The Oracle's Queen (3 page)

“Did she learn what it meant?”

“I don't know. She went away with some
oreskiri
. I've never heard anything of her return. Her name is Lhel. If you meet her in your travels, give her my greeting. Perhaps she can tell you the meaning.”

“Thank you, I'll do that. But you still don't know if my fate is a good one or a bad one?”

“I've never walked Sojourn's path. Perhaps it depends on where your feet take you. Walk bravely in your all travels, honor the Mother, and remember who you are. Do that and you will continue to be a good man, and a fine witch.”

M
ahti left the old man's clearing at dawn the next day, Teolin's blessing still tingling on his brow.

Plodding over the crusty snow, Sojourn a comforting weight across his shoulders in its sling, he smelled the first hint of spring on the morning air. Later, as the sun rose over the peaks, he heard it in the dripping of water from bare branches.

He knew this trail well. The rhythmic crunch and rasp of his snowshoes lulled him into a light trance and his thoughts drifted. He wondered if he'd plant different kinds of children now than he had under the Moon Plow sign? Then again, if he were to travel far, would he plant any children at all?

He wasn't surprised when the vision came. He often had them at moments like these, tramping alone through the peace of the forest.

The winding path became a river under his feet, and the sinew and bent ash of his snowshoes grew into a little boat that bobbed gently on the current. Instead of the thick forest on the far bank, there was open land, very green and fertile. He knew in the way of visions that this must be the southland, where his people had once lived,
before the foreigners and their oreskiri had driven them into the hills.

A woman stood between a tall man and a young girl on that bank, and she waved to Mahti as if she knew him. She was Retha'noi like him, and naked. Dark-skinned and small, her fine, ripe body was covered with witch marks. The fact that she was naked in the vision told him that she was dead, a spirit coming to him with a message.

Greetings, my brother. I am Lhel
.

Mahti's eyes widened as he recognized the name. This was the woman Teolin had spoken of, the one who'd gone away with the southlanders on a sojourn of her own. She smiled at him and he smiled back; this was the Mother's will.

She beckoned him to join her but his boat would not move.

He looked more closely at the others with her. They were black-haired, too, but the man's was cut short and the girl's hung in long waves around her shoulders rather than the coarse curls of his people. They were taller, too, and pale as a pair of bones. The young man had an aura of strong magic about him: oreskiri, surely, but with a hint of power Mahti recognized. This witch, Lhel, must have taught him something of their ways. That was troubling, even though Teolin had spoken no ill of her.

The girl did not have magic, but Lhel pointed to the ground at the girl's feet and Mahti saw that she had a double shadow, one male, and one female.

He didn't know how to interpret the vision yet, except that these two were both living people, and southlanders. He was not afraid or angry to see them here in his mountains, though. Maybe it was the way the other witch rested her hands on their shoulders, love so clear in her dark eyes. She looked at Mahti again and made a sign of bequeathing. She was giving these two strangers into his care, but why?

Without thinking, he set the new oo'lu to his lips and played a song he did not recognize.

The vision passed and the forest path returned around him. He was standing in a clearing, still playing that song. He didn't know what it was for; perhaps it was for the southlanders. He would play it for them when they met and see if they knew.

I
am Tamír!”

Ki stood beside her in that ruined throne room, the acrid stink of the burning city thick in the air, and watched as his friend declared herself a woman and rightful heir to the throne. Imonus, high priest of Afra, had brought Ghërilain's lost gold stele as proof. It was as big as a door and he could see Tamír reflected in it, crowned by the ancient prophecy engraved there:

She didn't look much like a queen yet, just a ragged, tired, too-thin girl in battle-stained men's clothing. She hadn't had to strip for the crowd this time, but there was no mistaking the jut of small pointed breasts through the loose linen shirt.

Ki averted his eyes with a vague pang of guilt. The thought of how her body had changed still gave him a sick feeling.

Iya and Arkoniel stood with the priests at the foot of the dais, still in their dirty robes. They'd helped turn the tide of battle, but Ki knew the truth about them now, too. It was their doing, all the lies.

