04c Dreams of Fire and Gods: Gods (14 page)

“Be silent!” Marik shouted, standing to glare down at them from her dais. For all their bluster, they cowered under the eerie light of her new “eyes” and the noise died down as they lowered their weapons.

All but Kessikh. He’d had a taste of power, and it made him bold. “Jus’ wonderin’ what we get out of all this. Tha’s all.”

“Vengeance!”

“For you, maybe. An’ the
vek
gets to set ’is pretty ass on the throne. For us, it looks like a great chance to be flanked by the emperor’s guards and sliced to ribbons. Or get ourselves executed for ’
is
treason.”

The murmurs of agreement were less raucous this time, but it was clear the men were still siding with Kessikh.

“You may take whatever you can carry from the emperor’s private chambers,” Worlen announced to all of them. “As well as the throne room and any other public chambers.”

“The treasury vault?” Kessikh asked.

“No. The reign of the Menaüks will not begin with a bankrupted treasury. But Emperor Savön surrounds himself with beautiful and quite expensive baubles. You will not leave empty-handed.”

“We ain’t gonna leave a’ all if we’re cut down by the imperial guard.”

“Oh dear,” Worlen said, turning to Marik. “I thought you told me your men were experienced fighters. I’m beginning to think this lout might be better suited to needlepoint.”

Kessikh snarled and put his hand on his rapier as he took another step toward the
vek
. “Say tha’ again and ye’ll—”

He stopped short when he found not one but two blades at his throat. Not only had Worlen turned and drawn his sword, but Donegh had popped out of the floor between them, dagger in hand.

“Thank you, Donegh,” Worlen said dryly, “but I believe I have this under control.”

“As you say, Your Grace,” Donegh replied with a nod of his head, stepping slowly from between the two men. He moved to stand at the foot of the dais.

“My patience with your lack of respect is at an end,” Worlen told Kessikh. “Draw your blade.” He stepped back to allow Kessikh to comply.

Kessikh licked his lips nervously and glanced at Marik, as if expecting her to come to his defense, but she merely took her seat again, her expression cold and dispassionate.

“We won’t bother with rules,” the
vek
said. “I doubt you’d know them. I simply invite you to kill me… if you can.”

Kessikh glanced around at his fellow outlaws, but their expressions were guarded, awaiting the outcome of the
vek
’s challenge. Seeing he was alone, he fell back upon his arrogance. He grinned and said, “My pleasure.” Then he swung his saber in an arc at the
vek
’s head—a move any amateur could have foreseen.

Of course, the
vek
countered it easily.

Donegh watched the fight with mild interest. From that first exchange onward, it was apparent Kessikh was hopelessly outmatched. Worlen was an expert swordsman, far better than any Donegh had ever seen. He danced lightly around Kessikh, drawing blood frequently with slight nicks of his blade, just barely scratching the skin. Any number of these might have been deathblows, but it was clear he was just toying with the oaf.

Kessikh grew more and more enraged with each humiliating cut, but not once did he manage to draw blood himself. When Worlen at last hooked the elaborate hilt of his rapier and sent the weapon careening across the flagstone floor, Donegh felt disappointed. The fight had been far too short and rather dull.

With the point of his sword once more at Kessikh’s throat, the
vek
said calmly, “Now perhaps we should set a few things straight. I have fought in more battles than you likely remember. And, since you insist upon being crass, I’ll add that thanks to a lucky pike thrust that injured me and killed my horse when I was quite young, my ass is not particularly ‘pretty.’ However, I still intend to ‘set’ it upon the throne. So as your current
vek
and your future emperor, I must insist you address me respectfully from this point forward, or I will execute you myself.” He lifted the blade so the tip of his sword was digging into the soft flesh above Kessikh’s voice box. “Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Kessikh replied nervously and then quickly added, “Your Grace!”

“Now
kneel
!”

Kessikh quickly fell to his knees and lowered his head. Seeing his surrender, the other men in the room all did the same, while the
vek
sheathed his sword.

