The Phoenix Guards (46 page)
Read The Phoenix Guards Online
Authors: Steven Brust
Pel had become gloomy and silent, and sat brooding upon all the ways his plan might miscarry; he had even taking to chewing his lip. Uttrik, still trying to sleep but no longer able to, turned and moaned and twenty times adjusted the straw in his pallet.
Mica, though still not entirely unhappy, and still enjoying the glory of his status among the other prisoners, had begun to reflect that he didn’t know how long he would be imprisoned, if indeed, he was ever to be released at all, and these thoughts had taken much of the pleasure out of the enthusiasms with which his stories were greeted; stories, moreover, that had nearly run out, for, as our readers ought to be aware by now, such deeds are much briefer in the telling than in the doing.
It was at just this point that Khaavren was disturbed—if such a word may be used in the case of a gentleman to whom any break in the dreary itinerary was a relief—by the arrival of Guinn, who informed Khaavren that he ought to accompany him to a chamber of questions, where a certain lady wished to speak with him.
It came to his mind that perhaps the lady was Illista; he therefore accompanied Guinn with such alacrity that the Iorich was forced to hurry to keep up with him, and there is no doubt that Khaavren would have left him behind if the Tiassa had known where to go. Guinn, therefore, pointed out the room to him, indicated that he should enter at once, and explained that he would wait outside until the interview was at an end.
In this instance, Khaavren was not mistaken; upon being admitted to the questioning room, he saw Illista herself, who was looking at him with an expression of indescribable tenderness. Her toilette, it must be said, ill became her surroundings, for she had put on a blue ball-gown, with a lace collar and high shoulders that set off her graceful neck and wide eyes, while on her feet were the sort of dainty slippers that would belong rather to a parlor than a prison, yet all of this, as far as Khaavren was concerned, only increased her charm, and in an instant all of the emotions which she had first inspired in him, and which had, perhaps, faded slightly from absence, came roaring back like the waves of the Sundering Beach.
He rushed forward, and threw himself at her feet and covered her hands with a hundred kisses, while murmuring a thousand endearments. After allowing these protestations of his devotion to continue for some few moments, Illista bid Khaavren rise, and said, “Well, I had hoped you might be here.”
“How, you had I hoped I might be here? In prison?”
“That is, I meant that I had hoped to able to find you, and, since you were nowhere else, I had hoped that I might have the chance to speak with you.”
“Well, and you have that chance, and I, I have the chance to see you.”
“Well, and so you do. But we haven’t much time, and there are matters I wish to communicate to you.”
Khaavren frowned. “Then you didn’t come here to see me?”
“Well, yes, that first, and other things after.”
“Other things? Such as, I hope, my release?”
“Yes, yes, that is what I intend, and, if you do what I say, I hope it will have that happy result.”
“How, do you what you say?”
“Well, haven’t you said you would help me?”
“I did, and, moreover, I have done so, or nearly. Kathana, had we not been arrested for reasons of which I am entirely ignorant, was about to surrender herself to His Majesty. You understand, then, that the commission with which you entrusted me was, if not entirely successful—”
“Oh, that is of no consequence now.”
“What? Of no consequence?”
“Exactly.”
“You no longer care about whether your friend has been arrested?”
“Oh, I care, it is merely that things have changed.”
“How, changed?”
“We now have other matters to consider.”
“What other matters, then?”
Illista frowned, as if she feared to say too much, or didn’t wish to say more than she had to in order to accomplish her objective. “Tell me first about your mission. You say Kaluma returned with you?”
“Indeed, yes, and she is in this very prison; no doubt, if you have managed to gain entry to see me, you could arrange to see her as well.”
“Yes, yes, I will certainly do so. But, you were saying?”
“I? What was I saying?”
“That is what I am asking you.”
“Well, it must have been about the mission with which you entrusted me.”
“Yes, that was it.”
“Well, we have returned with Kathana, who is a charming lady—”
“Is she?”
“What, you don’t know? I thought she was your friend.”
“Well, yes, I know that she is charming. But what else?”
“What else? Well, she is also brave, and tolerably quick-thinking, and—”
“No, that is not what I meant to ask.”
“Well?”
“What else about your mission?”
“Oh, well, we have secured peace with the Easterners, and—”
“What, peace?”
“Exactly; we have concluded a treaty with them.”
“Upon what terms?”
“Well, in part they must surrender Sandyhome to the Empire—”
“What?” cried Illista, in great distress. “They agreed to that?”
“They insisted upon it as a condition.”
“But then—” she interrupted herself in order to bite her lip, either to keep herself from speaking or in response to some great emotion.
“Well?” said Khaavren, becoming more and more curious. “But then—”
“Oh, it is nothing.”
“My dear Illista, you have now said that several times, and, if you will permit me to speak—”
“Oh, yes, speak freely.”
“Well, it seems from the expression on your countenance that all of these nothings, when taken together, amount to a great deal.”
“Perhaps you are right.”
“It also seems as if you are in some distress.”
“What, I?”
“Well, perhaps I am in error. But, if you are—”
“Well, if I am?”
“Then I hope you will tell me what I can do, for, if I am to be released from here soon, I will once more have the freedom to throw myself into the fire in order to serve you.”
Illista smiled at this and said, “Then, do you love me a little?”
“Oh, you know that I do!”
