The Godspeaker Trilogy (126 page)

Hettie … Hettie … who is this—this creature?

Apparently sated, Zandakar started chanting, a singsong litany in his own strange tongue. He was lost in his ritual, and there were tears in his voice. Such grief. Such sorrow. Such despair beneath the sun.

The knife he danced with, the one he’d taken from the footpads, was slipped through his belt. He pulled it out and held it before his face.

“Chalava!” he said, his tear-fractured voice knotting in his throat. “Azai azai chalava wei Zandakar. Wei navnaki, wei jokoribi, Zandakar wei, aieee, chalava, Zandakar zho huknuza!”

What was the knife for? What did it mean? Was it part of this dreadful ritual? Or was Zandakar planning something worse …

“Chalava! Huknuza zho Zandakar!”

Dexterity reached under his shirt and touched the crude wooden carving he still wore around his neck, that Zandakar had given him—it seemed a lifetime ago, now—back in Kingseat. Chalava .

Could that be a god ?

He knew some nations worshipped animals as gods. He knew the people of Haisun worshipped no god at all. And in Tzhung-tzhungchai it was thought God was the wind. Men listened to windchimes, to hear his voice.

Did Zandakar drink blood to learn his god’s desires?

Rollin have mercy, Hettie! What manner of man have you brought to us here?

And then he did cry out, because Zandakar slashed himself with the knife, slicing through sleeve and flesh on his left forearm, cutting more deeply and dangerously than he ever could with a stone.

“Zandakar! No! ”

It was madness, of course, to accost a man like Zandakar. He was thrown aside as easily as a dog tossed by a bull. He felt a sharp burning as the knife’s edge caught him and opened a shallow cut down his cheek. Ignoring the pain and the swift spurt of blood, he threw himself for a second time at the ex-slave because yes, he clearly was mad, and heard Zandakar let out a startled grunt and a whoosh of air as his elbow connected hard with the man’s belly. Remembering the way Zandakar had put Rhian on her back in the hotas he swung his leg round in a clumsy arc and was rewarded with another grunt.

Zandakar hit the ground on his back. Sickened, recalling Ursa’s tales of knife-fights by the harbour, knowing he had only a heartbeat of time, Dexterity dropped to his knees and with all his strength banged his fist onto the cut in Zandakar’s arm. Zandakar shouted. The knife fell from his fingers. Puffing, groaning, Dexterity tossed the blade aside and flung himself across Zandakar’s ribcage.

“Stay down! Stay down, you fool of a man! What are you doing? What were you thinking ?”

A stream of foreign words was his only reply. They didn’t sound cordial. Nor was the look on Zandakar’s blood-slicked face the smile of a friend. His lips were peeled back in a snarl of fury as he cursed the interference that had likely saved his life.

Abruptly aware of the pain in his cheek, Dexterity eased himself off prone Zandakar’s ribcage to sit on the ground, and pressed his fingers to the shallow cut in his flesh. “I’m sorry,” he said. “ Yatzhay, Zandakar. But if you think I’m going to stand idly by while you slice yourself to ribbons you’re very much mistaken. I lost far too much sleep over you in Kingseat, my friend.”

Silence. In the distance a rooster crowed. Dexterity looked at the blood on his fingertips.

How will I explain this to Ursa, I wonder?

“Dexterity wei understand,” said Zandakar. The anger was gone from him. He sounded lost, and empty. He didn’t sit up, he just sprawled like a dropped puppet and stared at the sky.

“No, I certainly don’t!” he snapped, wiping his fingers down the front of his shirt. “But you’re going to explain. You’re going to explain everything .”

Zandakar shook his head. “ Wei, Dexterity. Wei remember.”

Dexterity poked Zandakar’s shoulder. “Oh yes you do. You remember it all .”

“ Wei, Dexterity. Wei remem—”

“Don’t lie to me!”

Shocked, Zandakar stared at him, his pale blue eyes wide.

Dexterity leaned close, his heart drubbing his ribs. “Don’t lie,” he said again, close to a whisper. “You remember well enough. You’ve been keeping secrets.”

“Secrets?” Zandakar shook his head. “ Wei understand word secrets .”

“Truths, Zandakar,” he said sternly. “Things about yourself you remember, and say you don’t. Zho? ”

Zandakar said nothing, but his eyes showed he understood.

“I know you’ve been keeping secrets, Zandakar. Hettie told me.”

“Hettie,” said Zandakar. He sounded … resigned.

