A Warrior's Path (The Castes and the OutCastes) (35 page)

Jaresh looked up and noticed her scrutiny.  “What is it?”

“Nothing,” she replied.  “I only wanted to tell you how much I’ve appreciated your company these past few months.  Without you around, the Cellar would have been far more taxing and monotonous.”

“Thank you,” he said with a smile.  “It was nice getting to know you as well.”

Mira laughed.  “Well, it goes without saying,” she replied.  “I am a Kumma woman after all.  You should consider yourself blessed to spend so much time in my presence.”

Jaresh bowed his head.  “Of course,” he said.  “All Kumma women are queens.”  He paused as
if in thought.  “Then again, it might not be something to trumpet about given the mind of the most famous of queens.”

“Comparing me to Suwraith now?  Not very chivalrous.”

“I’d never say or even imply such a thing…my queen.”

Mira laughed.  “You’re a good
man, Jaresh.  Don’t ever change.”

“A good man,” Jaresh repeated
, seeming to taste the words.  “Something to which we should all aspire.”

*****

B
ree was broken from her reverie as Rector sighed in disgust.  “What is it?” she asked, wincing as her words echoed through the cavernous hall, which made up Verchow Library.  She had spoken more loudly than she meant, but luckily this late at night, and in the summer no less, only one other person shared the Library with them, and her nose was plugged in a book.  She hadn’t even looked up at Bree’s words.

Verchow
Library was a long, narrow arcade with rows of medical texts and histories of disease and death neatly placed upon the shelving running perpendicular to the length of the room.  The center of the hall was given over to a large number of dark, mahogany tables, each with seating for four.  Broad chandeliers of firefly lamps hung above and shed light down below.  Murals depicting scenes from the life of Gelan Criatus, the father of modern medicine, graced many of the panels of the vaulted ceiling, which soared thirty feet or more above them.

“Are Shiyens even Human?” Rector growled.  “
Devesh bless them, but they discuss disease in such an unemotional fashion.  It makes me wonder if they really care about the people they take care of.  Listen to this:

The patient, one Privem Thacker, was found to have an intestinal obstruction and rupture upon arrival to the hospice.  Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the patient expired forthwith.  His wife was expectedly distraught.  However, she was unreasonably put out when she was quite rightly informed that had she brought Master Thacker (a Muran) for our care several hours earlier, he might have lived.

“Utterly bloodless.”  Rector threw down the book in disgust.  “A man is dead, his wife grieving, and you’d think the Shiyen was talking about a dead cat.”

The idea of Shiyens as emotionless and non-caring was a commonly held view and had
essentially become a truism.  However, Bree had spent a lot of time with those of the Healer Caste.  From what she had observed, Shiyens cared deeply about those they cared for, but it wasn’t always easily evident.  Sometimes, in order to do their work, they had to maintain a reserved restraint, a decorum others occasionally mistook as a callous insensitivity.  In fact, had she been born a Shiyen with the proper Talent, Bree would have gladly attended Verchow or Alminius to become a physician.

“What are you reading?” she asked.

“Eh?”

“The passage you just read…what book is it from?”

Rector glanced at the title.  “
Bedside Manners Volume 2: Improper Etiquette When Consoling the Grieving
.”  Rector rubbed his chin and reddened with embarrassment.  “Maybe this wasn’t the best example of what I meant.”

Bree smiled.  “Or maybe you should pay attention to the book title you’re reading.”

“How can I when my eyes are cramping?” Rector asked, still looking embarrassed.

Bree laughed.  “Your eyes can cramp?  It’s a medical miracle.”

“It’s true.  There’s no explanation for my condition,” Rector said.  “Besides…someone has to keep the Shiyens on their toes.  It might as well be me,” he added with a shrug.

“Speaking of staying on your toes…catch.”  Bree tosse
d him another book.  “I doubt you’ll find what we’re looking for in
Bedside Manners
,” she said.  “Try this one instead.”

