Tricksters Queen (33 page)

With a lighter heart—it was always nice to have help— Aly reviewed the newest pack reports, condensing them and writing information onto sheets for each leader at the nightly meeting. The light outside her office faded. At last she heard the raka conspirators come down the hall to their meeting room. Aly gathered up the information to be passed on and went to join them.

Ulasim smiled at her. "I take it the god was displeased." He looked as if he lazed his days away, rather than conducted a small series of battle campaigns in secret.

Aly returned the smile, glad to see him. "And I take it you all agreed a nice, three-day work stop throughout Rajmuat was just what the healer ordered."

Fesgao chuckled. "It gave our people something to do. Hotheads in the Honeypot were all for burning the city down around our ears over losing Sarai. Then one of their old grannies got up and said, 'You act as if Sarai is the
only
one who is twice royal,' They still required persuasion, but after my lads dented a head or two, the idiots decided to see how Dove manages."

"In case I fall flat on my face," remarked Dove with a yawn. "How's the god?" She patted a seat next to her.

"Feeling better since he's had a chat with the Graveyard Hag," Aly said, taking the offered seat. "I confess, I was a bit worried that he might go off in a pout. Not enough to give me wrinkles, but a bit. I talked him into giving you a try." She looked around. "And from the looks of things, I take it you have convinced our friends."

"It's not like we have a choice," said Chenaol as Ochobu sniffed.

"Well, it would be a waste of all this planning, and all these dead governors," Aly replied, falsely helpful. She looked at Dove. "Her Grace formally told the regents?"

"They knew already, of course, but she still had to tell them in person," Dove said. "They made remarks that weren't very nice, along the lines that blood will tell. Winna came home and broke those two big vases in the front hall."

"Those vases were ugly anyway," Aly commented, thinking the regents must have said
very
bad things for the duchess to lose her temper. She began to pass out the reports to those who could best use the information in them as their usual meeting began.

They were nearly done when Dove announced, "The day after tomorrow I'll start my walks again. People are worried. They wanted Sarai, and she's gone. They'll be happier if I remind them I'm still here."

"Absolutely not," snapped Fesgao.

"It doesn't look right, you being the heir's sister," added Chenaol.

Dove looked at Aly, who shrugged. "She needs to show the people that being the hope of the raka hasn't gone to her head, and she needs to show the Crown's spies that she hasn't changed her routine. You'll need more guards," Aly’said. "I'll see who my pack recommends for mingling with the crowd. Fesgao, maybe another ten fighters not in livery?"

"It's mad," Ochobu announced. "She is all we have."

"There are still hotheads in the Honeypot," replied Dove, leaning forward to make her point. "They need a real candidate to look at. I'm not beautiful, I'm not elegant on a horse, but I talk to people. And there are others I should speak to, people who could be of use to us. The only way I can do that is to continue visiting the marketplaces."

"Ysul wants to say something," Aly noted.

In hand-signs the mage said, /
will go with Lady Dove, too.

"Yes," said Ulasim. He saw Dove's frown and said, "No complaints, and no tricks."

Dove thought it over, then nodded.

As the meeting broke up, Aly asked Fesgao and Ulasim to stay a moment. When the others had left, she told these two, in charge of the combat troops, about Rubinyan, the coming arrests, and the regents not daring to expend more soldiers to punish the raka. Ulasim and Fesgao looked at one another and smiled, their eyes alight. They could use this information to direct their fighters to the Crowns softest spots and to halt arrests.

When Aly turned to go, Ulasim said, "Wait."

She looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"How can you be so sure of what you ve just told us?" the footman asked. "You speak as if it's fact, not rumor, and you’ve been unconscious for three days."

"Because it is fact," Aly assured him. "Ulasim, didn't your mother ever tell you to leave a girl some secrets? I was picked by the god, and this particular information is real. If Rubinyan thinks they dare not punish the villages and estates that have already rebelled, what will he do if more rise up? He'll have to send someone, and at the moment, all he has are the reserves in Galodon. Wouldn't it be dreadful if he were having problems with the reserves? With food, say, or good water?"

She left the men to their planning, fluttering her fingers at them as she walked out and closed the door. Before it shut, she heard Fesgao tell Ulasim, "Old Lokeij used to say she'd never say a thing straight out if she could come at it from the side. He never mentioned the headaches you'd get listening to her."

