Dennick was ready for the obvious question to be raised: didn't Kug himself keep chambers on the same floor? Was he not aware of all the guests in his own house?
Alwarden Hagahl instead turned to Rajen.
"You earn your tokens as a seer in the market square?"
"Yes, Alwarden. I play at it, as a way to satisfy patrons who pay me for guidance."
"How did you come to join this adventure?"
"Talen. He visited me as soon as he made his discovery."
"Did—does—he believe you to actually have some acumen for the Science?"
Dennick saw the First Speaker perk up a bit, though far more subtly than had Dunak. Rajen would have to tread lightly.
She never looked away from the Alwarden. "It's been advantageous that he carry that belief," she said, "in the past."
"He thought you could read the streams."
Dennick should not have been surprised. Of course First Speaker Fen would have taught the Alwardendyn all about the Science, as magick had been an official threat to the realm since the Extirpation generations ago. He saw Rajen was impressed, as well, though perhaps only he and… yes, the First Speaker… were perceptive enough to notice.
Be careful, Rajen.
She seemed a little remorseful. "I saw no reason to dissuade him of that, at the time."
The Alwarden's mouth turned down. "Considering where his path led him… a pity."
Rajen kept her mouth shut.
He turned to Dennick. "And you, Dennick. After you spoke to Dunak, and toured the yard… I suppose you were led to investigate your companion's tavern yourself?"
Dennick pursed his lips. To him, this was not only the Alwarden of Aenik, protector of central Kaebrith and ward of the Western Reach. Dennick and Agane had sat at meals with Hagahl and Deanae. Agane's art hung in their chambers. Although he had secretly worked for years as the eyes and ears of the Mouth of the Plainslord, the wall dividing his paths was so effective he had come to have genuine affection for the magn who were the Alwardendyn, even as he acted against the interests of their office.
Hagahl seemed in such pain.
Deanae…
Dennick had to know.
"Alwarden—forgive me. Hagahl…"
The Alwarden's stoic mask of office faltered and something like pleading passed across his eyes, but the words were already falling from Dennick's mouth.
"Please. How fares Deanae?"
The Alwarden clenched his jaw and said nothing. He looked away.
First Speaker Fen said with a great measure of apparently genuine and gentle respect, "Alwarden Deanae did not survive."
Dennick's eyes welled. "Alwarden…"
So many dead so one magn could carve his own deluded path through the world… and now Vuldt would see to it that two more would fall before this song was sung.
Dennick did not welcome death, but he had avoided the Short Turn since surviving the raid that took his parents and put him in the dubious care of the Plainslord. It was fitting that his duplicitous work for the Alliance should, finally, bring the end. Who knotted the noose mattered hardly at all.
Agane, though… no matter how many days remained for her, she deserved them all.
She should not be denied her full path due to Dennick's weaknesses of character.
The Alwarden squeezed his nose, rubbed his chin, and turned back to Dennick. He spoke past a tight throat.
"Finish bringing your truth to this office, Dennick."
Dennick nodded.
He looked at Kug and Rajen.
"I am sorry."
Rajen's eyes narrowed. Her mouth turned down. The ghost of a grin pulled at Kug's lips as he nodded.
Dennick faced the Alwarden. "I have always been a magn of two lands."
Alwarden Hagahl tilted his head slightly. His gaze hardened over a tight, cynical grin.
Dennick swallowed and exhaled breath he had not intended to hold.
"Since Agane fell ill, the Mouth of the Plainslord—my cousin—has provided certain Alliance medicines. In return…"
Dunak's face reddened. "I knew this!"
The Alwarden raised a hand; a smooth, almost dismissive directive of silence for the Ward of the Guard. "Bring your truth to this office, Dennick," he repeated, low and level.
Dennick nodded. "In return, I served as the eyes and ears of the Mouth. But Alwarden, I did not act from a place of malice toward Aenik, or love of the Clans, I pledge to you."
