Land of Night (9 page)

"Tesk,” said one tall courtier—they were all tall!—in a silken virca that seemed to be made entirely of intricate embroidery. He stuck out his big hand for Scarlet to shake and spoke without preamble. “I am an artist. You must allow me to paint your portrait."

Scarlet was so taken aback at hearing Bizye and being given a name that was not nine syllables long that he shook Tesk's hand before Jochi could stop him. “Scarlet,” he answered, remembering that at least.

"Oh, you need no introduction, ser Keriss. We all know who
you
are.” Tesk glanced at Scarlet's hand, which was engulfed by his, and turned it this way and that. “So small. Such color. Are all Anlyribeth like you?"

"Your pardon?"

Tesk said something in Sinha and Scarlet could only look at him blankly, a little intimidated by the line of people waiting behind Tesk, and wondering if there were going to be more misunderstandings with language. Scarlet tried to gloss it over. “Well, anyroad, nice to meet you."

Tesk smiled and Scarlet saw that he was handsome and resembled Liall a little.

"Just Tesk?” Scarlet asked, retrieving his hand.

"First meetings are so fragile. Why burden them with impossible names?” Tesk shrugged and the green peacocks embroidered on his collar moved up and down.

He was the first Rshani who admitted his language was unpronounceable to Byzans. Scarlet smiled back at him. “I'll never remember them all."

"No one expects you to.” Tesk glanced over his shoulder, seeing the mass of people still waiting to greet Scarlet or stare at him. “Oh dear, I'm holding up the line,” Tesk sighed. He gave a deep bow that Scarlet returned. “And please, dear boy, cease repeating the names spoken to you,” Tesk murmured, when their heads were close. “You called the man in front of me a wet, hairy chair."

Scarlet laughed and Tesk winked at him before moving off. In the corner of Scarlet's eye, Jochi hovered close, seeming not pleased at all. Scarlet suspected Jochi would have words for him later.

They wended their way throughout the morning like that, and then, just as Scarlet was almost wishing to be put back in the damned cage again, they reached another door.

Jochi drew himself up and looked at Scarlet seriously. “This is your most important audience,” he said. “But do not try to speak Sinha at all. I will translate for you."

Scarlet felt a sliver of apprehension. “Audience?” he asked, but Jochi opened the door on a room full of women who turned as one and looked at them with their alluring, blue-painted eyes. One of these was Lady Shikhoza, who smiled thinly at Jochi but ignored Scarlet. All bowed, nearly as deeply as they had to Liall, and Scarlet strove to execute the short, perfect bow that Jochi had lessoned him at.

He must have succeeded, for Jochi smiled at him sidelong and guided him to an inner door painted with red lacquer. “This is the second tier,” Jochi said almost in a whisper.

Scarlet could feel the Lady's eyes on him, sharp with malice, and shivered as he went through the door. The room within was astonishing, scarlet and gold everywhere, and he blinked in the lamplight. A woman's voice spoke and Jochi bowed very, very low. Scarlet turned in that direction and his heart nearly stopped. It was the queen.

He began to bow as low as Jochi, but Jochi flicked a hand out to stop him. “Remember,” he murmured.

But she was the queen! Still, Jochi had not misled him yet, and so he followed the advice and bowed shortly. She motioned them forward, speaking to Jochi again.

Jochi smiled faintly. “Queen Nadiushka welcomes Keriss kir Nazheradei to Rshan na Ostre."

Scarlet gave Jochi a puzzled look, clearly out to sea about the whole thing. What
was
that damned thing they kept calling him? Keriss? What did it mean?

"That is your court name, ser Scarlet. Keriss. The queen has decided this, and it is what I must call you from this moment on. Please do not take offense at this. It is meant to be an honor."

"Tell her, um, thank you very kindly.” Scarlet felt like a fool and slightly annoyed. Change my name and not ask me? Not so much as a by-your-leave? What's wrong with my own name?

Nadiushka was a beautiful woman, albeit frail in appearance, but there was nothing frail about her power of will. It burned in her like a flame, so bright that Scarlet almost felt he could warm himself by it. Liall had her eyes, which were a bright but pale azure, like the descriptions of the Southern Sea.

Scarlet remembered his manners and bowed again. “Your Majesty,” he said, a little uncertain. They called the Flower Prince so, as well as Divinity, but he was not sure how to address a monarch here.

