The Exile and the Sorcerer (6 page)

Still fighting to suck air into her lungs, Tevi was hauled to her knees. The sound of striking flint was followed by the gentle light of a lantern springing into life. Tevi’s head cleared as her breath returned.

She found herself kneeling in the centre of the floor. Both arms were twisted behind her, sufficient to hurt and prevent her from moving but not enough to cause injury. Tevi twisted her neck. Brec was holding one arm; Laff, the other. In front of her, Lizard and the Queen sat on barrels. Red adjusted the lantern before limping over and joining the two older women. A cold fist clenched Tevi’s stomach: three judges and herself as prisoner. The hay barn was empty apart from the six of them.

The Queen spoke. “I take it you accept the authority of this court. Or would you prefer a public hearing?”

Tevi shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

“I thought as much.” Her grandmother leaned forward. “So what are we going to do with you? You really do present quite a problem.”

“She always has. I blame myself for bearing her,” Red interjected.

“Blame isn’t the issue. As I said, Tevi presents us with a problem. We have to decide what to do about it.”

Tevi was swamped with the bitter knowledge that her mother would be unmoved to see her provide the village with an afternoon’s entertainment in the quarry. “You’re going to have me executed.” She found her voice.

The Queen shook her head. “That’s an option, but not a very good one. I’d have to tell people why, and I’m afraid it would have a damaging effect on our family’s reputation. With war imminent, we cannot afford that sort of scandal.”

“So why have you engineered this?”

“Because you were all set to cause a scandal whether I acted or not. Knowing you, you’d set it off at the worst possible moment. That’s why I pre-empted things. Always meet trouble halfway. It lets you pick the battleground. I learnt that years ago. Right now, we’re in an awkward situation. Executing you will only make it worse.” The Queen paused while she brushed loose straw from her knees. “So I’m going to give you a choice.”

Tevi raised her chin. A pulse leapt erratically in her throat. “You want me to kill myself.” It would spare her the humiliation of public execution, but before she could weigh up the option, her grandmother shook her head.

“That would be a better way out, but not the best. If you commit suicide, people will talk. The gossip might even make things worse than they actually are. You can bet Queen Fearless-warrior will encourage the rumours. Even if you make your death look like an accident, it will be seen as bad luck. Coming on top of your mother’s injury and losing the chalice, we’d be seen as a very unlucky family. People would say the Goddess had turned her back on us, which won’t help in gaining allies.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to go,” the Queen said firmly.

“Where?”

“Anywhere. The farther, the better.”

“You’re exiling me.”

“In effect, yes. To do it officially would give free rein to the rumourmongers, so I want you to appear to go of your own accord. The feast tonight will provide a suitable audience. I want you to put on an act, like Brec did just now. Make a scene. Say the theft of the chalice is an insult to our family, and you can no longer sit back and do nothing. Swear that you’re going in search of Abrak’s chalice and won’t return until you find it.”

“But nobody knows were the chalice is.”

“So nobody will be surprised when you don’t come back.”

“And if I refuse?”

“I’ll have to think of something else. Maybe frame one of the women from Rathshorn for your murder. It might work in our favour, but it would be a very high-risk plan. Much better for you to disappear on a heroic quest. It’s romantic and will make for some good songs. But one way or another, I’ll make sure you don’t disgrace the family.” Steel had crept into the Queen’s voice.

Tevi raised her eyes to the roof. Shouts and laughter carried from the square. Someone was beating out a drum rhythm, displaying more enthusiasm than skill. Both Brec and Laff were shaking, even more than herself. A trap had closed around her. “It’s not a real choice, is it? All right, I’ll give you what you want. I’ll go.” The gasp of relief from her sister surprised Tevi.

The Queen nodded. “Let her stand.”

Tevi’s arms were released. A dazed numbness settled on her. She got to her feet, rubbing her shoulders, hardly conscious of the room. She did not look at Brec.

