“Not just yet, talí. Klia’s sent for us.”
This woke him up. “Do you think the Iia’sidra has reached a decision?” he asked, following Seregil downstairs.
“Even if they had, I doubt they’d spring that on us at dawn.”
As they walked down the second-floor corridor toward Klia’s chamber they could hear familiar sounds echoing up from the kitchen: clattering of pots, hurried footsteps, the voices of some Urgazhi riders joking with the cooks in broken Aurënfaie as they came in for their breakfast.
“Sounds like a normal enough morning,” Alec remarked.
Thero answered their knock and admitted them to Klia’s sitting room.
The princess sat by a small writing table. Although she was dressed for a day with the council, one look at her pale, too-calm face left Seregil with a sinking feeling. No, this was no normal morning.
Thero moved to stand just behind her, as if she were queen and he her court wizard. Lord Torsin and Beka already occupied the room’s only chairs, and they looked as uneasy as Seregil suddenly felt.
“Good, you’re all here. The queen my mother is dead,” Klia announced flatly.
The words sapped the strength from Seregil’s legs. The others seemed equally affected. Alec pressed one hand to his heart, the Dalnan sign of respect for the dead. Beka sat with her hands clasped around the hilt of her sword, head bowed. Of them all, Torsin appeared most stricken by the news. Sagging in his chair, he coughed convulsively into the stained handkerchief.
“I will not see her like again,” he gasped out at last.
Thero held up a letter for the others to see. “It’s from Magyana, dated yesterday and written in evident haste. It reads: ‘The queen died the night before last. Brave soul, she should not have survived this long, even with our magic and healing. The darkness seems already to be closing in around us.
“ ‘Northern Mycena has fallen to Plenimar. Phoria has already been crowned in the field. Korathan will replace Lady Morthiana as vicegerent at Rhíminee.
“ ‘Against all urging, Phoria has forbidden sending this news to Klia, so I risk all that you may not be taken by surprise.
“ ‘I am presently out of favor and have little influence. I have not been released from service, but am no longer consulted. Korathan has her ear, but is his sister’s man, as is her wizard, Organeus.
“ ’Phoria has not yet ordered Klia’s return, which puzzles me. She and her supporters clearly have little faith in a propitious outcome. You must impress upon Klia that she is very much on her own now.
“ ‘I wish I could offer you more guidance, dear boy, but things are as yet too uncertain. Illior grant that I will not be sent from the royal camp before you are all safely on your way home again. —Magyana’ ”
“This couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said Klia. “Just when we were beginning to make progress among the Haman and some of the undecided clans. How will they respond to this?”
Another coughing fit shook Torsin, doubling him over in his chair. When it passed, he wiped his lips and wheezed out, “It is difficult to predict, my lady. They know so little of Phoria.”
“I’d say our greatest concern is the fact that she didn’t send word herself,” said Seregil. “What do you suppose prompted that lack of sisterly consideration?”
“Does the Iia’sidra know of her opposition?” asked Alec.
“I suspect some of them do,” Torsin replied bleakly.
“Two days!” Klia slammed a hand down on the polished desktop, making the others jump. “Our mother dead for two days and she sends me no word? What if the Aurënfaie already know? What must they think?”
“We can find out, my lady,” Alec told her. “If this was Rhíminee, Seregil and I would have paid a few night visits to your opponents already. Isn’t that why the queen wanted us here in the first place?”
“Perhaps, but I’m the one who makes those decisions here,” Klia warned. “For any Skalan to be caught spying could destroy everything we’ve worked for. And consider Seregil’s position. What do you think would happen to him if he were caught? No, we’ll wait a bit longer. Come with me to the council today, both of you. I want your impressions.”
Torsin exchanged an uneasy look with Seregil, then said gently, “You mustn’t go to the Iia’sidra today, my lady.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Now more than ever—”
“He’s right,” said Seregil. Going to her, he knelt and rested a hand on her knee. This close, he could see how red her eyes were. “Mourning is a deeply sacred rite among the Aurënfaie; it can last for months. You must at least observe the Skalan four-day ritual. The same applies to me, I suppose, considering how much we’ve made of my kinship to your family. Alec can be my eyes and ears.”
