Queen demon, p.17
Queen Demon, page 17
There was a pause as they had to remember where the money pouch had gone and turn out a couple of bags before Kai realized it was in his coat pocket. Then he had to count out the amount in a mix of Rising World currency from Benais-arik and of local coins from the various trading posts they had stopped at. At least Dahin just stood around making exasperated noises instead of hiding under the steering column like he had in Benais-arik. By the time Kai finished paying, the dockmaster was a good deal less wary. Presumably he thought Immortals on the run with a stolen ascension raft would be better organized.
Not that Kai was sure whether they were on the run or not, or if there was anyone still alive who wanted to claim this ascension raft.
Once the dockmaster had gone, Kai turned to the others. “I’m going to the city center to look for the envoy houses. I’ll send a message when I know anything. Where will you be?”
Ziede folded back her hat brim to study the arcade above the harbor walkway. A number of shops stood under the curved tile roofs, places selling imported goods and supplies for ships. Signs indicated various wash houses, a free one maintained by the city and a fancier one that cost coins to enter, another sign for a free sailors’ hostel in several different languages, and pots and grills hung up to indicate small cookshops. She pointed to a large place with awnings shading its terraced seating, with carved and painted fish over the pediment of its entrance. “That one.” It was a good choice; they would be able to watch the raft from there and see if anyone official took notice of it.
“So we’re just going to stop and have lunch?” Dahin demanded.
“Yes. We won’t be able to meet with any scholars today anyway,” Kai said reasonably. It was getting toward late afternoon and Belith kept strict hours, with everything except food sellers shutting down at what they considered the day’s end.
“And I have to pee,” Sanja contributed.
“The child has to pee,” Tahren seconded.
“I heard her,” Dahin snapped.
Ziede winced and rubbed her temple and Kai didn’t need to touch her heart pearl to tell she had a headache from the wind and sun. And he was suddenly done being reasonable. He said sharply, “Dahin, do you trust me or not?”
Dahin looked away. He rightly understood that Kai was not asking for an argument. He let his breath out and said, “Yes, of course. And I’m sorry I’ve been…” He made a loose gesture. “I’ve been … thinking about this a long time. I thought … I’d have more time.”
Kai hadn’t expected to get that much of an apology, at least not now. The fact that the apology was toward him and not Dahin’s sister didn’t do more than take the situation back to the already unpleasant status quo. He just said, “Good. I’ll send to you as soon as I know anything.”
Kai left the raft and started up the dock. He had almost reached the walkway when familiar steps sounded behind him and Dahin caught up. “I’m coming with you,” Dahin said, and didn’t sound surly at all, which made some of the tension go out of Kai’s shoulders.
“Did Ziede tell you to come?” he asked.
“No, it was Tenes.” Dahin sounded mildly amazed. “She said I was acting like a bull’s anus and since being here was all my doing I shouldn’t let you go alone. And she’s right, the two of us will draw less attention than a veiled witch walking alone.”
It required a very rude gesture to say bull’s anus in Witchspeak. “So a veiled witch and a Lesser Blessed walking together will draw much less attention.” He nodded to the remainder of the audience who had gathered to watch the raft land, now sitting around on a pile of baskets, chests, and sacks waiting to be loaded on the square cargo ship at the next dock. They were still watching.
“I’m in disguise,” Dahin protested.
Kai glanced sideways at him and saw he had put on an embroidered Arike coat over his tunic and pants. “If you’re pretending to be an Arike, remember you’re an Arike woman.”
“Oh, right, I forgot.” Dahin jammed his sun hat further down on his head as the wind tugged at it. “I’ll pretend to be your wife, then.”
Kai gave up on being angry. He put his arm around Dahin’s shoulders and squeezed. “I would rather throw you into the sea than marry you.”
“That’s probably wise of you,” Dahin admitted readily.
