, there was an outbreak of smallpox, and she survived but was badly scarred.”
“So then what?”
“Aislan has always hoped to win her freedom with her beauty. If Boradai had such hopes, they were shattered, of course. But she still knew how to dance, and various other arts, if you catch my meaning. And she had no desire to be put to work in the kitchen. So as she recovered from her illness she made herself useful in the harem, teaching dance and so on. And eventually she was put in charge of that, and of other things.”
“What about the lover?”
“Oh, yes. Well, she’s ugly, you know, and I don’t know why any man would fall in love with her personality, so it’s not like she would exactly have her pick. Still, there was a man who worked around the household fixing things that broke, and somehow they fell in love.”
Tamar’s tone was so disbelieving I felt I had to offer Boradai at least a small defense. “Love can be a mysterious thing.”
“Apparently she’d break stuff that he’d have to fix, to spend time with him.” Tamar shook her head again. “Anyway, one night there was an escape, and it turned out that Boradai hadn’t stopped it because she was in her lover’s arms. There was speculation that the lover had distracted her on purpose, but Sophos must not have thought so because the lover was just sold. He said that Boradai was quite useful in the harem, that she did an excellent job, and he didn’t want her distracted, so he sold the lover and bought a new slave to fix things. This one was repulsed by Boradai’s scars, and in any case I think she was still pining for her old lover.”
“Where is he, do you know?”
“I have no idea.”
“Do you think Jaran would know?”
Tamar started to shake her head, then paused. “Who knows? I’ll ask him. Tonight.”
His name is Alisher,” Tamar said. “And he was sold to an inn, actually, in Elpisia. But I don’t see how this is going to help us. If we free him and bring him along, do you think Boradai is going to turn on Sophos and help us out?”
“Maybe,” I said.
“What’s she going to be able to do that Jaran can’t?” Tamar scratched her head. “I mean, really, Lauria, why are you worried about being nice to her? Boradai is as bad as any Greek.”
“She’s still a slave.”
“So? Even if she wants to be free, I wouldn’t want her on my side.”
“Would you want Nurzhan? Boradai is the Nurzhan of Sophos’s household.”
“I suppose. But it’s been over ten years! Do you really think she even still cares about Alisher? He probably has another lover by now. He probably has kids.”
“If he does, we’ll have to think of something else.”
Tamar shook her head, bemused. “Well, at least it should be easy enough to talk to him. We can just get a room at the inn. But it’s Elpisia! You know half the city.”
“Not that many people,” I said, though my stomach churned at the thought of going back there again.
“You know what would make sense?” Tamar said. “You stay outside the city and I’ll go in and get the room. Talk to Alisher, see if he wants out, whether he wants to help us, and whether he still cares at all about Boradai.”
I hated the idea. “Stay outside?”
“Yeah, you know, like I did last fall, remember? You had all sorts of excuses for leaving me behind. Well, now you have a good reason to stay behind yourself. Maybe it’s not half the city, but how many people in Elpisia would recognize you? Even pretending that Kyros didn’t live there. There’s your mother, right?”
“Yes,” I said, my voice a little faint.
“Everyone in Kyros’s household. Some of the guards from the garrison. All your old neighbors . . .”
“I could pull a scarf over my face.”
“You’re going to sit in the common room of the inn with a scarf on your face? Yeah, that wouldn’t be conspicuous at all.”
“I could stay in our room . . .”
“Face it, Lauria, you’d be more of a hindrance than a help.”
“You’re enjoying this,” I said.
“What does it matter? I’m right.”
I fell silent.
“I’m right,” Tamar said again, and I grunted reluctant assent.
When we reached Elpisia a few weeks later, spring was well advanced. We found a concealed spot along the old riverbed, and it occurred to me that it had been almost exactly a year since I had tracked Alibek to a spot much like the one we were hiding in. The realization made me jumpy.
We’d spent some time on the way up working on Tamar’s appearance: new clothing, careful styling for her now-shoulder-length hair. She dug the forgotten face paints out of my pack and painted her own face, trying to look older. When she went into Elpisia she would be posing as a part Greek, part foreign trader. I thought the results were mixed, but she definitely didn’t look like a runaway slave anymore. Looking her over, I was startled to realize that she was getting taller.
Now, in the late-afternoon sun, Tamar dismounted to give me a quick hug good-bye. “I’ll talk to Alisher tonight and come back tomorrow morning. I’m only going to break him out if I have an excellent opportunity. Otherwise we’ll figure something out. The wall probably still needs fixing.”
“Probably.”
“Sit tight,” Tamar said. “No one’s going to recognize me. I’ll be back in less than a day.”
“I know.” Tamar hesitated a moment longer, so I added, “Good luck.”
