Besieged (60 page)

Of course, none of them met her eyes. She was Imoshen the All-father-killer and, other than student-he, she had not had a casual conversation with a T’En man since Lighthouse Isle.

‘Also, I want to introduce you to a lad Egrayne has identified as a powerful gift-warrior in the making.’ Aayelora gestured to Imoshen’s choice-son. ‘Iraayel will be seventeen three years from today, when he will join your brotherhood.’

Imoshen saw Iraayel’s shoulders tense as the five closest men turned to inspect him. To reassure him, she placed her hand on his back.

‘Iraayel...’ Chariode said. It was clear he did not know the name. When Rohaayel’s brotherhood was absorbed into Chariode’s, the T’En boys would have been the last thing on the all-father’s mind. Chariode would have been concentrating on containing the rivalry caused by integrating so many powerful men into the ranks of his warriors and scholars. ‘From Rohaayel’s brotherhood?’

‘Yes. Hand-of-force Irian’s son.’ Vittoryxe spoke as if she was being helpful, but was clearly making sure they knew the boy was the son of a disgraced, covenant-breaking father. Imoshen didn’t have to read her to know her motivation.

Saffazi and Bedutz flushed in sympathy with Iraayel.

Anger made Imoshen’s gift hard to control, but she hung back and said nothing. As far as she could tell Chariode and his inner circle had not connected Iraayel to her.

‘A potential gift-warrior?’ Chariode studied Iraayel. ‘So tell me, Iraayel, what would you like to do when you join us?’

‘I... I don’t know. Does Rutz do more than write plays?’

‘Why?’ Chariode laughed. ‘Are you going to compete with him? Do we have an aspiring playwright here?’

‘No. No, I...’ Iraayel flushed, glancing to Saffazi and Bedutz.

Imoshen wanted to protect him, but held her tongue. Hearing their all-father’s laughter, two more of his inner circle came over.

Chariode took pity on Iraayel. ‘Work hard for your gift-tutor, but don’t neglect your other studies.’

‘I do work hard,’ Iraayel said. ‘I’d like to go to Ivernia one day.’

Imoshen glanced to him. Had Frayvia let slip their plans to her son?

‘Then you’ll want to be a sea captain, like Ardonyx, here,’ Chariode said, apparently not realising Iraayel meant he wanted to study with the Sagoras. The all-father beckoned the captain, who had only just joined them. ‘He’s our greatest explorer. What made you decide to go to sea, Ardonyx?’

‘I didn’t. I was a terrible student, who drove my teachers to distraction,’ he said, his voice so familiar Imoshen’s heart lurched. Ardonyx was student-he. All other sounds retreated. Her gift surged, and she had to fight to repress it. She needed to get out of here. ‘I kept asking my tutors why this, why that, and always they had the same answer.’

‘What was their answer?’ Iraayel asked, intrigued.

‘Things are the way they are because that’s the way it has always been. Finally, they sent me to sea. They thought it would knock some sense into me.’

‘Did it work?’ one of Chariode’s inner circle asked.

‘No...’ Ardonyx shook his head with mock sorrow. ‘I’m still asking why.’

Imoshen read him. He
was
Rutz. His plays were his way of expressing his frustration, at a society he had compared with so many others, and found wanting.

Ardonyx grew very still, and she felt his power questing for hers.

Imoshen knew she had to make obeisance and slip away before everything unravelled but, at that moment, Egrayne put a hand on the small of her back, urging her forward.

‘Chariode, this is Iraayel’s choice-mother, Imoshen.’

Seven high-ranking T’En men focused on Imoshen, and she wanted to sink through the floor. The instant she spoke, student-he would recognise her voice. But she had no choice; she had to thank Chariode. The moment seemed to last forever.

Egrayne nudged her.

Imoshen gave the obeisance of obligation. ‘All-father Chariode, as Iraayel’s choice-mother, I thank you for accepting him into your brotherhood.’

She kept her gaze on Chariode, but sensed Ardonyx stiffen. He’d recognised her. Meanwhile, Chariode’s inner circle watched their all-father, waiting to take their cue from him.

‘Imoshen...’...
the All-father-killer.
Chariode didn’t say the words. He didn’t need to; they all heard them.

‘I hope...’ Imoshen’s voice faltered. ‘I hope you can ignore the identity of Iraayel’s choice-mother and accept him for the potential gift-warrior he is.’