The Past: the Choice
How the Hierarchs established a chain of pain wells down through the south, by slaughtering the inhabitants of cities and towns … the Enalin expedition to Sun-Ar tried to follow this trail toward the capstone but it proved unreliable. Small wells faded with time, others had been created by ambitious expositors both before and after the Hierarchs’ invasion … There are rumors of scholars and immortals who had found ways to diminish or destroy these wells, as a way to fight the influence of expositors who harried the south …
—From Post-War Journals, by Academician Yanellet Eanochin, Restored Temple of Justice and Antiquity at Ancartre
Kai knew that Bashasa had expected to briefly explain his decision about the dustwitches to the other Prince-heirs and commanders and then go on with their preparations for the strike to the south. He wasn’t surprised that that was how most of the army’s leadership ended up in the main room of the caravanserai arguing. It was good that they had started the meeting fairly early in the morning, because it gave them all the better part of the day to work out what part of the plan they hated most.
Bashasa had released Hawkmoth on his own authority, which was considerable, and everyone admitted that since Kai, an officer in Bashasa’s personal cadre, had captured her, it was up to Bashasa to make the final decision about what to do with her. But no one else had to like it and they were vocal about how they very much did not. The Arike had their hierarchy but they also had the right to complain about the decisions they objected to.
The Prince-heirs were as dubious about the idea of an alliance with the dustwitches as Kai was, so he found himself torn as to what side of the argument he should be on. Everyone was at least in agreement on the idea of a non-aggression pact, which had apparently been common among Arike city-states, but they wanted to decide what to do if the dustwitches didn’t accept it. Which Bashasa didn’t want to discuss yet.
Finally, an exasperated Hiranan used her crutch to lever herself out of her seat. She said, “Sister Ziede.” Her battlefield voice cut through the arguing and everyone managed to stop talking to listen. “Can you tell us how these Witches are likely to respond to an offer of alliance? If we are able to make an agreement with their leader, will they abide by it?”
Every Prince-heir in camp was present, most with their shield-bearers, as well as the head vanguarders, the guild artisans who ran the supply train and worked with the hidden refugee camps, and even Amabel, who had been on their way back from being checked over in the Physicians’ tent and had been swept in with everyone else.
Ziede had been pacing near the far wall, listening with a pinched expression that said she shared Kai’s doubts but didn’t like to see the leadership this divisive. Kai felt that way too, and had no idea what to do about it either. She stopped and said honestly, “Prince-heir Hiranan, I have no idea. My people in the Khalin Islands did not have a leader like this Doyen appears to be. We respected each other’s opinions and our elders and we made decisions together in counsel, we did not have some sort of cult leader who told us all what to think.”
Tahren, leaning against the wall nearby, frowned as if that was the oddest thing she had ever heard. From what little Kai knew about the Blessed, he wasn’t surprised. The other Prince-heirs took Ziede’s words in with a mix of doubt and incredulity.
Prince-heir Vrim turned to Amabel and Kreat, sitting on a stone bench under the far window. “Vanguarder Amabel, your family has lived in the east for some time, true? Do any of you know how these Witches might react?”
Kreat’s brow furrowed in confusion; she was pretending she couldn’t understand Imperial. Kai didn’t know whether to feel annoyed or envious that he couldn’t pull that trick. Amabel took the question in with a faint frown, then turned to Kai. They said in Saredi, “Fourth Prince, will you translate? I can’t say all this in their language.”
“I will,” Kai said. Amabel had been teaching the other vanguarders Witchspeak and Kai had taught some to his cadre. Bashasa had learned a few basic words, but had very little time to put to doing anything that didn’t directly affect their survival.
Using Witchspeak, Amabel said, These Witches are not like my line or my family. We don’t give each other orders. We respect the experience and wisdom of age and we respect knowledge, we speak and we listen. We do not have leaders. I do not know what the dustwitches will do.
As Kai translated, he could tell the rest of the room was receiving this with some dismay. Hiranan considered it with a worried grimace. She said, “But then who are we taking Prince-heir Bashasa’s offer of alliance to? Can this Doyen even make that decision?”