Rector caught the book and squinted at the title
, written as it was in a tight, crabbed print.  He sighed.  “My poor eyes.”

Despite his put-upon attitude, Bree knew Rector wasn’t serious.  From what she had seen, he was as hard-working as anyone she knew.  Her
nanna would have described him as ‘all go and no slow’.  She doubted Rector even knew how to be lazy.

Rector settled in with the book she had given him, and an hour later, he set aside the slim volume.  “Done,” he said.  “Hand me the big one over there.”  He grunted when she passed
over the heavy tome.  “When we find these lickspittle motherhumpers, I’m feeding them my sword,” Rector promised.  “Look at the size of this book.  Do you know what it’s about?  It’s about unsolved murders in Ashoka.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of them were due to the fragging Sil Lor Kum.”

“Language,” Bree admonished.

“Sorry,” Rector said, not looking apologetic.  “It’s just these bastards don’t deserve any mercy.  They don’t even deserve the dignity of a tribunal.  We should just execute them.  Crucify the whole lot of them, I say.”

The venom in Rector’s voice took Bree aback.

He must have noticed her expression.  “I’m sorry, Bree.”  This time, he did look apologetic.  “I get worked up about these kind of things,” Rector said.  “The Trials show us the true face of evil.  The Fan Lor Kum are responsible for the death of more warriors in the Wildness then anything else in this world, but in the end, they’re only a mob of dumb beasts with no more choice in the matter than an ox hitched to a yoke.  They’re slaves to their Queen.  The Sil Lor Kum, though, they’re different.  They
choose
to serve evil.”

“I agree.  They don’t deserve any mercy.  When we find them, I could easily slit all their throats and sleep well at night,” Bree said.  “The reason I
was surprised is because you’re a member of the Watch.  Aren’t you supposed to uphold an individual’s rights under the law?  Make sure they have a proper tribunal?”

“Perhaps your father
believes the way you describe?” Rector guessed.

“I imagine so.”

“Our ‘El is a gifted leader of men,” Rector said, sounding as if he were choosing his words most delicately.

“Nanna is rare,” Bree agreed.  “He is generous to a fault, but the Sil Lor Kum don’t deserve his mercy.  They willingly placed themselves beyond our civilized strictures.  Why should
we grant them anything?  Death is their proper reward.  I think you’re right: we should crucify all of them.”

“Indeed,” Rector said.  “What do you think should be done with their families?  Their children?”

“What about them?” Bree replied.  She tried to hide the sudden discomfort his question raised.

“They sh
ould share in the disgrace,” Rector said.  “They’d be forever Tainted.  I say exile them as well.”

Bree didn’t answer.  Rector’s statement raised doubts she wasn’t ready to confront.  The whole topic made her un
easy.  Rector had no such qualms.  He had already decided exile was the proper punishment for children whose only crime was birth to one who chose the Sil Lor Kum.  What then would he say of their own House?  What would Rector think if he knew the truth of Kul’El Shektan?  He would likely demand the immediate dissolution of the House.

Bree couldn’t say she disagreed with him, either.  She was conflicted i
n her opinion.  Some days she shared Rector’s feelings on the topic, but on other days, she thought differently.  House Shektan had done a lot of good over the years.  It had many just and honorable members.  None of them had sought out to do evil.  In fact, they had actively fought it their entire lives.  Why should they be punished for something they couldn’t have ever known or guessed about their founder?  It was a question she was no nearer to answering now than on the day she had first learned of Kul’El Shektan’s infamy.

“
I’m glad we’re in agreement,” Rector said, mistaking the meaning of her silence.

*****

“
M
ust you leave so soon, my dear?” the SuDin of the Sil Lor Kum asked.

Varesea turned to him with a coquettish smile.  “You know I have to,” she replied.  “My husband grows worried if I’m out late.”

