Jala's Mask (23 page)

Jala fidgeted with her rings, the metal bands clinking against each other softly. Azi glanced at her and put his hand over hers. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. She wasn't facing this alone. Whether he agreed with her or not, her father would have to listen to her now, in front of everyone. Or he'd have to listen to Azi, if not to her.

Azi stood, and the room fell silent.

“The Gana have no ships. Their island is burned. If not for the Bardo, their people would be starving. We're here to decide who will use their raiding routes until they have new ships.”

Azi paused for a moment, as though collecting his thoughts. Jala's gaze wandered over to the Kayet guards standing at attention in the each corner of the room. Was Azi expecting trouble?

Lord Orad spoke up during the pause. “Why should we lose our routes? The Nongo caused this invasion. They are responsible for the death of my family. Let them give us ships and sailors to rebuild.”

The Nongo ambassador sneered. “Maybe if Gana soldiers weren't so drunk they couldn't lift their swords, your family would still be alive, Lord Orad. We faced these invaders too. Nothing but old men whose bones rattled in their armor.”

Azi raised his hands, palms up. “Peace, my lords. We don't blame the Nongo. But Lord Orad has a point. If we all lend the Gana ships and sailors to sail them, they can rebuild, and every family can share the burden.”

“Nongo ships belong to the Nongo. They will burn before any strangers touch them.”

The Rafa ambassador shook his head. “Your plan is a good one, my king, wise and generous. Sadly, the Rafa have no ships to spare, as was shown quite clearly at the Sectioning.”

Azi turned to Jala's father. “Lord Mosi, you've shown your generosity and were the first to bring food and supplies to the Gana. Do you also disapprove of this plan?”

Jala kicked Azi's ankle under the table. He ignored it and waited for Lord Mosi's reply.

Jala's father stood slowly. “It doesn't seem that the Gana's plan will work, my king, unless you plan to take grayships for them by force. But there's a simpler solution. As you say, the Bardo have already helped the Gana far beyond any expectations. Let Lord Orad marry one of my nieces and take the name of Bardo. We will see to it that the Fifth Isle rises from the ashes stronger than ever before.”

Orad stared at Jala's father, his face tense. He opened his mouth to speak but hesitated a moment.

“My lord,” Jala's father said, “you have no choice. You know that.”

“I have the choice of honoring my people's wishes,” Lord Orad said. “We're grateful for your help, but we weren't told it came with such heavy strings attached. There may be no choice, but I'm not ready to give up everything yet.”

“Not everything,” Lord Mosi said. “Think of it as gaining a new family, not losing an old one. Or do you think your people will thank you for your blind stubbornness?”

The Rafa ambassador laughed. “You'd have us believe you do this for their good, Mosi? You care as much for them as a fish for fire. The Rafa were the first to feel the greedy hands of the Bardo around our necks. Now the Gana feel them too. Of course Lord Orad has no choice, when Mosi has no intention of giving up the Fifth Isle now that his men have overrun it. And who will stop him? Not our king. Not while this Bardo queen, chosen against the wishes of wise Lord Inas, rules alongside him. Rules, I say, but we see who rules her.”

“No,” Jala said. “If Lord Orad won't take the Bardo name, then the Bardo will leave the island. Though I hope we can stay long enough to help those in need.”

Jala's father froze, but he managed to keep the smile on his face and in his voice, though it didn't find its way to his eyes. “Of course my daughter speaks for the Bardo. But I believe Lord Orad will see the wisdom in our plan.”

Out of the corner of one eye, Jala saw Lord Inas's mouth twitch into a smirk. She tried to ignore it. “We're not going to bully Lord Orad into a hasty decision. If there's wisdom to be found, it will be there next week or next month as well.”

The Nongo ambassador laughed. “Maybe Lord Mosi's little bird isn't as well-trained as he might have thought. Looks like she's already forgotten all the pretty words you taught her, my lord.”