The oath takings and rituals dragged on and on. Ki
scanned the crowd, trying to share in the joy he saw around him, but all he could think of at that moment was how young and thin and brave and worn out Tobin—no,
Tamír
—looked.

He tried the unfamiliar name in his mind again, hoping to make it stick. He'd seen the proof of her sex with his own eyes, but he still could not get his mind around it, or his heart.

I'm just tired
.

Had it only been a week since they'd ridden for Atyion at the king's order? Just a week since he'd first learned the truth about Tobin, his dearest friend, his heart's brother?

He blinked away the sudden stinging in his eyes. His friend was not Tobin anymore. There she stood, right in front of him, yet he felt as if Tobin had died.

He glanced sidelong at Tharin, hoping the man hadn't noticed his weakness. Teacher, mentor, second father, he'd slapped Ki when he'd panicked that night on the road to Atyion. Ki had deserved it, and he'd been grateful for the correction. He'd stood fast with Tharin and Lynx a few days later when Tobin had sliced the fragment of Brother's bone, and the witch's magic with it, from his own breast on the steps of Atyion castle, calling down the mystical fire that burned away his male body. Horrified, they'd watched as Tobin bled and burned and somehow lived to strip withered flesh away like a snake shedding last year's outworn skin, leaving in his place this wan, hollow-eyed girl.

The rituals ended at last. Tharin and the newly organized bodyguard closed ranks in front of them. Close by Tamír's side, Ki saw how she wavered a little as she stepped down from the dais. He slipped a discreet hand under her elbow, steadying her.

Tamír pulled her arm away, but gave him a small, tight smile, letting him know it was only pride.

“May we escort you to your old chamber, Highness?” Tharin asked. “You can rest there until arrangements can be made elsewhere.”

Tamír gave him a grateful look. “Yes, thank you.”

Arkoniel made to follow, but Iya stopped him, and Tamír did not look back or summon them.

T
he palace corridors were packed with the wounded. The air was rank with the stench of blood. The fish pools set into the floors were stained pink with it. Drysian healers were at work everywhere, overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of those in need of their skills. Tamír looked around sadly as they hurried on, and Ki could guess her thoughts. These soldiers had fought under Erius' banner and fallen for Ero. How many would have fought for her? And how many would serve under her now?

Reaching her old chamber at last, she said, “Keep guard out here, Tharin, please?”

Ki hesitated, thinking she meant to leave him, too, but she dispelled his doubts with a sharp glance and Ki followed her into the ransacked room that had once been their home.

As soon as the door was closed she slumped back against it and let out an unsteady laugh. “Free at last! For now anyway.”

That voice still sent a shiver through him. Tobin wasn't yet sixteen, and hadn't lost his high, boyish voice. Still hoarse from battle, Tamír sounded just the same. In the gathering gloom, she even looked like Prince Tobin, with her warrior braids and long black hair falling forward around her face.

“Tob?” The old name still came too easily.

“You can't call me that anymore.”

Ki heard the echo of his own confusion in her voice and reached for her hand, but she brushed past him and went to the bed.

Nikides lay as they'd left him, still unconscious. His sandy hair was plastered to his cheeks with sweat and blood, and the bandages around his side were crusted with
it, but his breathing was even. Tamír's little page, Baldus, was curled asleep at his feet.

Tamír rested a hand on Nikides' brow.

“How is he?” asked Ki.

“Feverish, but alive.”

“Well, that's something.”

Of the nineteen original Companions, five were dead for certain, and the rest missing, except for Nik and two squires. Tanil would be lucky to survive the brutal torture he'd suffered at the hands of the Plenimarans. Lynx still seemed recklessly intent on not surviving his fallen lord, Orneus, yet he'd come through every battle without a scratch.

“I hope Lutha and Barieus are still alive,” Ki murmured, wondering how their friends would fare without them. He sat down on the floor and ran his fingers back through his tangled hair. It had grown long over the winter. The thin brown braids framing his face hung to his chest. “Where do you suppose Korin went?”

