Kinshield's Redemption (Book 4) (8 page)

“But I do.” If there was a way, he would find it.

Daia and Cirang took his cue and lay down as well. “Sleep well,” Daia said.

His mind kept returning to the Nal Disi, like his eyes to the dancing fire. He turned his mind to Feanna and what she might be doing, but his thoughts came back again and again to the crystal and the Guardians who appeared whenever he asked for them. The temptation to use the crystal to focus his magic was powerful, but he knew that once he gave himself permission to use it, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop.

Chapter 8

Though Edan would have preferred to read more from the journal Jaesh had found, he didn’t want to ignore his guests. Sharing a bottle of wine with them after supper gave him an opportunity to get to know Thendylath’s enemy on a more personal level, and he found Kaoque to be exceedingly polite while his stoic guardian, Tokpah, was silent and watchful, refusing to sit, eat or drink in Edan’s presence.

“Tokpah takes his refreshment when we are alone,” Kaoque explained. “It is the training of a Cyprindian warrior to only guard when he stands guard.”

“We mean you no harm,” Edan said. “It is our custom to treat guests with honor and dignity while they’re in our home. This,” he said with his hands open, “is not a battlefield.”

“Please do not take offense. It is the warrior’s way. He does only as he was trained since early in his childhood.”

Edan leaned back, striking a confident, relaxed pose. “I’m not offended. I consider him to be a guest of the king as well. If he’s more comfortable standing and watching, he’s welcomed to. Did you two travel to Tern alone?”

“Yes, we with our horses,” Kaoque said. “From Delham, where our ship is anchored offshore.”

“I hope you didn’t encounter brigands. They frequently patrol the roads, looking for travelers to rob.”

Kaoque pulled something from a small pocket in his shirt—an amulet consisting of a peach-colored gem encased in an artful cage of gold. “We each have one of these. The gem stores a magic spell that hides the wearer from notice. When we do not wish to be noticed, we put them on. Wearing these for most of our journey, we avoided several such patrols.”

Such amulets would also keep a Cyprindian army from being noticed as they marched on Tern. Edan shuddered and tried to cover his uneasiness with a smile. At his earliest opportunity, he would send word to the lordovers in Delam and Calsojourn, and to his father, the Lordover Lalorian, to send armsmen to keep an eye on that ship. “I see. Tell me, Emissary Kaoque, are you married?”

“Yes, I have one chosen wife and two brood wives. Between them, I have eight sons and a daughter.”

“How does brood wife differ from your chosen wife, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Kaoque smiled broadly. “My chosen wife is the woman I selected. She is from my own city, and I fell in love with her many years ago. A brood wife is a woman given to me as a gift to bear my children.”

“Does your chosen wife bear no children?”

“Oh, yes, she does, but there are no requirements for her children. She can bear sons or daughters as she chooses. It is a great responsibility to have a brood wife, for she is expected to bear at least five sons before she is allowed a daughter.”

Edan raised his eyebrows. “How do you ensure a baby is born male?”

“Before the fifth son, any females are culled, and she is properly impregnated immediately afterwards.”

“Culled?” Edan asked, appalled. The notion of killing babies because they were female was abhorrent.

“Females cannot become warriors,” Kaoque explained. “They are too weak of body, mind, and spirit.”

Edan glanced at the four First Royals standing guard near the door. Taria rolled her eyes, but none of them made any comment. “Perhaps that’s true of your women,” he said, “but here in Thendylath, women can choose to take up arms.”

“We have noticed that women here are more manly than womanly. Our women are not permitted to dress or act as men.”

“I see,” Edan said. He didn’t want to insult his guest, but he found the strict gender roles old-fashioned. “In these modern times, our women have more freedom to choose their own paths than they once had. Some prefer to guard and battle and have trained many years to do so.”

“How do they engage their enemies when their bellies are swollen with child?” Kaoque asked. He looked genuinely perplexed. “Do they carry their suckling infants into battle?”

“They typically don’t marry. Like their male counterparts, they dedicate their lives to their roles as battlers.”

“But they are weak!” Kaoque argued.

“Perhaps they can become stronger than you realize.” A year ago, Edan would never have thought he would find himself arguing on behalf of women battlers.

For years, he’d harbored resentment that the woman betrothed to him had fled, preferring to take up arms and fight malefactors and beyonders than to live as his wife. His resentment stemmed not because he felt women should submit to the wishes of men but because he’d been smitten with the woman his father had chosen for him, and he’d thought she liked him too. All those years, he’d questioned himself, wondered whether all women found him so objectionable or just her. It was Gavin Kinshield who’d convinced him that the Lordover Tern’s daughter had simply pursued her own dream rather than submit herself to living someone else’s, and Edan had made peace with her choice. How ironic that her choice later brought her into his life at Gavin’s side. He could almost believe they were meant to be together, if not as husband and wife then at least as friends.

Kaoque shook his head. “I cannot imagine a woman besting one of our warriors. Tokpah would gladly enter a contest of strength against any such woman, should one find the courage to challenge him.”

Tokpah stood resolutely silent. Edan assumed he didn’t understand their language, for Kaoque usually addressed him in a foreign tongue.

“I would challenge him,” said Galiveth in a seething tone.

“As would I,” Taria said.

“And I,” Brawna and Norna said together.

