Then he said, "h.e.l.lo, Kama. What"s that you"ve got there, friend or captive?"
Beside the woman half in shadow was a waif-a flat-faced boy with almond eyes and scruffy beard who wore a black rag bound across his brow.
The boy didn"t matter; the woman, crossbow pointed half to port so that its flight would skewer Crit"s belly if she pulled its trigger mechanism back, mattered more than Crit liked.
Tempus"s daughter laughed the throaty laugh that had gotten Crit in trouble long ago. "Looking for someone?" Kama never answered stupid questions. She was as sharp as her father, in her way. But not as ethical.
"Strat," he said simply, to make things clear.
"Our "acting" military governor, now that Kadakithis lies abed with Beysibs? The leader of the militias and their councils? The vampire"s fancy man? You know the way-down on the White Foal. But do take an unfortunate or two to appease her hunger-for old time"s sake, I"ll warn you."
Crit didn"t react to Kama"s acid comments on Strat"s faring-for all he knew, it might be true; and he"d never show her she could still reach him, let alone hurt him. He said, "How about this pud you"ve got here? Will he do?" For the signs of something intimate between the woman and the street tough were clear to see-hips brushed, though Kama held the crossbow; whispers went back and forth through motionless lips.
And the youth was armed-slingshot on one wrist, dagger at his hip. The slingshot was arrogantly aimed at Crit"s eyes by the time Kama said, "Don"t make the mistake of thinking you understand what you"re seeing, fighter. You"ll need help. If you"re smart, you"ll remember where and how to get it- Strat"s part of Sanctuary"s problem, not its solution."
Everyone found comfort where they could in wartime, and Sanctuary was war"s womb, a microcosm of every horror man could foist upon his brother-worse now with factions holding checkpoints and militias ruling blocks whose inhabitants were never certain. The idea of Strat being a part of Sanctuary"s problem nearly made him draw his own bow-Crit knew Kama well enough to know, if quarrels were loosed, his would find its mark first: her woman"s hesitation would be her last.
And he might have, right then, no matter what her provenance, but for the pud who didn"t know him and didn"t like any northern rider, especially one talking to his girlfriend. The slingshot grew taut, the boy"s eyes steady as his stance widened.
So there was that-a deadly interval of stalemate broken only when a drunk caromed off a nearby doorway and knelt down, retching in the street.
Then Crit cleared his throat and said, "If you"re still a member of the Stepsons, woman, I"ll want you at the White Foal bridge two hours before dawn.
Spread the word among the Third Commando, too; I"ll need some backup on this-(/ the Third"s still led by Sync, and if he"s not succ.u.mbed to Sanctuary"s blight, I should be able to expect it."
"Old debts? Words of honor?" Kama rejoined. "Honor"s cheap in thieves" world.
Cheapest this season, when everyone has a power play to field."
"Will you take my message, soldier?" He gave her what she wanted-recognition, though he"d rather call her wh.o.r.e and take her over bended knee.
"For you, Crit? Anything." Teeth flashed, a chuckle sounded, and he heard her mutter, "Zip, relax; he"s one of us," and the youth behind her grumbled a reply before he slouched against a daub-and-wattle wall. "Before the break of day we"ll be there.... How many would that be you"ll need?"
And Crit realized he didn"t know. He hadn"t a plan or a glimmer. What would it take to wrest the Globe of Power from Roxane, the Nisibisi witch? "Randal"ll know-if he"s still our warrior mage. Don"t ask questions woman-not here. You know better. And Niko, find him-"
"Seh," the young tough behind her swore. "This one"s walking wounded, Kama.
Niko? Why not ask the-"
"Zip. Hush." The woman stepped out a pace from shadows, smiling like her father a show of teeth with no humor in it. "Critias... friend, you"ve been away too long, doing what high-bom officers do in Rankan cities. If not for... past mistakes ... I"d ride with you and explain. But you"ll find out enough, soon enough, from your beloved partner. As for Niko, if you want him, he"s in the palace these days, playing nursemaid to kids the priesthood loves."
