“You mean to torture us, then?” Robert folded his arms. “I don’t care what you do to me, I won’t tell you anything.”
“You would do well not to issue me a challenge,” Karn said, tilting his head back as if he were just a little bored by the situation. “You don’t want to arouse my . . . competitive spirit.”
“Lieutenant,” Hal said, “could I speak with my brother a moment?”
Karn waved his assent, and Hal pulled Robert into the far corner. “Did you mean it when you said you were sorry you got me into this?”
“Of course I am. But—”
“Then could you shut up before you get us into more trouble than we’re already in?”
Robert shot a look at Karn, then leaned in close and whispered, “Hal, listen, we can take him, I know we can. And then—”
“He’s a mage, Robert. We wouldn’t get within ten feet of him. If he questions us, he’ll use magic on us. I’d like to think I could resist it somehow, but I have no idea if that’s possible. Why don’t we find out what he wants? Don’t say no before he asks the question. When it comes to answers, I’ll speak for both of us. Is that clear, Corporal?”
“Yes, sir.” Robert stared straight ahead.
I’m so damned glad I’m not fourteen anymore, Hal thought, looking back from the high ground of seven—no, eighteen. He led the way back and sat on the edge of his bunk, his hands resting on his knees. “What is it you want to know, Lieutenant?” he said.
Karn gazed at Hal a moment, as if he could penetrate all the way to the bone. “You seem to be very hard to kill, Captain,” he said. “My father has some skill at killing, and yet he has tried and failed four or five times that I know of, maybe some others that I missed. I’m wondering if you can explain it.”
Hal couldn’t have said what he’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t that. He could feel the pressure of Robert’s stare. “Can I explain why he’s trying to kill me or why he’s failed?”
“My father has never needed much of an excuse to kill people, and I can think of several reasons he’d want to kill you.” Karn shook his head. “No, I’m wondering how you’ve managed to survive this long.”
Hal shrugged. “My luck can’t hold forever.” He gestured, taking in their prison cell. “Obviously.”
“That’s just it,” Karn said. “I think it’s more than luck. For instance, any reasonable person would say that your situation now is hopeless. Yet I have no doubt that you will find a way to survive this, too. I think you must be more clever and resilient than I ever gave you credit for.”
It was an odd sort of compliment. Should I be thanking him? Hal wondered. Or is he flattering me, suggesting that if I turn traitor, he’ll stay the executioner?
When Hal didn’t respond, the spymaster sat up and planted his feet firmly on the floor. “You survived the fall of Delphi, when few of your fellow soldiers did. And now you’ve miraculously escaped and come back to us. Either you are favored by the gods or you have an extraordinary talent. Or is there another explanation?”
Hal was ambushed by a rush of anger. What was he suggesting? That he’d given the city up?
“Is that what this is about? Does the king think I betrayed Delphi to the Fells? Is that the excuse your father is using?” He snorted. “No. I’ve been fighting under the red hawk since I was eleven years old. I’ve been nothing but loyal, and this is how I’m repaid—with suicide missions, assassination attempts, and accusations of treason. No, Lieutenant, I’m not proud of surviving, and I’m not proud of losing. I have been a good soldier—the best I could be—and that is all.” Hal clenched his fists. “So, you tell me—why is your father, my commanding officer, out to get me?”
By now, Robert was staring at him with a mixture of admiration and alarm.
Hal sat back, breathing hard, thinking, This mage is good at what he does. After lecturing Robert, I’ve already said more than I’d planned on.
Karn didn’t seem at all put off by Hal’s heated response. If anything, he seemed amused, almost delighted. “Exactly. I always saw you as more of a hero type than a traitor type.” He leaned in close and said, “My father despises heroes. He thinks that honor is a sign of weakness, and treachery is just another tactic. That’s where you made your mistake.”
Hal and Robert exchanged glances. What was this? Was Karn playing good lieutenant against bad general?
Karn seemed to be waiting for some kind of response. When it didn’t come, he said, “I will concede that you are a hero who knows how to survive. And yet, here you are, walking into a trap. So uncharacteristic. It doesn’t fit together, and when things don’t fit together it makes me curious. This does not come from the king or my father—it comes from me.”
Maybe I’m not as smart as you think I am, Hal thought. But as he looked at Karn, at the eagerness in his eyes, at the intensity in his posture, Hal got the impression that the lieutenant was sending a message that he hoped Hal would hear and respond to. That he was looking for something in him.
An ally?
No. People like him don’t have allies. They have chess pieces they move on the board.
Still. I’ve got nothing to lose, he thought. He and Robert were already prisoners of the crown, subject to execution as traitors and spies. At least he could sieve out some bits of truth that would be harmless to divulge.
“Fair enough,” he said. “Here’s the truth. I am here because I was taken prisoner when Delphi fell. I was in Delphi when I learned about King Gerard’s death. The wolf queen asked me if I thought the death of the king might mean a new relationship between our realms. After twenty-five years of war, that sounded appealing to me.” He looked Karn in the eye. “Does that make me a traitor?”