I tucked myself down into the rocks and sat on a folded-up blanket. The horses drank from the trickle of water where the river had run, then began to munch on the green vegetation that had grown in the spring rains. It was all heartbreakingly familiar, and I tried not to think about how my entire old life lay beyond a crumbling wall less than an hour’s walk from where I was. It’s not my old life. It’s someone else’s old life. Someone I don’t even like very much anymore.
Night came, and I slept, and dreamed.
Perhaps it was my nearness to Elpisia, but I dreamed of my mother. As with some of my early dreams of Kyros, I was uncertain whether we faced each other through our dreams, or if I was simply dreaming of her.
In the dream, I stood in the doorway of her apartment and she pulled me inside. “Lauria. Darling. Where have you been?”
I stepped inside. “Mother . . .”
“Let me take your coat.”
“There isn’t time . . .”
“There’s all the time
we need. Shhh, shhh, sit.” She stopped tugging on my coat, and instead pushed me gently into her chair and poured me tea that waited hot on the stove.
“Is Kyros—” I glanced around wildly. “I know that you are Kyros’s mistress. I know he’s my father. He—”
“I know you had a falling out, darling. Shhh, don’t worry yourself right now. He’s not coming.” She poured herself tea as well. “He had a very bad headache this afternoon and went home early. He has a remedy he takes for his headaches, and it makes him sleep very soundly. Too soundly to dream. He’s not coming. So sit with me awhile.”
The tea burned my lips. I set it down. “Will you come with me?” I asked.
“Come with you where?”
“Away from here. From Kyros.”
“Where have you been, darling?” she asked. Her anxious fingers plucked at my clothes. “I knew you would be gone for a while, but you vanished. Kyros stopped speaking of you, and I could tell by his eyes something was wrong . . .”
“Kyros won’t hesitate to use you against me,” I said. “He can’t take you hostage right now because he can’t speak to me. He doesn’t know where I am.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you, either. Kyros would have it out of you.”
My mother’s lips tightened. “You should have more faith in me,” she snapped. “You are my child. I would never betray you to Kyros.”
“I’m not saying you’d go running to him, I’m just saying that he’s a hard man to keep secrets from.”
“Well, you’re right about that. Still, you can trust me.” My mother drained her teacup and said, “I’ll tell you something he doesn’t want you to know. He taught me how to bring you here.”
“What?”
“He taught me the trick. I know it now. He’s been wanting me to do this for a while now, but I’ve been pretending to be a slow learner.” She gave me a satisfied smile. “I think he’s convinced I’ll never get it. But I waited; I knew some night he would have a headache and I would have my chance. And so it happened.” She squeezed my hand. “Now, darling, tell me where you are. I just want to know that you’re safe.”
“As long as Kyros doesn’t find me, I’m quite safe,” I said, though this was a blatant lie.
“Darling. Come back to me, we’ll go to Kyros together. I’m sure we can work things out . . .”
“No!” My hands closed over her wrists. “I can’t. Listen, I can tell you everything that happened, but you’ll have to promise to leave. To come with me, somewhere safe, away from Kyros . . .”
“Where? To the Alashi? I have no wish to spend my life on horseback with the bandits. Tell me, darling, do you think I would fit in there?”
I imagined Janiya’s likely reaction to my mother. Would they try to make her join a sword sisterhood for the summer? Teach her to ride and fight? I pictured my mother holding a sword gingerly in her soft hands, or learning to shoot a bow. “No,” I said. “You wouldn’t.”
“Well, that was a fast answer,” she said. “Where do you think you’re going to take me, then?”
I was silent.
“If you don’t know where you’re going to take me, I’ll stay here until you think of something. I’ve always fancied a trip to Penelopeia. If you’d like to take me there, I might go.”
“But Kyros . . .”
My mother shook her head. “Kyros is no threat to me. No! Don’t interrupt me again. I’ve known Kyros for over twenty years. You may think you know Kyros, but I know Kyros. He might send you a message that he’ll kill me if you don’t come running back with your tail between your legs, but he’ll never do it. Never.” She gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Darling, I miss you. Come back to me. If you’re close by I can tell you when it’s safe . . .”
“I’m a long way away,” I said. “A long, long way. Halfway to Penelopeia.”
My mother sat back, her eyes sad. “Well, then,” she said. “I do hope I’ll see you again someday.”
I wanted to leave her with something, but I knew she would take the words I love you as a poor substitute for I’m coming home. I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering how I had summoned a tent the last time Kyros had found me in my dreams. “I have something for you,” I said, and opened my coat. Dozens of white roses tumbled out, filling the room with their sweet scent. Their soft petals rose up in a cloud around both of us, and then I was awake, my pulse racing, waiting for Tamar’s return.
I saw Tamar coming at dawn—and to my shock, she had another person with her, an older man, his graying hair touseled and dusty. Alisher. She waved when she saw me and turned briefly to Alisher—telling him my name, I thought—and his eyes glinted a little as he turned back to me.