Before he could escalate from shock to anger, before he thought to move his horse in tight and take her by the throat and shake her for playing women"s games when so much was on the line, she melted back into her shadows and there was a grating sound, followed by scrabbling, a square of light that came and went, and when his horse danced forward, both Kama and the boy called Zip were gone-if they"d ever been there.
Riding Mazeward on a horse suddenly and unreasonably skittish, he cursed himself for a fool. No proof that it was Kama-what he"d seen could have been some apparition, even the witch, Roxane, in disguise. He"d touched nothing; only seen something he thought was Kama-there were undeads in Sanctuary who resembled the forms they"d had in life, and some of those were Roxane"s slaves. Though if any such had happened to Kama, he told himself, Strat would have sent word to him.
At least, the Strat he used to know would have. Right then, Critias could count the things he knew for certain on the fingers of one hand.
But he knew he was going to the vampire woman"s house to find his partner. It was just a matter of time; Kama"s allegations were already eating at his soul.
He had to leam the truth.
Kadakithis"s palace was full of fish-eyed Beysibs: Beysib men with more jewelry on their persons than Rankan women from uptown or Ilsigi wh.o.r.es; Beysib women female shock troops with bared and painted b.r.e.a.s.t.s and poison snakes wound about their necks or arms-who seemed never to blink and gave Tempus gooseflesh.
Kadakithis wanted to introduce Tempus and Jihan to his Beysib flounder, Shupansea; before Tempus could protest, in the prince/governor"s velvet-hung chamber, that he needed no more women in his life, the Rankan prince had called the woman forth.
Jihan, beside him, took Tempus"s arm and squeezed, sensing what pa.s.sed on first glance between her beloved Riddler and the lady ruler of the Beysib people.
For Tempus, noises lessened, the world grew dim, and in his heart a pa.s.sion rose, while in his head a voice he"d not heard clear for years urged: Take her.
For Me. Ravage the s.l.u.t upon this spot/ The woman"s fish-eyes widened; a snake slithered on her arm. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were fair and gilded; they stared at him with come-hither charms and it was only Jihan who restrained him, prince or no, from doing what Vashanka wanted then and there.
What Vashanka wanted? Tempus, who never backed away from any fight, took three retreating steps as Jihan whispered, "Riddler, my lord? What is it? Has she witched you? I will tear her legs off one by-"
"No, Jihan," he muttered through clenched teeth in Nisi, a tongue neither prince nor consort understood. He shook Jihan"s grasp from his arm and rubbed the depressions her fingers had made: the Froth Daughter"s strength nearly equaled his own. But neither of them was a match for Vashanka who, Tempus was now certain, in some way had come again. He was here- more infantile, more tempestuous than ever, but here.
And what that meant to a man who"d forsaken the Pillager and taken up with Enlil to balance a curse no longer so sure upon his head Tempus couldn"t say. But there was no doubt in him that soon he"d take some woman-this one if Vashanka had His way of it-and consecrate whatever wench into the service of the G.o.d.
He just stepped forward, on his best behavior where the prince could see, one palm sweating on the hilt of the sharkskin-pommeled sword, and took her hand.
"My lady, Shupansea, men call me Tempus-"
She interrupted: "The Riddler. We have heard tales of thee."
And then from behind a curtain came Isambard, acolyte and priestly apprentice to Molin Torchholder, running without regard to his priestly dignity, calling out: "Quickly! My lady! My lord! There are dead snakes in the palace! There are more snakes than there ought to be! And in the children"s rooms, where Nikodemos is ... he"s cut one of the sacred snake"s heads off!"
Isambard skidded to a stop an arm"s length from Tempus"s chest and lapsed into panicked silence until his master entered the chamber. Molin Torchholder, ever mindful of his position and demeanor, did not immediately clarify his acolyte"s exclamations but appraised the a.s.sembly as if they, not he, were the breathless intruders.