Dennick immediately regretted those words. What was the pledge of a betrayer other than another flick of the knife?
"My sundered history has led to ambivalence in political matters. My only true allegiance has only ever been to Agane. That—"
He faltered. Would he get to see her again? What had been their last words to one another before he'd left for the Capful? Was she all right? Had any of their neighbors checked on her, alone at the house, all this time?
What if Vuldt had learned of Ranith's recovery, and had already sent killers to their home? Surely Fagahg was not his only…
Kug laid a hand on his shoulder, then withdrew.
It was enough to break the festering, swelling tide of anxiety in his heart.
"That…"
He began again.
"She is my banner. And so I played a game with Vuldt. I gave him what amounted to little more than palace district gossip as it might come my way. For a time, this seemed enough, but when he returned after his year back among the Clans, his demands on me—"
Alwarden Hagahl shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Despite the Caretaker in the room, this is not your opportunity to be absolved, Dennick. Spare me every turn on a map I don't need."
Dennick physically jerked.
"You… knew."
"We have," he said with less patience, "a Caretaker in the room. You were the eyes and ears for the Mouth of the Alliance of Clans. How dreadful. The First Speaker sees through the eyes of the Shaper of the World." He shook his head again. "I am very tired of being underestimated. By magn, or nation. Get to now."
Dennick's head spun. He nodded, licked his lips, and did as he was told.
"Yes, Alwarden. The morning of Ranith's abduction, Vuldt called me to an audience. He instructed me to engage my network of contacts and connections to discover who was behind the act, and where they had Ranith." His sigh fluttered a little. "My instruction was to find him, and do whatever was necessary to make sure he was never recovered.
"Success would mean my service to the Alliance would end, and Vuldt would provide a cure, so he promised, for Agane."
"You believed him." The Alwarden's tone was absent of any hint of scorn.
"I held hope," Dennick said.
Understanding passed between them. Dennick never hated his own compromised character more than in that blink of time.
"Failure," he went on, "meant a different end for both Agane and me."
Alwarden Hagahl laid a hand on Ranith's belly. The boy waved his arms and legs and gurgled.
"And yet," the Alwarden said, "Ranith is here."
"I… could not do it." Dennick smiled sadly. "Agane threatened blood and… worse… if I did."
"I imagine so."
The Alwarden turned to Dunak. "Take your guards and acquire Vuldt. Put him somewhere dark and cold, for now. Do not let him die in the effort."
Dennick wiped tears of relief from his face.
Dunak nodded and took a step toward the door, then stopped. "Alwarden, I should not leave you with these three…"
First Speaker Fen smiled broadly. "The Alwarden is perfectly safe, Ward of the Guard."
The ice-hard confidence in his voice drove an unexpected chill down Dennick's back.
"Go," the Alwarden said. "Wait. On your way, send word to the flitemaster to wait without."
"Yes, Alwarden." Dunak took the guards and exited.
When the door closed again, the Alwarden stood and paced behind the great desk. He rocked Ranith in his sling.
"Kug," he s
aid. "Would you like to bring a different truth to this office, now that my Sword is gone and his pride cannot make him your enemy? Remember," he smiled coldly, "I have a Caretaker."
Kug, Dennick knew, wore his great sadness as a cloak heavy enough to turn aside intimidation, even from the Alwarden of Aenik and his personified holy weapon.
"Alwarden," he said, "your generosity makes a fine partner for your wisdom. I bring you this truth for Dennick's sake, not my own."
Dennick winced. Had Kug just intentionally referred to the fact that the people of Aenik considered Deanae the wiser of the Alwardendyn?
Alwarden Hagahl, thankfully, was apparently not receptive to subtlety. "Be sure to start well past the story of your entire life."
Kug nodded. "It's my preference. Here is my truth: without this magn, I would not have had my vengeance on those who slaughtered Lama. Without this magn's restraint, my despair and rage would have led me straight to my own bloody end. Without his particular history of subterfuge, I and my companions would never have reached the magicker's island."
