Sovereign (25 page)

'And what will be our price?' she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Ager looked away from her. 'I do not know.'

'I see only blood in my future, but whose blood I do not know.'

'Don't be afraid now, Jenrosa. We have all gone too far to be afraid any more.'

'I don't believe in destiny, Ager,' she said. 'That would be a worse fate for us than you could imagine.' And as she said the words she realised she spoke the truth, and some of her doubt was lifted from her mind.

Lynan sat on Charion's throne. It was almost exactly the right size, he realised.
Then it must be my destiny to possess it
, he told himself.

The man standing in front of him presented a peculiar mixture of fear and disdain. He was an ordinary looking fellow, someone Lynan would not have noticed in a crowd, but there was something about his character that he found very attractive, something he could not yet put his finger on.

'I am told your name is Farben,' Lynan said.

'Yes.' One of the Red Hands jabbed him in the back with the pommel of a sword. 'Your Majesty,' Farben finished.

Lynan hid a half-smile behind a finger. 'And you were Charion's secretary?'

'
Queen
Charion's secretary. One of them.'

'Do you know where she has gone?'

'For a ride,' Farben said. 'I expect her back shortly.'

'With an army, no doubt.'

'No doubt at all.'

'And you stayed behind to protect her home and hearth?' Farben did not answer. 'That was very brave.'

'I am attached to the many works of art in this building: statues, paintings, books. I wanted to make sure your barbarians did not use them for firewood or toilet paper.'

That earned Farben another jab in the back. He broke out into a sweat.

'These so-called barbarians now rule your home, Farben,' Lynan said matter-of-factly. 'I would be careful what you say about them.'

'My home is where my queen lives. The Chetts will never rule her.'

That is what it is I like about him
, Lynan thought.
His loyalty. He is petrified of me, and yet will not deny his fealty to Charion
.

'I want you to work for me,' Lynan said. Farben stared at him, wide-eyed. 'I need someone who knows this city to help me administer it.'

'You cannot be serious.'

'You will be serving Charion,' Lynan added.

Farben laughed nervously at that. 'A fine joke, your Majesty.'

'If you truly believe she will return, then surely it is your duty to ensure her city is maintained for her?'

Farben's expression showed his confusion.

'I have already rebuilt the walls and city gate. Most of the rubble has been cleared away. My Haxan allies are rebuilding houses and shops. I want life here to return to normal as quickly as possible, but to best do that I need someone willing to take over the administration who knows the city and its people.'

'You will use the city against your enemies,' Farben said. He straightened himself before adding: 'And they are my allies.'

The Red Hand behind him raised the pommel of his sword again but Lynan waved him down. 'Undeniably. Nonetheless, a working Daavis best serves its own citizens, and those citizens may one day be Charion's once more.'

'Not if you win,' Farben pointed out.

'Don't be so sure. She is not my enemy. My sister is my enemy.' Lynan could see Farben had no answer to that but still he did not look convinced. 'If she survives the war and is prepared to swear her allegiance to me, then I will happily return Hume to her, and Daavis as her capital. But what kind of city shall she receive if the conqueror is left alone to administer it?'

'If I accept your offer people will think I am a traitor,' Farben said feebly.

'Then you have my permission to let everyone in the city know you are working for Charion, and not for me. You can put up notices to that effect if you like. I only ask you do no intentional harm to me or my cause.'

'Your Majesty?' Farben could not believe his ears.

'There is a price to be paid,' Lynan added.

Farben snickered. 'I see.'

'No you do not see. The price is that when Charion swears her allegiance to me, so must you.'

'You could force me to do that now.'

Lynan shook his head. 'You and I both know that is not true. No doubt I could force you to do a great many things. I might even get you to say the words, but they would be empty. I am prepared to wait for true loyalty.'

Farben did not answer for a moment, then—ever so slightly—he bowed.

She was overwhelmingly desirable. Lynan could not help falling into her arms, embracing her as if she was and had always been his true love. They did not speak, their passion so powerful no words could express it. The forest surrounded and swallowed them. The world was rich and green and moist.

