The Daylight War (114 page)

‘Gone?’ Jardir asked.

‘Cut away,’ Hanya said. ‘There was only a scar in its place, and a tiny metal tube.’ Ashan and Shanjat’s auras told him they had already heard this news, but he could see the discomfort the topic gave them still. Everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably, Jardir included. Only Inevera and the
Damaji’ting
,
used to eunuch servants, were unperturbed.

Hanya’s aura told him the rest, though he could easily have guessed it. ‘Hasik woke, saw that you had seen his shame, and struck you.’

Hanya nodded, and Jardir turned back to Hasik. ‘Show me.’

The humiliation in Hasik’s aura was a scream in the air, but he stood slumped, not resisting as one of the guards pulled down his pantaloons, revealing that he had indeed lost his manhood. Jardir nodded to the guard, and he undid the strap, pulling the bit from Hasik’s teeth.

‘What happened to you, Hasik?’ Jardir demanded.

Hasik did not respond right away, his eyes still on the floor. ‘I thought it might grow back.’

‘Eh?’ Jardir asked.

‘If I killed enough
alagai
,
’ Hasik said. ‘If I bathed in their magic, I thought it might grow back.’

Inevera nodded. ‘It does not work that way,
Sharum
. What is severed cannot be regrown. You only closed the wound.’ Hasik slumped again.

‘Who did this to you?’ Jardir asked. ‘You will still answer for striking my sister, but you are my brother-in-law and one of the Spears of the Deliverer. Any assault upon you is one upon me, as well.’

Hasik looked at him, but his shame and fear were overwhelming, and he did not speak.

‘The Deliverer asked you a question, dog!’ Ashan barked. Shanjat punched Hasik hard in the face, knocking him to the floor. Still, the giant
Sharum
was silent.

He
would
rather
die
than
tell
me
,
Jardir realized. Fortunately, for a
Sharum
there were worse fates than death.

‘Strip his blacks, and burn them,’ Jardir said. ‘Cut off the hand he struck my sister with and throw him out in tan. I will dissolve his marriage and he can live out his days a crippled
khaffit
,
denied Heaven for all eternity.’

‘No, please!’ Hasik cried in anguish. ‘I have served you loyally! It was Abban! Abban the cursed
khaffit
!’ His aura said he was telling the truth, and upon hearing it, Jardir was not surprised that Hasik would have been ashamed to admit it.

Still, it presented him with a difficult problem. He looked to Shanjat. ‘Take a dozen men and find the
khaffit
. Bring him to me untouched. If there is so much as a hair out of place before I question him, it will be paid for ten thousandfold.’

Shanjat bowed, leaving quickly. Before long, he returned with Abban in tow. Hasik remained chained and noosed, but he had been allowed the dignity of his clothes once more. When Abban appeared, he recovered something of himself, seeming to slump as he prepared himself to spring. Jardir could see ghostly visions of him leaping at Abban as he planned the strike. If he could
break free and kill the
khaffit
,
the guards might slay him while
he still wore his blacks.

Jardir looked to the men holding the
alagai
-catchers. These were Spears of the Deliverer, and no fools. They were prepared, pulling tight as Hasik sprang and choking him to the ground.

He turned back to regard Abban, probing deeply with his crownsight. The
khaffit
had already guessed the purpose of the summons, but his aura was calm. He was indeed guilty, but expected to talk his way out of this unscathed. Normally, Abban was skilled at masking his emotions, but here his arrogance was without end. He looked at Hasik flatly, but his aura was one of utter disdain and more than a little satisfaction.

‘Did you castrate Hasik?’ Jardir asked, wasting no time on pleasantries. His anger was only growing. He might be left with no choice but to kill his bodyguard and most favoured advisor both.

‘No, Deliverer,’ Abban said. It was truth, but not the whole truth.

‘Did you order your
kha’Sharum
to do it?’ he asked, losing patience.

Abban nodded. ‘Yes, Deliverer.’

The men in the room all began angry muttering, but Jardir thumped his spear, and they fell silent. Abban still stood there, calm.

‘I gave you those warriors to protect your business and facilitate trade, not to assault my warriors,’ Jardir said.

‘And so I have,’ Abban said. He turned to Hasik, lifting his crutch to point at the chained man. ‘That one, frustrated with your decree that I not be harmed, has been taking out his ire in my pavilion. You send him to me frequently as your errand boy, and without fail, he takes the opportunity to steal, or break precious merchandise for the pleasure of it.’

‘And for this, you sever his cock?!’ Jardir demanded.

Abban shook his head. ‘Trinkets and baubles are easily replaced, Deliverer. My daughter’s virginity is not. Nor the honour of my wives.’

‘The
khaffit
lies, Deliverer!’ Hasik shouted. ‘I never …!’

Jardir gave a curt gesture, and one of the guards tightened his noose, cutting off his words. ‘I am Shar’Dama Ka, Hasik, and can see your heart. The next lie that escapes your lips will cost you your life, your honour, and your place in Heaven.’

Hasik’s eyes widened, and his aura went cold.

‘Did you rape Abban’s daughter, Hasik?’ Jardir asked softly.

Hasik was weeping openly now. He did not have the strength to answer, but he nodded. Hanya began sobbing again. Kajivah pulled her daughter in close, catching the tears on her breast while she glared daggers at Hasik.

‘And his wives?’ Jardir asked. Again, a defeated nod.