“Yes,” he said. “She told me you were about to do something stupid, too, and she was right.” Without asking, he snatched up Zandakar’s left arm and looked at the bleeding knife-wound in it. “Look what you’ve done, you foolish man! You might’ve severed an artery! You might’ve bled to death. Can you wriggle your fingers? Can you make a fist?” He wriggled his own fingers, to explain, then clenched them tightly.

If the wound still hurt him, Zandakar didn’t show it. He wriggled his fingers. He made a fist.

Dexterity sighed. “Well, that’s something at least. You didn’t slice through a tendon. And of course Ursa’s not here, is she? The one time she’s needed she’s off saving folk from scaleytoe!” He reached for Zandakar’s knife, tugged his shirt out and slashed off a length of it from around the hem. “So a rough bandage will have to hold you until she gets back.”

“Dexterity …”

“You be quiet!” he said fiercely. “And sit up. I need to bind this wound.”

Obedient as a puppet now, Zandakar sat up.

“We’ll have to invent another reason for this cut, you know,” he added, swiftly wrapping Zandakar’s hurt forearm. “We don’t dare tell Ursa the truth. She’ll go spare if she hears you did it on purpose and believe me, Ursa going spare isn’t something you take lightly. There. How’s that? I think it’s tight enough to stop the bleeding.”

Zandakar looked at the rough bandage and shrugged.

“You’re welcome,” Dexterity said, glowering. You troublesome man . “Next time I think I will let you bleed to death.”

Zandakar lowered his head, his skull glinting blue in the sunshine where his hair had started growing back. Flakes of dried animal blood fell from his face and spiralled to the ground. “ Yatzhay, Dexterity.”

Oh dear. Oh Hettie . He clambered to his feet and stuck the knife through his own belt. “Come on. We can’t stay here. The men’s dinner hour will be over soon. They can’t come back and find us like this.” He looked around. “There’s a pump and scrubbing brush there,” he added, pointing. “Wash as much blood off as you can, quickly. Then you and I are going for a little walk in the manor woodland, Zandakar, and you’re going to tell me who you are and where you’re from and what you know about this great danger Ethrea faces. Do you understand? No more secrets . The time for secrets has passed .”

For a moment he thought Zandakar was going to refuse, or fight him. Every muscle in him was tensed, and his pale blue eyes were rebellious. Then he let out a long, slow sigh. Bone by bone, he got to his feet. “ Zho, Dexterity. We will talk.” His eyes glinted, strangely. “But Dexterity wei like what Zandakar says.”

The first workers were returning to the farmyard when he and Zandakar made their escape, abandoning the cultivated manor grounds and slipping into the dappled woodland edging the ducal estate. Well-worn paths wound through the trees, with old hoofprints showing this was a popular place for the duke and his people to ride. It was pleasantly cool in the shade. Sunlight filtered through to the soft damp ground. Birds and squirrels danced and chattered in the leafy branches overhead.

Despite the green tang of wildflower and fresh air, Dexterity could still smell the rank stench of death. If he closed his eyes he could see the knife, slashing, the butchered animal carcasses, the blood pouring into Zandakar’s open mouth.

A fallen tree, bearded with lichen and cushioned with moss, barred their path a few paces ahead. They were deep in the woodland now. It was unlikely they’d be discovered or overheard.

“Here,” he said, stopping. “We’ll talk here.”

Zandakar slowed. Halted. His expression was guarded. If his cut arm pained him he gave no sign.

Dexterity perched himself on the fallen tree. Just two friends chatting, that’s what we are. And if I’m sitting perhaps he won’t get confrontational . Even with the knife in his own belt he didn’t feel entirely safe. You’d better be watching, Hettie. If he gets confrontational you’d better be ready to save me. In my world knives are for whittling, not killing .

There was little purpose to beating around the bush. “Who are you, Zandakar? Where are you from?”

Zandakar leaned his shoulder against the bole of the nearest standing tree. Washed clean of the animal blood, emptied of that dreadful killing despair, he seemed his calm self again … at least on the surface. But Dexterity thought an echo of that madness still lurked in his eyes.

“Listen,” he persisted. “I understand you’re wary. You’re alone here. You’re frightened and you don’t know who to trust. But you can trust me, Zandakar. Haven’t I shown that? Haven’t I proven that you can trust me?”

Zandakar didn’t answer. From his lack of reaction a man might think he was deaf.

Come on, Hettie. A little help, please . “Zandakar, we’ve reached a crossroads. There are things that must be said now, because you and I didn’t meet by accident. Tens and tens of thousands of lives depend on what we do next. Trust me. I won’t betray you. Do you understand?”

Zandakar nodded. “Zho.”

“And do you believe me when I say I mean you no harm?”

“You wei mean harm.” Zandakar shrugged . “Harm still come.”

