Emissary (20 page)

‘Let’s get the priestess here. I have to talk to her directly.’

‘We cannot, Majesty.’

‘Why?’

‘She has disappeared.’

‘Disappeared?’

Pez nodded gravely. ‘I went to see her at the Sea Temple today and she has gone.’

‘Suspicious?’

‘I can’t say. Possibly not,’ he said carefully.

‘And Lazar?’

‘Is coming to you tonight. He wishes to present himself. I thought it only fair to warn you, High One. It was a shock for me when I found him and I didn’t want you to be placed in an awkward position.’

Boaz looked gently at his friend. ‘I have wronged you, Pez. I was angry at your accusations but you are the true friend in my life.’

‘I would never do anything to hurt you, my Zar, and I’m sorry I made you so angry. I have been…shall we say, preoccupied.’

‘It is forgotten,’ Boaz said, waving their differences aside. ‘My concern is how this is going to look.’

‘What does it matter how it looks? You have your Spur back. You had no part in the ruse. Let’s be honest, my Zar, the city folk of Percheron will care only that he lives and will celebrate his return.’

‘That’s right,’ Boaz agreed, thinking it through. ‘We are innocent in this. We believed what we were told by someone we thought we could trust. And a crime was still perpetrated against him, and someone took responsibility for it.’

‘Whether he was guilty or not,’ Pez finished the unspoken words that Boaz could not.

The Zar continued, ignoring the interruption and the pain its words provoked. ‘The Crown has nothing to feel guilty about.’

‘Nothing at all, Majesty. Just welcome your Spur back with open arms.’

Boaz nodded. ‘How can I ensure this is kept secret for now?’

‘Why would you want it to be kept quiet?’

‘Just for now. I would like to speak with Lazar before it all becomes public knowledge.’

‘I can’t wait to see Salmeo’s face when he claps eyes on Lazar,’ Pez said knowingly.

‘My mother’s face is going to be a picture too,’ Boaz offered sourly.

‘I shall go, Highness,’ Pez said.

‘To Lazar?’

He nodded.

‘Tell him to come in the early hours, and hooded. Tell him to bring this.’ He bent over a
piece of parchment to quickly dribble some green wax on it from a special candle that burned only in the Zar’s rooms. Then, using the great seal he wore around his neck on a beautifully wrought chain, he imprinted his personal mark into the soft wax. ‘This will gain him instant access to the palace. I will send one of my mutes to escort him. He is not to be recognised.’

‘Why the early hour?’

‘I have a meeting with Ana.’

Pez nodded knowingly and then muttered a phrase in a language the Zar did not recognise. Pez smiled sadly. ‘Roughly translated it means “take a wife tonight”.’

The Zar looked suddenly coy. ‘It is my intention.’

‘That is good. I go now,’ Pez said hurriedly. ‘I’m glad we’re friends again, Boaz.’

Boaz grinned wryly at him. ‘Of course, no-one but you and I will celebrate.’

‘I don’t doubt it,’ Pez replied. ‘I shall return,’ he added, leaving the Zar’s chambers in a series of somersaults, before cavorting down the hallway.

‘Ah, and so the world rights itself,’ Bin said wearily, more to himself than anyone else, for he had only mutes for company.

Pez raced back to his chamber. It was time to become Iridor.

He flew silently through the warm air, his spirits feeling marginally lighter for restoring the
balance of friendship between himself and Boaz. He had begun to worry about being alienated in the palace. It had occurred to him that Boaz, in his anger—if it persisted…and Boaz could always be so single-minded—might even ban Pez from being able to roam everywhere he wanted.

He scanned the bay from his vantage, hoping to see Lazar being rowed back to the mainland—although he suspected Lazar would doggedly row himself back. There was little movement on the water this night, though—it seemed the twins would have a quiet evening, he decided. He alighted on Beloch and scrutinised the giant. It was not Pez’s imagination; distinct cracks had appeared up and down the stone of the giant’s body. From afar, as most people viewed them, they were noticeable but perhaps not intensely eye-catching unless one stared at them each day with interest, as he or Zafira might. But close up the cracks looked serious—it was as if Beloch was simply falling apart, crumbling to the floor. Although this saddened Pez, he still couldn’t shake the notion that the giant was not dying as such but being reborn—getting ready to emerge from the stone casing which had imprisoned him.