“You're making a fool of yourself,” her father hissed. This time even the Rafa ambassador grinned. Azi glanced from her to her father and opened his mouth to speak. But he didn't seem to know what to say or how to wrest back some semblance of control over this mess.

Her father's expression was determined, and Jala knew he was going to make things worse any moment. She stood quickly. “Lord Mosi, you will not address your queen this way,” she said, hiding behind the formal tone. “I will speak for the Bardo at this gathering. If you cannot keep silent, you may leave.” She forced herself to meet his gaze. He had to see now that she wouldn't let him do this. Not without causing a scene and making himself look weak.

Her father laughed in surprise, a short, sharp sound. “You think to tell me how I should speak to my own daughter? I taught you better, didn't I? Well, I'll teach you now.”

Jala's hands shook. She balled them into fists, so tightly her rings cut into her skin. He didn't care at all, did he? They already thought he was controlling her, which made everything that much harder for her, but now he was trying to prove it. “You may leave,” she said again. “Or stay, I don't care. But if you stay, you'll hear what I have to say whether you want to or not.”

Beside her, Azi found his voice and added it to hers. “Sit, everyone. We're here to talk, not war with each other.”

Jala turned to the Rafa and Nongo ambassadors. “If I guarantee that the Bardo will offer ships to the Gana without threat, will you do the same? We're the Five-and-One. We should be uniting against our common enemy, not tearing each other apart.”

The Rafa ambassador shook his head. “How can you guarantee us anything with Lord Mosi leading the Bardo, my queen? We've seen how little he respects your position. Once your back is turned, the Fifth Isle is as good as his.”

“If your daughter was sitting up there now, you'd do the same,” Jala's father said. “You're just angry because I got there first.”

Jala willed him to look at her, to see what he was doing, but her father's gaze was locked on the Rafa lord's face. She knew her father had never cared what she thought of the king he wanted her to marry. He didn't care about Azi at all, but she'd thought he cared about her. She was starting to see her father through the eyes of Azi, of Lord Inas, of even the Rafa lord. Greedy, grasping Lord Mosi. Once he'd gained control of the Fifth Isle, did anyone really think he'd be content to stop there? She was a stepping stone, one that could be set aside when it was of no more use.

The islands had to be united, but not under his reign. She looked at Lord Orad. The man's whole body was tense as he waited to hear the fate of his family. The Nongo lord was looking back and forth between her father and Azi. Azi's eyes met hers, questioning. What could they do? The Rafa lord was right. As soon as her father was out of sight, he'd take the Fifth Isle, regardless of the decision made today. He'd told her as much the day before. He thought he was invincible now, that because she was queen, he was nearly a king himself. And he wasn't going to back down.

The Rafa lord's words echoed in her mind.
How can you guarantee us anything with Lord Mosi leading the Bardo?
She couldn't. And so there was only one thing left to do, only one route her father had left open to her. Her father and the ambassadors were still arguing. It was as though they'd forgotten she and Azi were there.

Jala reached for Azi's hand. His fingers wrapped around hers, warm and reassuring. He still trusted her, and he needed her help.

She leaned close to him and pitched her voice low, for his ears alone. “The Rafa are right. As long as my father leads my family, we can't have peace. But that's one thing I can change.”

Azi's grip on her hand tightened. “Jala, no. Your father is still alive. You can't know what it's like to lose your father, not yet. You know I'd never ask you to do that.”

“I know.” That's exactly what her father had counted on. “But I have to.”

“You're sure?”

She nodded. Her mouth was dry. One more chance. She could give him that much.

She slammed her fist down on the table. The sound wasn't as loud as she'd hoped, but it got their attention for long enough. “Lord Mosi,” she said. “Will you agree to leave the Fifth Isle in peace?”

