Irsud (21 page)

“False?” He shrugged, the antennas jerking briefly upright, then drooping again. “It certainly shows what means most to you.”

She jumped up and threw out her hands. “Hahunh! You make me want to tear my hair! I do the best I can, that's all. Our place. Hunh. Your place is here.” She touched her forehead. “And here.” She flattened her hand over her heart. “We'll be leaving here soon anyway.”

He tilted his head to look up at her. “You'll be leaving me soon too, did you think of that?”

She knelt in front of him and touched his face with her fingertips. “Burash?”

He sighed. “Leyta, Leyta, you don't understand.” He caught her hand and held it between his.

“No.” She sighed. “No.”

“Leyta.…”

She freed her hand and lay back on the grass beside him. “Look up there, Burash.” Sweeping her hand in a shallow circle she encompassed the visible stars. “There they are. Mother hen suns with circling worlds like chicks around them. Somewhere out there my own mother flits from one to the other. Somewhere out there maybe a warped and twisted woman is tormenting the baby she stole from me. If my friend hasn't found her yet. Somewhere out there he waits for me. Out there maybe I'll find a place where I can belong, really belong. A home.”

He bent over her and kissed her forehead lightly. “I wish you good fortune in your search.” Abruptly he jumped up and pressed back into deeper shadow. “Someone comes.”

Aleytys glanced around, saw nothing, closed her eyes and looked with the new sense. “Nakivas and Kitten.” She sat up and sighed. “Relax, naram.”

A moment later the two hiiri slipped cautiously into the clearing, edging around the side of it so they remained in deep shadow as they drew nearer to Aleytys. Like shadows they flitted over the uneven ground making no more noise than hunting cats.

“How did you spot them?” Aleytys whispered, her quick-trigger curiosity flaring.

“Heat sources.” Burash ducked his head and wiggled his antennas. “Obvious.”

“Ah.” Aleytys frowned. “Can those guards do that?”

“A little. Not like a male.”

“Could they spot us here from the wall?”

“Not this far.”

“Hah. I was about to panic.”

“Why so, Kunniakas?” Nakivas sank to the ground beside them. “I hear you've had some busy days.”

“Interesting times.” Almost inaudibly she chuckled. “That's an old curse I heard somewhere. May you live in interesting times. I begin to know what they mean.” She sighed and swung a hand in a brief arc. “All that. You see why I need to get away?”

“Yes.” Nakivas looked cautiously around, then leaned forward until his face was inches from hers. “The clan saaski will be coming to the market under safe conduct. They won't break truce to take you but will give you passage to the hills if you get to them outside the truce line. That's a full day's journey from this place. The headman has sworn by the totem of his clan.”

“The hills?”

“Our bargain, Kunniakas. A season's service.”

“Mmm. How do we get a day's journey away from here?”

“You can ride?”

“Yes.” She smiled. “Though I haven't had much opportunity lately.”

Nakivas leaned toward Burash. “And you, Seppanhei?”

Burash twisted his mouth into a wry smile. “I rode a little as a child, but not for twenty years.” He stared down at his hands. “Since then I have developed a strong fear of heights.” With a sigh he brushed his hands together. “I won't enjoy it, but I can stay on a horse's back.”

Nakivas shook his head. “My god,” he said hoarsely. “You really want to go through with this?” Without waiting for an answer, he went on. “I suppose you do. I'll have a guide with horses waiting for you. Aamunkoitta can show you where.”

“Good.” Aleytys tapped her fingers on her thighs. “I could amend the bargain?”

“How?”

“I want to cut the time of service.”

“No.”

“Even if I can get you energy weapons?”

Nakivas caught hold of her hand then dropped it and relaxed, smiling wryly as he remembered her talent. “How many? And what kind?”

“I'd like to know the answer to that.” The kipu's resonant voice cut through the hush of the clearing. “No. Don't bother getting up. Look around.”

Silently, ominously, black guards stepped out of the shadow, the only opening to the ring of bamboo and silent figures that section where the cliff rose blocking escape.

Slowly, half in shock, Aleytys got to her feet. “How?”

“I can't believe you'd be so stupid.” The kipu flicked a hand at a bunched group of nayids close behind her. “Take them.”