Rajen spoke up. "This magn stepped in front of a blade meant for me. And for your son."
Dennick gave her a grateful look. She kept her eyes on the Alwarden.
He regarded the three of them while playing tug-a-finger with Ranith.
"I think," he said to Kug, "I'd like you to go just a little farther back, after all. I don't think you're any kind of fool. You willingly hid the woman, your kin. Yes?"
Kug drew himself up. "Fool I was. And though she was as well, Lama was my sister's daughter."
The Alwarden nodded slowly. "I can step from stone to stone and see the stream flow between."
Dennick knew the idiom, of course, but wasn't sure what it meant for them. He felt the first tuggings of hope, though he shouldn’t assume anything but the worst where he and Kug were concerned. Perhaps Rajen would leave the palace with her life, at least.
The Alwarden eased himself back in his chair behind the desk, careful to keep Ranith comfortably and safely situated. He looked at the First Speaker, whose eyebrows twitched but was otherwise unreadable.
Dennick and the others waited as the Alwarden directed his attention to Ranith for a few long bits.
Still looking at his son, the Alwarden said, "Rajen, from what I've heard, your involvement in this, like your stupefied friend, was purely mercenary. Is that correct?"
She said, "I saw an opportunity to improve my situation, Alwarden."
Dennick had heard less skillful manipulations from seasoned diplomats.
"Know that you have, and should you ever have the joy of children, their situation, and that of their children, as well," the Alwarden said. "Your service to Aenik and the Alwardendyn shall be rewarded with property where you wish, anywhere within the borders of Aenik and the realms under her protection, and my note on record throughout, with eighty thousand tokens behind it."
In the two days he had known her, Dennick had found Rajen to be irascible at worst; prickly at best. She seemed a magn hammered into an unhappy shape by unhappy times, which made her dumbfounded expression almost comical.
"I—" She appeared to have lost all those words she had so carefully drawn from just a few bits before.
The Alwarden tilted his head with exaggerated expectation.
"Thank you, Alwarden."
He nodded. "The rest of the entire intended reward shall be dedicated to the care of your stricken companion by my most skilled healers and minders, for the rest of his days. If the Shaper wills that he recover his mind and find more steady footing on his path before it ends, he will receive additional consideration more appropriate to one who can appreciate it."
Rajen nodded.
Alwarden Hagahl frowned and sighed. To Dennick and Kug, he said, "You have both faced impossible decisions for the sake of those you love. In the end, your choices brought me my son, whole and unharmed, and, smooth path ahead… you have probably helped preserve Aenik and maybe prevented a war." His eyes lost their focus and pain tightened his lips for a blink. "For the moment.
“I don't know."
He appeared to think about that a bit more, then said, "Dennick, my well-known generosity—" A wry and quick glance at Kug confirmed the Alwarden had missed nothing. "—would guide me to forgive you for your years of duplicity. In the end, you served Aenik by bringing me my son."
He slowly shook his head. "If only you'd not opted to unburden yourself in front of the Ward of the Guard. I cannot let your treason go unpunished."
Dennick closed his eyes, nodded, and opened them again.
"You will leave Aenikantag before three tahwakes, and move beyond the borders of Aenik before three hatala pass. Never return."
Exile.
The Alwarden went on. "Agane can reasonably claim to have been ignorant of your dual loyalties—that is a conversation for heartfasts to have—and so may stay in her home for as many days as she has left, if she chooses. Although… once the palace district learns of all this… that gossip you used to barter with our enemies; you know… I suspect her worth in certain circles will be diminished."
His sigh was thick with disappointment. "You should have kept it all from her, Dennick. She has enough to trouble her."
"I know, Alwarden."
That was the worst of it. He had never been completely at home as a foster son of the Alliance or a true child of Aenik; he would let nowhere be his home and call that right. But to ask Agane to leave all her comforts, in her state?
He'd been selfish long enough.
Since receiving Vuldt's awful direction, Dennick assumed all this would end with losing Agane.
