A Lotus for the Regent (6 page)

"They are of
the mighty Kimereth and Losiengare Houses," Kamen said in answer to his unasked
questions.

The Guildmaster
nodded and bowed. "Come," he said in Sunjaa and repeated it in Ausir.
"My people will see to your every comfort."

As they walked
from the beach along a wide stone path through the trees, Kamen fell into step
beside the Guildmaster. He whispered to him in Sunjaa. "Keep the Ausir
apart for the night. They're bitter enemies."

The Guildmaster's
smile did not alter. He nodded ever so slightly, but his eyes still twinkled in
greed. "And what about you, Regent? Will you require the presence of a
Lotus?"

Though tempted,
Kamen waved away the offer. He had shared Saerileth with Darien once, and
though she was quite skilled, it was Darien Kamen had wanted. Lying with a
Lotus now would only remind him of Darien. How he longed to see his friend
again.

"I'm
exhausted," Kamen said, making an excuse for himself.

The Guildmaster
made another bow. "Then I will send a boy to your chambers. He will sing
you to sleep."

Kamen shrugged.
"That's fine."

The Guildmaster
directed some of his servants to escort Kamen on a diverging path through the
tall, thin trees beyond the city. They reached the guild compound and passed
beyond its high, roofed walls whereupon guards with polearms and lanterns stood
ever vigilant. Kamen was not directed into the main compound, however, but was
led around another inner wall and across a lawn bisected by a smaller stone
path. The lanterns held by the guild slaves that shone on either side of him
lit his way and showed him mere glimpses of a carefully sculpted garden that
would have been marvelous to see by day's light.

The path curved to
the left, and Kamen saw the water's edge. He looked out across the black
distance. A lake. He was escorted down another path, and just as his eyes made
out the shape of some structure near the water, the moons broke through the
clouds and revealed a tea-house built on stilts over the lake. A small bridge
connected it to land. Kamen's breath caught in his throat, and even though the
moons soon ducked back behind their veil, he did not soon forget the beauty of
that brief scene. The slanted roof, the charming slatted windows, a tiny house
of wood and paper perfectly situated.

The slaves opened
the house for him, making careful fires in small, protected braziers in the
four corners of the room. In the middle of the depressed center of the floor
stood a table over which hung a fresh cut branch of white blossoms. Kamen took
off his shoes as directed and walked the perimeter of the house, which
consisted only of this room, as the slaves prepared his bedding of thick
blankets stuffed with down feathers.

The guild servants
disappeared as quickly and quietly as they had worked, and Kamen suddenly found
himself alone. They had left him water boiling over a low fire, a tea set on
the table, and a variety of crackers and soft snacks. As Kamen ate a sweet, red
bean paste nestled in a wide leaf, there came a knock at the door.

"Enter,"
Kamen said in Sunjaa.

The door opened,
and a boy stood there with dulcimer in hand. The youth's face was striking, and
Kamen, expecting some nondescript music slave to appear, found himself staring
at the boy.

"Come
in."

The boy obeyed and
answered in flawless Sunjaa, though he clearly was not one of Kamen's kind.
"I am come to play for you." He cradled his dulcimer against his
chest. His skin was fair, his hair gold. And if that were not enough, his green
eyes told Kamen that the boy could not have been Zenji. Kamen had never seen a
blond Zenji. Had the Guildmaster purchased a foreign child? Had he been given
to the guild by his Fihdal or Vadal parents? Something about this boy did not
sit right with Kamen. His facial features were strange, the bone structure of
his cheeks, chin, and jaw too angular, his eyes too large for his face.

Kamen poured hot
water into the tea-pot. "What is your name?"

"Kaelmoro,
sir."

"Kaelmoro?"
Certainly not a Zenji name. "And what are you going to play?"

"What is your
pleasure, sir?"