Nakivas flowed onto his feet and dived toward the bamboo close behind him. Aleytys heard a dull thud, then two guards came around her carrying the hiiri's limp body.

“Is he.…”

“Damiktana.” The kipu's voice sounded wearily patient and condescending. “Damiktana. Where did you leave your head? Would I waste such a fine advantage? The Paamies of the hiiri in my hands?”

“How.…” Aleytys looked around. Nakivas lay across a nayid shoulder, Aamunkoitta struggled half-heartedly in the grasp of another. Burash.… She wheeled to face the kipu again. “How did you know about this meeting?”

“Think, Damiktana.” The exaggerated lilt in the kipu's voice blended nicely with her complacent self-satisfaction and genuine amusement. “You saw the screens in my workroom. What did you think they were for?”

“How could I know?” She shook her head, feeling terribly helpless. “I don't understand anything about machines.”

“I've had you watched from the beginning. My ‘eyes' watch that room twenty-six hours the day.” She frowned and looked around. “Not here, though. I admit I overlooked this place. However.…” She turned to the guards. “Sukall.”

“Im, rab' kipu?”

“You know where to take these.”

“Im, rab' kipu.” Refusing to look at Aleytys, Sukall stalked off with the guards carrying Nakivas and Aamunkoitta close behind.

When they had vanished into the darkness, the kipu turned to Aleytys. “If you will, Damiktana?” She gestured toward the mahazh.

In her living quarters, Aleytys settled herself in her chair and looked anxiously at the kipu.

The cold-faced nayid stood in front of her, hands clasped behind her.

Aleytys' stomach knotted with fear and anger. “What are you going to do to them?”

“The Paamies?” The kipu twitched her lips in a tight mean smile. “After I ask him a question or two.…” She paused, smile broadening. Aleytys shivered at the sadistic pleasures showing in the tight-skinned face. “I think I'll hang him in a cage at the market. Let all the hiiri see their Paamies and know where he is. They're tough little beasts, these hiiri, he should last quite a while even without food and water.”

Aleytys pressed her lips together. She flattened her shaking hands against the chair arms and spoke hesitantly. “The others?”

“I should have them executed.”

“No!”

“No. You're right. With the alternative of drugging you and the uncertainty I feel about that after your performance with that poison, I think I'll keep them as insurance for your good behavior, Damiktana. Damiktana.” Her voice lingered on the word.

“Ah.” Aleytys leaned back in the chair and sighed. She touched her face with a shaking hand. “You won't hurt him … them?”

The kipu smiled even more, her small gleaming teeth sharp and carnivorous. She shifted her hands around in front of her and tapped a stud on the caller at her belt. “That depends on you, Damiktana.”

“What did you do just now?”

“Shut off surveillance.” The kipu stepped back and eyed Aleytys warily. “There are guards right there.” She nodded her head to the tapestry behind her.

Aleytys pressed her hands hard against the arms of the chair. “That's funny. That's really funny.” She fixed her eyes on the kipu. “So. I keep up the act for you.”

“Yes.”

Aleytys sensed a tautness, a waiting in the nayid. “There's something else.”

“Hostages. They can be relatively comfortable.”

“So?”

“Or they can be very very uncomfortable.”

“So?” Aleytys looked grim. “What do you want from me?”

“A life.” The calm casual word hung vibrating between them.

Aleytys closed her eyes. “Harskari,” she whispered, “help me.”

“Listen to what that one says.” The amber eyes blinked impatiently. “Don't depend on me for everything, Aleytys, you're an adult, intelligent, use it.”

“Harskari.…”

The amber eyes closed with chilling finality. A muscle twitching beside her mouth, Aleytys gathered herself and asked, “A life?”

“Asshrud.”

“What?” Aleytys swallowed and huddled in her robe feeling somehow shrivelled.

“You heard.”

“What makes you think I could.…” She licked dry lips. “Or would … kill … kill someone. Especially for you?”

“The migru. The hiiri.”

“Ah.” She pressed her hands over her eyes. “I'm a healer,” she muttered.

“Death. Life. Two sides of the same coin, not a hair's difference between.”

“But … someone told me you couldn't touch her.”

“The hiiri girl.”

At this reminder of the watch on her life, Aleytys flamed Into sudden anger. She swallowed it and said tightly, “Well?”

“I can't touch her.”