“Hawkmoth at least seemed to believe that the Doyen can,” Bashasa said. He had been standing back with his neutral listening expression, reading the room. The others who didn’t know him well probably thought he was being persuaded by their objections. Kai knew he was looking for weaknesses and planning his attack. “We have only her word to go on. I understand all the concerns, but I will proceed as I mean to, and offer the alliance first. The matter of these dustwitches must be settled before the Enalin arrive. We cannot let them distract us from our goals.”
There was uneasy shifting among the vanguarders and soldiers present, and narrowed eyes and opaque glances among the Prince-heirs. No one said, if they arrive, which could be good because no one was thinking it except Kai, or bad because everyone was thinking it so didn’t feel it needed to be said.
Then Lahshar, who had been quiet or at least not openly dismissive up to this point, said, “Rumor says these dustwitch creatures prey on travelers all through this area. The attack on us was not some mistake or act of fear. Sending overtures to them will be a waste of time.”
Bashasa’s face went tight. Yes, Kai thought Lahshar had been holding that in reserve too, ready to deploy it at the most opportune time.
Tahren pushed off the wall and regarded Lahshar steadily. Her expression was still even, but there was a trace of displeasure in the line of her mouth. She said, “Is this fact or story?”
Tahren did not participate much in their councils unless she had a direct question or someone appealed to her for an opinion. Her answers were always sensible and she was respectful to everyone, calm and never hesitating, the same as she was in battle. She had everyone’s attention now.
Lahshar eyed her. Despite the respect for Tahren, many in the army were wary of her as an Immortal Marshall, the way they were wary of Kai and Ziede. But Lahshar was nearly impossible to intimidate. She said, “It is fact. Last night I sent my cadre to ask if any of our recruits had heard of similar attacks in this region. The drovers who joined us from north Seidel speak of it. Go ask them yourself if you don’t believe me.”
Bashasa’s gaze had gone heavy lidded and he was smiling faintly, though he still had too much self-control to lose his temper.
Did he know about that too? Kai wondered. He thought Bashasa would have discussed it with him and Ziede if he had, though he might have only heard it this morning. Knowing what he did of the Arike now, and particularly the few surviving members of the bar Calis family, he felt certain Bashasa had someone in Lahshar’s camp who would pass along this kind of information.
Hiranan turned to Lahshar, frowning. “This should have been shared earlier.”
“I’m sharing it now,” Lahshar told her, unrepentant. “There have been attacks on caravans in the past few years, one of which these drovers saw with their own eyes.” She hadn’t glanced at Bashasa, possibly because she knew what she would see. “There were bodies with mouths full of dirt, choked on dust, like what was done to our vanguarders.”
Ziede met Kai’s gaze with a grimace. Kai was also sure Lahshar was telling the truth about this. He hated it when she was right.
Bashasa relaxed and spread his hands, as if the solution was obvious. He didn’t make the mistake of arguing with Lahshar. He said, “Nevertheless. We are fighting a war, and we need allies. It will certainly be a waste of lives not to make overtures.”
The argument went on, with Prince-heirs Vrim and Asara and some of the shield-bearers bringing up relevant points and Hiranan refusing to give in until she had all her concerns answered. Since Bashasa couldn’t actually answer those concerns, they weren’t getting anywhere. Hiranan was the one he really had to convince. The others trusted his leadership but Hiranan was the oldest here, the most experienced, and she was thoughtful and incisive in her decisions. Even Lahshar would shut up if Hiranan supported the plan.
After a while, Amabel and Kreat slipped out. Kai gave up and went to sit on a bench under the window near the outside doors. The afternoon had turned warmer and the buzz of insects risen as the wind died. He could smell the cookpots from the camp, ready to feed everyone early in case they were attacked again tonight. He didn’t have anything helpful to add to the discussion, and the fact that he half agreed with Lahshar left a bad taste in his mouth.
Kai let his thoughts drift. After a time, the conference broke up and Bashasa sat down beside him, saying, “We are taking a break.” He sounded like this was something they had planned on rather than an emergency measure to keep anyone from starting a fight.
