Emperor Mage (21 page)

Harailt
was on Daine s other side. When the opening course was served, he amused
himself by slipping tidbits to Kitten as he filled the two younger people in on
the uneasy progress of the talks.

The
emperor hadn't even made an appearance at the talks that day. Duke Etiakret,
head of the Carthaki negotiators, walked out after Duke Gareth said King
Jonathan and Queen Thayet would not agree to buy silk, dyes, and glass from no
one but Carthak. Etiakret returned, only to say that Carthak refused to
surrender one of its lords, a pirate who often raided Tortall, to northern
justice.

When
Harailt turned to the woman seated on his other side, Daine told Kaddar,
"It doesn't look at all good, does it?"

"Do
you see any happy faces around here?" he asked, indicating to the servers
that they would have the catfish.

Daine
shook her head. "Nary a one." She leaned back and reshaped her ears,
knowing the growing shadows would hide the change from most. Scraps of talk
came to her and faded as she twitched them to and fro.

"—am
not going to let those things ruin his party, Numair. His Imperial Highness was
simply in a mood. Etiakret will come to your people tomorrow, all smiles and
conciliation—just you watch. Try the dormice, won't you? They're rolled in
honey and poppy seeds—"

Daine
winced—in her view dormice were food for owls, cats, and snakes—and listened
elsewhere.

"—the
result of a misunderstanding on my part, my dear Lord Martin. The emperor has
taken me sternly to task and, I assure you, the progress of the talks in the
morning will be far different—"

M—to
honor her for her service to our treasured pets, Duke Gareth. Surely your rules
will not ask a penniless child to turn down a title and property of

her
own."

Daine
made a face. She wanted no lands or tide from the Emperor Magel With a sigh she
returned her ears to their normal shape and concentrated on the meal and her
companions. As the sky darkened, they nibbled fried pockets of noodles and pork
in a sweet sauce and talked about Kaddar s mother and sisters. Kitten, thinking
herself unobserved, gobbled boar's tail with hot sauce, then had to leap for
the water pitcher.

"Does
she ever get sick from eating human food?" Kaddar watched as the dragon
managed to dump half the water down her throat and half all over herself.

Daine
smiled. "She never gets sick from anything, Once she ate a box of myrrh.
She was only three months old. I thought every little accident she had would
harm her for life."

"She
didn't get sick?"

"She
burped smoke for a week, that's all."

"I
should have a stomach like hers. Especially these days." Kaddar s eyes
flicked to where Ozorne sat, fanning himself idly.

"Come
back with us," she said impulsively. "Make a real life, one with no
cages in it."

His
smile was both sad and bitter. "I cannot. He's got my family, my friends,
even my horse. Do you think he would stop at hurting theni to bring me
home?" He patted her hand. "No. Once he claims something, he never,
ever lets go. Its a miracle your Master Salmalin has managed to remain free and
unharmed all this time."

Daine,
knowing that Numair had worked as a street magician and nearly starved during
his first years in Tortall, shook her head. Not daring to use his Gift out of
fear that Ozorne would learn of it and hunt him down, changing his appearance
and name, moving often before he made friends who brought him to the king's
attention—to her that said he'd paid a high price for his miracle of survival.

Dishes
came and went until the meal was over at last. By then the light-globes were
burning, and musicians tuned their instruments at the far end of the terrace.
Slaves arrived pushing a large metal cart slowly down the line of tables. It
bore an immense cake, the pinnacle of a pastry cook's art, shaped like the
imperial palace down to each bay, ell, and tower. Looking at it, Daine now saw
that the palace was built like a rising sun, a large half circle with wings
like short and long rays.

"The
cooks made each piece and all the spun sugar, cream decorations, and so
on," explained Kaddar, "but it's Varice who designs the cake and puts
it together and supervises the decorating. Without her magic they couldn't do
anything so fancy."

The
guests applauded; Daine, reluctantly, dapped as well. Varice looked proud of
herself as she offered the pastry knife to the emperor, Ozorne smiled and
indicated that she should do the cutting.

As die
blonde turned to the cake, Daine realized that something was wrong with Kitten,
The little dragon was clawing at her muzzle and rocking back and forth. Bending
close, Daine could hear her squeak, as if she were trying to talk with her jaws
glued shut,

"Kit,
what's the matter?" She bent down to grab the dragon's forepaws.
"You're—"

Varice's
shriek raised echoes on the lake. A slave rilling Gareth the Younger's glass
dropped his pitcher; it shattered on the flagstones. Daine jerked

upright.

Rats—mostly
browns, with a smattering of black ones—poured out of a hole in the front of
the cake in a stream, their numbers far greater than even this cake would hold.
They tried to climb Varice's skirts as the blonde continued to scream. Alanna
was on her feet, groping for a sword she didn't wear; the mages were helpless,
unable to throw fire at the animals without hurting Varice.

"Stop!"
Daine cried, running out from behind her table. The rats turned to stare at
her. "I said, stopl" Opening herself up, she let her power flood out
until it swamped them. In their minds she read the knowledge that they were
passing through a magical gate from their riverbank homes into the center of
the confection. She also saw clearly the image of the Graveyard Hag in their
thoughts, pointing them to the gate with her gnarled walking stick.

