Swords of Waar (27 page)

That I wasn’t used to. Even back home it took a special kind of man to find me attractive. Usually it was either big burly guys like Big Don who wanted a woman they wouldn’t break in half, or it was little squirrelly guys with some kind of amazon fetish, who wanted me to crush their heads between my thighs or some other ick. Average, ordinary guys didn’t usually give me the time of day. They either ignored me completely, or turned away and made gagging motions when they thought I wasn’t looking. That’s what I was used to.

These guys were looking at me like I was Christina Hendricks and Beyonce all rolled into one. It was a weird feeling. On one hand it felt pretty hot knowing that everybody on board wanted to fuck me. On the other hand it felt kinda terrifying. I felt like a rabbit at a wolf convention. It looked like they might tear me apart any second. And pretty girls got this all the time! Christ! How did they stand it? No wonder they all came off like such cold bitches.

I could hear Lhan growling beside me, like he was about to challenge the whole ship to a duel to defend my honor. I whispered to him out of the corner of my mouth.

“Do we all have a private cabin downstairs somewhere?”

It broke his attention. He took a breath. “I certainly hope so, Mistress. Or there will be dead sailors before our next port of call.”

We started for the door to the cabins, but one of the staring guys broke from the pack and crossed to intercept. He was pretty nondescript—bland face, wispy hair, chin beard—and didn’t look any older or wiser than the rest, but he had a fancier uniform so I guessed he was important.

“Priestess.” He bowed and crossed his wrists to me. “I am Ku-Rho, your captain. We are honored to be allowed to carry you on your holy rounds. Please, if there is anything that I can do to make your time aboard more comfortable, do not hesitate to ask. And I and my officers would welcome your company at our table for dinner if you would deign to sit with us.”

We’d already arranged it so that I wouldn’t talk. One word out of me with my Dixie accent and the the gig was up. Lhan knew what to do.

“The Priestess Le-Cir has taken a vow of silence until the rains come once more and the land awakes. It is her personal supplication to Laef. She thanks you for your hospitality, but regrets that she must keep to her cabin and maintain her regimen of meditation.”

“Meditating on your cock, most likely,” said somebody in the background. “Lucky bastard.”

The captain shot the speaker a vicious look and turned maroon around the ears. “Of course, Priestess. We understand completely. But as I say, if there is anything you need.”

Lhan bowed for me. “You are most kind.”

We stepped around the captain as he bowed again, and Sei-Sien and Shal-Hau followed us below decks. Our cabin was a four-bunk job, which meant that, even if Lhan and I had still been hooked up, we still couldn’ta hooked up, since the two Flames would’ve been hanging around cluttering up the place. I wanted to scream. Here I was the living embodiment of an honest-to-god love goddess, and I wasn’t going to be getting any! Irony sucks.

Just as I was pulling off my headdress and veil a knock came on the door, and I scrambled to put ’em back on, but it was just the Aldhanan, popping his head in.

“All well?”

Shal-Hau laughed before Lhan could speak. He really was a merry old fucker. “Mistress Jae-En has enraptured the whole crew. I fear no trouble on that score.”

I rolled my eyes. “Captain Ku was drooling on his gold braid.”

The Aldhanan grinned. “I fancied it would pass thus. Excellent. Well, it should not appear we know each other, so I will take my leave. Good voyage to you. We will meet again just before Rivi to discuss plans, aye?”

“Aye, Aldhanan,” said Lhan.

The Aldhanan scowled at him. “That is not my title.”

“Er, forgive me, Captain Zhiu. Until Rivi.”

It wasn’t until he closed the door and Lhan, Sei-Sien, Shal-Hau and I all looked around at each other that it really hit me that I was going to be spending more than a Waarian month shut up in this cabin with these guys. And no TV or iTunes to distract me. Not even a magazine.

“So, any of you guys know Twenty Questions?”

***

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was worse! All day every day in a room the size of a walk-in closet with a pompous ass and an old man who giggled and hummed to himself twenty-four hours a day, even in his sleep! And the whole time Lhan’s just sitting there all delicious and untouchable on the opposite bunk? It was torture. And I don’t even want to go into how much I learned about the personal grooming habits—or lack thereof—of middle-aged professor types on Waar. Actually, you know what? I won’t. I’d rather forget that part anyway.

What made it even more fantastic was the fact that Lhan and Sei-Sien kept sniping at each other. They may have teamed up to fight the church and take the message to the people, but they did not like each other—at all.