And there was the voice of bitter experience. “Not if I can help it. Zandakar, this is important .”

Zandakar frowned. “Hettie say?”

“Yes. She did. She also said these secrets of yours are hurting you. And since you were cutting yourself open with a knife I think it’s safe to say she’s right. And I won’t have it.”

Zandakar’s blue gaze touched him and slid away. “Hettie dead.”

Oh dear. “It’s complicated. Do you understand complicated? Did you understand what I told Duke Alasdair—the king—in the manor library?”

“Dead Hettie speak to Dexterity.”

“Yes. She does. Today she told me to learn your secrets. She told me to keep them, and keep them I will. And please, Zandakar—” He held up a hand. “Don’t insult me by saying you can’t remember. We both know that’s not true. You remember just fine.”

Zandakar exhaled in a long, slow sigh. Let his blue-stubbled head rest against the tree’s smooth bark. “Zho.”

It came as an odd kind of relief to hear him say it. “Very well, then. We understand each other. So who are you, Zandakar? Where are you from?”

“My land is Mijak,” said Zandakar. His eyes lost their focus, staring into the woodland. Staring at memories.

Mijak . No, he’d never heard of it. “Is it a long way from Ethrea?”

Such a sadness in Zandakar’s face. “ Zho . Mijak far. Travel many moons on land, with slaves. More moons in slave ship. Mijak far.”

“And who are you in Mijak, Zandakar?”

Again it seemed Zandakar struggled to answer. Not with remembering, but with his willingness to trust. “Chotzu,” he said eventually, with reluctance.

“ Chotzu? I’m sorry, I don’t know that—”

“Chotzu!” Zandakar banged a fist on the tree. “Like Rhian.”

Like Rhian ? “Zandakar, in Mijak … are you a king ?”

“ Wei. Wei . Rhian before queen.”

“Oh! You’re a prince ?”

Zandakar shrugged. “Chotzu.”

Well. That certainly explained a few things. No wonder he carried himself like royalty. He was royalty. A warrior prince from an unknown land.

Who drinks animal blood and can kill six men without blinking.

“If you’re a prince—a chotzu —how is it you were sold as a slave?”

Zandakar said nothing. It was in his face, how much he hated to be questioned. How much he didn’t want to talk about his past.

Damn you, Zandakar. Don’t make me say what we’ll both regret … “Zandakar. Tell me.”

Zandakar’s fingers tightened to fists, his eyes full of anguish.

Dexterity stood. I have to do this. I have no choice . “If you don’t tell me I’ll tell Rhian you’re dangerous,” he threatened, his voice unsteady. I don’t want to be this man . “I’ll tell her Hettie told me to send you away. She’ll believe me. You know she will. You’ll be all alone, Zandakar. No friends. No home. No money to live. Is that what you want? It’s not what I want, but I swear I’ll do it. I’m your friend but I’ll do it.”

“Tcha!” said Zandakar. “Dexterity wei gajka !”

He stepped forward, heart pounding so hard. “How is it you became a slave?”

“Dmitrak!” said Zandakar, as though the word were cut from him with a knife.

He knew that name. He’d heard that name in Zandakar’s dreamings. “Who is Dmitrak?”

“Dimmi is—is—” Zandakar growled in frustration. “Helfred give word. Zho! Dimmi is brother.”

“Your brother sold you into slavery?” Dexterity said, horrified. “Why? So he could become chotzu ?” It was a popular theme, brothers usurping brothers for the sake of a crown.

“Wei.”

Oh. “Then who?”

“Vortka,” said Zandakar, still reluctant. “Dmitrak want to kill Zandakar. Vortka send Zandakar away.”

Another name from his delirious ramblings. “Who is Vortka?”

“Vortka—” Zandakar thought for a moment, his face softening. “Vortka gajka .”

He nodded. “I see. No, actually, I don’t. Your friend saved your life by making you a slave?”

“Wei!” said Zandakar. “Vortka send Zandakar away. Slave-men find. Slave-men take.”

Good God. I was right ? How amazing. “Zandakar. Who is Yuma?”

Zandakar’s face clenched in a spasm of pain. “ Wei. Wei talk more, Dexterity.”

“ Zho! We must.”

“Why?” Zandakar demanded. “Lilit gone. Wei talk Lilit alive.”

“I know,” he said. “I know it won’t bring her back. But not talking is killing you, Zandakar. Your secrets are killing you and I can’t let you die. I promised Hettie I wouldn’t. Don’t be afraid. You’re not alone. Whatever the truth is, we can face it together.”

Zandakar shoved away from the tree. “ Wei, Dexterity!”