‘Are you, Beloch? Are you rising, as I have and Lyana must, to fight the coming battle?’

If he expected an answer, he didn’t get one. The only sound was the distant rumble of the city and the lapping of the water around Beloch’s feet.
Not even the lonely cry of any seabirds broke the silence, and the ships were still, anchored for the night. Lazar was not here, not yet anyway.

Pez sighed and in his owl guise turned to face Star Island where he felt he should go and hopefully catch the former Spur before he left. His gaze was distracted momentarily from the dark mound in the distance where a few torches burned to guide any night travellers, to an unfamiliar shadow on the Sea Temple. It instantly struck him as odd that the new spire, which Boaz’s donation had paid for, looked misshapen. He concentrated, and as his sharp owl eyesight focused carefully, any lightness of heart, however vague, fled in that instant of anguish. Pez felt dizzy from fear at what he thought he might be seeing. And with a heart growing heavier by the second, he found the courage to lift from Beloch’s head and fly straight towards certain despair.

Ana and Kett stood in Salmeo’s salon, trembling with fear in the warm night air. They hadn’t allowed Kett to finish dressing so he remained half naked, whilst thrown at Ana’s feet was her pale blue First Virgin outfit, stained and torn. Her jewellery was laid at Kett’s feet, a chilling glimpse of what the Grand Master Eunuch planned to accuse him of.

Ana was in a state of deep shock. That she was destined to die was obvious and in her mind
almost not worth fretting over, but Kett was a different matter altogether. Kett, her friend who had risked so much—he would die too and she was sure that Salmeo and Herezah would show no mercy and not permit it to be anything but truly ghoulish.

She was ashamed of herself for being so gullible. From the moment she had seen Salmeo licking his lips in that doorway of the bazaar, she understood with a vicious clarity that she had not escaped at all. For all her ingenuity and daring, she had been permitted to leave the harem; it was another of Salmeo’s and no doubt Herezah’s cunning manipulations. They had wanted her to try another escape and so they had done everything they possibly could to encourage her in this attempt.

She went over it in her mind now. Herezah’s supposedly surprise trip to the bazaar gave her the perfect opportunity for the carefully and beautifully crafted conversation that would ultimately push Ana into making a rash decision. And then, of course, Salmeo’s revolting touch. She felt sure when it came to Sascha’s turn—as beautiful as the girl was—Salmeo would break her hymen and it would be a process over and done with relatively swiftly. He had lingered with Ana and he had aroused her and driven her into such a state of revulsion towards herself at responding to his touch that she would do anything to distance herself from his repulsive
being…even attempt escape. She let out a laugh, although it came out as a dry sob, that Salmeo had even urged Kett on his errand to the market—it was all so deliberately and exquisitely constructed. They had known everything the pair of them would do before Ana or Kett could even attempt it. How naive had they been to think they could fool the palace’s most cruelly manipulative pair with their pathetic escapade.

Even the Elim had been specifically ordered to stand outside the divan suite so Ana could make her escape attempt and feel safe that no guards had been in the room. How stupid had she been not to listen to the nagging voice inside. It had been trying to tell her that the Elim
never
left the girls entirely alone or unsupervised. That ruse alone should have set off every alarm in her head.

Ana now realised that the whole business of the bundle women and the treat for the girls was a sham too. Salmeo had set it up to make it as easy as possible for Ana to make this audacious attempt—just so that he could entrap her. How low would the Valide and Grand Master Eunuch stoop to ensure she never got close to Boaz? She grimaced inwardly—they wanted nothing less than her execution and she had blindly walked down the pathway as purposefully as if they had put a ring through her nose and led her by a rope as one would a dull beast. Salmeo had probably planted the idea in Kett’s head. She felt ill inside
thinking how excited he had been to tell her of the brave odalisque who had risked everything to escape the prison of the harem and had succeeded by hiding herself in one of the bundles. She had believed it because she wanted to, because she was so desperate to get away from Salmeo and the threat of Boaz’s bed. And she had acted as only a fool would.

The only aspect of this sorry tale that Ana couldn’t attach to Salmeo’s and Herezah’s careful planning was the woman who prevented Kett from using a genuine bundle woman. He had called her Ellyana and admitted he did not possess the power to deny her anything. She recalled how he referred to himself as the black bird of sorrow. She understood now. He was a pitiful individual indeed and in his short life had known so much sorrow.