Kamen poured
himself a cup of tea, and as he blew across its steamy surface, he thought
about the question. He wanted to relax and get a good night's sleep. The next
morning he would have to stand between two warring Ausir factions and listen to
them babble on in a language he could not understand. "Something
soothing."

Kaelmoro grabbed a
flat pillow, sat on it, and laid the dulcimer across his lap. He ran his
fingers up and down the instrument's neck, plucking the strings and tuning its
chords. And then after a single, clear strum of the dulcimer, the boy sang.

My son, build
the temple, so I may rest

This old
shell cannot keep warm

Cannot keep
warm under the toil

While the
lilies slowly drown

And the sea
echoes, "build the temple"

Carry me into
the temple

And let me
know peace again

I have shed
blood and may not touch its floor

Carry me, and
suffer the lilies

They contain the
memory of our fathers

And our
nation

Go and sing
the song of resurrection

Sing, that
these bones might live and praise

Kamen wept at the
heartbreaking beauty of the song, how the melody jumped the octave in the
middle of the phrase, and how it rose to a crescendo after the word
"nation" just before the final refrain. He wiped his tears from his
eyes, sipped his tea, and looked across the room at Kaelmoro.

"Where did
you learn a song like that?"

Kaelmoro cast his
gaze to the floor in front of him. "I wrote it."

"Wrote
it?" Perhaps the boy's genius was why the Guildmaster had him. But that
Kaelmoro could write such a song of the melancholy of old age unsettled Kamen.
"It's the most beautiful song I've ever heard."

"Thank you,
sir." Kaelmoro rose. "And now I will leave you. Good night,
sir." He bowed in Zenji fashion, slipped into his shoes at the door, and
fled into the night.

Kamen finished his
tea and lay down. As he drifted off to sleep, his mind replayed the song, and
he hummed the tune, trying to remember the words.

****

Kamen heard the
screaming before he entered the building. And the screaming was being done in
Ausir. He broke into a trot, crossing the garden in no time. He wished he had
had more time to enjoy the scenery, but if he did not get to the main house
quickly enough, there would be blood. Kamen rushed through the gate and took
the stairs two at a time. Once on the covered outer porch, he slipped off his
shoes, pulled the door aside, and entered. He found the Ausir red-faced and
arguing. Clearly they had not been able to convince any of the Lotuses to go to
bed with them. Had the situation been different, Kamen would have laughed. As
it was, he raised his hands and cried out.

"We're
leaving," the Kimereth captain said. "We should've never followed you
here in the first place."

The room was full
of Sunjaa sailors who had interposed themselves between the Ausir spoiling for
a fight. Zenji servants lined the walls, and the Guildmaster was on the other
side of the large room. Kamen nodded to him.

The Guildmaster
spread a smile across his face almost as wide as his outstretched arms. He
spoke in Ausir, and whatever it was he said, it made the Kimereth and
Losiengare calm down. Kamen heard his and Jahen's name several times during the
speech. He also caught the words "Sunjaa" and "Arinport".
Kamen was a consummate politician, able to read people without ever hearing
them talk, so it was not difficult for him to detect the Guildmaster's
deferential attitude toward him. And the longer the Guildmaster spoke, the more
the Ausir came to mimic his attitude. Kamen shook his head and chuckled. There
was witchcraft in the Lotus ways of persuasion. Kamen remembered how Saerileth
had once convinced the Vadal King to aid Jahen's bid for the throne through
nothing more than a mere conversation.

The Guildmaster
gestured toward Kamen and bowed low. All the servants in the room also bowed,
and the impression this made upon the Ausir was plain. This was Kamen's cue.

Kamen descended
the three steps into the room's central depression. "Please, mighty Ausir
who ride the sea like a stallion, sit, and let us talk."

****

Kamen led the
way from the negotiation chamber toward the guildhouse dining hall. He was, of
course, attended by the Guildmaster, but Kamen knew that the Ausir were
following him. He sighed. The discussion had been slow, but he was unwilling to
give much ground. The Ausir must keep their war out of all Sunjaa waters. They
had not, of course, been able to deny the justice of that demand, but the
actual border beyond which they would keep their conflicts had caused much
debate, and the final agreement would not be made until after this meal.