Tamír sank down beside him and shook her head. “I still can't believe he'd abandon the city like that!”

“Everyone says it was Niryn's doing.”

“I know, but how could Korin let that bastard sway him like that? He never liked him any more than we did.”

Ki said nothing, keeping his bitter thoughts to himself. From the day they'd met, Ki had seen the weakness in the Prince Royal, just as clearly as Tamír had seen the good. It was like a streak of poor alloy in a fine blade, and had already betrayed him twice in battle. Royal or not, Korin was a coward, and that was unforgivable in a warrior—or a king.

Tamír shifted over, leaning against his shoulder. “What do you suppose Korin and the others thought if they've heard news of me?”

“Nik or Tanil can tell us that when they wake up, I guess.”

“What would you think, in their place?” she fretted, scratching at a bit of dried blood on the back of one hand.
“How do you suppose it will sound to anyone who wasn't there to see?”

Before he could answer that, Arkoniel slipped in without knocking. Unshaven, one arm in a sling, he looked more beggar than wizard.

Ki could hardly bear to look at him. Arkoniel had been their teacher and their friend, or so they thought. But he'd lied to them all these years. Even knowing the reason, Ki wasn't yet sure he could forgive him for that.

Arkoniel must have read his thoughts or his face; the sudden sadness in his eyes betrayed him. “Duke Illardi has offered his villa as a headquarters. The grounds have strong walls and there's been no plague in that ward. It's a safer place for you than here. The fires are still spreading.”

“Tell him I accept his offer,” Tamír replied without looking up. “I want Nik with me, and Tanil, too. He's at the camp we overran yesterday.”

“Of course.”

“And we should save what we can of the royal library and archives before the fire spreads.”

“Already seen to,” Arkoniel assured her. “Tharin's placed a guard on the Royal Tomb, as well, but I'm afraid there was some looting.”

“Seems I'm always saddled with caring for the dead.” Tamír rose and walked out onto the broad balcony that overlooked the palace gardens and the city beyond. Ki and Arkoniel followed.

This part of the Old Palace was hardly touched by the destruction outside. Snowdrops and banks of white narcissus glowed in the failing daylight. Beyond the walls, smoke hung heavy over the city, lit from below by flames.

Tamír gazed up at the red-stained sky. “One of the last things my uncle said to me before we rode for Atyion was that if Ero is lost, Skala is lost. What do you think, Arkoniel? Was he right? Were we too late?”

“No. It's a terrible blow, certainly, but Ero is only one city among many. Skala is wherever you are. The queen is
the land. I know things look grim to you right now, but births are seldom easy and never clean. Rest a bit before we ride. Oh, and Iya's spoken to some of the women in your guard. Ahra or Una can stay with you tonight.”

“Ki is still my squire.”

The wizard hesitated, then said quietly, “I don't think that's advisable, do you?”

Tamír rounded on him, pent-up fury blazing in those dark eyes. Even Ki took a step back in the face of it.

“It
is
advisable because I
say
it is! Consider that my first official proclamation as your queen-to-be. Or am I just a wizard's puppet after all, like my uncle?”

Arkoniel looked stricken as he pressed a hand to his heart and bowed. “No, never that. I swear on my life.”

“I'll remember you said that,” Tamír snapped. “And you remember this. I accept my duty to Skala, the gods, my line, and my people. But right now, I warn you—” A quaver crept into her voice. “Don't cross me in this. Ki stays with me. Now just—go away!”

“As you wish, Highness.” The wizard quickly retreated, but not without a sad look in Ki's direction.

Ki pretended not to notice.
You put her here. You can damn well suffer the consequences along with the rest of us!

“Prince Tobin?” Baldus stood in the doorway, rubbing his eyes. Tamír's valet, Molay, had hidden the child in a trunk during the final attack. When Tamír and Ki had found him afterward, he was too exhausted and terrified to notice the change in her. He looked around in confusion. “Where's the princess you were talking to, Lord Ki?”