One morning we were all sitting around in the room, eating our breakfast mush and trying to come up with a plan B in case it all went wrong, and Lhan was saying we could lay low at his father’s estate if we were caught in Rivi or Lamgan, which were the first two stops on the tax tour.

“He may be a villain in many things, but he would never betray his family or friends to the church. He—”

Sei-Sien cut in. “Unlike his son.”

Lhan looked down into his bowl of slop. “Thank you, Sei-Sien, for bringing my cowardice up once again. Master Shal-Hau and Mistress Jae-En no doubt find the stating of it just as edifying and illuminating this thirtieth time as they did the first.”

Sei-Sien sneered. “Sarcasm, Lhan? Do you then suggest I should say something new this time? Perhaps tell your Mistress Jae-En the facts of your cowardice? Would that be more illuminating?”

Shal-Hau looked up. “Enough, Sei. Enough.”

I was ready to smash Sei in the distinguished profile, but before I could do anything rash, Lhan put down his bowl.

“No, Master, Sei-Sien is right. Out of shame I have kept from Mistress Jae-En the most shameful episode of my life, and I would not have our friendship built on any false perceptions she might have of me. It is time I told the truth of it.” He raised his eyes to Elf-Cheeks. “And I am sure Sei-Sien will be kind enough to correct me if I leave out any details.”

Sei bowed from his seat. “It would be my pleasure.”

I sighed. “Come on, Lhan. You don’t have to do this.”

“No, Mistress. I must. Indeed, I have left it too long.”

“And you leave it longer every second.” Sei waved a hand. “Begin!”

Lhan swallowed, then nodded and looked up at me. “It was when I was with the Flame of Truth. I—I allowed a fellow Flame named Bedu-Bas to be arrested. I might have saved him, but was afraid, and did nothing. He died.”

“Aw, Lhan.”

“We had found a man willing to sell us a rare, forbidden volume of church history, and so went to buy it, wearing masks to hide our identities. There was no book. It was a trap, set by the priests. We escaped, but Bedu-Bas was wounded, and we hid within a nearby sword school, splitting up and disguising ourselves as students.”

Sei-Sien raised his voice. “Now tell her what you did when the priests entered and noticed Bedu’s blood seeping through his fencing jacket.”

Lhan hung his head. “Nothing. I did nothing. I might have attacked the priests and freed him. I wore a sparring mask, so they would not have seen my face, but… but I was known at that school, and feared the masters would recognize me, and so, though the priests beat Bedu-Bas and asked him where I was, I—I only stood and watched, even when they dragged him away.”

Sei-Sien folded his arms. “If we had only had Lhan-Lar’s courage to rely on, we would have all been exposed, but Bedu-Bas showed true bravery, and, rather than betray us under torture, he threw himself under a cart as the priests led him through the streets.
He
did not let his friends die to save himself.”

I stared. “He killed himself?”

Lhan covered his face in his hands. “As I should have done. You see now, Mistress? I will never forgive myself for my cowardice.”

Sei-Sien was giving me a smug look, like he was expecting me to join him in the “Let’s all hate Lhan” club. It just made me want to punch him in the face even more. I turned to Lhan.

“You think I’m any better? I’ve done shit that eats at me every day. I killed a man for touching me. If you think this is gonna make me change my mind about you, you got another think coming. I don’t care, Lhan. I—”

“You should care!” Lhan jolted up and stepped to the door. “I am without honor! If you had any of your own, that would matter to you!”

And with that, he slammed out of the cabin and left me staring at the door, feeling like the gal who didn’t know it was loaded. I had to check my fingers to make sure he hadn’t bitten any off.

Sei gave an “I told you so” look, but Shal-Hau patted my knee.

“I hope you can forgive him. He is a good man at heart.”

“I do forgive him! I want
him
to forgive him!”

Shal-Hau pursed his lips. “You may wait a long while for that, I’m afraid. Regret is a very large rock. Lhan has been pinned under it for many years.”

Sei-Sien snorted. “If only it had crushed him.”

I jumped up and pulled back a fist, and he curled up like a pill bug, arms up in front of his face.

“No! Please!”

I just sneered at him. “Now who’s the coward, asshole?”

I shoved out of the room and headed up to the deck, looking for Lhan.

***

I found him leaning on the rail, and looking like he was thinking of throwing himself over it. I leaned next to him.

