Alien Chronicles 1 - The Golden One (12 page)

Sometimes he activated a screen, allowing them to watch the twirling schematics of new architectural drawings prepared specifically for the restoration of the old palace. As a treat, he would permit them to open a program and generate their own buildings. It was more fun than simple drawing with a stylus. Ampris found she had a flair for three-dimensional structures. She was quick to learn, and inventive enough to earn the Kaa’s praise. On the other hand, Israi’s walls never matched up. Her staircases went nowhere. While she loved choosing colors and exquisite details, she had none of Ampris’s patience for the construction aspects of a building project.

If that was what Israi and the Kaa were doing this rainy afternoon, then Ampris could not help but scowl at the far end of the gallery, where the study door stood closed behind motionless guards.

Today, Ampris had not been invited to join Israi and her father.

For the first time in her memory, Ampris had been shut out.

Growling silently in her throat, she picked aimlessly at a mortar joint in the windowsill. There had to be something she could do. Something more interesting than just waiting here until Israi came out.

Ampris’s gaze wandered toward the opposite end of the gallery, to a door standing ajar and unguarded. A door that beckoned to her, leading to a part of the lodge she had never explored before.

Israi would be furious if Ampris explored without her.

On the other hand, why should Ampris wait?

She glanced at the Kaa’s study door, still firmly closed. Israi had not ordered her to stay nearby. Israi had not given her any instructions at all.

“My father has summoned me to his study this afternoon,” Israi had said.

“Will we draw houses?” Ampris asked excitedly.

“I do not know, but you may not come.”

It took a moment for the remark to soak in. Then Ampris blinked at her in surprise. “Why not?”

Israi flicked out her tongue. She was wearing a bright green satin tunic lined with velvet that reached to her knees, worn open over a pair of golden trousers the exact color of her skin. Pretty pendants dangled from the spines of her rill in the latest fashion.

“The Kaa did not request your presence,” Israi said.

Ampris waited for her to look annoyed, or to say that she had requested permission for Ampris to accompany her, but Israi said nothing more.

It was not polite to insist or beg. Swallowing her hurt and disappointment, Ampris bowed. “What shall I do?”

Again Israi flicked her tongue. “Anything you like.”

And she walked away through the doors which the guards opened for her.

Anything I like
, Ampris thought.

She looked around again, turning her back on the dreary rain streaking the windowpanes. She would explore, by herself, and she hoped with all her heart that she found something wonderful, something that would make Israi envious.

At once, she touched the cartouche hanging from her ear in automatic atonement for such an unworthy thought. It was wicked to make such a wish.

“But I don’t care,” Ampris whispered to herself, and hurried down the length of the immense gallery to the untended door.

She slipped past it without touching its ornate gold surface. For a second she held her breath, for there were alarms fitted throughout the lodge as part of the general security system, but she set nothing off.

Relieved, she looked around.

She saw nothing exciting, only another gallery as wide and long as the one she’d just left. This one, however, was fitted with dark paneling carved with scenes of ancient Viis battles waged long before the age of technology. She smelled archaic candles, cold stone, and wood well-polished with camphan oil.

She gazed at the panels, which were illuminated by the gloomy light that entered through the tall, narrow windows. Without someone to explain the significance of the scenes depicted, Ampris soon tired of them and walked on.

The lodge itself had been built more than two centuries before, at the height of Viis supremacy, and it was wedged onto the side of a dizzying slope. Balconies overlooked sheer precipices, and the crisp scent of narpine forests filled the air. On days of clear weather, fierce raptuls flew in spirals about the towers of the lodge, uttering harsh hunting cries that echoed forever into the canyons.

For Ampris, this was a marvelous place of nooks and crannies, stairways that wound and crooked unexpectedly, uneven ceilings, fabulous views from every window, the perpetual cooking scents of savory ragouts and leneek pies mingled with the fragrances of oiled leather, stone floors, musty tapestries, snow-frosted air, and the narpines.