“
Please, noble guests, sit, and partake of the humble fare of the Red
Lotus Guild.” The Guildmaster indicated the lunch table laden with all manner
of fruits, baked fish, and cold boiled vegetables.

The Ausir moved to
sit, the Kimereth on one side of the long table, the Losiengare on the other.
Ruben sat at one end, and Kamen took the head. The Sunjaa sailors ascended the
steps and waited at the edges of the room.

Servants came
forward to serve, slaves in unadorned floor-length cotton robes. They poured
drinks and set food before the guests. Two pale, delicate, feminine hands
appeared before Kamen's eyes, and his gaze followed the length of the arm until
it reached the face of the one who served him. He nearly jumped out of his
seat. The woman had golden hair, and her features, too, were angular. Not Zenji
at all. In fact, she reminded him of the boy minstrel the night before.

"Thank
you," he said in Sunjaa as she set a napkin before him.

She bowed in Zenji
fashion and moved off, and Kamen could not help but stare at her. She was
lovely, of a beauty that rivaled Saerileth's or any other Lotus's. Perhaps even
more beautiful because of her unusual countenance. Her long golden hair was
piled up on her head in a complicated, curving braid that sloped down her scalp
only to snake around and end in a heap on top of her head, held in place by
pins. So much hair, so lovely. Why would a woman who looked like her work in
the kitchen? She walked around the table with grace, confidence, and air. She
was not meek like the other slaves. Still, Kamen could not take his eyes from
her. When she bent over, he stole glimpses of the curve of her ass and thighs.
His gaze traveled down her back and then back up, over her neck and through her
braid again. Once she looked back at him, and Kamen had to look away quickly
and act like he was calling over one of his men who stood near her. When the
Sunjaa sailor reported to him, Kamen said, "Never mind." He waved the
man away.

There was to be an
hour of peace before the negotiations resumed, so Kamen decided to sit back and
enjoy the guildhouse cuisine. He sampled the cold boiled vegetables first. They
contained just the slightest hint of weak vinegar, but were in all other ways
unappetizing. Zenji food just was not as flavorful as Sunjaa. First of all,
there was no bread to be seen. Kamen could not imagine a meal without bread.
And what with the solemnity of the occasion, he had expected boiled cabbage.
There was none, for it was not considered a delicacy here.

Kamen dug into the
baked fish with the small, silver fork provided. It was delicious, and its
soft, tangy meat melted in his mouth. The Ausir spoke in hushed tones, though
the factions did not speak to each other. The only communication between the
two were cold stares, curled lips, and sucked teeth. Kamen watched and ate, but
he said nothing. He wished he could understand them, because often the Losiengare
sailors looked at him and nodded to one another.

"They will
make promises they do not intend to keep." The blonde serving woman was at
Kamen's elbow, whispering in his ear.

He looked up at
her, and he stared at her soft lips. The scent of ginger hung about her, and it
intoxicated him. "What?" he asked at last.

"You
there." The Guildmaster ran over and grabbed the woman by the arm.
"Back to work. How dare you speak to the Regent!"

Kamen stood, and
the table fell silent. "It's all right. I want to hear what she has to
say."

The Guildmaster
grinned and bowed, pushing the woman behind him. "She has nothing to say.
She is insolent. I will have her beaten."

Beat her? Why
would any man even consider marring her perfect, alien beauty? "That won't
be necessary. I shall hear her."

The Guildmaster
glared back at the woman. "She is troublesome."

"Then I will
take her outside." Kamen held out his hand.

Everyone watched,
and the Guildmaster smiled and bowed to his unwanted audience. While he did so,
Kamen took the girl by the hand. The Guildmaster could not prevent him now
without causing undue embarrassment, so Kamen ascended the steps with her and
walked out onto the porch.