He pointed a finger at the Rafa ambassador. “So that he can take it as soon as I'm gone?” He swept his hand around, taking in the room. “Any one of them would take the island, especially your king. But I'm the one who took it, and I saved his life and many others in the process.” He saw Jala flinch at that reminder of what had happened on the Fifth Isle, and a smile tugged at his lips. He thought he'd won. He looked past her at Azi. “Will you go to war with the Bardo, my king, and undo all the good we, together, have done? And will the rest of you go against your king?”

“Lord Mosi,” Jala said. He hardly looked at her. Maybe he thought she wasn't important anymore. Maybe he was too fixated on his own victory, premature though it was.

It's for the best
, she told herself.
It has to be done.
All the things people say when they're about to do something they know they'll regret, something that will haunt them for years to come. Even if the words were true. Especially if the words were true.

“Lord Mosi, I remove you as head of the Bardo family.”

Now he did look at her, and for just a moment there was a look of surprise and hurt there that made her want to cry. All of the talking and whispering and shuffling in the room had suddenly stopped. There was only silence.

“I take away your name. You can have no family. You can captain no ships. Your wife will be a widow, and your children fatherless. From this day, until the day the ocean dries.”

His face twisted, the pain sinking deep beneath the surface and leaving only rage. “Who do you think you are?” he hissed at her. “I raised you. I taught you. I made you into a queen, and this is how you thank me?”

There was no going back now, she knew that. She had to finish what she'd started. She squeezed Azi's hand so tightly she was afraid she'd break his fingers. She fought back her tears. There'd be time for tears later, when the other families couldn't see. “Guards,” Jala called. “Take Mosi No-Name. Put him in a cellar. Bring him something to sleep on.”

Her father stared at her, then at Azi and their linked hands. He exploded. “You. You did this. You turned my own daughter against me. But it won't mean a damn.” He jerked forward toward Azi, but the guards were on him now. One grabbed his shoulder, and he kicked out at the man's kneecap. There was a sickening pop and a scream as the man toppled over. But then a guard punched her father in the kidneys, and as he turned, another guard tripped him and struck him in the face. Her father kicked out again, but his foot caught the guard in the gut instead of the throat. They held him down while another guard kicked him.

“Stop it,” Jala said. And to her surprise they stopped. They stopped and looked at her. “Don't hurt him any more than you have to. Even a No-Name deserves that much.”

Her father struggled limply as they raised him up by his arms. But though his face was bloody and swelling, his voice was strong enough to carry in the silence. “Orad!
Lord
Orad you call yourself, but you can't hide your family's disgrace. You let them take your grayships,
Lord
Orad. You didn't burn them when you should have.” He was looking at Jala now. “Lord Orad watched his ships sail away while his villages, his people, burned. Will your boy king help the Gana now? Will his precious Rafa marry them, do you think?”

Everyone stared at her father, then at Orad.

“Is this true?” Azi said, his voice barely audible.

“He lies. All of our ships burned,” Orad said. But his voice sounded dull and lifeless. He was lying and everyone there saw it.

The Nongo ambassador spoke first. “They won't make it to the mainland, not during the storm season. And even if they did, they have no navigators to feel which way the ships want to go.”

“They might learn,” Azi said. “Or their sorcery might help them. And once they learn how to navigate the Great Ocean, they can do so any time they wish and lead a thousand ships to our beaches.”

The ambassadors said nothing as they took in his words.

While Azi spoke, Jala's father was dragged out of the room. She wanted to go to him. She wanted to run and hide and never see him again, to never
be
seen again. To disappear somewhere where no one knew what she had done . . . not the other families, not Azi, not even herself.

“They have magic,” Jala said. She spoke softly, but they all stopped to listen. “Strong magic. Even if they didn't take any sailors with them, they'll figure it out. If they reach the mainland, I don't know if it'll matter what we do with the Gana.”

Then she stalked out of the hall and stopped the first Kayet she could get her hands on. “Bring me Boka the Trader,” she commanded. “And while he's with me, gather whatever clothes and things he might need for a long journey.”