The Queen also stood. “Now I think we should leave as discreetly as possible, not all at once.”

Laff beat everyone to the door, wrenching it open and rushing out. Brec would have followed, but the Queen snapped, “I said, not all at once.”

Brec stopped dead. She leaned against the doorpost, her eyes fixed on the Queen. After a while, the elderly woman nodded. Brec marched off in the direction Laff had taken.

Tevi made no attempt to move until a gentle push sent her tottering through the doorway. She stumbled away like a sleepwalker, blind and deaf to her surroundings.

Lizard left next, after a brief exchange of regrets.

Alone with the Queen, Red ran her hands through her hair and scowled. “It’s the big disadvantage of being a woman; you can’t dispute who your children are. If I were a man, I could’ve questioned whether she really was mine.”

“Nor can I deny that I’m her grandmother, but unlike you, I’ll confess I’m saddened to lose her, particularly in this fashion,” the Queen said quietly.

“You can’t mean that.”

“But I do. And I also think somewhere deep inside, you’re grieving, too. Though I know you’ll never admit it.”

Red stuck out her chin. “That’s because I’m not. If I’d been in your place, I’d have gone for framing one of the Rathshorn women for her murder.”

“How can you say that? It’s your flesh and blood we’re talking about—mine, too.”

“Supposing she doesn’t leave the islands? Supposing she joins with Fearless-warrior?”

“She won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?” Red demanded.

“That’s what this whole charade was about. I could have spoken to her in private, explained my suspicions about her preference in lovers, and asked her to go. Then she might have fled to Rathshorn. I had to drive it home that she had no future on any of the islands. There’d always be the risk of rumours catching up. On top of that, my guess is she’ll want to get as far from Brec as possible. If she sails to the opposite end of the earth, she won’t feel it’s far enough.”

“Well, it’s my bet that she comes to a miserable end, no matter where she meets it.”

“Hopefully not. Anyway, she should do better than she would here. If only she knew it, I’ve done her a favour. She wouldn’t last five minutes in battle or five days as Queen. But if I thought she had a chance, I’d back her to the hilt.”

“You’ve always had a soft spot for Tevi.”

“While you’ve long preferred Laff. But let me tell you, Tevi would make a much better Queen. Leastwise, I’d feel happier passing Storenseg on to her care.”

Red laughed in disbelief.

“I’m being serious.”

“With respect, Mother, I think you are being blinkered.”

“Tevi is neither a fool nor a coward.”

“Nor is Laff,” Red retorted.

“Laff doesn’t think she can lose, and that’s a good starting point for disaster.”

“At least I can trust her.”

“You can trust Tevi. She’d never betray a friend. Unlike Brec.” Contempt was clear in the Queen’s voice.

“Lizard will tell you it took a lot of argument and downright threats to get Brec to go along with this. Come to that, it took me enough time to talk Laff into assisting.”

“She clearly wasn’t happy.”

“I’d have thought she’d be more eager for her chance to lead the war band.”

“I’ve always suspected she taunted Tevi more to persuade herself of her dislike than anyone else—as do you.”

Red scowled. “Anyway, it’s over now.”

“Oh, yes, for us.” The Queen looked at her daughter with clear disapproval. “We’d better get to the celebrations before our absence becomes too marked.” She stalked out.

Red collected the lamp and followed slowly, addressing her last comment to the empty barn. “I still think we’re well rid of her.”

*

The rush of waves over sand sounded soft on the night air. Stars peeked between shreds of clouds. Tevi lay in the lee of her boat, wrapped in an old wool blanket. She was warm and sheltered but could not sleep. The scene she had made kept running through her head. It had gone much easier than expected. Carried by the pain of her betrayal, her vehemence surprised even those expecting the speech. People had sat stunned, some with jaws hanging open. The Goddess alone knew what the women from Rathshorn had made of it.