Every year upon arrival, Ampris and Israi separated themselves from the other youngsters to explore the lodge as much as they were permitted. They had free run of the first two stories, which contained both public and private apartments, plus the common library, access to the gardens, and round towers with circular staircases that spiraled up to locked doors that no one would open.

This floor, the third, held the state apartments and the Kaa’s quarters. Usually it was off-limits.

Ampris quickened her footsteps, nearly running to the end of the paneled gallery. Again, there was a door at its end, plainer than the previous one. No one guarded it either.

She curled her ringers around the cold metal latch and hesitated a moment. Her heart was pumping fast. She pressed her ear against the door and listened for what might be on the other side.

Only silence came to her ears.

She sniffed, seeking Viis scent with the distinctive over-lying fragrance of armor lubricant.

Nothing. No guards in the vicinity.

Suppose she actually walked into the Kaa’s own chambers?

The idea made her shiver. Her heart pumped harder with growing excitement. No one entered the Kaa’s private rooms without permission. Not even Israi dared do that.

Yet, it was surely the supreme adventure, the ultimate in daring. It would surpass even the day that Israi had dared her to walk the rooftop over the wives court, and Ampris had. Only the swift intervention of Lady Lenith had prevented Israi from making the attempt herself. Mortified by such interference, Israi had not spoken to her chief lady in waiting for three days. Then the matter was forgotten by all save Ampris, who still treasured her accomplishment.

Today, however, she would surpass herself. But she would have to prove she had actually entered the Kaa’s chambers.

Ampris frowned in thought. She did not dare take anything from the Kaa’s rooms. That was unthinkable. She could lose her head for that.

But she could leave something. Swiftly Ampris patted through her pockets and found three small, smooth pebbles that she had picked up on the hiking trail yesterday. They were intended for the pebble collection that she added to every year. Lady Lenith sneered at her collection, calling it ugly and foolish, and would not permit Ampris to display it the way Israi displayed her collection of exquisite sun crystals in a case built especially for them. But at the same time, Lady Lenith permitted Ampris to keep her humble collection of stones, for they had no worth and could not compete with Israi’s possessions.

Hefting the three pebbles on her palm, Ampris turned them over with a fingertip, admiring their naturally smooth sides and the striations of color that veined them. Humble or not, they were not ugly to her eyes. She liked things that were natural, things that came from the ground.

Israi did not understand what Ampris liked in the stones, but Israi was too kind to sneer at them.

Ampris curled her fingers over the pebbles with satisfaction. Yes, she would leave these on the center of the Kaa’s bed, for his valet to find. Word would circle around among the servants; questions would be asked. Israi would hear of it, and that would confirm what Ampris intended to tell her tonight.

Wouldn’t Israi be wild with envy?

Grinning to herself, Ampris carefully turned the latch, pulled open the heavy door, and peered around it.

But the Kaa’s quarters did not lie on the other side. Disappointed, Ampris found herself looking at yet another hallway. It was furnished with thick rugs imported from offworld, antique tables that displayed fine vases so old their glazes were cracked, chairs of antiquated, unfamiliar designs, and mysterious paintings with opaque surfaces that revealed nothing until Ampris stood close and peered at them for a long time.

Only then, slyly, would the painting surface shimmer to life, evolving into a portrait or a landscape of breathtaking quality that altered each time she changed her angle of looking at it.

She took her time here, peering into the paintings and catching her breath sharply at what was revealed to her. Oh, if only Israi could see these.

This far surpassed the pleasure of sniffing about the huge, hot kitchens, getting underfoot, and begging for treats from the harried staff.

Keeping her ears sharp for the sound of footsteps that would warn her someone was coming, Ampris finally moved beyond the paintings and stopped before a cabinet that was tall and narrow, with solid wood panels that concealed its interior from top to bottom.

When she traced her fingertips across the lovely grain of the wood, a stirring of sound reached her ears, barely discernible, like the soft lilting of a harp when air blows through its strings.