“Lhan, listen. I—”

“You forget yourself, Priestess. Have you not taken a vow of silence?”

I looked around at the crew. They were all looking at me like they always did when I came out on deck, but I was wearing my veil, and they were all far away, so…

“Yeah, but I never took a vow of not throwing you over the side.”

That at least got him smiling. “Then do it, and free me from my misery.”

“Come on, Lhan. All I was trying to say down there was nobody’s perfect. You’re not perfect. I’m not perfect. Not even the Aldhanan’s perfect. That’s why you gotta give everybody a break—even yourself.”

He shook his head. “But without honor—”

“Hey, I’m not saying honor isn’t a good thing to shoot for. It is. But if you think you gotta be perfect to be loved, or—ha!—you think I gotta be perfect to be your lover, well, you’re gonna be lonely a long damn time.”

Lhan looked over the side again, chewing his lip. “It is a lovely sentiment, Mistress, but… but I must think.”

“Take your time.”

I leaned back on the rail and looked around, just happy to be out in the fresh air instead of our stuffy little cabin, but then I saw something that made me cock my head. There were some barrels under a little awning behind the cookhouse, which was up at the front of the ship near where we were leaning, and as I glanced past them I saw a balding head bob up behind them, then disappear again. At first I thought it was somebody cleaning up a spill, but then the head came up again and I saw it was the bean counter, Yal-Faen.

His head disappeared behind the barrels again, then came up again a second later. Was he looking for a contact? Was he shooting craps? Then I noticed that he kept crossing his wrists in front of his mopey, red-lipped face and whispering to himself.

I nudged Lhan. “Ain’t that Aur-Aun’s bookkeeper?”

He looked around, then frowned. “So it is.”

“What the hell is he doing?”

“It appears he is praying, Mistress.”

“Oh. Uh, to the Seven?”

“I would presume so.”

“So, should we be worried?”

“Worried?”

“Well, we’re kinda fighting the Seven right now, right? So isn’t it a little weird for one of our gang to be praying to them?”

He shrugged. “I think you will find the Aldhanan and his men still worship the Seven. They do not see this as a war against the gods, only the church, which they believe has corrupted the original teaching of the Seven.”

“Okay. So why is he praying behind those barrels? I mean if you wanted to pray in private, wouldn’t you pray in your cabin?”

“But he shares a cabin with Aur-Aun. He—” Lhan stopped, blinking. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. Maybe he’s praying for something he doesn’t want Aur-Aun to know about.”

Lhan nodded. “You make an excellent point, Mistress. I shall warn the Aldhanan.”

“Good plan. Meanwhile, I’m gonna watch that little dish-rag like a hawk.”

“Aye, Mistress. I as well. Er, what is a hawk?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

RIOT!

A
fter my fourth day in the stateroom from hell, I finally heard the magic words I’d been waiting for. Up on the deck Captain Ku-Rho was calling for gas to be let out of the bag, and for the crew to pull in the sails and clear the deck for landing.

Thank god!

It was after dark when we went up on deck to wait for touch down, but both moons were up and full so I got a good look at Rivi as we came down over it, all picturesque with its rooftops frosted in the moonlight. It was built in a little bowl of a valley, with the market square and the temples down in the middle, and all these little round-topped houses climbing up the sides of the surrounding hills like six-sided bee-hives. At the top of the highest hill was a sturdy little hexagonal castle with sandy walls, a couple of fat towers sticking up, and dome roofs on all the structures inside. That’s where we were heading.

It was all so pretty from up there it should have been a travel poster, but while we’d all been cooped up in our stateroom, Master Shal-Hau had told us—in way too much detail—that the place was hurting bad. It was an agricultural town. All the hillsides that didn’t have houses on them had been cut into steps like rice paddies, and they grew a kind of vegetable called an Uehl Bean. At least they did when there was any rain, but over the past few years the rains had been coming less and less often, and the farmers had had to buy water from the Temple, which had cut their profits down to nothing. Half the step-farms on the hills had gone out of business in the last two years and were just sitting there dry. The town was becoming a ghost town, and also, Sei-Sien said, a hotbed for anti-church heretics, who held their secret meetings—according to his sources—in the back room of the farmer’s guild hall. He was all excited to have a enthusiastic audience. I was just excited to be out of the funk of unwashed heretic and old-man farts I’d been living in. I wanted to breathe and stretch my legs.