Blades of the Old Empire (12 page)

Raishan shrugged.

The stew had more potatoes than meat, but showed a clear effort to whip up a decent meal in a very short time. The brew was sour, but flavorful. It was also unexpectedly strong. Kyth took a big gulp and felt his head swim.

“They really do treat you like royalty here,” he said to Raishan.

“It’s more practical than that,” the Majat said. “A Diamond’s assignment can support the entire fortress for half a year. These people have food and shelter because we earn the money to keep this all going. So, the respect we get is proportional to the worth that we are to the Guild. You can call it royalty if you like, or plain wealth.”

“A diamond,” Egey Bashi intoned, “is the costliest of gems.”

Raishan nodded. He glanced over to the other table and Kyth suddenly realized that the Majat’s thoughts were no longer on the conversation. His eyes followed the other men who had just finished their meal and were rising to leave.

“What is it?” Kyth asked quietly.

Raishan shook his head. “Probably nothing. It’s just… there’s something familiar about these men. I keep having this feeling I’ve seen them before.”

Egey Bashi turned and watched as the last few of the group disappeared through the open doorway.

“Do you think they could handle orbens, Aghat?” he asked.

Raishan shrugged. “I wouldn’t be surprised, Magister. Not surprised at all.”

Ellah sat on the windowsill in the Keeper’s quarters, looking down into the lower castle courtyard. It was empty. From her place she could see the white stone basin over by the far wall. She thought it looked like the water in the basin was pink with blood, but she knew this couldn’t be true.

The rest of their party had gathered in the King’s quarters to discuss the situation, but she couldn’t bring herself to get up and go. She was too exhausted. Her fight with Kaddim Tolos had taken away all her strength. Or was it the way she felt Mai’s pain, as if it was her own?

She suddenly became aware of someone standing by her side. Startled, she turned and came face to face with Mai.

He had changed into a clean outfit. His hair was damp, but bore no trace of blood. He looked just like always, elegant and composed, dashing in black. There was no way to tell he had recently fought twelve men and had miraculously recovered from a very serious wound.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asked weakly.

Mai didn’t respond. He approached and lowered himself onto the other end of the windowsill across from Ellah.

“I wanted to thank you,” he said, “for your help today.”

She stared. It was nice to hear him say it, but in truth there was no way in the world
she
could possibly do anything to help
him
in any way.

“I don’t think I made a difference,” she said earnestly. “You didn’t need my help with the wound. All I did was cause you more pain.”

He smiled. “You did more than that. But I was actually talking about the fight. Given the odds, what you did was damn brave.”

She continued to stare. Did he just call her
brave
? Did he just thank her for helping him in a
fight
?

“And reckless,” he went on. “What were you thinking, attacking a man so much more powerful than yourself?”

Ellah looked at him, so amazed that she even forgot to blush. “I wasn’t thinking,” she admitted. “I just… did it. So…” She took a breath, keeping her eyes steady on his face. “I guess it means there’s no need for you to thank me.”

He smiled and leaned back against the windowframe. “I guess it means we’re even.”

She nodded.

He continued sitting there looking at her, but she felt too weak to be flustered by it. It was so much better to try to relax and pretend that nothing in this conversation was out of the ordinary. He was her travel companion, and lately they spent a lot of time with each other. They could just act like friends, couldn’t they?

She made an attempt at it.

“This man’s power,” she said. “What did it feel like?”

Mai appeared to consider it.

“It was strange, nothing I’ve ever felt before. It seemed that I was still able to move but unable to… to focus, I guess. There was a mist in my head, and every movement I wanted to make came too late.”

She kept her eyes on his face. “It was so scary when they hit you,” she said, her voice sinking to a half-whisper.

His fingers traced the smooth skin of his cheek in an absentminded gesture. For a brief moment he looked vulnerable, like a child. Ellah had a sudden urge to hold him and stroke his hair, to touch his face and feel for herself that the ugly, deforming scar wasn’t there, that all this had been no more than a horrible dream. She couldn’t forget the way his face had looked, torn flesh caked with oozing blood. She would never forget the pain that echoed in her own body through their touch. So much pain. And such incredible control. What kind of training could form this ability to remain so still under such excruciating pain?