“Enough of this foolishness,” Worlen told them, raising his voice. “If this was not a dangerous undertaking, I would have no need of enlisting your aid. Even then, I could easily have brought soldiers from Worlen or Harleh. But I need Marik to provide reconnaissance and she prefers to work with her own men. That is how you’ve come to be involved.” He walked across the room to stand at the foot of the dais and address Marik. “As your companion pointed out, invading the royal palace and killing the emperor is likely to be regarded as treason. But as the emperor and I are already at war, that’s hardly relevant. What
is
relevant is the fact that I have been afforded an opportunity to seize the throne without subjecting the kingdom to a long, drawn out civil war. I intend to take that chance. By this time tomorrow, I will be emperor, and within a sennight the imperial army will begin its retreat back to gü-Khemed.”

“Unless you lose, Your Grace,” Marik pointed out, still looking amused.

Worlen raised an eyebrow at her. “I do not lose.”

G
ONIM
lay in the dark for a long time, longing for sleep as he listened to the soft breathing of some of the
tadu
and the snoring of others, but knowing it wouldn’t come. He listened as the bells of
Manduccot
rang out mournfully in the darkness. To his surprise, one of the fathers entered the room with a burning lantern and began moving quietly from bed to bed, rousing the sleeping youths and instructing them in a hushed voice to get dressed immediately. The young men groaned and protested, but the father ordered them to be as quiet as possible.

“What is it, Father?” one of them asked.

“I can’t go into long explanations right now,” he answered irritably. “Suffice to say we’re leaving the city—in secret, as you may have guessed. I want you all dressed and ready to depart by the time I return. Dress warmly. Father Ülnekh will see to provisions.”

It was difficult, even at this late hour, to completely hide the movement of forty-four
caedan
and
tadu
through the streets of Harleh. Father Kosün decided to send people out in small groups, with instructions to rendezvous at the west gate. They were to stop for no one—merely say a polite “good evening” and continue on their way, if spoken to. The guards at the gates had all been given large… donations… to allow them passage.

Gonim was put with three other
tadu
, including Sheh, and a
caedan
named Father Krinn. They were the seventh group to go out, and they hurried quickly through the rings, keeping to the shadows as much as possible and staying silent. There were still people about, especially in the outer ring, though few men and women walking the streets in the middle of the night had any interest in talking to priests. They also had little interest in reporting suspicious behavior to the town guards.

When they arrived at the west gate, Gonim was surprised to find a large gathering of
vönan
there. The
caedan
and
vönan
in Worlen had never particularly associated with one another, and neither group had had much to do with the
ömem
. Which of them should have the most influence over the emperor and the
vek
had been a source of contention since the days of the empire. Yet tonight they appeared to be united in their plan to leave Harleh.

What the plan was, exactly, Gonim still had no idea. He suspected they would head west toward the capital and seek asylum with the emperor, rather than head deeper into the
vek
’s kingdom. He’d heard a rumor that the emperor’s army was camped at the west end of the valley.

As the guards quietly opened the city gate to allow the group to pass out into the village, Gonim felt a strange compulsion come over him. He seemed to have momentarily lost control over his body, as if he were merely watching as it wandered away from the other
tadu
and drifted into the darkened alley between the outer wall and the The Molting Kikid tavern. There, he found one of the guards relieving himself.

“What?” the man gasped, fumbling to tuck himself back into his breeches. “What do you want,
tadu
?”

Gonim tried to apologize for disturbing him, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate. He saw his hand reach out to caress the guard’s face in a distinctly seductive gesture.
Is she going to make me have sex with him
, Gonim wondered? He had no doubt the goddess was controlling his actions. He would do as Imen commanded, but truthfully he was rather repelled by the man. He smelled of onions and several of his teeth were missing. The man didn’t flinch away from his touch, but he looked bewildered.

Then Gonim heard a voice—his own—speaking as if from far away. “There is a family camped outside the town—an old woman and her husband. They are called Unid and Seirit. Find them and grant them access to the city.”