Aly found Dove in her workroom, calmly going over reports. "Just the person I wanted to see," Aly remarked, locking the door. "Thank you for sorting those out while I was . . . away. You did wonderful work."

Dove put down her quill. "Honestly? I don't know how you keep up. I thought I might go blind." She nudged at the quill with a finger, her face shadowed. Finally she asked, "Aly, what if it goes to pieces because I'm not Sarai? Because it really should have been her?"

"It won't go to pieces," Aly told her. "The last piece is finally where it's supposed to be—that's you. The raka have planned this for generations, and planned it well. The only change is Sarai. Now we have you instead. Sarai may have gotten all passionate about the people and how they're being trampled, but you're the one who
knows
the people. Go to bed, my lady. We have one more day of the halt to work here in Rajmuat, one more day of peace for us to settle our plans. If you don't go get some rest right away, I'll come up to prepare you for bed. Maybe put lotion on your face for you to wear as you sleep. Oh, and I'll brush out your hair a hundred strokes. ..."

"Stop it!" cried Dove. "I'm going, I'm going! Don't follow me! I can undress myself!"

Aly watched her go, thinking, a little sadly, And when you are queen, you will have proper ladies-in-waiting who will do all of those things for you. You will not be able to dismiss them for fear of offending their powerful families. So enjoy dismissing me while you can.

She locked the door behind Dove and returned to her work. There was more news from the palace darkings as well as more reports to read. Near midnight a darking posted in Rubinyan's chamber gave Trick a message that made Aly grin. She found Ulasim and Fesgao still in the conspirators' meeting room. She told them what she had learned and invited them to her workroom to talk.

She then gathered her pack's most determined members: Fegoro, Yoyox, Eyun, and Jimarn. They joined Ulasim and Fesgao. It's good to be home, Aly thought.

In the morning a palace messenger arrived with an invitation to a lily-viewing party the next day. Nuritin, Winnamine, and Dove were included in the invitation, which was not a request but a demand. Winnamine sent a note of acceptance. The house was quiet as everyone caught up on chores. It was during the noon resting time that the King's Watch swarmed into the city to arrest a third of those who had taken part in the three-day stop of work. By then Ulasim and Fesgao, forewarned by Aly, had hidden any important rebels from the searches. Those unfortunates caught by the Watch were sent to the slave market's pens, to be sold in Carthak as soon as vessels were ready to take them. The Watch expected to ship them out in two days. Aly prayed that Jimarn, Yoyox, Eyun, and Fegoro would concoct a suitably firm surprise for the slave markets before then.

Word of the arrests reached Balitang House in the early evening. Dove, furious, came flying into the workroom as Aly met with her pack. Aly smiled at her young mistress as sweetly as she knew how.

They understood each other. Dove did not need to ask if Aly had known about the arrests. Aly did not need to tell her that she had the matter in hand. The girl turned and walked out again.

"Where were we?" Aly asked her pack as she viewed her notes once more.

The ride to the palace the next afternoon was quiet, though not as quiet as it might have been. Rajmuat was simmering over the arrests. The regents had obviously expected this response. Rittevon's Lance was heavily guarded, with soldiers at each major crossroads and square and guards in pairs on every block.

As always, the men-at-arms left them at the gate. The ladies were to meet the regents in their private audience chamber. Aly assumed they would offer Dove the marriage they had Sarai. As she waited, Aly’spent her time in the Robing Pavilion investigating something the darkings had relayed. According to them, the regents distrusted their mages. Aly had to confirm this, not because she didn't trust the darkings, but because she could hardly believe it. Someone had once complained that in the Tortallan palace it was hard to turn without stepping on a mage. Except for Topabaw and his staff, the monarchs here preferred to send their mages to support soldiers outside the capital, and to man the harbor fortresses. The servants Aly asked about it waved off the question with a reply that boiled down to, "Everybody knows that!"

How have they stayed in power this long? Aly wondered as she flirted with servants on the men's side of the pavilion. Were they smarter at first, and the intelligence got bred out of them, or were they simply lucky at the beginning?