At that moment Ardonyx took a step back, and her gaze flew to him. His eyes gleamed with pain and anger. She’d lied to him, hurt him. Certainly, he’d had a secret, but it was something to be proud of, whilst her secret...

Ardonyx gave the all-mother an abrupt bow and walked away.

No one spoke.

Imoshen felt Iraayel’s dismay, and she sensed his struggle to contain his newly-risen gift.

‘What does this mean?’ Saffazi asked, bristling on Iraayel’s behalf.

‘It means,’ Chariode said, ‘that due to his choice-mother, Iraayel will have to work twice as hard to gain stature in the brotherhood.’

‘That’s not fair,’ Saffazi protested.

‘Life is rarely fair.’ Chariode made his obeisance to the all-mother and walked off with his inner circle.

And, when Imoshen went to her next Sagorese lesson, there was no sign of student-he. Through judicious questioning of the sisterhood’s sea captain, who had recently returned from an unsuccessful voyage to find a way through the northern ice floes, Imoshen learnt that Captain Ardonyx had left the city to sail south.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Year 318

‘N
EXT,
’ V
ITTORYXE CALLED.
The requests for midsummer trystings were flowing in. Personally, she didn’t see what all the fuss was about. But she had the responsibility of making up the list, and she would do a good job.

Each individual T’En male’s gift, stature and brotherhood had to be assessed before he could be added to the list, and half a dozen high-ranking sisters waited with her to discuss each request. Among these sisters were Imoshen and Arodyti. It had been Egrayne’s suggestion, and Vittoryxe didn’t see what they could add to the discussion. Arodyti was like a cat on heat; she and her shield-sister asked for several different males each year. Vittoryxe suspected the pair of them regularly slipped out to the free quarter to indulge in illicit trystings. As for Imoshen, she might pretend disinterest in T’En males, but Vittoryxe knew better. Imoshen had grown up in contact with their gift; she was flawed.

The sea captain, Iriane, strode in. ‘Captain Ardonyx is back.’

Vittoryxe looked up at the sisterhood’s famous sea captain. ‘So you want to tryst with this Ardonyx.’

‘What? No. I want to mount another expedition.’

‘What does he have to do with this?’ Vittoryxe asked.

‘He’s the greatest of the brotherhood sea captains, a brilliant navigator.’ Iriane spoke as if everyone should know this. ‘He’s been scouting a southern route to the far east. If he finds one, Chariode’s brotherhood will negotiate an exclusive trading agreement with–’

‘So you want to make another voyage north?’ All-mother Aayelora said, and looked to Egrayne; always Egrayne. Vittoryxe had seen this as confirmation Egrayne would be named the next voice-of-reason, and she would be the next all-mother, but the longer Aayelora delayed, the more it undermined her conviction.

Egrayne sat forward. ‘Iriane, last time you tried to find a way through the ice floes, you lost two toes to frostbite and–’

‘I’ll be better prepared this time.’ She shifted her attention to the all-mother. ‘Ardonyx has been back four days already, and I only just heard. I need your approval, Aayelora. I need to find a northern passage ahead of him, if our sisterhood is going to have an exclusive trade agreement.’

As Vittoryxe waited for the all-mother to respond, she noticed Imoshen quietly coming to her feet. ‘Where are you going? We haven’t finished yet.’

‘It’s nearly time for my language lesson. I thought–’

‘Imoshen can go,’ the all-mother said. ‘And Iriane, you can have your expedition. We’ll finish this tomorrow.’

Annoyance flashed through Vittoryxe. She should have been the one to call an end to it.

‘Right, that’s it for today,’ she said, reclaiming control, and then she went one better. ‘Tonight the sisterhood will hold a farewell dinner for Iriane and her crew.’

I
MOSHEN’S HEART RACED
– he was back. There was a chance he might not come to the Sagorese lesson but, if he did, she would be ready for him.

‘Imoshen?’ Egrayne called.

Controlling her impatience, Imoshen waited at the top of the grand staircase.

‘Did you notice the all-mother?’ Egrayne asked.

Imoshen thought back. ‘She seemed tired.’

Egrayne nodded. ‘And she’s forgetting things. They all remark on how well she is for her age, but she’s failing, Imoshen. She should have stepped down years ago. She didn’t because she couldn’t hand the leadership over to the wrong person.’

‘But you’d be a wonderful all-mother,’ Imoshen protested, and she meant it.