He entered her, moved easily in time with her body, His hands felt her skin as smooth as paper. He kissed the sweat off her face and it tasted like dew. Her hair smelled like the earth. In turn she kissed his chest, his cheek, his forehead, his neck and finally his lips. He felt her tongue slide over his own.

Then pain, sudden and sharp, in the back of his throat. He tried to scream but he had no air left. He struggled against her but she was far too strong. She pinned him to the ground, her lips still around his, the needle-like tip of her tongue still impaled in him, sucking out his blood.

But he did not surrender. He placed his hands over the Keys sandwiched between them and held them tight, Strength and warmth shot through his body. The vampire screeched, flew off him into the air. His own blood sprayed down on him. She flapped her giant wings and disappeared into the night sky. He gasped for breath and felt life-giving air fill his lungs, and his eyes opened wide… to see the roof of Charion's private chambers above him, its ornate paintings seeming to come to life in the flickering candlelight beside the bed.

He sat up, panting, and he could taste blood on his tongue. He felt inside his mouth with a finger. There was no wound, and when he withdrew the finger it was unstained. He swung his legs over the side and stood up. The room had windows on two walls. He went to the closest and opened the wooden shutters. Clean night air rushed in, cooling his sweat. An old moon hung low above the horizon. A few wispy clouds faintly patterned the sky.

He gasped in surprise and jerked away from the opening. He had seen something eclipse the moon, the silhouette of a wing. He told his heart to slow down, and his mind to stop imagining things. He peeped out the window. The moon was unchanged. There were no giant wings against the sky. The breeze smelled clean and dry and of ripening grain. It was the smell of autumn.

'Time is running out,' he said softly into the night. 'Time is running out.'

He gathered his clothes and dressed quickly. Two Red Hands looked at him in surprise when he left the room and immediately fell in behind him. Usually he found the close company of his bodyguards irksome, but not tonight.

He found the room he was looking for in a wing of the palace opposite the courtyard from the royal quarters. 'Just like Kendra,' he mumbled to himself. He went to a desk, found paper and pen and ink underneath its lid and brought them out. The two bodyguards stayed at the door.

At first he wrote quickly, but as the minutes passed he slowed down until he was struggling over every word. Nearly an hour later he put the pen down and read what he had written. Then he drew out a second piece of paper and started again, finishing in half the time; this too he read, then folded it carefully and tucked it inside his shirt.

When he returned to his room he found Korigan waiting for him.

'You still awake?' he asked, closing the door behind him and leaving the guards outside.

'I've been thinking about things. I was surprised to find you not only awake but absent.' She patted the bed.

Lynan sat down next to her and kissed her. 'I had some work to do.'

'In the scriptorium.'

He frowned. 'Now how did you know that?'

She held his right hand and opened it palm upwards. 'Ink stains,' she said, and smudged some of it. 'Fresh. Also there's this.' Before he could react her hand darted inside his shirt and took out the folded paper. He tried to snatch it back but she was too quick for him, retreating from the bed and dangling it before him like a lure.

'Letter to some old lover?'

'I don't have any old lovers.'

It was her turn to frown. 'Are you serious?'

Lynan nodded.

'You mean you were a… you know…'

'I am only eighteen,' he said defensively.

'And I was only fifteen,' she retorted, then shrugged. 'Well, maybe you're late developers in the city.'

'I think it's that you Chetts are early starters. It has to do with all the sex you see. The cows do it. The horses do it.'

'Our parents do it.'

'Well, yes, but you don't see…' She was smiling at him with perfect innocence. 'You're not serious?'

'Our parents teach us everything. We don't have schools like in the east, or private tutors like you had.'

'This isn't something any school in the east teaches.'

'And your private tutors?'

He shook his head. 'Regrettably.'

'So I was your first?'

'Yes.'

'I'm flattered.'

'Good,' he said levelly. 'Now can I have my paper back?'