She shivered. “Does it still hurt?”

He smiled. “Only as a memory. I’ll live, thanks.”

“Kaddim Tolos’s men were the same ones that attacked us back on the road,” she said. “Probably the same as back in the King’s castle, too – except that I didn’t have a chance to take a good look back then.”

He nodded. “Back on the road, you recognized they weren’t real Holy Knights. I guess now we know for certain you were right.”

“But why? Why did they try to attack us then? And why are they here?”

“Something tells me we’ll soon find out.” A strange gleam lit up in his eyes.

She suddenly became aware of a thought that had been nagging at her for a while. Something that related back to her earlier conversation with Mai. Something Kaddim Tolos had said.

“Remember when we played the guessing game?” she said slowly. “When you were testing if I could sense the truth?”

He nodded.

“You lied to me back then, didn’t you?” she said.

He shifted in his seat. His eyes became innocent, but there was mischief behind them.

“About what?” he asked.

“About killing.”

He looked at her with sudden interest. “What makes you say that?”

She swallowed. “I watched you fight. You could’ve killed those men today, but you didn’t. None of them. And, back on the road, you could’ve killed them too, but all you did was cut their saddle straps.”

“So?”

She kept his gaze. “Kaddim Tolos was right, wasn’t he? You only kill if it’s part of your assignment.”

He laughed. “So?”

“You haven’t
really
killed two hundred people, have you?”

He leaned forward, his face becoming serious in a flash. The change was so fast that she drew back in fright.

“Why do you think that?” he asked.

She forced herself to stand her ground. “You
couldn’t
have killed two hundred people. Not with the way you avoid killing, even accidentally.”

“How do you know?” he insisted. “Maybe before I became the King’s bodyguard I had an assignment to kill two hundred people.”

She looked into his eyes searchingly. It was possible, of course. In theory. But she just couldn’t believe it.
No one
could kill two hundred people in cold blood and keep looking so young and innocent. No ruthless killer could have such laughter in his eyes. And yet – how much did she really know about the Diamond Majat?

“Tell me,” she insisted. “Please. Have you really killed so many?”

He leaned back against the wall. His gaze wavered.

“No,” he said.

She let out a sigh. “How many have you killed?”

He smiled. “If I told you, you wouldn’t be able to know if I told the truth anyway, would you?”

“No. But you could just tell me the truth, couldn’t you?”

“Perhaps.”

“Please,” she begged. “Just this once.”

He shrugged. “If you
must
know, four.”

“Really?” she whispered.

“Really.” He met her eyes. There was no laughter in them anymore. But it was too late to back down.

She took a deep breath. “What about everything else you told me that time?”

He smiled, but his eyes were in shadow. “Which time?”

“You know which time.” She sensed the blush creep to her cheeks and did her best to ignore it. “The time we– the time you tested my gift. Did you lie about everything else?”

His smile became wider, mischief gleaming behind the outward innocence. It was clear that he knew exactly what she meant, but he wasn’t going to make it easy for her.

“If I did,” he said, “it wouldn’t be much of a test, would it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it. If you wanted to know if someone could tell true from false, you should tell this person…” He paused, looking at her expectantly.

Ellah nodded. Of course. What a fool she had been!

“You should tell at least one lie,” she said. “And at least one truth.”

She looked at him with wonder, almost fright. It
did
make sense. To know if one could tell true from false, you should put both true and false into the game. It would be foolish not to.

And yet, how could he have been so
calculating
when talking about
feelings
?

Mai leaned forward toward her. She didn’t draw back. She waited until his face came so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek.

“Right,” he said quietly. “At least one thing I told you was the truth.”

