The Destiny of the Sword (42 page)

“Incentives or threats?”

“Right!” That was tricky, though. Free swords despised money; some were even refusing the daily pittance they were offered for entertainment. “We need more harlots. The winning team will be sent to Dri as talent scouts to recruit in the brothels

and bring back the most enjoyable girls. All expenses paid. Do you think that will do it?”

The adjutant chortled. “That ought to get the blood pounding, my liege! The waiting lines are bad, you know.”

So Walh’e had been told. “And you must not threaten, or injure, or punish your men. You are to inspire them to dig for you. If you can do that, you have real leadership. Any questions?”

“When do we start, my liege?” asked Ukilio, the larger.

“Now.”

“At the end, my liege,” Unamani said, “can we have a day off before the flogging? I’d like to be well tested so I can do a good job on him.” The two exchanged glares.

“That’s fair enough. Add that, herald. Their swords, Lord Adjutant?”

I am a god, Walh’e thought. I play games with men’s lives. Yet a sporting chance was better than no chance. Being flogged to death was little worse than twenty,one lashes with the cat, and maybe—please, gods!—just maybe, the winner would be merciful. It would entertain all those other bored men out there. The betting would be ferocious.

Unamani and Ukilio took their swords and collided in the doorway with a duet of oaths. Then they were gone, almost running into Thana, who was accompanied by a tall and imposing woman in a richly embroidered blue gown. The two women stared in surprise after the departing Sixths.

Wallie sighed. Obviously today was Family Night, but Thana must be accorded precedence, although other callers were now piling up. She was not a vassal, so she made a formal salute, and he responded. Then she presented the scraggy, white,haired matron... Olonanghi, weaver of the seventh rank. Curious, Wallie escorted them along to the office and bade them to be seated, giving Lady Olonanghi the chair.

Thana still brazenly continued to wear her riverfolk bikini, the two yellow sashes, but no male was going to complain about that. With her usual confidence she took charge of the conversation.

“We shall not detain you long, my lord. I happened to hear from Nnanji that you were concerned over winter clothing. Wool cloaks, in particular, I think?”

So now Thana was getting into the graft?

“That is true.”

“Fifteen silvers, I think he mentioned?”

Wallie nodded. Nnanji was his oath brother, so Thana was his oath sister,in,law and—Great Gods!—was Brota his oath mother,in,law?

“Lady Olonanghi believes that she can make a better offer, my lord.”

But why to Thana?

The dowager raised a finger to her right eye. “My father was a swordsman, my lord, so I have a special place in my heart for swordsmen.”

Walh’e muttered a politeness, thinking mat many women had, although not usually so late in life.

Then revelation! “You are not, by chance, related to young Olonimpi, are you?”

The wrinkled face beamed. “My grandson!”

Now Wallie understood and hastily coughed to cover a smile. “A most promising lad. He is close to the front of our list of recruits, but of course we do have constraints on numbers..,”

“Perhaps we should discuss the cloaks, my lord,” Thana said in a cold voice—the intrigue was slipping out of her hands.

“We might be able to go as low as ten silvers per item,” Lady Olonanghi suggested.

“I was hoping to find a place in the cavalry for him,” Wallie mused. “Of course the competition there is outrageous—that is the prestige division, you understand... I beg your pardon, my lady, my mind was wandering. Did you say six?”

Lady Olonanghi bit her lip. “Eight, I said, my lord.”

*Then the contract is yours! And I do think we can find a spot for a lad of such obvious ability.”

“In the prestige division?” Lady Olonanghi purred.

“Certainly, I am told mat he is well qualified for the work.”

He took them out to Linumino to arrange details, while he wondered who was going to come out best in the resulting confusion. Thana and Katanji had both sold Olonimpi. Probably Ka,tanji. Thana was not in his class when it came to money.

And tomorrow Wallie would meet this maladroit Olonimpi

and kneel to the boy to give him his sword. For a First in the prestige division, he ought to make it a shovel.

More petitioners had now arrived, but again there was no doubt who took precedence. He forgot all about Thana as he watched Doa’s stately approach. He followed her into the office and closed the door carefully.

Then she smiled. As usual his loins almost burst into flame.

Today was the long hemline again; it varied. But the neckline fell audaciously low, and the pale,blue silk was as close to transparent as any fabric he had ever seen, clinging like lacquer. She was not wearing her lute, and her only adornment was the sap,phire he had given her, dangling on its silver chain.

The finances of the tryst desperately needed that gem now.

Doa sauntered across to close the drapes, and his eyes hung on every movement of that superlative body. Time and failure had not blunted his craving. Almost every night be squired her to some function or other, and always she would be asked to sing during the evening. Her dancing was superb, but intimate encounters like the waltz were unknown, so he rarely had a chance to touch more than her hand. They were a striking couple, he knew, towering over everyone else. She was the recognized prima donna, the star of Casr, a figure of awe to the epic,loving swordsmen. Even the liege lord could boost his prestige by being seen with such a companion. xHe told her of the invitations he had accepted earlier.

“Fine,” she said, the first word she had spoken. She went to lean against the fireplace, her favorite spot, to regard him with languorous amusement, her favorite occupation.

“What did you think of Mistress Sola’s exhibition the other nightT Doa said. “Did you notice what her husband...”

She was a scurrilous gossip, and a merciless mimic. Each day she came calling at about this time. She would review the most recent festivities, savaging the high society of Casr and the senior swordsmen. Wallie had very little interest in the topic, but he admired the skill of the performance. Sometimes he was moved to genuine laughter—Doa’s impersonation of Nnanji was unbearably funny—but usually he just sat in silence, smiling politely and dreaming lecherous thoughts.

And her real purpose in coming was to enjoy taunting him, teasing and luring like a hungry harlot.