'Personal, is it?'

'Not from you,' he admitted. 'But I'd rather not have it damaged. It took me a long time to write it and I don't want to have to start all over again.'

'I can read it?' she asked.

'Yes.'

Korigan was about to open it, then changed her mind and handed it back to Lynan. 'Not much point, really, if I'm not learning something I'm not supposed to know.'

'Fun or not, it's something you
should
know. It's a letter to King Tomar.'

'Saying what?'

'Setting out my side of the story about Berayma's murder and subsequent events.'

'The aim being?'

'I conclude by asking him to join me, or at least to offer me no resistance when I move through his territory.'

'So you have decided to move on Kendra through Chandra?'

'It is the obvious way.'

'Something Areava would no doubt be considering.'

'And since it is the obvious way there is no harm in Areava believing it is the way Tomar thinks I will come.'

Korigan's eyes narrowed. 'You are either very clever or very foolish. I cannot make up my mind.'

'Let me put you at your ease, then. I am very clever. Either Tomar joins my cause, in which case the letter has been well worth the time spent on it, or he rejects my cause, in which case he will be duty-bound to inform Areava of the letter's contents.'

Korigan put a finger to her chin. 'In which case the time was still well spent. But you don't expect Areava to believe that going through Chandra is your real intention?'

'As long as she is kept off balance, it doesn't matter which direction she believes I am coming from.'

Korigan laughed lightly. 'Ah, I understand. You yourself don't yet know which direction you'll take.'

'You see through me too easily,' he said.

She snorted. 'Whenever you give in that easily I know, you're not telling me the truth.'

'Aha. That could have been my very intention—'

'Oh, stop it,' she said and leaned forward quickly to kiss him on the lips.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. Then a memory of his dream returned, unbidden, and he pulled back. She saw the expression in his face and grimaced.

'You saw her again tonight?'

He nodded, not willing to say her name.

'She is getting stronger,' she said, then held his head in her hands. 'But I am not Silona. I am Korigan. I am queen of the Chetts and I am your lover.' She took his ink-stained hand and placed it under her own shirt, between her breasts. 'That's my heart. It is yours.'

She kissed him again, and this time he held her close and did not let her go.

Ten days after leaving Daavis, Eynon led his column over the Algonka Pass. A cold wind running from the tops of the Ufero Mountains made him shiver as he paused at the highest point of the pass. He could just make out at the edge of the horizon the first pale green flush of the Oceans of Grass, then the first of his troops trotted past, kicking up dust and obscuring the view. He tapped his mount's flanks and caught up to the lead, resisting the temptation to pick up the pace.

He was joined by Makon. They rode together in silence for a long while, then Eynon asked, 'What's your question?'

Makon smiled easily. The months they had spent together on the Oceans of Grass, first in an air of mutual suspicion and later in an air of mutual suspicion mixed with respect, meant they read each other's minds more closely than either would like.

'I haven't figured out what answer I want yet.'

'Let me ask it for you then. Which way once we reach the plains?' He glanced at Makon, and Makon nodded. 'And then, should we first head for the Strangers' Sooq or for my clan's traditional summer territory?'

'Yes,' Makon admitted.

'Like you I'm probably inclined to get to my territory as quickly as possible, but—undoubtedly like you—I think it's likely any survivors from my clan would have reached the Sooq by now, or at least word of what happened.'

'I am leaning more towards the latter.'

'As we get closer to the time when I will have to make the decision, so am I.'

'Your decision is final, of course.'

'Naturally. I am Eynon, Chief of the Horse Clan. You are Makon, commander of sixth tenths of my little army.'

'Three tenths,' Makon corrected him. 'I have responsibility for the Red Hands. The lancers come directly under your command.'

Eynon laughed to show he appreciated the joke. 'Let's not fool ourselves, Makon. I like you. You like me. That is why Lynan wanted you to come with me. But you are Lynan's man, not mine.'

'Lynan gave me explicit instructions to follow your orders.'

'Come what may?'