“That’s probably a good idea.” The others had all withdrawn to opposite corners. Ziede and Tahren sat on another bench talking together.
“Our people are very stubborn,” Bashasa added, low-voiced, his gaze moving over the room.
“They are,” Kai agreed. Bashasa could out-stubborn a stone wall himself but he was also lightning quick to adjust his thinking to take account of new facts. That others were unwilling or unable to do this was somewhat baffling to him.
Bashasa glanced down. “Ah! Did someone give you that?”
At some point Kai had taken out a luck token and was absently rolling it between his palms. “Lots of someones.” He dug in his coat pocket and pulled out a small handful. While he and Dahin had been doing the washing this morning, several more tokens had appeared on his folded coat, left there by others going in and out of the bathhouse to fetch water or wash something. Some had been handed to him earlier by soldiers in Bashasa’s cadre, or the outguard, as he walked around camp. “They’re giving them to Ziede and Tahren, and the Witches, too. They’re for luck?”
Bashasa leaned forward, lightly touching Kai’s hand. “Not luck, exactly, though that’s a simple way to say it in Imperial. They’re more like cynosures.” He indicated one, the same design as the first Kai had been given while visiting Amabel near the supply train. Most of the tokens in Kai’s collection were that shape, though there were a few different ones mixed in. “That is for Benais-arik. Each city has a different one. They were signs of affiliation, of a sense of belonging, given to visitors from other city-states, other places, as a sign of welcome, a remembrance.” He was smiling at the figures, a genuine expression of pleasure.
This explanation was even more puzzling. “Why are they giving them to me? So many, all of a sudden?”
Bashasa lifted his brows, as if it was obvious. “Because they saw you create a pillar of fire to defend our camp. Because they saw you and Ziede plunge into the dark in pursuit of our attackers, to bring back our captured people.” He looked at Kai for a long moment. “Would you speak on my behalf, Fourth Prince?”
Kai snorted. “To who? Nobody in this room who isn’t listening to you is going to listen to me.”
“To the dustwitches,” Bashasa clarified.
“That’s not any better,” Kai said. “They think I’m an expositor’s familiar.” And he didn’t know any more about them than Ziede and Amabel did. Less, even.
Bashasa nodded to the Prince-heirs and the others, conferring in different clumps. “The only thing we have managed to agree on here is that if the dustwitches consent to a meeting, I should not be the one to go to it.”
They had got further along than Kai realized. He wondered if anyone understood that Bashasa must have subtly shifted the conversation in that direction, so that now they were talking about what to do when the meeting took place, instead of arguing about whether it should take place at all. “You didn’t think that through.”
“I was rushed,” Bashasa admitted ruefully, with that devastating candor. “I didn’t realize their objections to me going would be so well-considered. But Sister Ziede and Tahren Stargard have offered to go in my stead. It gave me pause, because I wasn’t certain how the rest of the army would accept their leadership in this. I know they are respected, but I thought they were still seen as outsiders.”
“Like me,” Kai pointed out. He was the most outside outsider in the army. Possibly in the whole Arik.
“True. But this…” Bashasa stirred the tokens in Kai’s hand. “This is a sign that that is changing. That they may accept them, and you, not just as officers in my cadre but as leaders.” Bashasa met his gaze, serious. “You could be a leader. A leader of Witches.”
Kai felt his brow furrow in consternation. “You want me to kill the Doyen and take their place?”
“No, Kai, as we discussed before, may I remind you, I don’t want that.” Bashasa let out a breath. “The Doyen seems to have great control over their people. If you can convince them that they will benefit by an alliance with us, if you can find out what they want, and make with them an agreement we can trust, they could become part of your cadre, give their allegiance to you.” He nodded to himself, forming new plans even as Kai watched. “You and Ziede will know best what to ask, how to evaluate the truth of their answers.”
“Give their allegiance to me?” Kai repeated, as skeptically as possible.
“Yes, to you.” Bashasa made an openhanded gesture. “Who else? They will not consider giving it to a mortal, will they? Not with the attitude Hawkmoth spoke of.”