Jochi looked both amused and impressed and translated. Her laugh was musical but not unkind. She gestured to a nearby chair.

"The queen says you are very gallant and desires that you be seated,” Jochi said quietly. “And be comfortable."

Scarlet sat in the large chair that dwarfed his smaller frame. It was deeply padded and felt wonderful to sink into, and he had to remind himself not to slouch. The queen gestured to Jochi, and Jochi bowed and moved across the room to a door, where he spoke softly for a moment to someone unseen.

Jochi returned. “We will have refreshment momentarily,” he told Scarlet.

Scarlet hoped it was not the eggs and sauce dish again. The queen spoke and Jochi listened, then turned to Scarlet. “The queen wishes to know if Lady Shikhoza has been less than courteous."

Scarlet's tongue clove itself to the roof of his mouth. He stared at Jochi mutely.

"You must tell her the truth,” Jochi said. “You see the ring on her hand? We call it the Stone of Truth, and legend says that whosoever wears it shall have the gift of discernment."

Scarlet felt another sliver of superstitious apprehension run up his spine. The Shining Ones, Liall had said. Perhaps she had the ring from them. “She seemed to be courteous,” he said cautiously. Jochi translated.

The queen studied him, stretching her hands over the arms of her chair. Her eyes grew less kind, though one corner of her mouth curved slightly. She spoke to Jochi in a different tone, almost like a command.

"Queen Nadiushka says you are to be commended for your tactfulness, but she would have all the truth, not merely part of it."

Hells. Scarlet began to sweat. “Majesty, I can't be sure, I don't speak your tongue and I may have misunderstood her."

Jochi translated and arched an eyebrow at Scarlet. “Please, continue."

Scarlet swallowed hard. “Or I may not. She gave me a phrase to answer the Baron who sat across from me, and he wasn't very happy with what I said."

Her eyes did not release Scarlet. Jochi spoke, and then she to him, turn and turn again, ignoring Scarlet for the moment.

The door opened and a woman came in bearing a tray. To Scarlet's relief, the queen and Jochi continued conferring as the woman served him. Not the eggs, but the little dumplings he had liked. He did not eat, however, and the queen broke off from her discussion and gestured at Scarlet.

"Please, ser, you must enjoy,” Jochi said. “The queen made special inquiries of Nenos."

"But,” Scarlet began, and Jochi shook his head very fractionally.

Stifling a sigh, he took a bite of the dumplings—they were even better than the ones he had before—and Jochi and Nadiushka continued their conversation. Jochi's tone was calm, comfortable, as if he conferred with queens every day. What did he know of this palace or these people? Scarlet wanted to learn about them but they were the oddest folk. He could get more warmth from a stone at the bottom of a cold river.

"The queen wishes you to know something about the Lady Shikhoza,” Jochi finally said, turning to Scarlet with a warning look in his eye. “She was, many years ago, betrothed to Prince Nazheradei, but the engagement was broken."

Scarlet blinked. “Oh."

Nadiushka's eyebrows went up.

"Oh?” Jochi was interested now.

"I was just thinking, perhaps it explains her deception, if it was deception. Did she love the prince very much?"

Jochi was definitely amused. He bit his lip and spoke to Nadiushka again, and she answered him in clipped tones. “The queen says that Lady Shikhoza loved the prince's rank more than she loved him, and now her pride is stung. You must not take account of it or waste sympathy upon her."

Well, that was plain speaking. Scarlet relaxed. Nadiushka gestured again.

"She asks also if it is merely rumor that you did not know Nazheradei's true name and rank before you came to these lands.” Jochi's expression was bland.

Scarlet stared at the man, desperate for a hint. It was Jochi himself who had warned him to avoid giving out too much information about Liall. But this is his mother, Scarlet thought. Will she be angry at Liall if I tell her the truth? Will Liall be angry at me if I give something away? How can I know?

"The truth,” Jochi murmured.

"I didn't know,” he said, hoping he was doing the right thing. “I knew him as Liall, only."

The queen looked at Scarlet silently for a long moment, and then asked a question.

"She wishes to know if you were angry when you discovered the truth,” Jochi asked.

"No ... or not all that much. I was shocked and puzzled, and we do quarrel sometimes,” he blurted, Jochi translating everything smoothly and instantly. “Liall says it's because we are both proud and have sharp tempers."