“Your husband is a fool.  Were you mine, I would keep you close at hand so we might more easily enjoy one another.”

She laughed.  “That may be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard you say,” she replied.

“Speak for yourself,” the SuDin said.  “I could take you again this very moment if you were willing.”  He drew her to his lap.  “I can prove it,” he whispered into her ear as he guided her hand to his hardness.

She gasped in surprise.  “Put that away,” she admonished.  She stood, and he let her go, disappointed.  He wasn’t sure why or how, but for the past few months, his lust was as it had been when he was young.  When he wasn’t busy with all the worries of
the modern world, foremost on his mind was the next time he could be with Varesea.  And given the decline to many of the responsibilities in his other life, the one outside of the Sil Lor Kum, he thought about it often.

He reckoned it might have something to do with the Knife.  He was stronger and faster than he had been in decades.  Even the limp from his injured
left knee was better.  At the rate he was healing, a few more killings and he would be as fine a warrior as he had been as a young man.  And he had been formidable once, easily as good as any who had won the Tournament of Hume.

“
She
spoke to you again last night, didn’t she?” Varesea guessed.

“How did you know,” he asked, admiring the line of her thighs as she adjusted her robes.  Time might have caused her breasts to sag, but her legs were still lean and strong.

“Your eyes…they’re haunted whenever She touches you.  Is Her presence really so difficult?”

He laughed harshly  “You should be thankful you have never had to suffer one of Her visitations.  She is like a razor scraping at your mind.”

“And yet, She is the ultimate power in this world.”  A fleeting look of hunger flitted across Varesea’s face.

The SuDin wasn’t surprised by Varesea’s look of desire. 
From what he had seen, everyone who joined the Sil Lor Kum yearned for power of some sort.  It was rather pathetic.  They risked their lives and their good names, even the lives of their own families for something so ephemeral.  Too many of the Sil Lor Kum were ravenous pigs, vainly seeking to satiate their gluttonous hunger.

Varesea was like all the others – but
in one critical way, she was unlike them.  She too lusted for power, but her reason was different.  She didn’t crave control; she desired safety.  It made all the difference in the world as far as the SuDin was concerned.  Rather than inspiring contempt, her situation – and he knew her lot in life all too well – aroused his compassion.  Because if Varesea had
been
entirely
as the others, he wouldn’t have been able to countenance even a moment in her bed, much less the ten years they’d shared as lovers.

“So most believe,” the SuDin replied to her statement.

“So
most
believe.  But not you.”

“Not me.”

“Why is that?” Varesea mused.

“We have battled Her for two millennia, and…” the SuDin paused, not sure he was ready to trust her with such a momentous truth.

“And what?” she asked.  “We have lost every time She has come against us.”  A moment later, her eyes widened in alarm.  “You can’t possibly think to defeat Her.  It’s an unattainable dream.”

“And yet, the dream you dismiss is the very reason I joined the Sil Lor Kum,” the SuDin said solemnly.  “My only
desire has and always will be to protect Ashoka.”

“My SuDin you cannot defy Her.  She crushes all who do.  Remember: all the cities She has visited in times past
.  They are nothing but powder now.  You’ll destroy yourself if you defy Her will.”

The SuDin smiled at Varesea’s concern.  It was touching.  “I’m not ready to challenge Her yet, but with the Knife, I may have an opportunity to learn Her weakness as no one ever has.”

“And have you learned anything thus far?”

The SuDin smiled.  “I have, and I believe it is quite valuable.” 
He smiled wider, a lupine grin.  “Our Queen is utterly insane, just as the prior SuDins claimed.  As they also said, She is easily deceived.  In fact, She is quite stupid.”

Varesea considered his words in silence.

“Why do you bother?” she finally asked.  “Your name has become a byword for humiliation amongst your Caste.  In your other life, I have heard how members of your own House openly mock you at times.  You hold your position by the barest of threads.  Are any of them worth what you’ve given up?”