‘Kneel in the presence of your Zar, slut!’ Herezah commanded and Ana was dragged from her miserable thoughts to realise that Boaz had entered, his face a mask of misery at what he saw. Nearby stood one from the Zar’s new corps of bodyguards, a mute she knew was called Salazin.

Elim pushed her to her knees, although she needed no help. She was ready to collapse from shame and despair at her own stupidity.

A terrible silence descended and Ana felt as if they’d all become statues. It made her think of Beloch and Ezram, curiously enough—she had never had the opportunity to talk to them,
although she had promised herself she would. And Crendel and Darso…all the other beautiful sculptures she had made a pact with herself to visit with the new freedom that the Valide had granted. She had planned to talk with each—she wasn’t sure why…she felt compelled, as she felt compelled to visit Lyana’s sculpture at the temple. Her bid to escape had eclipsed all other plans, however, and now she would not see another day and she would never look upon them again.

‘Tell me,’ she heard the Zar say.

She heard the rustle of silk as Grand Master Salmeo bowed and began constructing his sordid story.

‘Odalisque Ana had been prepared for you, my Zar, as you requested this morning. We had seen to it that she enjoyed a special day that marked her new status as First Chosen Virgin. In fact the Valide took her alone, save a few Elim, into the grand bazaar to personally select her jewellery and other accoutrements for the occasion. It was a high honour given to one so young.’

Ana heard Boaz sigh. Perhaps he, too, already accepted that truth would be spun with dark threads of lies before Salmeo offered up his damning scenario.

The Zar spoke to them now. ‘Ana, Kett, you may remain kneeling but I would prefer you faced your accusers.’

They both reluctantly lifted their heads, although Ana could not meet the Zar’s pained gaze.

Salmeo continued. ‘Odalisque Ana was told that you had made your choice and had given your command concerning her. She was prepared in the ritual fashion, Majesty—’

‘Which you no doubt played your critical part in, Grand Master Salmeo?’

‘Of course, Highness. That is one of my duties,’ the eunuch said with no aggression. His voice was gentle, his lisp pronounced. He felt entirely in control. And now, as he began to wave his arms, warming to the tale, the fragrance of violets assaulted Ana. ‘The Valide granted the odalisques a special treat in the shape of a visit from the bundle women. In fact—’

‘Why?’ Boaz asked, turning to his mother. ‘The girls had already enjoyed a long day on the water. Why was more of a treat necessary?’

‘My Zar, I did not realise one could ever have too many treats,’ Herezah replied, lacing her tone with hurt indignation. ‘I grew up in the harem, I know how few and far between the moments of fun can be. I was hoping as Valide to change that for your odalisques. They are still so young and I may be old but not so old that I can’t recall the dullness forced on youth in this place. Perhaps wrongly, I thought if I personally gave them a special treat it might encourage the younger ones to feel less daunted by me.’

Ana watched Herezah finish her explanation with a plaintive shrug and considered the Valide a true master of role-playing. She was to be
admired for her chameleon-like ability to be anything to anyone that she chose to be. Ana despised her.

‘I see,’ Boaz said noncommittally, although Ana sensed he saw straight through the veneer of his mother’s tale. ‘Continue,’ he said to Salmeo.

‘Well, Majesty, we allowed Ana to enjoy some time with the other odalisques. She had, after all, missed out on the boating trip with her Zar and we decided to let her share the treat of the bundle women.’

‘That’s very generous of you, Grand Master Eunuch,’ Boaz said. ‘Ana, did you select anything from all the wares on offer?’

Ana was forced to confront Boaz’s pain and was about to shake her head when she remembered the bean and felt the damnation of it and how it incriminated her still further. Truth was best. ‘Yes, Zar Boaz. At Grand Master Salmeo’s insistence I felt obliged to accept this.’ She dug into her pocket and pulled out the tiny bean of elephants. She uncapped it and tipped the contents into her palm. ‘They are ivory, Majesty.’

‘How intriguing,’ Boaz said, leaning down to stare at them with fascination. She could smell his freshly bathed hair. Bathed for her. ‘And you say the chief eunuch encouraged you?’

She nodded. ‘There is nothing I want for, Majesty—’

‘Except your freedom, obviously,’ he replied sharply.