"Ah, Tempus. Back in town at last?" Sanctuary"s hierarch inquired, his voice carefully modulated to conceal the manifold anxieties which that man"s unexpected presence caused him.
"That I am." Tempus detested priests, especially this one. And so he grinned once more, thinking that Brachis, when he arrived with Theron"s sailing party, would put this foul, dark-skinned priest in his proper place. "Well, Torch, your minion seemed to have a problem moments ago. Surely you"ve got it as well?" His sword was out by then, and Jihan"s also.
Kadakithis was scratching his golden curls, his handsome but vacant face inquiring: "What"s this, Molin? Dead snakes? Is your state-cult out of hand again? I told you Nikodemos was no fit guardian for those children. I-"
The Beysib monarch interjected smoothly: "Let me see these dead snakes, priest.
And mind you, I"m never sure that these troubles aren"t made by the Rankans who announce them."
By then Tempus and Jihan were running down the hall, toward secret pa.s.sages Tempus knew like the back of his sword-hand or Jihan"s female mysteries, which led to the lower chambers where, near the dungeons, Niko and the children-whom some said were more than that-were being kept.
Ischade"s Foalside house was more home than haunt, less forbidding than Roxane"s to the south, but hardly an inviting place to visit.
Unless, of course, one was Straton, her lover whom she"d guided to de facto power in Sanctuary"s factionalized streets, or an undead such as Janni or Stilcho (both of whom had once been Stepsons), or a mageling such as Haught, who learned what he could from the witches and sought to wake the power in his Nisibisi blood.
Strat had been with Ischade hardly long enough for a candle to b.u.m low when Haught, whom Straton hated, came gusting in the door.
The place was softly lit and full of colors; precious gems and silks and metals strewed the floor.
Straton was, by then, the finest thing she had, though-a human man, with all his prowess, not an animated corpse or witchling.
She could love him, could Ischade, with a finer pa.s.sion than the rest. But she could feel in him a struggle, one that made shoulders sweat and muscles twitch.
She"d known that, hold him though she would, the day must come when holding Straton would be hard.
His narrow Rankan eyes were haunted, deep-set, his jaw squared with indecision lately when he came. And now, rolling off her at the sight of Haught, a hated, half-understood rival, a symptom of all about Ischade Strat couldn"t justify or wish away, he reached for a robe she"d found him, shrugged it on and, with just his swordbelt, stalked outside.
"When you"re done with... it, him, whatever... I"ll be seeing to my horse."
Strat still grieved for his lost bay warhorse; its death was something she could and would undo, if only she thought Stra-ton could handle the revelation that death was no barrier to Ischade.
Oh, he"d seen Janni, seen Niko embrace an undead partner. And Strat had not reacted well.
"What is it, Haught?" she asked, impatient. She didn"t like the hubris growing in this Nisi child. He was difficult, growing stronger, growing bold. And she wanted to get back to Straton, who served her ends, who worked her will and excused her wiles and helped her hold her interests in the town. Ischade"s interests were important. And they were too tied up with Strat now to let Haught get in the way.
So she thought to dance around the Nisi ex-slave, freed by her but not free of her. She"d only started her mesmerizing when a sanguine hand reached out and grasped her wrist.
Impertinent. This one soon would need an object lesson. She swallowed his will with a stare and let him see he couldn"t even blink without her say-so. She whispered, "Yes? Your business, please."
And Haught, so pretty, so fiery underneath his slave"s face, said, "I thought you"d want a warning. His boyfriend"s coming. ..." Haught"s chin jutted Mazeward. "What use he"ll be once Crit"s come hence, you might not like. So if you want, I could-"
There was murder in the slavebait"s eyes. Murder sure of itself and offered teasingly, a s.e.xual ploy, a sensuous violence.