He hadn't guessed he'd survive to suffer the loss.
The Alwarden moved on.
"Kug, you will leave Aenikantag as well. I will not require you to leave Aenik. I just don't want to chance seeing you ever again, small chance as that may be. Take three days to prepare."
Kug appeared confused, though not as deeply knocked as Rajen. "Yes, Alwarden." His gaze drifted, and it seemed to Dennick as though the magn was already planning his tomorrows.
The Alwarden tilted his head toward the First Speaker, who tugged on a signal rope. The door opened and two palace guard entered.
"Take them by way of the north gate," the Alwarden instructed. "Make sure they leave with whatever they had when they arrived."
"Yes, Alwarden," one of the guards said. They stepped aside so Dennick, Kug, and Rajen could exit.
As they turned for the door, the Alwarden said, "Oh. No word of this. I will announce Ranith's return when it best suits the realm."
Dennick understood. They would want to question Vuldt first, have the chance to unravel whatever was left to his machinations, and perhaps root out remnants of Taghesh's group, if there were any to be found.
All three acknowledged the command. Rajen and Kug filed out. Dennick followed.
"Dennick."
He turned around. "Yes, Alwarden."
"Tell Agane I wish her a smooth path."
Dennick's throat tightened. "I shall."
A moment passed.
The Alwarden dipped his chin to his chest and held it there long enough for Dennick to count three beats of his own heart.
The Alwarden lifted his head and met his eyes.
"A very long path to you, Dennick."
"And to you, Hagahl," Dennick said. He could not help a last look at Deanae's empty chair.
Chapter Thirty Five
Kug
It was almost tahigh the next day, as Kug walked from Ressa and Craed’s home to the Palace District, when he could admit to himself that the mortar of despair caked around his heart was flaking away. Although jarring, painful images of Lama as he last saw her, and accompanying reflexive guilt, threatened to patch the cracks, pragmatism and hope had found an accord within him.
Gifting Ressa the Steadfast Capful had helped. Thinking of her bittersweet gratitude and Craed’s solemn assurances put a bounce in Kug's step he no longer car
ed to suppress as he came to Dennick's gate.
His fellow exile rose from a wicker chair in the garden and let him in. "T'yer day, Kug."
They embraced. "T'yer day, Dennick." Kug chuckled. "Even after everything, I still find myself thinking of you as Hatul. Strange seeing you not swimming in it."
Dennick tugged at his spotless fitted tunic. "Or dressed in soiled rags?" He shrugged with a tired smile. "Think of Hatul as my errant brother, lost in battle."
"Not before distinguishing himself, in the end," Kug said.
Dennick put a guiding hand on Kug's shoulder. "Come meet Agane."
As they walked from the gate to the house, Kug was surprised to see the stones of the path cluttered with weeds. What once had clearly been a carefully placed and curated selection of flowers, bushes, and trees had been left unattended long enough for the gardener's original intention to be obscured, like a painting left in the rain.
Dennick must have noticed. "The garden has suffered," he said plainly. He opened the front door, sparing Kug a reply he could not have found. "Kug, this is Agane."
The magn sat upright on a reclining couch in their reception room. She was thin; her face drawn with the tension of ever-present pain, but her eyes shone with wit and fire the cruel strokes of her illness could not obscure.
"T'yer day, Agane."
She nodded and smiled. "T'your day, Kug. Forgive me for remaining seated… and please, put yourself at ease as well."
"Thank you."
Kug eased himself into a chair across from the couch, mindful to keep his aches and pains to himself. He'd be sore from the battles of the last three days for some time, and there were some shallow but messy cuts he'd need to give special attention, especially once he was on the road out of Aenikantag… but it would be impolite to complain of such in the presence of a magn who daily faced more serious threats to her health.
Dennick joined his heartfast on the couch. She looked at each of them in turn and laughed. "The two of you. Pretending you're not both battered and bruised. I said put yourself at ease. We live, don't we?"
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