She was mad, and so was he.

Today he felt no desire to indulge in the usual pretence. Last night he had visited Jja, in their cabin. The encounter had been a disaster, as his visits with Jja always were now. Oh, she had submitted, a slave had no choice. She had even pretended that she was trying to please, but her efforts had been those of a well,trained and skillful night slave. The woman he had known, the friend and lover, had vanished, and his attempts to call her back merely reduced Jja to tears and him to fury. He had no patience with her stubborn, silent recrimination. Doa, now—Doa knew how a senior swordsman must behave.

So he had Doa for social companionship and status, Jja for his physical needs. Why should he complain? Most men would have been more than satisfied with either.

He moved toward Doa, and her voice died away. She regarded him warily, and he stopped, knowing that any closer approach would bring on flashing eyes and claws, threats of violence and of screaming. Screams from Doa would be audible all the way to Vul.

“Why do you come here?’ he said.

“I thought you enjoyed our little chats, my lord.”

He shook his head. “Be honest for once.”

She regained confidence and chuckled mockingly. “Because your bodyguard knows where you sleep at night, darling. And whom you sleep with. Or should I say ‘without’? Right now, they believe, you are making up for it. Would you prefer that they knew the truth? The other boys would laugh at you!”

“They might laugh at you, also?”

She smiled. “I think not.”

He thought not, as well. Suddenly his hands were shaking, but how much from anger and how much from frustrated lust, he did not know. “What is the price, my lady? What does it take to buy a kiss? Or more than a kiss?”

“You know your promise, Shonsu.”

She had referred to that before. She had always refused to explain.

“I recall no promise.”

Now fee eyes flashed, but before she could speak, he said, “I told you to be honest! You are an acute observer of people, Doa. Even if you won’t admit it, you do know that I am not the other Shonsu.”

She stared at him in angry silence.

“You do know! And I do not know what the other Shonsu promised you. So enlighten me.”

Reluctantly she said, “To make me a queen.”

“A what?”

“A queen, Shonsu! Queen of Vul! You swore upon your sword! That was what you promised, and I expect you to deliver.”

Wallie went back to his chair and sat down, stunned. Queen of Vul? Had that been why Shonsu had attacked the sorcerers? Not to avenge the swordsmen, but to bed this woman? Forty,nine dead?

“Vul is a tall order, my lady. How about a smaller kingdom to start with? Tau, say?”

She smiled her feline smile. “That might suffice, at least for openers...” Then she saw that he was not serious and she flared in rage.”But I think I need a lesser present, to hold my interest in the meantime.”

He had showered her with gifts. “You own half the gems in Casr, Doa. What more?”

“A slave.”

“What slave?”

She stalked to the window and threw open the drapes. “It is well known that Shonsu owns the most beautiful concubine in the city. I saw her on the ship, briefly.”

He jumped up. “Never! You would mutilate her!”

“Maybe a little!” Doa swept to the door. “But I want her. Very soon!” She paused, as if to recover her poise. He had never seen her lose it so obviously. “I must go and practice some new songs.They will think you have been exceptionally speedy today, my lord. A new record!”

And then she was gone.

Wallie stared at the closed door. Queen of Vul? She must have been lying... And yet, whatever Shonsu’s motives had been in attacking fee sorcerers, he would certainly have thought about

making himself king of Vul. What else could he have done with a captured sorcerer city, except just raze it? So he might very well have offered Doa a place on his future throne.

The promise itself would not have got him very far, though. New songs, she had said—a threat. Wallie had fallen into the same trap as Shonsu had. One thing was now certain: Shonsu had never raped Doa. She undoubtedly derived a great, perverted pleasure from skirting the edge of violence with her constant invitations, but any man who attempted further intimacy would be immortalized at once in one of her satirical masterpieces, his reputation ruined forever, a public laughingstock.

He could not even jilt her, or the same thing would happen.

Give her Jja? The idea was unthinkable. But many married men kept concubines. It was one of the advantages of a slave,owning society. Perhaps Doa would settle for being queen of Tau?

And tonight, the masons’ dinner... business as usual.

Yes, back to business. Forcing thoughts of Doa to the back of bis mind, he stepped forward and opened the door. Outside there was loud laughter. Nnanji was perched on fee edge of Linumino’s table, doubled over with mirth. He rose, saluted without losing his grin, and then started laughing again. “Flogged to death by the Winner? Our liege knows how to motivate a man, doesn’t he, Lord Adjutant?”

He stepped past Wallie into the office, pausing to inspect his healing facemarks in fee mirror. “What can I do for you, brother?” As usual, he was in very good spirits.

Ever since Honakura had told him fee true prophecy, Wallie had felt uneasy in Nnanji’s presence. On the face of it, he was a soft,spoken, likable youth, as honorable as his brother was devious, totally without guile. He was good company and an incomparable subordinate. Yet he was also—as Wallie well knew—a completely unscrupulous killer. Wife fee tale of Dcon,dorina’s brother hanging between them, fee combination was disturbing in fee extreme.

Closing the door, Wallie pointed to the bruises and scrapes on his ribs. “How does a Seventh get so battered?” he asked.

Nnanji pouted. “A fraudulent Seventh? He takes on thirty,nine Sixths in order, starting at fee bottom—they all being his vassals,

so they can’t refuse. By the time he gets to twenty,two he’s battered! By the time he gets to thirty,nine, he’s going to be doing the battering, I think.” He grinned hopefully.

The Sixths were butchering him? That was not too surprising. The Boy Wonder was not popular with the older men. “You’re not scared that they’ll do serious injury?”

Nnanji shrugged. “I warn them—bruise all they like, but real hurt to a liege is a capital offense. They’re all terrified of you, brother.” Then he grinned again. “And when they hear about this well,digging contest...”