“You will do what I ask of you, then?”
“Anything!”
“Then perhaps you can help me.”
“I can imagine no greater happiness than that. Only—”
“Yes?”
“You must tell me what I am to do.”
“Oh, you may rest assured, I will tell you.”
“Then I am ready to obey.”
“Without question?”
“Without question.”
“No matter what you must do?”
“Anything!”
“So much the better.”
“Well, but tell me, for I am dying to know.”
“This is it, then: you must kill a man.”
“What, that is all? Cha! Once I am free, the thing is easily done.”
“You will do so, then?”
“For you, with the greatest pleasure.”
“Ah, that’s all right then.”
“Has he insulted you?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. “That is it. He has insulted me, in a most cowardly manner.”
“Well, you have then only to name him, and I will find him and I will say, ‘You have offended the Lady Illista, you will die now,’ and then, by the Light, I will strike him through the heart,” and, as he spoke, he made a pantomime of executing exactly the thrust of which he spoke.
“Well,” said Illista, “but suppose he is far from here?”
“Cha! That is of no consequence; I have just returned from the Eastern Mountains, I could go back, if necessary.”
“So much the better,” said Illista.
“And his name?”
“What if it is someone who is known to you?”
“Well, then he will be that much easier to find.”
“And you will find him, and kill him?”
“I have said so, I say it again. What is his name?”
“Adron e’Kieron.”
“How, him?” said Khaavren, staring in amazement. “The protector of your friend, Kathana.”
“Oh, he is a base coward, I assure you.”
Khaavren frowned, endeavoring to clear up the confusion of his mind. “Well, but, are you sure?”
“Sure? I think I should know when I have been insulted.”
“But, how did he insult you?”
“You said you would ask no questions.”
“Well, that is true.”
“And so?”
Khaavren frowned, and, for the first time, certain questions came into his mind. That Adron could have insulted Illista did not startle him, for anyone can feel insulted by anything; but he had seen Adron, and the thought that he was a coward was difficult for Khaavren to entertain. And yet, to think ill of Illista was beyond him. For a moment he was completely befuddled, but this is a condition which can never exist for long within a mind like Khaavren’s, a mind which acts like a fallow field, in which it is only necessary for a seed to touch it before this seed will sprout, although with what fruit is not always apparent.
Khaavren’s idea, in this instance, was to play his hand closer to his body, that is, to pretend to cooperate, and, as he did so, to ask a few more questions, for he was certain that if he but gave Illista the chance, she would at once put his suspicions to rest. Therefore, he answered her last question by saying, “I do not ask. Arrange for my freedom, and the freedom of my friends, and His Highness will die.”
“Oh, your friends?”
“Well, that is only a small thing, and I am better with them, and in addition, I am certain that you wish to free your friend, Kathana e’Marish’Chala.”
“Oh, yes, of a certainty, but that can be attended to later.”
Khaavren frowned once more. “Very well, at all events, once I am free I will solicit an audience with His Majesty and inform him of the treaty, and he cannot fail, then, to release—”
“Oh, no,” said Illista. “You must not mention the treaty.”
“How, not mention it?”
“No, you must forget it entirely.”
“But it will surely be known.”
“How?”
“Why, Lord Adron—”
“You will kill him.”
“Oh, that is true, I had forgotten. And yet, he will have the treaty upon his person.”
“Well, after killing him, you will search him, and you will find this famous treaty, and you will bring it to me, or else destroy it.”
“But, for what reason?”
“Have you forgotten again that you had promised to ask no questions?”
“Well, but what you ask is extraordinary.”
“Extraordinary?”
“Think, Illista—peace with the Easterners for the first time, and diamonds for His Majesty without useless bloodshed—”
“That is unimportant.”
“How, unimportant?”
“Yes, we are what matters, you and I. If we are to be together—”
“Yes?”
“You must do what I ask.”
“And yet, in order to insure my friends’ release from this prison—”
“Well, what does that matter, if you are free, and we are together?”
Now, ordinarily the thought that Illista had as much as promised herself to him if he completed his mission would have filled Khaavren’s heart to bursting, but his ideas had been thrown into such confusion by her last statements that he scarcely noticed this remark. It seemed to him that, if he did not possess this woman, he would die, and yet, if he did, he must consent to leaving his friends in prison. The seed had sprouted into that most wonderful and horrible of fruits: doubt, which, like the strawberry, has a succulent taste, but has also a tendency to spread and spread, until it dominates whatever garden it has taken root in.
Illista’s words served rather to fertilize these doubts than to inhibit them, and Khaavren bit his lips, while wondering how he ought to proceed.
The changes that flitted across his countenance were not entirely lost on Illista, who said, “Listen, my friend, if we are to be lovers, for that is what you want, is it not? Well, I assure you that you are the sole keeper of my passion, and if we are to fulfill this mutual longing, well, certain sacrifices must be made. You understand, do you not?”
She put forth all of her charms of voice and face, and they were considerable, and we would not be truthful if we did not admit that Khaavren was moved; yet he could not forget how Uttrik had given up his vengeance out of love for Kathana, and the most unselfish sort of love at that; and how Kathana, for the same reason, had determined to surrender herself to the Emperor, at the risk, perhaps of her life. He thought of deserting his friends, and, with these examples before him, it seemed repugnant to do so.
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