Alien Chronicles 1 - The Golden One (23 page)

“Denial does not alter what he has said. The Imperial Daughter walked before you up the trail, as was proper, until Lord Fazhmind called out. Then you pushed ahead of her and pulled her onto the rocks after you.”

“Oh, that,” Ampris said, comprehending now. “We were wearing these silly old costumes, as part of our pretending, but they were too long and awfully in the way.”

“Most unsuitable garments,” the chancellor agreed. His eyes watched her like a raptul’s.

“So I took mine off, but Israi—the sri-Kaa—kept hers on. I’m a better climber than she is, so I climbed to the ledge first so I could pull her up after me. She knows I am stronger and said it would be easier for me to assist her that way than to boost her from behind.”

“I see. And again, you did this by the sri-Kaa’s order?”

“Well . . .” Ampris frowned, trying to remember. “Yes, or perhaps I suggested it and she agreed to it. All I know is, we didn’t want to go back down. We were going to hide from Lord Fazhmind.”

The Kaa flicked out his tongue, and both Ampris and Gaveid glanced at him.

He gestured impatiently. “Continue.”

Gaveid bowed. “Now, Ampris, about the—”

“But if Lord Fazhmind says that I made Israi climb up the rocks, that isn’t so,” Ampris said hotly. “He was too far down the mountain to see everything that happened. He couldn’t hear what was said—we wanted to get away from him, so we were hurrying too fast. The sri-Kaa started climbing above the ledge by herself, without waiting for me to help her. I didn’t see how she slipped, but suddenly she was falling. If I hadn’t—”

She stopped, panting and near tears, reliving the horror of that moment in her mind.

“Yes?” the chancellor prodded. “If you hadn’t what?”

“If I hadn’t caught her by the leg, she would have gone over the ledge and maybe been killed. When she fainted, I thought she
was
dead.” Tears choked Ampris’s voice, and she could no longer hold them back. “I got Moscar—”

“A servant, sire,” Gaveid said in a quick aside.

“We wrapped her in a blanket, and he started carrying her down the mountain. That’s all that happened. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. She slipped.” Ampris sniffed and licked away the tears dampening her muzzle. “If Lord Fazhmind wants to blame anyone, let it be himself for following us—”

“Silence,” Gaveid snapped. “You are here to give an account of yourself, not to accuse your betters.”

From the bed, Israi moaned.

At once the Kaa shot from his chair and hurried to her side. He bent over her, stroking her rill as he murmured to her.

“Ampris,” Israi called.

Ampris ran to her, eluding the chancellor’s grab at her shoulder.

Israi lay curled among her nest of pillows, looking the color of dust beneath a bandage across her left temple. Her arms and hands were bruised and scraped. Her green eyes were heavy with drugs, but she smiled when she saw Ampris crowding next to the Kaa’s side.

“Ampris,” she whispered again, and tried to stretch out her hand.

Ampris would have moved closer to touch her fingers, but the Kaa gripped her shoulder, holding her back.

“You must rest, precious one,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Go back to sleep.”

Israi looked at him, blinking slowly, her green eyes clouded and dull. “I heard you talking. Don’t be angry. I didn’t wait for her to help me. I didn’t take off the robe like she . . . urged me to.” Israi’s eyes drifted closed. “My fault,” she murmured, and fell asleep.

The Kaa bent over her and blew gently across her ear dimple, then straightened and stood staring down at Ampris. This time she met his gaze without fear.

He stared at her for what seemed like forever before something indefinable shifted in the depths of his brilliant blue eyes. “We see,” he said. “Very well.”

Turning from the bedside, he walked away. Ampris took a step after him.

“May I stay with her, sire?”

The Kaa paused in midstride and glanced back. “It is what she would wish.”

He walked on, and his guards hastened to open the doors for him. In the outer sitting room, muffled commotion rose up as the ladies jumped to their feet and asked questions. The physician returned to Israi’s bedside, and the doors were closed, shutting out the noise.

Gaveid stood on the crimson runner of carpet and beckoned to Ampris, who joined him.

“As faithful as ever,” he murmured. “You have been a good companion for the sri-Kaa, despite all the consternation you have caused.”

Ampris grinned.