She denied it, not telling Haught that Strat was so much hers that Crit couldn"t get between them... because she wasn"t sure. But she was sure that Straton"s leftside leader, Critias, could not be murdered by one of hers. Not ever. Not and allow Ischade to keep what she had now-subtle power over more factions than any other had, even those who dwelled in the winter palace and looked to G.o.ds to aid them.
The dusky wraith that was Ischade said a second time, "I don"t want, Haught. I never want. You want. I have. And I have need of both Stepsons-of Straton and his... friend. Go back uptown, see Moria, talk to Vis; we"ll have a party for returning heroes tomorrow evening-in the uptown house. Wherever Crit is, Tempus is as well. Find the Band"s best and invite them all. We"ll play a different game this season; you tread carefully, do you hear?"
Haught, motionless and unblinking till she loosed him. sought the door with the slightest inclination of his head and the most refined swirl of his cloak.
Trouble, that one, by and by.
But in the meantime, if she must fight for Straton, would she? She didn"t know.
She had a horse to raise, now, to see for certain what would happen. Strat would have more decisions to make tonight than one.
Niko was holding one child under either arm when Tempus and Jihan came upon them in the nursery.
One babe, Alton, had thumb in mouth; the other, Gyskouras, gave a single cry on seeing the interlopers.
Then Gyskouras-G.o.d-child, Niko was certain-held out his tiny hands and Jihan, mayhem forgotten, stepped over a decapitated snake oozing ichor, her own arms outstretched and the red fires of Stormbringer"s pa.s.sion in her eyes.
"Give him here. Stealth," Jihan crooned, calling Niko by his war-name. "My comfort"s what he seeks."
Niko"s gaze flickered questioningly to Tempus, who made a sour face and shrugged, sheathing his sword and squatting down to examine the snake.
Niko gave the child up to Jihan and shifted Alton, who immediately began to wail. "Me, too! Me, too! Take Alton, or tears come! Take Alton!"
In moments, Jihan held both children, the dark-haired and the fair, and Niko was kneeling opposite Tempus, the snake between them.
"Greetings, Commander. Life to you."
"And to you. Stepson. And glory." The words were only formula tonight, an afterthought from Tempus, who had out a dagger and with it turned the snake"s head toward him.
"How did you kill this thing. Stealth?" asked the Riddler.
"How? With my sword...." Niko"s brows knit. His canny smile came and went and his hazel eyes grew bleak as he slipped his weapon from its sheath and laid it across his knee. "With this sword, the one the dream lord gave me. You mean it"s not an ordinary snake?"
"That"s what I mean. Not a Beysib snake, anyway. Look here." He turned the snake and Niko could see tiny hands and feet, as if the snake had been starting to turn into a man when Niko"s stroke had killed it.
And the ichor, now, was steaming, eating like acid into the. stone of the palace floor.
"Why did you kill it?" said the Riddler gently. "What made you think it would attack you? Did it threaten? Did it rear up? What?"
"Because..." Niko sighed and tossed back ashen hair grown long enough to flop into his eyes. He"d shaved his beard and looked too young for what he was and what he"d been through; his scars were pale and the haunted look he bore made Tempus glance away. These two were each other"s misery: Niko loved the Riddler and feared the consequences; Tempus saw in the youthful fighter the curse of a man the G.o.ds desire.
"Because," Niko said again, voice low and heavy with words he didn"t want to say, "Alton told me to. Anon-the dark-haired-he"s the prescient one. He knows the future. He protects the G.o.d-child. I"m glad you"re here. Commander. It"s hard trying to-"
But Tempus got abruptly to his feet. "Don"t say that. You can"t know it, not for sure."
"I know it. My Bandaran... my maat knows what it sees. Maat-my balance, my perception-shows me too much, Commander. We have things to talk over; decisions must be made. These childlren must go to the western isles, else there"ll be havoc. I don"t want the blame of it. Gyskouras, he"s yours ... your son-or your G.o.d"s. I prayed.... Did the G.o.ds inform you?"