No doubt the guard would ignore any order given him by a mere
tadu
, under normal circumstances, but he seemed mesmerized by Gonim’s voice. He nodded slowly and replied, “Yes.”

Then suddenly Gonim was in control of himself. He jerked his hand back, embarrassed. But the guard merely blinked at him as if nothing unusual had happened.

“Gonim!” Sheh hissed at him.

Gonim turned to see his companion standing at the end of the alley, looking around cautiously as if he feared they might get caught by one of the
caedan
.

“Come on!” Sheh said in a whisper. “You can piss in the forest, when we’re safely out of the city.”

Gonim said nothing but hurried to join him.

There were few guards patrolling the streets outside the walls, so the band of
caedan
and
vönan
—close to a hundred strong now—was relatively safe. Still, they kept silent and passed quickly out of the city and through the thousands of refugees camped at its edge. Gonim tried to locate Unid and Seirit as he moved through the tents and wagons there, but he saw no sign of them amid the crowd.

“Everybody stay together,” Father Kosün instructed them all as he stopped to watch the
tadu
file past. He appeared to be counting under his breath to make sure they were all present.

“I hope we’ll pass by the city,” Sheh told Gonim, still keeping his voice low.

Gonim hoped so too. He was, in fact, hatching a plan of his own. Imen certainly wouldn’t want him to leave the valley so soon after his arrival. He’d barely begun to investigate the cause of this magic that blocked her from seeing Harleh. He needed to see this mysterious city close up. Which meant he would have to sneak away from the others at some point.

He thought about bringing Sheh with him, thinking the young man might be inclined to follow him. But perhaps that was unwise. Sheh was already beginning to show signs of becoming attached to him, and the last thing Gonim needed was a lover chasing him around, especially if things got dangerous. He was capable of taking care of himself, but would he be able to accomplish his mission if he had to watch out for Sheh too?

He knew, though, that if he just quietly slipped away when no one was looking, Sheh would panic. He might go searching for Gonim and get separated from the others—who knew what kinds of beasts roamed this strange forest?—or raise the alarm so the party could stop and search. He would have to be taken into Gonim’s confidence, at least to some degree.

They walked most of the night, until at last Father Kosün
and one of the senior
vönan
ordered a halt so the elderly among them could rest a while. They were still wary of being followed, so no fires were permitted and people huddled in their cloaks against the cool night air.

The eerie towers of the city could be seen through the treetops, but they were to the north, and it appeared the
caedan
intended to keep their distance.

It was Sheh who unintentionally provided Gonim with his chance to slip away. They were still with the other
tadu
, when he told Gonim in a voice loud enough to be heard by the others, “I have to take a piss.” Giving Gonim a look that clearly said “follow me,” the
tadu
turned and walked away into the forest.

“Me too,” Gonim said to no one in particular. As he followed Sheh away from the others, he heard snickers behind his back. No doubt they thought the two were going off for a quick grope in the dark—and Gonim was fairly certain that was what Sheh had planned. But he wasn’t concerned with his reputation among them.

His night vision was one of the things that seemed enhanced since the goddess had changed him. This enabled him to see Sheh hiding in the shadows and not be startled when the young man reached out to grab his tunic and pull him close. Had he been surprised, Gonim knew he might have reacted violently. And with his newfound strength, he might have killed the
tadu
before he could stop himself.

Sheh kissed him hard. Gonim allowed it, but he felt little of the passion Sheh seemed to be experiencing. Sheh was appealing enough, and if there had been time, Gonim wouldn’t have objected to another tumble in the underbrush. But he needed to get away before the fathers decided to move again.

He broke this kiss and whispered in Sheh’s ear, “I have to go now.”

“What?”

“I have to leave.”

Sheh stepped back to look at him. It was dark under these trees, but Gonim could still make out the mixture of bewilderment and fear in his expression. “We’re all leaving—together.”