“But it is not enough to be a simple follower,” he admonished her. “Doing whatever she suggests, and agreeing to her schemes. The sri-Kaa is headstrong and impetuous. She runs with a very light rein indeed, and in his devoted love for her, the Kaa has perhaps been too lenient. I believe you have some common sense in that Aaroun head of yours. Do you?”

Perhaps a hundred years spanned between their ages, yet at that moment Ampris felt in complete accord with the chancellor. “I think so, Lord Gaveid,” she said.

“Time you both grew up a little. The freedom of tas-chunenhal is passing.”

Ampris backed her ears. She didn’t want to hear what he was saying, yet at the same time she knew he was right. It was frightening, but Israi’s injuries were frightening too.

“Lord Fazhmind has no influence with the sri-Kaa, and Lady Lenith very little,” Gaveid continued. “You, on the other hand, are her most intimate companion. And although you are young, I believe you capable of using good sense when it comes to these escapades. Persuade her toward more caution, toward safer adventures.”

“But she says what we will do—”

“Does she?” Lord Gaveid flicked out his tongue. “Does she think of everything?”

Ampris met his wise gaze and could not lie. Reluctantly she shook her head.

“Ah,” he said. “Then you understand me.”

He turned to go, and Ampris looked from him to the physician, who was running a scanner over Israi. She ran after Gaveid. “Please, my lord. Is she going to die?”

“Hmm?” He paused reluctantly and raised his rill when he realized she was clutching his sleeve.

Ampris released him and stepped back. “Please. No one will tell me anything.”

“No, of course she isn’t going to die. She has a broken rib and some painful cuts and scrapes. According to the physician, her beauty will not be marred by these injuries.” Gaveid’s cynical eyes softened a moment and he patted Ampris on the head. “You weep for the sri-Kaa, little one?”

Ampris wiped her eyes, too overwhelmed with relief to speak.

“Ah,” he said, his tone strange. “In all the imperial court, who cares more deeply than a half-domesticated Aaroun? Truly, the Imperial Daughter chose well in you, cub. I trust she will always remember your value.”

“Of course.” Ampris didn’t understand him. It was as though he spoke with hidden meanings to his words. “I will always be her friend. Always. And she mine. We
promised
.”

“Ah.” He patted her head again. “Stay with her, cub. She calls for you every time she wakes.”

Israi recovered very quickly, while everyone spoiled her and brought her presents as tokens of their good wishes. The Kaa visited her twice daily. Lord Fazhmind and Lady Lenith were banned from the sickroom, and Israi gloated over this.

“They have been dismissed from my service,” she said. “I am sure of it. Don’t you think so, Ampris? Oh, I hope so. They are tedious, both of them.”

This hope proved to be unfounded. But it was the physician’s recommendation that Israi be released from her lessons and responsibilities until summer, to ensure a complete recovery of both body and spirit. Thus, Lady Lenith was given leave to visit her family. Lord Fazhmind remained at court, but without assigned duties.

When Israi was deemed well enough to travel, the Kaa returned to the imperial palace at Vir. By then, the buds were beginning to swell in the palace gardens as harbingers of spring. All talk focused on the coming Festival. Ladies at court grew absentminded and silly, neglecting their duties and giggling at the least provocation. Ambassadors brought new wives to the Kaa, who made his selections and sent the others to his country estates.

Ampris and Israi ran free, roaming the palace at will, keeping whatever hours they chose, eating whatever they liked, doing what they pleased. They had no routine, no lessons, no one to hinder their fun.

Subi, the old Kelth nursemaid, grumbled and tried to impose order, but they only laughed at her.

The physician’s methods apparently worked. Israi not only healed without a blemish, but she blossomed as well. She grew several inches that spring, and her coloring acquired a new glow that gave her beauty a hint of coming maturity. She was at the age where most adolescent Viis females become gawky and impossible. But Israi remained graceful, slender, and lovely. Her voice deepened slightly, becoming more melodic than ever. The slope of her jaw, the brightness of her teeth, the brilliance of her eyes, the arch of her throat arrested the gaze of everyone who saw her. New courtiers, upon catching a glimpse of her, often lost the thread of their conversations. Older courtiers gazed at her with knowing looks, murmuring behind their fans.

The sri-Kaa was growing up.