"Imperial
Majesty!" someone cried, shaking Daine s concentration. The moment she
faltered, the rats broke free. Six of them launched at her face; she slammed
them with her power, killing three instantly. Two fled; one fastened his teeth
in her sleeve. Coldly Daine shook him off.

The man
who'd broken her concentration was still yelling. "Majesty, even you can't
continue to ignore the portents! You must—"

Ozorne
pointed; emerald fire lashed to wrap around the speaker, a Carthaki nobleman.
Emerald flames leaped from his skin. He had time for one agonized shriek before
the fire ate him up.

Daine
took a breath and renewed her magical grip on the rats, yanking them back from
tables and guests. They fought hard. She dug her nails into her palms, hunting
for something to make her furious. She found it when she saw the ruin that had
come to the cake Varice had worked so hard to create. Gathering up the anger
she felt on the part of Varice, she turned it on the rats.

We
don't have to obey you, snarled a brown. We don't owe you anything!

We
serve a powerful mistress, added someone else. Next to her, you are only a
shadow!

She
bore down, producing shrieks of rage and pain from them. "Back into that
cake, buckos," she ordered, eyes glittering. "Back where you came
from. Do it now, before you really vex me."

They
struggled wildly, but she had them. When she began to tighten the pressure, she
felt their surrender like the buckling of a wall. She called silently, Tell
your mistress, if she has a bone to pick with Ozorne, pick it with him, not
with them that have to obey him!

The
rats leaped onto the cart and into the cake, vanishing through the gate. When
the last of them had gone, the pastry collapsed.

She
looked around. Slaves propped up a fainting Varice. Numair climbed over his
table. Giving his wakeflower vial to Harailt and pointing to Varice, he came
over to Daine. "Are you all right?" He cupped her cheek in one large
hand, eyes worried. "One of them bit yoi

She
held up her arm to show him the rip in her sleeve and smiled. "Didn't even
nick the skin. It was only rats, Numair."

He looked
at the chaos around them. Slaves who had fled the rodents stayed in the
shadows, afraid to come out. Duke Gareth and Duke Etiakret were debating hotly
in whispers, as Gareth the Younger looked on. Harailt was pulling the
wake-flower from under Varice s nose as she coughed and gasped. Alanna talked
softly into Kaddars ear; she had to stand on tiptoe to do it, and Kaddar had to
stoop a little.

"We
need to get out of here before the sky starts raining blood or something
equally pleasant," Numair remarked "Where's Ozorne?"

The
emperor had left.

The
banquet was over. Varice, hysterical after she roused from her faint, was only
able to cling to Numair and cry. All the guests, Carthaki and foreign alike,
talked of the ominous signs they had seen and heard of in tense, lowered
voices. No one seemed to care if the emperor spied on them or not.

Daine
and Kaddar watched, quickly getting bored. "It's not as if we can do
anything about all this," complained the girl, cradling a dozing Zek.
"I get the feeling the only ones who can do something are your uncle and
his ministers."

"Would
you like to go for a walk, then?" Kaddar asked. "Is there anything
you'd like to do?"

Daine
looked around. On the far side of the lake, behind the willows on its shore,
she could sense the menagerie. "Can we go look at the animals again?"

"Let
me ask." The prince went to talk briefly with Alanna, who came back with
him.

"I
don't blame you for wanting to go someplace else," the Lioness said with a
glare at Varice. "Just don't be gone too late. Tomorrow is another day—
provided it comes, of course."

Daine
stared at the Champion. "Do you know something we don't?"

Alanna
shook her head. "Only that I didn't reach my station by ignoring the gods.
If his imperial majesty doesn't consult them—soon—he will wish he had. Now
scat, before / start crying."

They
scatted, passing a squad of guardsmen on their way around the lake. Kaddar
slowed and stared at them after they passed, his mouth tight. Then he shook his
head, and they walked on. On reaching the menagerie, he left her at the closed,
locked gate. When he returned, he bore a huge key ring. Sorting through the
keys, he read their tags by the mage-light he cast over their heads.

"What
kind of Gift do you have?" Daine asked. "Nobody ever said what you
can do."

"Very
little." He chose a key and fitted it in the lock. "Call light, move
things a short way, call fire." The gate swung open. "What I do best
is grow

things.
Trees, flowers, vegetables. I like to garden. The plants Lindhall has for his
creatures—I grew those." He closed the gate behind them.

"That's
wonderful," Daine replied, opening herself to the captive animals. "A
shame you're stuck being a prince when you can do something important. Do those
keys open the cages and enclosures? I want to go inside."

Startled,
he yelped, "You want to—M Remembering where they were, he finished in a
rough whisper, "—what? Go in? Out of the question. Absolutely out—"

"Don't
be missish, Kaddar," she replied flatly. "If you don't let me in
proper, I'll ask Kitten to do it, and maybe she'll melt die locks off"

Kaddar
looked at the first enclosure, die lions', "You swear you won't be
harmed?"

"Goddess
strike me if I lie," she said, holding up her right hand.

Shaking
his head, Kaddar went to a door set into the wall next to the lions' pit,
looking for the right key.

Zek
watched, fascinated. These keys things—do they always open cages and doors?