At last the Balitang ladies came to the Robing Pavilion to change. As Aly helped Dove to remove her overrobe, Dove hand-signed to her,
They offered me the marriage.

Aly’slid a lightweight sleeveless silk robe over Dove's shoulders, then signed,
And?

"I dithered," Dove murmured. She didn't care if this part of the conversation was overheard. "It was so sudden, and such an honor after Sarai..." She shrugged. Aly’smoothed her young mistress's hair and shared a smile with Dove in the looking glass.

Aly kept an eye on Nuritin and Winnamine. At last they rose, ready for the party. "Dovasary?" called Nuritin.

As Dove stood, Aly bent close, fussing with the line of her overgown, then followed them out. She had already talked this out with Dove. Pembery and Dorilize would remain in the Robing Pavilion; they always did. Aly would go with her young mistress and fan her. The Lapis Pavilion would be warm, and other maids would be there performing the same duty. Winnamine and Nuritin had looked askance when Dove had told them what Aly would be doing, but they had not argued, though they believed in fanning themselves. They both understood Aly was not there just to show how spoiled Dove was.

Down the Golden Road they walked, nodding and bowing to nobles they passed, until they reached the trails around the Lily Water. If they heard the whispers about Sarai that began before they were out of earshot, they did not speak, though crimson flags burned on both Winnamine s and Nu-ritin's cheekbones. Dove showed a calmly smiling face, even after the nobles could no longer see her.

"You do that very well," Aly said with approval after they had bidden farewell to an especially annoying dowager.

"They only talk about it because they're thinking, 'There but for the blessings of the gods I go,'" Dove said thoughtfully. "Lady Merani"—one of the women they had just left— "has a sixteen-year-old daughter who's a handful. And her husband drinks."

"It's no excuse," Nuritin said in a low voice that shook with fury. "They should have sympathy, and keep their mouths shut."

"This is why my lord and I always hated this place," added Winnamine softly. "Because everyone is encouraged to bite and pinch and cut at one another with words, until the words are so real the courtiers end by trusting no one. It's a poisonous life. Frankly, I'm envious of Sarai."

The two older ladies moved ahead as the path narrowed. Aly waited until they could not hear, then asked Dove, "Tell me, do you know
everything
about everybody here?"

"No, but it's easy enough to get information. The merchants keep track of the nobility because they affect their lives." Doves mouth curved in a tiny, impish smile. "You know a lot of my friends are merchants."

"I had noticed," Aly said, trying not to smile herself.

Dove clucked to a marmoset, offering the tiny creature a grape she had tucked into her belt-purse. Gingerly the animal, who had a magnificent white mane, leaned down to accept the grape. Once it snatched the fruit, it fled back into its tree. Dove continued, "Besides, I like gossip." She smiled shyly. "I like knowing what people are doing and why. It's just so interesting."

"I always thought so, too," Aly said. They left the shelter of the garden and emerged onto the open ground. Nuritin and Winnamine had already climbed the steps of the Lapis Pavilion and walked over to curtsy to the regents. The pavilion was a roofed stone square set in the water and approached by a short stone bridge. Around it floated water lilies, lotuses, and swans.

Inside the pavilion, the group of ladies seated closest to the bridge was commanded by Princess Imajane. She looked ethereal in white, almost transparent silk with gold embroidery. Aly wasn't sure if it was decent, but then, she still felt half dressed in a sarong with her shoulders bare. And the day was impossibly hot. Maybe Her Highness is the wisest of us all, Aly thought as sweat trickled down her spine.

Nuritin and Winnamine, having saluted the princess and received a nod from her, drifted over to the prince and his companions. Aly saw why as she and Dove curtsied to Imajane: Countess Tomang sat next to the princess. Ferdy's mother looked as if she sucked on a lemon.

"Lady Dovasary, welcome," said Imajane lazily. "I am honored. With your brother attendant upon His Majesty, all the Balitangs but little Petranne are here." She indicated the group of boys at the far corner of the pavilion. Dunevon and his small court stood on the steps that led down to the water, each boy with a wooden sailboat in hand. "As you can see, His Majesty minds the sun less than we fragile adults," she drawled, causing the ladies seated with her to chuckle. "Though we had to supply a mage so the children might have a breeze."