“But I can?” She pulled her hands down slowly and clasped them in her lap. “Isn't ordering the killing the same as doing it yourself.”

“I? Order you? My queen?”

“Oh.” Her mouth twitched. “What happens to me? I suppose I must claim the kill.”

“She tried to kill you.” The kipu's antennas jerked in short angular arcs underlining her irritation with Aleytys' stubborn refusal to see where her interest lay. “Don't be stupid. What choice have you? A life for a life. The hiiri for Asshrud.”

“What about my life?”

“What you carry protects you.”

“Explain about the hiiri.”

“Isn't it obvious? If Asshrud lives, the hiiri dies.” She straightened her mouth into an impatient fine line. “Need I say very very painfully? I only need one hostage to hold you and the migru will do just fine.”

“No. I believe you.” Aleytys looked down at her hands. She rubbed them together helplessly. “I need time.”

“Time? What for?”

“You don't understand.”

“I don't need to.”

“Right. You don't need to understand me. Just use me.”

“I knew you'd eventually realize where you stand.”

“Why don't you do it and give me the name? I can't deny it while you hold my friends.”

“No. I can't touch flesh of the queen.”

“No. You only order it.”

“That's different.”

“No.” She shrugged. “It's not different. But I expect you'll never see that. How long?”

“What?” The kipu frowned. “What's that mean?”

“How long do I have to make up my mind?”

“Now.” The kipu strode to the archway and paused, hand on the tapestry. “Make up your mind now. What choice do you have?”

“Don't push me.” Aleytys leaned forward, her face set in grim lines. “Unless you want a negative.” She slid out of the chair and stood up. “I need time.”

The kipu ran her eyes over the arrogant stance of the woman facing her. She capitulated. “Very well. I'll return with the morning meal. Have your answer. The hiiri or Asshrud.”

“Yes. Aleytys brushed the hair back from her damp and sweaty face, the momentary rebellion washing out of her leaving her feeling gray and wilted. “I know.”

She watched the kipu saunter through the arch. She felt strange … distant and remote … stomach clenching and unclenching … knotting spasmodically … head floating eerily … she stumbled out into the garden and sat down heavily on the bench by the stream, watching the water flow past, sparking silver in the moonlight.

The single moon floated lightly between slowly thickening clouds. “It'll be raining tomorrow.” Aleytys leaned back staring at her hands. “I can't do it.”

“What a bitch!” Shadith's purple eyes flashed with anger. “What do I do, Singer?” Aleytys spread her hands out, fingers trembling palely in the intermittent moonlight.

Harskari's golden eyes opened crystalline crackling cold. “You have two feet, Aleytys. Stand on them.”

“Harskari.…”

“Well?”

“You … all of you … you helped before when I needed you. On Lamarchos. You took out the horde master for me when I asked.” She let her head drop onto the seat back and closed her eyes. “I can't do it myself. I simply can't make my hands kill someone.”

“What do you want of us?”

“Help me!”

“To do what? What do you want of us?”

“Hey, go easy, will you, princess?” Swardheld's gruff voice held a hint of reproach. “She's just a kid yet. This is heavy stuff.”

“Cotton candy will keep her a baby. Is that what you want?”

“Well, you've picked a stunner to be stubborn about.” Shadith sniffed. “Come on, tanarno, I agree with old grumbler here. Let up on the poor kid.”

“Be kind. That's easy, isn't it. Makes you feel good, feel like a warm and loving person. Forget what it does to her.” The expressive voice snapped with knife edges. “Pander to her weakness. That's what you want?”

“Stop it!” Aleytys dug her fingernails into her palms and clamped her eyes shut until they hurt. “I know the situation. Dammit. I know the choice I have to make, the only choice I can make. I can't let Kitten die. And I'm not the kipu either. I know what my responsibility is if I ask you to do the killing for me. I am … I can't … I can't do it. I don't know how. And I don't think that it's any easier for you, my friends, for any of you, even you, Swardheld. You're a fighter, but this is slaughter. Damn distasteful execution. I don't even know if you can do it either. I only say this. Help me if you can. I need your help. Please.” She forced her eyes open and flattened her hands on her thighs. “My hands.” She looked down at them, rubbed them back and forth, watching the thin silky material of her nightgown bunch and stretch. “Nayid! Animals.”