‘Vittoryxe thinks she’d make a wonderful all-mother, and she’s spent the last thirty years shoring up allegiances with the high-ranking sisters to ensure she’ll have the numbers. There’s no point Aayelora naming a new all-mother if Vittoryxe forces a vote; and, if the vote doesn’t go the way she wants, she could offer challenge.’

‘I thought only brotherhoods–’

‘It happens if a sister puts personal ambition above the good of the sisterhood.’

Imoshen winced.

‘Exactly. Vittoryxe believes she has the best interests of the sisterhood at heart, but–’

‘If she did, she would accept you as all-mother. What will you do?’

Egrayne studied her. ‘I’ve been waiting for you to grow into your gift. You’re a raedan. With that skill, you could make our sisterhood the most powerful...’ She ran down because Imoshen was already shaking her head.

‘I don’t want to lead the sisterhood. The sisters don’t like me. Vittoryxe has seen to that. And the brotherhoods
hate
me.’

‘They respect strength and power. Vittoryxe does not have as many friends as she thinks she does. Certainly, if she became all-mother, the sisters would defer to her, but they would be relieved if she didn’t.’

‘You’re serious.’ Imoshen stared at her. ‘I can’t do this.’

‘You’d have me to advise you, and your choice of hand-of-force.’

Even as she shook her head, one part of Imoshen was already planning the changes she would make. Of course, she could not implement them right away, but this would be a chance to gradually bring the sisterhood into a new age, the
Age of Enlightenment
, as she and Ardonyx called it.

Oh, but she wanted to see him;
needed
to see him.

‘If Vittoryxe could call on the votes to beat you, she’d beat me.’

‘Not if you birthed a sacrare girl, who would grow up to make our sisterhood more powerful than any other. When Reoden had her sacrare daughter, the old all-mother stepped down. You’ve already given birth to a healthy sacrare boy. So your chances of carrying one to term are better than average. I’ve made a list of the suitable males who have asked to tryst with you.’

‘I thought no one ever asked.’

‘That’s what we told you, because Vittoryxe said–’

‘...that I would become addicted to the male’s power if I trysted with a male.’

Egrayne nodded. ‘So the all-mother turned down all requests.’ She passed Imoshen the list. ‘Take a look. Pick two or three to tryst with. If you do have a sacrare from the midsummer trystings, we don’t want a male claiming stature because of it.’

‘Besides, if it was a boy, the sisterhood would have to hand him over in seventeen years, and his brotherhood would...’ Imoshen read Egrayne. ‘You couldn’t kill–’

‘We can’t give the brotherhoods a weapon to use against us. You’d better have a girl.’

‘There’s no way of ensuring a girl,’ Imoshen protested.

‘Don’t mention this to Vittoryxe. Come back to me with at least three trysting partners for midsummer.’

Imoshen looked down at the list, then up. ‘I’ll think about it.’

She turned to go, but Egrayne caught her arm. ‘Your sisterhood needs you.’

‘I understand. I really do.’ They could not go on like this, living in fear of the men. There had to be a better way.

Imoshen left the palace and made her way to the sisterhood jewellery shop in the free quarter to get changed.

During the time that Ardonyx had been away, Imoshen had realised two things. The first was that she loved him, and without him life was flat and grey. The second was that he had been right – she could not live her life in fear. If she believed there were injustices, she had to try to redress them.

And she had a chance of achieving this as all-mother of the most powerful sisterhood, but only if one of the brotherhoods cooperated and set an example for the others. If Ardonyx was all-father of a powerful brotherhood... Her heart raced; together, they could change things for the better.

There was no sign of Ardonyx on the arched bridge. She waited, but he did not come. Head down, she made her way to the lesson, but a hand caught her arm, pulling her into the same shadowed portico as last time. Her gift recognised him and broke free of her control for a heartbeat.

He pushed the hood and veil back so that she could see his face. ‘Imoshen...’

‘I’m sorry.’ The words poured out of her. She pushed back her own hood and veil. ‘I should have told–’

‘You couldn’t. I wouldn’t have–’

‘Then later I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want to risk losing you. You were right, I can’t live in fear.’

‘Then say it.’

This was too intimate. Too powerful. She couldn’t speak. Her gift surged and he swayed towards her. She reached out and brushed aside his robe to find bare flesh.

Everything was in alignment, her gift, her body and her mind. She was ready for this. Her power built.

‘What is that?’ he whispered. ‘I can feel...’