Klia rested her head on one hand and let out a shakey sigh. “You’re right, of course. But Plenimar presses closer to the heart of Skala every day I’m here without an answer. This delay is the last thing Mother would have wanted!”
“We may be able to wring some advantage from it, all the same,” Seregil assured her. “According to Aurënfaie custom, the khirnari are expected to visit you. This could offer certain opportunities for, shall we say, private debate?”
Klia regarded him quizzically. “I can’t appear publicly, yet I can scheme and intrigue from behind a veil of mourning?”
Seregil gave her a crooked grin. “That’s right. I’ll wager certain people will be watching quite closely to see who comes to you and how long they stay.”
“Yet how are we to announce the queen’s death?” Thero asked suddenly. “If it weren’t for Magyana, we wouldn’t even know.”
“What am I supposed to do? Lie?” Klia asked, angry again. “Dissemble until our new queen sees fit to inform me of this turn of events? If lack of mourning would dishonor me in the eyes of the Iia’sidra, what would that do, eh? That could well be Phoria’s purpose. By the Four, I won’t be her dupe!”
“Quite right, my lady,” Torsin agreed. “Your forthrightness has been our greatest asset.”
“Very well, then. Lord Torsin, you’ll go to the Iia’sidra today and announce the queen’s passing. Let Phoria worry for herself where we came by the information. Alec and Thero will accompany you, together with a full honor guard. I want a detailed report of the day’s proceedings. Captain, find black sashes for your riders and see that their cloaks are reversed and the horses’ manes cropped. My mother was a Skalan warrior; she’ll be accorded a warrior’s honors.”
Beka rose to attention. “Do you wish me to announce the queen’s death to my riders?”
“Yes. You’re dismissed. Now, Seregil, what else must I do to satisfy Aurënfaie convention?”
“You’d better talk to my sisters. I’ll fetch them.”
“Thank you, my friend. we aren’t bested yet. Now if you’ll excuse us, I need a moment with Lord Torsin.”
Its time we learned whether she knows of his meeting with Khatme, Seregil thought, following the others out. As he turned to close the door, something on the floor next to the doorjamb caught his eye: a small, flattened clod of moist earth. Kneeling, he examined it more closely.
“What’s that?” asked Thero, already halfway to the stairs.
“How old do you make this?” Seregil asked Alec.
Alec squatted down beside him and nudged at it with a forefinger. “Not more than a few minutes. The floor’s still damp beneath it, and no sign of drying about the edges. It’s come off somebody’s boots.” Picking it up, he sniffed it and took a closer look. “Horse manure, with bits of hay and oats stuck in it.”
“Beka must have tracked it in,” said Thero.
Alec shook his head. “No, she was already here when we arrived, and this is fresher than that. And I was standing near the door the whole time we were in there and would have heard if anyone walked by. This person didn’t mean to be heard, and this bit of muck places him close to the wall next to the door—an eavesdropper for certain, one who came in through the
stable yard.”
“Or from it,” Seregil muttered, inspecting the corridor floor and both stairways. “There are a few other smudges here, leading to the back stairs. Not an experienced hand, our visitor. I’d have taken off my boots, but our spy just clomped in trusting to luck.”
“But how would anyone have known to come here just now?” asked Thero. “I went straight from my chamber to Klia’s. No one could have known about Magyana’s letter.”
“Beka came in from the stable yard,” Seregil pointed out. “Anyone taking note of the summons could have followed her in. The approach also suggests that whoever it was, he was either very bold, very foolish, or trusted that his presence in the house wouldn’t be questioned if anyone saw him. Or her.”
“Nyal!” Alec whispered.
“The interpreter?” Thero said incredulously. “You can’t seriously think that the Iia’sidra would assign a spy to Klia’s staff, especially one as inept as this one appears to have been?”