“Not at all,” Karn said. “You would find many allies on the Thane Council.” He pressed the tips of his fingers together. “You actually spoke to the queen in the north?” Hal noticed that the spymaster did not call her the “witch” or the “demon” or the “harlot,” which was a point in his favor. Or a testament to his ability to play both sides.
“Yes.”
“What is she like?” He took a breath, then added, “More importantly, what does she want?”
“As you can imagine, she is tired of war. She’s suffered many losses. The northerners claim that Arden has been sending assassins into the queendom and murdering people.” He looked into Karn’s eyes. “Is that true?”
Karn didn’t flinch, didn’t deny, didn’t look surprised. “That’s possible,” he said, frowning, “though I don’t have direct knowledge of it, and by all rights, I should.” He paused. “Will she surrender, do you think?”
Hal didn’t hesitate. “She will not surrender. Never. She will fight to her last breath.”
Karn nodded, as if this didn’t surprise him, either. Hal wondered how much of this he already knew through his network of eyes and ears.
“What about King Jarat?” Hal said. “Do you think he would be open to making peace?”
“With the thanes or the queen?”
“Both.” Hal was a little amazed to be sitting in a jail cell in Arden, talking politics with the king’s chief spy and enforcer.
Karn rubbed his chin. “I must say that the queen in the north has made an odd choice of diplomat.”
“I’m not here representing Queen Raisa,” Hal said, his temper rising once more. “I came to the capital to try to keep my brother from getting himself killed or captured.” He could feel the heat of Robert’s glare, and ignored it. “And I came home to make a case for ending the civil war so that we can join with the Fells against a foreign power that threatens both of us.”
“Hold on,” Karn said, shaking his head. “You’ve lost me now. What foreign power?”
“After my capture in Delphi, I was moved to more secure quarters in Chalk Cliffs. I was there when the port was attacked by armies fighting for the empress Celestine, known as the empress in the east.”
Up to then, Karn had displayed the face of a sharp—
distant, detached, and all but unreadable. Now Hal saw a flicker of something in those hazel eyes—something that told him that young Karn had heard of the empress, and that this news shook him to his core.
Hal stiffened, his heart thrumming. What did this spymaster know about the empress? Could Arden have instigated this invasion after all? If so, why would Karn be surprised?
It was only a momentary cracking of the façade, and then Karn had his game face back on. “What makes you think that it was the empress who attacked? Were they flying her banner?”
“I wouldn’t recognize her banner if I saw it,” Hal said. “I interrogated one of their pickets. He said they sailed for the empress Celestine. Then, after the city fell, I—”
“Hang on—they’ve taken Chalk Cliffs?” The spymaster’s voice was sharp as a blade.
“Aye,” Hal said. “They did. The northerners never had a chance. The town is in ruins, everyone in it slain or carried off as slaves, unless some were able to escape to the west.”
“And yet you got away?”
“During the confusion, I was able to escape by boat through the water gate with some others.”
“They didn’t have you locked up?” Suspicion glittered in Karn’s eyes once again.
“They did, but when it was clear that the city would fall, they let me go. They had no interest in offending a member of the Thane Council. They know they need allies.”
Hal waited for Karn to interrupt again, but the spymaster said nothing, only scowled and tapped his fingers on the window ledge.
“So. As I was saying. After the city fell, they began unloading horses and equipment and wagons. Ships were coming and going like buzzards to a corpse. It wasn’t a hit-and-run for plunder. It looks like they intend to stay and conquer the Fells—maybe the entire empire.”
Now Karn rose and began pacing back and forth. “Why would she attack Chalk Cliffs?” he murmured. “That doesn’t make any sense.” It seemed as if the spymaster was having a conversation with himself, with Hal and Robert as onlookers.
Hal had expected skepticism, dismissiveness, and doubt. He had not expected this immediate recognition of the danger posed by the invaders from across the Indio.
Well. He is a spymaster, after all. It is his job to know things that others don’t.
“Rumor has it that the empress has made an agreement with Arden,” Hal said. “Her armies attack in the north, freeing Jarat’s armies to subdue the thanes.”
Karn shook his head briskly. “Gerard was trying to form an alliance with the empress, but it fell through. There was no agreement.”
“Are you sure?”
Now Karn stopped, and turned, folding his arms. “I am sure,” he said flatly. “I would know.”
“You missed the attack on Chalk Cliffs,” Hal said.
Karn’s scowl transitioned to a rueful smile. “I did.”
“There was another prisoner who escaped with me,” Hal said. “He claimed that the empress attacked the city because she was after him.”
“She was after him?” Karn went still. “Who was this prisoner? What was his name?”
“He called himself Breon d’Tarvos,” Hal said.
“Tarvos?” Karn gripped the front of Hal’s shirt, pulling him closer so they were eye to eye. “What did he look like?”
Why was the spymaster so agitated?
“He was maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, with red-gold hair. He said he was a street musician. A busker.”
“Red-gold hair.” Karn released his hold on Hal’s shirt. His expression mingled relief and dread, which Hal would have thought was impossible. “Did he explain why he thought the empress was after him?”
Had the busker ever explained? Hal recalled what Talbot had said. When he saw that ship coming, he was terrified. I’d stake my life on it. When he told us to get out of the boat, he was trying to save the rest of us. He shook his head. “He never said, but it was clear that he was scared to death.”