She stroked the wood again, and again it sang softly to her. Ampris had heard of songwood. She knew its rarity was beyond price. Sometimes betrothed Viis couples would exchange tiny slivers of the costly wood as tokens of their impending nuptials.

But here stood an entire cabinet made of this lovely wood, as beautiful in appearance as the sound it produced beneath her fingertips. Ampris could barely tear herself away from it, for its song fascinated her. Yet she dared not linger in here forever.

There were surely many more fabulous treasures to find. Even so, what thrilled her most was the thought of bringing Israi here and showing her everything.

This passage ended with an open, vaulted doorway that led into a spacious, round antechamber. Looking around, Ampris saw a set of stairs carpeted in imperial crimson rising to a magnificent door of hammered gold. Above the door hung the grand seal of the Kaa.

Seeing it, Ampris gulped a little. Guards flanked the door, staring straight ahead. Impassive and formidable, they ignored Ampris, but she knew better than to venture near the stairs. That, clearly, was forbidden territory.

Panting, she returned her humble pebbles to her pocket, forgetting her plan of sneaking into the Kaa’s quarters. Such an attempt would not be daring; it would be stupid and disrespectful.

Still, she had gotten this far without being challenged or stopped, and that would surely be enough to make Israi wish she had been here.

Overhead, the landing’s ceiling was painted with scenes from ancient Viis mythology, including Ampria the sun goddess in her sky boat drawn by flying raptuls. The dark floor was inset with precious stones mimicking the patterns of constellations across the night skies.

Opposite the passageway Ampris had emerged from stood three doors, all closed, all unguarded. She stared at them, curious to see what they contained. But with the guards present, Ampris’s curiosity flattened. She turned to retreat back the way she’d come, only to halt as she heard voices in the distance—fluty, well-educated Viis voices—that warned her several courtiers were approaching.

Ampris hesitated only a moment, then dashed across the landing to one of the doors. Although she did not think she was doing anything wrong, certainly she had not been given permission to be here, so near the Kaa’s quarters. Still, it was better to hide until the approaching courtiers were gone. Then she would return to the area where Israi had left her.

Picking a door at random, she turned the latch and found it unlocked. She glanced up just as one of the guards turned his head to stare at her.

His eyes were yellow and cold. They stabbed right through her, and Ampris panted again.

The approaching voices were louder, closer.

Dry-mouthed, Ampris sprang inside without looking and shut the door firmly behind her.

She waited there with her face pressed against the door, listening for a shout, for the sound of hasty footsteps. But she heard neither.

After a moment she relaxed, relieved that the guards were not going to come after her.

When she was with Israi, she never feared the guards. But alone was a different matter. Ampris might live a happy, secure life now, but sometimes at night she still suffered nightmares of the Scary Time, those fearful few days before Israi had found and adopted her. While Ampris never remembered those dreams clearly, the heart-pounding terror they evoked haunted her, especially whenever she crossed paths with palace guards.

The courtiers walked past the door which concealed her, their chattering gossip loud. After a moment she heard them continue downstairs, and quiet came again in their wake.

She eased out her breath, not realizing until then that she’d been holding it. Sometimes the courtiers made cruel remarks to her when she was not safe in Israi’s presence. Ampris was well-aware that few at court approved of her presence in the imperial household. No other Aaroun in all the empire was as well-placed as she. Lady Lenith reminded her of this fact at least once a day, if not more often, forever telling her to be grateful for the supreme kindness which had been shown her by the sri-Kaa.

Ampris sighed. The only problem with constantly being told to feel grateful was that it made her want to bite instead. Ampris adored Israi and knew she was blessed in the favor shown to her. But whenever Lady Lenith lectured her, Ampris hated being told how she should feel. She had to hide her resentment, of course, for Lady Lenith’s punishments could be terrible. Nor could she go to Israi and complain, for then Lady Lenith would retaliate in even more horrible ways.

Ampris had learned the harsh realities of court life long ago. So many things were shielded from the sri-Kaa, so many things deemed inappropriate for Israi to know about or for Israi to see.