Kaoque startled, seeming to notice for the first time that the four guards were all women. How could he not? Edan wondered. True, they wore tunics and mail that obscured their breasts, and some men kept their faces neatly shaven and wore their hair long, as most of the women battlers did, but their faces, hardened by discipline though they were, still looked feminine to Edan’s eye. Perhaps Kaoque’s unfamiliarity with the women of Thendylath explained it.

“I meant no disrespect,” Kaoque said. “Forgive my manners, Lord Dawnpiper. I did not mean to come as a guest to your home and challenge your warriors into battle. I am at fault for creating a misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstandings between two such different cultures are bound to happen,” Edan said. “Your apology is accepted. Isn’t that right, First Royals?”

“Yes, Lord Dawnpiper,” they all said in obedient, apathetic tones.

“Speaking of misunderstandings, Emissary Kaoque, how do your people remember the war with Thendylath starting?”

A wary expression crossed Kaoque’s face. “We remember it exactly as it happened. The story has been passed from generation to generation.”

“Forgive me,” Edan said. “Our history has been lost these many centuries. I’ve read conflicting stories about how the war started. I was hoping your perspective would shed light on the matter.”

“I am not here to insult your people or your leaders, only to deliver the message from my Lord Ruler to your king.”

“I assure you, I won’t be offended. I only wish to understand what happened. The accounts we have are unreliable.”

Kaoque seemed to consider this for a moment. “Very well,” he said. He stood and began to pace. “Our Seventh Lord Ruler, Suchyf, invited King Beresfard to attend the Feast of Zuhlys Fahn, a most prestigious honor. When it came time for the Ritual of Purity, the king—”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but what is the Ritual of Purity?” Edan asked. This story was vastly different than the account he’d pieced together from the history texts.

“A young woman gives herself to Zuhlys Fahn. She is cleansed and presented to the god. If He accepts her, He takes her as his wife. She receives a mark, sewn into her skin with a special ink, and the ritual of separation begins. Zuhlys Fahn reaches through the fabric of time and space, and we are given a glimpse of his holy power as he consumes her spirit.”

Edan raised his eyebrows. “So she’s slain as part of the ritual?”

“Yes, of course. First, her essence is extracted and cleansed, for Zuhlys Fahn only accepts the purest of mates. That is why the virgin is used.”

A virgin
, Edan thought with a mental roll of his eyes.
Of course.
“I see. Please continue.”

“King Beresfard disrupted the ceremony by abducting the offering and slaying our Lord Orator in front of everyone!” Kaoque seemed to relive the outrage as he spoke, his body tense and a vein bulging in his neck. “To protect our Lord Ruler, our warriors surrounded the king. With hundreds as witness, it was clear that he was guilty of this horrible crime and would be put to death. The king’s battlers drew their weapons and the first blood of war was spilled.”

Considering Samuar Beresfard was only sixteen at the time of his death, Edan understood an idealistic king making a mistake like that, but to slay the Cyprindian high priest in front of so many witnesses was not only rash, it was unconscionable. If that was truly what happened, Edan could see why Nathem Engtury had declared Samuar mad. “Yes, Samuar Beresfard was a young king, probably too immature and unwise to rule, but he’d inherited the throne by rights. How did King Beresfard manage to return home? He was surrounded by Cyprindian warriors.”

“Yes!” Kaoque said, turning and pointing at Edan. “Exactly so. He was surrounded, and so he resorted to evil magic to make his escape. He summoned a being so terrible, there are no words to describe it. It was darkness itself in living flesh, and it slew our fiercest warriors with barely a thought and devoured their souls. These bravest, most honorable of our warriors would never return to the hearth of Zuhlys Fahn as their reward, and all because of the King of Thendylath.”

Hell’s teeth!
So it was more than just the murder of the Lord Orator. The Cyprindians believed that the souls of hundreds of their warriors were lost forever, devoured by a summoned demon. His description sounded an awful lot like Ritol. Edan picked up the pitcher of water and refilled his glass and Kaoque’s, and then took a long draw to soothe his parched mouth. Could Ritol truly be four hundred years old? Or was it one of many others of its kind?

“The king fled, leaving the demon behind to slay thousands of our people indiscriminately. Our warriors tried to fight it, but it was unstoppable. It wasn’t until the king had set sail that the demon vanished.”

“I see,” Edan said. “You’re here because your people seek recompense for this?”

Kaoque’s eyes darkened. “There is no compensation for the destruction of thousands of souls, only retaliation. I am here to deliver a message. Nothing more.”

Chapter 9

Gaol cells spilled over with snarling, vicious beyonders shaped like humans. They escaped into the streets of Ambryce, tipping over carts and setting fire to homes and clawing to death the citizens who were trying to protect their families. He watched helplessly, unable to move. People yelled at him to do something, and they all became Feanna, holding his screaming infant son. She looked like Talisha. A red stain appeared on the front of her dress and spread, and then blood streamed across the baby’s skin. “Change me,” she cried, “before it’s too late.”

Gavin awoke with a gasp, sitting up and reaching reflexively for Aldras Gar. All was quiet, though the sun had touched the eastern sky with a pale purple glow. He probably had an hour left before daylight, but he couldn’t sleep with the remnants of that dream fresh in his mind.

Autumn was finally coming, and the temperature had dropped overnight to the coolest it had been in months. Daia lay quietly under her leather rain cloak, but Cirang’s teeth chattered as she lay, curled in a ball, with her hands tucked into her armpits. Gavin felt the chill on the air, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. He stood and draped his cloak over her.