Nadiushka leaned forward. She touched Scarlet's hand delicately and spoke several very somber sentences.

Jochi translated: “The queen offers her sympathy. She says her son is willful, proud, arrogant, and indeed has a sharp temper. She asks if it makes you angry when he grows too overbearing, and how you prevent him from repeating the behavior."

"I ... uh,” he stammered.
How in the hells do I answer that?
“Well, I'm working on it."

Nadiushka turned and reached for something atop a table draped in silver silk. The lamplight gleamed on it, scattering blue light, and Scarlet realized it was a necklace like a spider's web of silver hung with precious blue stones. Sapphires, he believed, like the one Liall wore in his ear. She spread it with her hands so Scarlet might see it, and then beckoned him forward.

"You may go to one knee,” Jochi whispered, and Scarlet did, though he resented it. All these rules about bowing and scraping. No wonder Liall tired of it.

She held the necklace up in front of him and spoke to Jochi at length. Scarlet blinked as she lowered it over his head to arrange it over his shoulders and neck.

"What's this?” he muttered aside to Jochi. “What am I supposed to do?"

"It is an heirloom of the queen's family. It was to be given to the Lady Shikhoza on the occasion of her wedding, but that day never came."

Scarlet almost jerked away. “Why in hells is she giving it to me?” he hissed.

"One does not question a Queen's motives."

"One does not but I by-the-gods may! I've seen enough of Shikhoza to know I don't want her as an enemy."

Jochi's face was immobile. “You have no choice in whom Shikhoza decides to dislike, and you cannot refuse a gift from the queen."

Scarlet sighed and bowed his head, cursing inwardly. If he could only speak to her!

Nadiushka's expression softened and she gestured for Scarlet to rise. Jochi spoke to her for a moment.

"I have told her that you feel some anxiety over the gift, ser Keriss."

He bowed. “Not anxious exactly, your Majesty. I'm a common man and I'm unused to being given without earning. I also don't know why I should have so great a gift, but ... but I thank you for the honor,” he finished awkwardly. The cool weight of the necklace felt strange on his neck.

Nadiushka spoke a last time to Jochi and leaned back wearily.

"The queen wishes you to wear her gift tonight in the great hall,” Jochi said.

Scarlet felt a prickle of misgiving and resentment as he bowed again. The whole audience had been strange and fraught with foreign nuances he did not yet understand, and he knew the necklace was either intended to test him or buy him, for what ultimate purpose he could not guess. Her mention of Shikhoza threw him, as did the fact that the Lady had once almost been Liall's wife.

This old queen is too wily for me
, he thought
.

With a faint smile, she raised her hand in dismissal. Jochi bowed, Scarlet bowed yet again, and Jochi guided him back out.

On the way, they passed the group of chattering ladies again, and Shikhoza's eyes went immediately to the glittering necklace. Nor was she the only one to notice. She turned aside to one of her companions and whispered something that made the woman cover her mouth in shock, her eyes wide. Shikhoza glanced back to Scarlet, her painted mouth curving, and he was suddenly glad he didn't know what was said.

Scarlet fingered the necklace doubtfully during the long walk back to their apartments. The nagging feeling remained that he was a staked goat in this palace, with everyone waiting to see which way he turned towards danger. It made him resentful and angry, and he grew more so with every step back to the apartment. Liall was there when they arrived, standing in front of the fire and holding his hands out to the warmth.

Scarlet took off the necklace and dropped it into Liall's hands. “Your mother gave me this. I'm not sure why."

Liall shot Jochi an unreadable look. Jochi bowed low and immediately withdrew, closing the door behind him.

"What is this about?” Liall asked calmly, sliding the jewels across his palm.

"Why didn't you tell me who Shikhoza was?"

Liall went very still. “I didn't think you would need to know so soon,” he said at last. His voice had gone coldly blank in that way he had, the way that told Scarlet that he was not open to questions. “It was a very long time ago. Let us be calm while you tell me what happened."

It was far from apology, but Scarlet had a feeling he would not offer that anyway. Liall listened as he described his audience with the queen.

"And she didn't speak Bizye, Liall,” Scarlet fumed. “I couldn't think how to explain that I didn't want her necklace, not without knowing why she gave it.” He looked askance at Liall. “She asked me things about you, and again I didn't know what to say."