“How did you get Alisher out?” I asked Tamar when she reached me.
“They sent him out on an errand right at dawn—a friend has a broken bucket-crank over his well, and they offered Alisher’s services to fix it.” Alisher had a wood box tucked under one arm, I noticed—his tools.
“Did you arrange the broken crank?”
“No. He gets sent out to fix things a lot.”
Alisher had graying hair covered in a layer of fine dust, rounded shoulders, and a tired face. I looked him over, wondering what he could ever have seen in Boradai; I’d found her ugly and frightening. “So, um,” I said, trying to think of a way to ask.
“We found each other late in life,” he said with slow dignity.
“Right,” I said, embarrassed by my own transparency.
We mounted up. Alisher was stiff but more competent at riding than I’d feared. We set out toward Helladia, casting nervous glances back, but there was no sign of pursuit yet.
Our trip to Helladia was slower than we’d become accustomed to. Alisher never voiced complaint, but his hands would go white as he gripped the edges of his saddle. Also, the horses tired faster with an extra rider. Finally, we were out of grain for them, and had to allow them plenty of time to forage.
I grew agitated as we rode, and our slow pace seemed nearly intolerable. I dismounted a few times to run ahead; eventually I always had to stop to catch my breath, and Tamar and the others would catch up with me. Alisher’s look was a little bemused and a little scornful; Tamar looked worried.
Whenever I had to pause to catch my breath, I would find myself thinking about Sophos. No one will lay a hand on you. I will not forget again, my lady. I shuddered, remembering the way the drugged wine had made me clumsy. Sophos’s sweat, the grunting noise he’d made. The knife, for a moment, within my grasp. He won’t escape me this time. I tasted bile for a moment and swallowed hard.
I had threatened Sophos at the time. Kyros will kill you. I’m going to tell him I want you castrated first. I’d believed with all my heart that Kyros would take bloody retribution against Sophos. He hadn’t. That had been one of the locusts that had eaten away my trust for Kyros. And I don’t regret it. This way I’ll get to kill Sophos myself.
“How are we going to do this?” Tamar asked me as we settled down the first night. “We’ve got Alisher now, so . . . do you want me to try to send a message to Jaran?”
“I was thinking maybe I’d go in when we got there,” I said. “During the night, of course, and climb in to find her.” And then find Sophos . . .
“I’ll tell Jaran,” Tamar interrupted. “He can tell her, and see what she says.”
Tamar spoke with Jaran, in the borderland; Jaran spoke with Boradai. (“Tell him not to, you know, bait her,” I said, once it was clear that Tamar was set on not sending me in to find her. “He’s not an idiot, Lauria,” she said.) We moved in toward Helladia during the day. Two hours’ ride from its walls, we found a lovely place to hide. In a valley in the hills between Elpisia and Helladia, we found a cave large enough to conceal even our horses if we wanted to bring them in with us. The brush was thick and you’d have to be a skilled tracker even to know we were down there. Fortunately, it was warm enough now that we wouldn’t freeze to death without a fire.
“About what?”
“Boradai. Jaran says to go outside and wait somewhere visible; she’s going to send a message.”
My curiosity warred briefly with my distrust for Boradai, and then I started to leave the cave. Tamar caught my arm and I shook her off. “I’ll go out by myself,” I said. “You wait here. I think I want to be a little way away from you and Alisher, in case it’s a trick.”
I came out of the cave and made my way up from the brush, to an outcropping of rock. The moon was up and nearly full. It was a good night for an escape, I thought. The air was crisp and cool this time of night, but I could smell the day’s heat seeping out of the rocks around me.
And there: the messenger in the air. “Djinn,” I said. “Who sent you?”
“The holder of the chain,” it said. I thought I was going to have to drag out a description, but it added, “The woman called Boradai. Are you Tamar?”
“No, I’m a friend of hers. Did she send us a message?”
“Yes. Here is what she said: ‘Tell them that we are ready, and there is no one within these walls to hinder our escape. All the guards within the walls are dead, but there are many more guards outside. Now what?’ ”
Now what? The djinn waited. No one to hinder our escape . . . I wondered if they’d killed everyone within. No time to ask. The djinn could bring them out easily enough, but it would be best not to attract too much attention. “Tell Boradai this,” I said, and cleared my throat, arranging my disordered thoughts as carefully as I could. “‘Boradai, you have a spell-chain, and a djinn at your disposal. Tell the djinn to follow my instructions. I will have it construct a palanquin like a sorceress would use, and send it to you with the palanquin. Have the slaves get into the palanquin and the djinn can carry it back out. The guards will see the palanquin and assume it’s a sorceress visiting Sophos. But be warned, if you try to save yourself but not the rest of the slaves, Tamar and I will make you regret it.’ ” I nodded, and the djinn vanished. Now for a palanquin, I thought.
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