‘Nevertheless, this cannot be allowed to stand, Deliverer,’ Ashan said. ‘If
khaffit
– even
kha’Sharum
– can kill
dal
,
then all civilization crumbles.’

‘Your pardon, Damaji,’ Abban said, ‘but neither I nor my men have killed anyone.’ He gestured to Hasik. ‘As you can see, the Deliverer’s bodyguard is very much alive and able to continue his part in Sharak Ka.’

Jardir glared at him. ‘Why did you not come to me with this?’

Abban bowed as deeply as his crutch would allow. ‘The Shar’Dama Ka has more pressing matters than giving constant reprimands to overzealous
Sharum
and
dama
seeking to find loopholes to bully me without breaking your decree.’

Jardir did not miss the change in Shanjat’s and Ashan’s auras at those words. They, too, were guilty of the crime, if not so unsubtly as Hasik. He would have to deal with them in turn.

But then he looked back at Abban, and wondered. Abban was asking, nay,
demanding
,
the right to defend himself. The
khaffit
stared at him calmly, daring him to take the
Sharum
’s side over his.
If
you
are
fool
enough
to
turn
on
me
over
this, then my loyalty has been misplaced
,
his aura said.

Jardir sighed loudly. ‘Time and again, I have told men in this very hall that Abban is not to be harmed. He is my property, and any harm that comes to him will be from me alone.

‘Every man has the right to stop his daughter’s rape, or avenge it if he can. Even
khaffit
. Even
chin
. If Hasik was too weak to defend himself, then he was not worthy of the prize. His cock has gotten him in trouble for the last time. He has sons and daughters to carry on his name, and as the
khaffit
says, he is still fit for
sharak
.’

He looked to Hasik. ‘You have paid your due to Abban. The price for striking my sister is divorce, not only from your
Jiwah
Ka
,
but your other wives as well. I will not have my sister married to half a man. Hanya will keep her sister-wives, all your property and children.’ He could see how he was crushing Hasik’s spirit, but he did not pity the man. He still remembered what Hasik had done to him, all those years ago in the Maze.

‘You,’ he pointed his spear at the chained warrior, ‘will keep your spear, your shield, and your blacks. You are expelled from the Spears of the Deliverer, but Jayan will find you a new unit to fight for. None here will speak of your injury, and if discovered, you may say it was an
alagai
wound. Continue to win glory in the night, and you may yet see Heaven. Break Everam’s law again, with even so much as a cup of couzi, and I will see you cast into Nie’s abyss.’

He looked to Ashan and Shanjat. ‘I trust the lesson is clear to you, as well?’

Both men looked chastened, and nodded. ‘Good,’ Jardir said. ‘Make sure the other
Sharum
and
dama
know this as well. I will not repeat it.’

Inevera went immediately to her Chamber of Shadows when the audience was over. After the scene with her parents, she had wanted nothing more than to have some time alone with her husband, but it was not to be. The usual mass of courtiers and petitioners were lining up to make their pleas before the Skull Throne, and she had no patience to sit through it all.

She had hoped to save the blood taken from Abban’s kerchief for the right moment, but with his power – and boldness – growing, she could no longer afford to wait. She had not known Ahmann had given the
khaffit
warriors of his own, and it explained much. Still, she could not believe any
kha’Sharum
a match for her eunuch Watchers, trained by Enkido himself. They had killed
Damaji
’s wives in their beds while the men slept beside them.

Hasik had deserved his fate, and so, perhaps, had her Watchers, if they had been fool enough to be caught. But still the trend disturbed her. Already, the
khaffit
had tried to supplant her. How long before he attempted to strike at her again?

She had leached the blood from the cloth while it was still fresh, storing it in a sealed vial. She took this now, pouring it over her dice. ‘Almighty Everam, give me knowledge of Abban asu Chabin am’Haman am’Kaji. Can he be trusted to serve the Deliverer? Will he continue to strike at me?’ She felt the dice grow warm as she shook, and then cast them to the floor, staring at the brightly glowing symbols.

As always, she was prepared to follow their guidance, but she was not prepared for the answer.

– The
khaffit
is loyal to the Deliverer. Your fates are intertwined. Harm to one is the same as harm to the other.—

A
rlen breathed deeply, unused to feeling so afraid.

‘Sure you need to do this?’ Renna asked.

Arlen nodded. ‘Ent got excuse to put things off any longer. Hollow’s recovering, and they know what to expect now. Rojer’s Jongleurs are spreading word wide through the duchy, and folk will come from all over when they hear we won. Defences’ll be stronger by the next new moon than they were on the last. Equinox is just a fortnight away, new moon ten days after that. I’m gonna do this, need to do it now. Ent got time to ride all the way to Rizon. I’ll be careful. Won’t let myself be pulled into the Core.’

He turned to Renna before she could reply, seeing in her aura that he had misunderstood the question. ‘You weren’t asking about me skating so far. You ent sure I should go at all.’

Renna gave him a look that matched the annoyance in her aura perfectly. ‘That Jongleur’s mind-readin’ act of yours is startin’ to give folk the shivers.’

‘It’s not mind reading,’ Arlen said.

‘Heart reading, then,’ Renna said. ‘Makes you hard to talk to, way you glance at a body and know everything they’re feeling, even better’n they do themselves.’

Arlen laughed. ‘Creator, if only it were so.’