But neither Israi nor Ampris were ready to acknowledge that. They had these last few months of freedom, as though tas-chunenhal and all its magic had been given an extension, and they were determined to make the most of it.

They played harder than ever, giggling and pulling pranks on everyone in the palace except the Kaa and Chancellor Gaveid. Even the lesser chancellors and ministers were not exempt.

Visitors of minor importance discovered unpleasant surprises in their beds. Hot water was mysteriously cut off from all the bathing chambers for an entire day. Wives found bitter salt in their desserts because pranksters had substituted it for sweetener in the kitchens. Lord Fazhmind found soilworms in his drinking cup and exploding powder in his kerchiefs. Bizarre, alien music was piped into his bedchamber in the dead of night, giving him nightmares.

The majordomo of the palace, in charge of the immense and complex preparations for Sahvrazaa, lived in agonized fear that the pranksters would sabotage the banquets and ruin his life.

Complaints ran rife in the palace, yet no one dared demand punishment. The Kaa himself, vaguely aware that Israi was up to considerable mischief, merely remarked that it was splendid she felt so energetic. Therefore, nothing could be done to stop her, and everyone prayed that she would soon tire of these games and leave them in peace.

Then Lady Zureal arrived at court, and the pranks stopped cold.

Ampris and Israi were lying idly in the shade near the garden pool one day when Ampris heard a commotion from inside. She sat up, listening.

“More new candidates for the wives court have arrived,” she said eagerly. “Do you want to go and look at them?”

Israi rolled onto her side and draped her arm across her eye. “No,” she said, sounding bored. “I am sleepy.”

“May I go?”

Israi lifted her arm just enough to shoot Ampris a look of exasperation. “Why do you care about them? New wives are always silly. They overdress and wear too much perfume. All they can do is giggle and stare at themselves in the mirrors.”

“I want to see what they are wearing. I want to see their jewels,” Ampris said.

Israi flicked out her tongue and said nothing.

Ampris stared at her a moment. Israi had been in a strange mood all day, grouchy and lazy. All she wanted to do was lie by the pool, and Ampris was bored. Anything, even staring at fine court ladies, was preferable to this.

“Please?” Ampris asked.

“Yes, yes, go,” Israi said with irritation. “At least then you will be quiet and I can nap in peace.”

Her words were unkind, for Ampris had not been chattering to her. Ampris let it pass, however, and bounded up before Israi could change her mind.

She trotted through the loggia and its welcome shade, then entered through open doors into the long gallery. Her feet made no sound on the polished stone floors, and she hurried to catch up with the courtiers gathering in the main audience hall to observe the official arrival and presentation of this last batch of imperial brides.

Ampris elbowed her way through the crowd, and the onlookers reluctantly made way for her to edge to the front, where she could see without hindrance. In the past month Ampris had suddenly shot up in height, growing gawky and ill at ease with her changing body. She found herself clumsy when she had never been so before. Her hands and feet did not seem to belong to her. She had outgrown her clothes twice, making Subi grumble about the cost and bother of replacements. And she was hungry all the time, constantly craving meat, which was not allowed her. Lady Lenith said she was getting too big. Feeling ugly and increasingly self-conscious, Ampris sometimes worried that Israi would send her away for having changed so much.

Now, she took care not to venture too near the most important courtiers or to stand too close to the carpet runner stretching from the main entrance to the Kaa’s throne. She ignored the whispers from those who disapproved of her appearing in public when Israi was not present to command her.

However, the imminent presentation of the brides created a general air of excitement that soon eclipsed Ampris’s presence. The hall filled with whispering and speculation, and as always Ampris enjoyed watching and listening. She didn’t understand why Israi wanted to miss the fun.

New spring fashions among Viis females dictated a fuller sweep in the skirts of court gowns, creating an angular line in the back that completely concealed their tails and made their upper bodies look slender and long. Ampris liked the new style, although she was grateful she didn’t have to dress in such a way.

The hall smelled of fragrant white flowers, the Kaa’s favorite, and soft ftyta music played in the background. Then ceremonial chimes sounded, and a procession of singers in green cloaks entered, tossing flower petals as they came. Behind them walked the brides, veiled and gowned in breathtaking regalia. Each female was escorted by her sponsoring ambassador, in full court uniform.