“Was this busker a mage? Was there anything magical about him?”
Hal shook his head, knowing these questions were springing from some private knowledge that the spymaster had. “Bear in mind that I can’t see magic on a person, and I didn’t spend much time with him.”
The wheels were turning behind those shadowed eyes. “Where is he now, this busker?”
Hal shook his head. “I don’t know for sure, but we believe the empress took him aboard her ship and is sailing back home.” Hal paused, waiting for more questions, but Karn said nothing, only stared down at his hands, a muscle working in his jaw. Finally, he spoke.
“Can they do it, do you think?”
“Can who do what?”
“Can the empress’s forces conquer the empire?”
Hal shrugged. “I’ve never seen fighters like these—fearless, fast, strong, completely unafraid of death.”
Now Karn finally looked up. “Can they do it?” he repeated, an edge to his voice. “I want to know what you think, Captain.”
“I suppose it depends on how many more soldiers she can bring to the fight.”
“Let’s assume that her resources are . . . limitless,” Karn said, with a sour smile.
“Then she will almost certainly win, if we remain fractured as we are. For twenty-five years, my father did everything in his power to prevent another civil war. He always said that was a war where everyone loses. Now we’re looking at another civil war in Arden, and we’re still at war with the Fells. Our coffers are empty and we have sacrificed an entire generation of young men that we sorely need now. We should have spent this time consolidating our hold on the down-realms, building roads and demonstrating to them the advantages of being part of the empire. Instead, we’ve been pouring treasure into this useless war. The down-realms have been on their own for so long that many of them have forgotten that they answer to us. Who could blame them if they decided to cast their lots with Celestine?”
Hal caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye—Robert shifting from foot to foot, reacting to the longest speech he’d likely ever hear his brother make.
“My opinion?” Hal went on. “If we cannot end this war with the north and join together against the empress, she will come for us, she will win, and we will deserve it.”
Karn nodded, and Hal got the impression that the spymaster agreed with his assessment.
“I know you are interrogating me,” Hal said, “but I have a question for you.”
“You’re wondering if King Jarat would be open to making peace with the thanes for the common good.” Karn raised an eyebrow. “Right?”
“Right,” Hal said.
Karn studied him, as if deciding whether he should give back a measure of information in return for Hal’s. “Our new king is moody and unpredictable, but I think I’m safe in saying that the only way Jarat will make peace with the thanes is on his terms. He believes that his hostages will keep him safe—that they are the argument no one can answer.”
And, now, thanks to Hal and Robert, the king had two more hostages than he did before.
“He doesn’t know my father very well,” Hal growled.
“No. He doesn’t. And unfortunately, when Jarat hears about Chalk Cliffs, that will reinforce his decision to take a hard line.”
“Perhaps if I spoke to King Jarat, I could convince him that—”
“That’s not a good idea,” Karn said.
“I realize that it’s a risk, but—”
“The king doesn’t know that you and your brother are here. So. That could be awkward.”
Hal glanced at Robert, then back at Karn. “He doesn’t know we’re here?”
Karn shook his head. “I thought it best not to bother the king with this matter. He has been very busy trying to form a decent council out of the few thanes who have remained loyal.” He straightened his sleeves, wrinkling his nose. “The social season has been a disaster. It’s a good thing that the marching season isn’t far off.”
“But,
if we’re here in custody, doesn’t—?”
“This is my prison, and the guards are my people. They have learned not to be curious. Besides, as I said, you’re dead. That’s an advantage, as you’ll find.”
While they’d been talking, Robert had grown more and more restless, shifting in his chair, clearing his throat, and so on. Now, apparently, he could not remain silent any longer.
“What if the hostages were freed?” he blurted. “Do you think that would influence King Jarat’s willingness to compromise?”
“Possibly,” Karn said, his cool gaze brushing over Hal’s brother. “Or it might inspire the thanes to attack.”
“They are going to attack anyway,” Hal said. “Trust me on that.”
“I do trust you on that, Captain, which is very odd,” Karn said. “Unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely that His Majesty will give up what he sees as a winning hand.”
“I’m not suggesting that he’ll free them,” Robert said. “I’m saying that we should free them.”
“Won’t that be difficult, locked up in a cell as you are?”
Robert’s enthusiasm withered. “Oh. Well. I thought perhaps you could—”
“Free you? Or join with you in freeing the hostages? Are you suggesting that I commit treason, Corporal?” Karn shook his head. “I’m careful about who I partner with. Given your performance so far, I’d be going to the block in no time at all. Have a little patience. In the meantime, are you comfortable? Are you getting enough to eat?”
“Yes,” Hal said. “The food is much better than in the prisons in the north.”
“That’s what everyone says.” Karn stood. “Gentlemen. You’ll hear from me soon.”
After the door closed behind him, Hal heard the bolt sliding shut.
“Do you think he’s going to help us?” Robert said, glaring at the closed door.
“I wish I knew,” Hal said. Time was passing, and both the empress and the thane armies would soon be on the march. There was no way to know who would arrive in the city first.