She shivered. She wanted to indulge herself in this wild hope, to believe, if only for a moment, that the truth he had told her back then was about his feelings for her. Since that time, she couldn’t think of anything else. She
needed
to know. And now, with his face so close and his voice so quiet, it was
so
easy to think that it was indeed what he meant. But another, sensible part of her mind stirred up, watching her from aside with cool logic. In all likelihood, it said, he’d probably told the truth about his age. Really, no matter how young he looked, he had been the head of the Royal Pentade for the past four years. He should be at least twenty-four. At least.

And yet–

At least one thing was the truth
, he said.
At least one
. But no one said anything about
only
one thing.

“One?” she asked quietly.

He smiled and leaned back. “Now, if I told you
that
, it wouldn’t be a challenge anymore, would it?”

Ellah sighed. Why did everything in life have to be a challenge?

She shook her head. “I’m not good enough for this. I have no real power.”

He laughed again, but there was something behind the laughter that she couldn’t read. “Of course you have power. Just not with me, right?”

She looked at him helplessly. “Not with you.”

“And that bothers you?”

Yes
, she wanted to say. It
did
bother her that she couldn’t tell whether he meant what he had said to her back at the camp. But it was clear that she wasn’t going to find out. Not this time.

“I don’t belong here,” she said instead. “I shouldn’t have come with Mother Keeper at all. If I was meant to travel, I should’ve gone with Kyth and Alder.”

He reached forward and touched her arm. His hand was warm, slightly roughened at the fingertips. He slid them down her wrist in a brief caress that made her shiver. Dazed, she raised her eyes to him.

“There’s no use in thinking what you should’ve done in the past,” he said. “The
future
is ahead of you. Think of that.” He dropped away his hand and sprang to his feet. “We should go. It’s time. I think you’re about to earn a place in the King’s retinue.”

Before she could ask him what he meant, Mai swept away. Ellah got up and followed.

Everyone was gathered in the King’s chambers. As Ellah walked in, Mother Keeper looked her up and down with eyes that seemed to notice everything, including Ellah’s flustered state, and the blush that simply wouldn’t leave her cheeks. The older woman took her time before glancing over to Mai, who had taken his place by the King’s side with the calm ease of a cat reclaiming its rightful spot on the back of the master’s armchair.

“You need to change,” Mother Keeper told Ellah.

Ellah raised her eyebrows in surprise. After the fight she had been in, her other outfit needed mending. She had changed into her spare dress when they came back from the lower courtyard. She had nothing else to wear.

“Don’t you think it would be better if she went the way she is?” Evan asked Mother Keeper. “They’re going to know she’s a girl anyway.”

“And how would you explain her presence in your suite, Your Majesty?” the older woman asked. “I’d say she should change. She’s tall enough. With her slim build and short hair she could pass as a boy.”

A boy?
Ellah looked at her in disbelief.

Evan shrugged. “A boy in what capacity, Mother Keeper? Surely not a bodyguard. Not when the Pentade is present. And I wouldn’t be able to tell Daemur that she was my manservant, would I?”

Manservant?
Ellah gaped. Why were they talking about her as if she wasn’t here?

The Ruby Majat, Brannon, cleared his throat and glanced at Mai for permission to speak. Getting no objection, he said:

“She could be a weapon carrier. She could carry His Majesty’s sword. It’s not uncommon. We could outfit her, with Your Majesty’s permission.”

Ellah found her voice. “Where am I going?” she demanded. And, as an afterthought, added: “Your Majesty.”

Evan’s face softened. “Forgive us. We’ve been impolite discussing you like this. I’m going to meet with Daemur Illitand. Mother Keeper believes your gift may be useful to me during this meeting. If you could stand in my line of sight and show me whether he is lying or telling the truth, our negotiations could go a lot better. If you would, of course.”

She met his eyes. He looked so much like Kyth it made her feel homesick, her resentment melting away like spring ice. Suddenly she didn’t mind at all.

“I would be honored to help, Your Majesty,” she said. “And if I must wear a man’s clothes and carry your sword as part of my disguise, I would be glad to.”

Evan gave her a warm smile. “Thank you.”