Throughout it all, her mother had stared at the ground, lips compressed in a tight line. Laff’s eyes had darted nervously, not resting on anything, but particularly avoiding Tevi. No doubt some had added Laff’s guilty expression to the fresh bruise on Tevi’s face and drawn the wrong conclusions. Brec had been nowhere in sight. Only the Queen dared meet Tevi’s glare, but that ancient face, schooled by decades of intrigue, had given no indication of her thoughts.

The surge of emotion had carried Tevi on. She had gone further than required, swearing by earth, wind, and water not to eat another mouthful or sleep another night under her family’s roof until she returned with the stolen chalice. Now it was over, her rage had faded, and she was alone with her boat on the beach.

She placed a hand on the wooden hull, a small fishing boat barely fifteen feet in length. Normally, it held a crew of four, but without the need to handle nets, Tevi would have no trouble sailing it alone. Her grandmother had not said she could take it, but she could hardly be expected to leave Storenseg on foot. A day would suffice to stock the boat and gather her few belongings. Then she would be gone—forever.

Sounds from the feast were dying down. Only the occasional barked laugh or chorus of song disturbed the peace. The revellers were going to their beds. The poorest—the slaves and outcasts—would sleep crowded in rough shacks. The more fortunate would enter their family halls. In the Queen’s house, the members of her family, cousins, aunts and nieces, would settle around the fire. At the edges, men of the household who were not claimed by a woman would sleep with the young children snuggled to them for warmth.

In that hall, Tevi had slept virtually every night since she was born. She could imagine the scene. Many, overcome by drink, would already be snoring loudly. Young girls, too excited to sleep, would be whispering jokes and gossip. And then there would be the quiet noises of women amusing themselves with their choice of man for the night, the only privacy coming from darkness and custom. It would be appalling rudeness to watch or make comment, but of course, everyone knew who every woman’s lover was. Tevi realised she had been beguiled by the etiquette. It must have been so obvious that she always slept alone.

Even Great-Aunt Wirry, toothless and deaf, had taken a man four or five times a year right up to the month of her death. It had strained convention to the limit, only her great age sparing her. Like most deaf people, she underestimated the volume of her own voice. Tevi recalled once, when Wirry had snapped out, “What do you think you’re doing now?” Back in the days before hostility had grown between Laff and her, the two sisters had shared a blanket. Laff had cupped a hand to Tevi’s ear and suggested an answer so outrageous that she had been forced to bite on her arm to stop from laughing aloud.

The memory cut Tevi to the heart. Never again would she sleep in her family hall. She rolled onto her back and lay staring up. By now, Holric was silent. Tevi could hear the sea grass whispering in the breeze and then the sound of uncertain footsteps approaching.

She slipped from her blanket and crouched in the shadow of the boat. In the faint light, she could see a silhouette standing a few yards away. Tevi fumbled for her knife, worried that her grandmother might be putting another plan into effect.

“Tevi?” It was a quiet male voice.

“Who is it?”

At that moment, the moon drifted clear, illuminating the beach. Sparrow leapt forward and dived into her arms. Tevi was surprised to realise that he was crying.

“They say you’re going,” Sparrow said between sobs.

“That’s true.”

“Please don’t.”

“I’ve sworn an oath; I can’t break my word.”

Sparrow pulled back and sat upright. He turned his face from her. In the moonlight, his half-grown beard was invisible, and Tevi could see Brec’s nose and Brec’s high cheekbone. She had always known the source of the faint shadow of attraction she felt for Sparrow.

“You’re going to get Abrak’s chalice.”

“That’s what I said.”

“How will you find it? I was in the square the day it was stolen. This big black bird just picked it up and flew straight out to sea. They say it was heading back to a sorcerer on the mainland. The chalice could be anywhere. How will you know where to look?”

There was no sensible answer. In the end, Tevi mumbled, “I’ll talk to people on the mainland when I get there. Find someone who knows.”