Seregil said nothing for a moment, recalling the conversation he and the Ra’basi had shared during his convalescence. Perhaps the painkilling draughts had skewed his judgment, but he hoped Nyal wasn’t their spy; the irony of the realization forced a grin to his lips. Now it was Alec who seemed ready to believe Nyal guilty.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve had cause to question his motives.” Alec sketched out the details of the tryst they’d observed between Nyal and Amali outside the Dravnian way station.
“You didn’t actually overhear what they were discussing?” asked Thero.
“No.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Suspicion and conjecture,” said Seregil. “We’re still standing on smoke.”
“Who else could it have been?” said Alec. “One of the guards or servants?”
“I don’t think Beka or Adzriel would be pleased with that speculation.”
“I’ll add a few spells here,” Thero said, glaring at the doorframe as if it had somehow betrayed him. “We’d better warn Klia.”
“Later. She has enough to trouble her this morning,” Seregil advised. “You and Alec attend the Iia’sidra as planned. I’ll find out what our Ra’basi friend has been up to this morning.”
Alec started upstairs to change, then turned back. “You know, Phoria trying to hide the queen’s death like that makes me wonder just who our real enemies are.”
Seregil shrugged. “I suspect we have plenty on both sides of the Osiat.”
Alec hurried off, but Thero lingered a moment longer, his narrow face more serious than usual.
“Worried about Magyana?” asked Seregil.
“Phoria will know who sent us the news.”
“Magyana understood the risks. She can look out for herself.”
Thero turned in at his own door. “Perhaps.”
Seregil stopped in the stable yard on his way to Adzriel’s to inquire about Nyal’s whereabouts and was relieved to find Beka nowhere in sight. Steb and Mirn were standing guard duty at the courtyard gate.
“How long have you been on duty?” he asked them.
“Since before dawn, my lord,” Steb told him, rubbing at the patch over his blind eye as he stifled a yawn.
“Any visitors? Anyone go in or out of the house?”
“No visitors, my lord, and the captain was the first in the house this morning. Princess Klia sent for her. She told us about poor old Idrilain when she came back.” The one-eyed rider paused, touching his hand to his heart. “Since then most of us have been in and out of the kitchen for our breakfast, but that’s about all.”
“I see. By the way, have you seen Nyal this morning? I need to speak with him.”
“Nyal?” said Mirn. “He went out riding not long after Captain Beka was summoned to the house.”
“Right after? Are you sure?” asked Seregil.
“Guess her moving around woke him up.” Mirn smirked, earning a quick elbow and a dark look from his comrade.
Seregil brushed this aside. “This morning, though, he went riding as soon as she went to the main house?”
“Well, not just that minute,” Steb explained. “He stayed on to breakfast with us, then headed out. We saw him leave.”
“I expect he’ll be back soon. He always is,” Mirn added.
“Then this isn’t the first dawn ride he’s made?”
“No, my lord, though more often than not the captain goes with him. That’s what makes some folks think—”
“You tell them to keep that sort of thinking to themselves,” Seregil snapped.
In the barracks, he found Beka conferring with her three sergeants.
“Good, you’re all here,” Seregil said, joining them. “Seems we may have an eavesdropper in the house.”
Mercalle looked up sharply. “What makes you think that, my lord?”
“Just a hunch,” he replied. “Keep an eye on who enters the house. The upper floors are off-limits anyway, so there shouldn’t be anyone going up there except Klia’s people and the servants.”
Beka gave him a look that said she suspected there was more behind his request than he was letting on, just the sort of quiet, questioning glance her father would have used.
Seregil gave her a nod, then let himself out the back gate and crossed to Adzriel’s door.
Entering this early had a bittersweet familiarity about it. As a boy, he’d often slipped out to ride before dawn or stayed out all night with a gang of companions when he could get away with it. How many times, he wondered, had he and Kheeta sneaked in by a certain back door and crept like thieves up to their beds?