Tempus turned away from the young fighter and the words came back over his shoulder to Niko and hit as hard as a blow from the Riddler"s hand. "Abarsis. He came and told me. Now we"re all down here. Why in any G.o.d"s name didn"t you just take them and go, if that"s the answer? Theron will be here by and by." He turned on his heel and faced Nikodemos. "You"re sequestered here like a babysitter while Sanctuary is torn by the wolves of civil war? Are you no longer a Sacred Bander? Do you command some regiment, a cadre of your own? Or did Strat give you leave to-"
"It was by my order. Sleepless One," came an unctuous voice from behind: Molin Torchholder. The priest was accompanied by Kadakithis and by the prince"s side was the Beysib woman, streaming tears, holding a dead and definitely Beysib snake in her arms and weeping over it as if over a stricken child.
"Your order, Molin?" Tempus said and shook his head. "I own I didn"t think you"d have the nerve."
"He"s trying to help, Tempus," said Kadakithis, looking worried and drawn, trying to comfort the weeping Beysib monarch and keep peace as best he could.
"You"ve been away too long to judge this at face value. Nikodemos has been of exceptional help to the State and we thank you for his loan." The prince"s eyes strayed to Jihan, a child on each hip and a beatific look in her inhuman eyes.
"Let"s go to the great hall and talk about this over food and drink. I warrant you"re all tired from your long journey. We have much to decide and little time.
Did I hear that Theron is coming? Tempus," Kadakithis"s princely smile was strained and worried, "I hope you"ve told him good things of me-I hope, in fact, that you"ll remember your oath. I wouldn"t want to end up like my relatives in Ranke-spitted and bled out like pigs in the town square."
If the curse-or its ghost-was still in effect, it would mean that all the Riddler loved were bound to spurn him and those who loved him doomed to perish.
It was this that bothered him as he put a hand on Kadakithis"s shoulder and a.s.sured the prince that Theron would look with kindness on Kadakithis"s particular problems here in Sanctuary, that "he"s coming because the Slaughter Priest manifested in the Rankan palace and told a soldier to look to the souls of his soldiers. That"s why we"re all here, boy-and lady."
He didn"t tell them not to fear. Both the prince/governor and the Bey matriarch were too familiar with statecraft to have believed him if he had.
It wasn"t until after dinner that everyone realized there were too many dead Beysib snakes in the palace for Niko-or the single snake he"d killed-to be responsible. And by then, it was nearly too late.
Strat"s horse was at the gate. The bay horse he"d loved so well, who"d carried him through so many campaigns. And Ischade was standing in her doorway, where night blossoms bloomed, watching with that look she had which cut through the shadows of her hood.
She"d healed the horse, obviously. She had the healing touch, when she wanted to, had Ischade. He was so glad to see the bay, who nuzzled in his pockets for a carrot or the odd sweetmeat, it took him a while to clear his throat and make sure his eyes were dry before he turned to thank her: "It"s wonderful having him back. There"s not another in my string to equal him-not his size, his stamina, his conformation. But why didn"t you tell me? I"d not have believed he could be..." His words slowed. He looked harder at her. "... healed. That"s what you did, isn"t it? Spirited him away somewhere after I had to leave him for dead, and nursed him back to health?" The horse"s teeth felt real enough, nipping his arm for attention. "Ischade, tell me that"s what you did."
Her words were wispy as the wind. "I saved him for you, Straton. A parting gift, if this visitor of yours..." She pointed up the road, where a figure could be seen if one looked hard through the moonlight-a rider so far away the sounds of his horse"s hooves were yet masked by the breathing of the bay. "If this visitor makes an end to what is-was-between us. It"s yours to say."
With that, she turned and went into her house and the door closed, of its own accord, with an all-too-final sound.