For a fleeting moment he was tempted to try it now and come sauntering down as if—
as if I belonged here.
Tucking this new bit of heartache away for later scrutiny, he knocked and was led to a room near the kitchen, where his sisters and their household were just starting an informal breakfast. Another twinge struck as he took in the cozy family tableau.
Mydri was the first to notice him. “What’s the matter, Seregil? What’s happened?”
Adzriel and the others turned, hands poised motionless over their torn bread and boiled eggs.
“Our—your kinswoman, Idrilain, is dead,” he informed them, glad of a plausible excuse for what must have been a very long face.
Alec took his place behind Lord Torsin and Thero in the Iia’sidra circle and looked around, only to find himself being watched in turn by the Virésse khirnari.
Already seated among his delegation, Ulan í Sathil gave Alec a cordial nod as their eyes met. Alec returned it and hastily looked away, making a show of greeting Riagil í Molan. People were already taking note of Klia’s empty chair, and Adzriel’s.
Brythir í Nien of Silmai leaned forward in his chair and peered across at Torsin. “Will Princess Klia not attend today?”
The ambassador rose with melancholy dignity. “Honored Khirnari, I bring tragic news. We have just received word that Queen Idrilain of Skala is dead, felled by wounds received in battle. Princess Klia begs your patience while she mourns.”
Säaban í Irais stood. “Adzriel ä Illia also sends her regrets. She and our sister Mydri must attend Klia to mourn the passing of our kinswoman.”
Most registered regret or surprise at this news. Khatme was inscrutable, Virésse solemn. Rhaish í Arlisandin of Akhendi gazed stonily at the floor. Beside him, Amali looked stunned.
The Silmai khirnari pressed both hands over his heart and bowed to Torsin. “May Aura’s light guide her khi. Please convey our great sorrow, Torsin í Xandus. Will the princess not return to Skala to mourn?”
“It was Idrilain’s wish that her daughter stay until her mission among you here is accomplished. Princess Klia asks that you grant her four days to conduct the proper rites, after which she prays that our long debate may see a timely conclusion.”
“Are there any objections?” the old Silmai asked the assembly. “Very well, then we will gather again at the end of the mourning period.”
>
• • •
Signs of mourning were already in evidence by the time Alec and the others returned to the guest house.
Following Skalan custom, the main entrance was sealed and hung with an inverted shield. Incense billowed up from a brazier set on the doorstep. Strings of Aurënfaie prayer kites also fluttered from poles set into the ground, and from the windows and roof.
A low, droning song greeted them as they entered the main hall by a side door; six rhui’auros stood in a circle at the center of the room, chanting softly.
Klia was with Seregil, Adzriel, and Mydri, putting the final touches on a large prayer kite. Nearby several Bôkthersan servants were busy constructing others. It looked as if they meant to festoon the whole house with them.
“What news?” Klia asked as they entered.
“All is well, my lady,” replied Torsin. “The council will resume in five days.”
Seregil dismissed the servants, then asked, “And what were your impressions?”
“That the Virésse already knew,” Alec told him. “I can’t explain it; it was just the way Ulan í Sathil watched us as we came in.”
“I think he’s right,” Thero agreed. “I didn’t dare chance brushing Ulan’s mind, but I briefly touched that of Elos of Goliníl. There was no surprise, only thoughts of Ulan.”
“You did what?” Seregil gaped at the wizard in dismay. “Didn’t I tell you how dangerous that could be?”
Thero spared him an impatient glance. “You didn’t think I was dozing through all those long sessions, did you? I’ve been making a study of the Iia’sidra members. Ulan í Sathil and the khirnari of Khatme, Akhendi, and Silmai have the strongest aura of magic about them. I’m not certain what the full extent of their skills may be, but I’ve sense enough to stay clear of them. Most of the others are far more limited—Elos of Goliníl in particular. If Ulan has a weak point, it’s his daughter’s husband.”
“If they did know, then perhaps you’re right about having a spy in the house,” Klia noted, frowning.