The Skull Throne (52 page)

And then, a streak of light from the south, followed quickly by several more. The demon was prone now, an easy target, and the Angierians quickly emptied their quivers. The demon’s head seemed to explode as bolt after bolt struck home.

Back at the hall, they hung the demon’s great horns above Rhinebeck’s throne in the dining hall, and spent the night drinking and toasting.

Mese fell to one knee before Thamos, holding the count’s fine spear across his arms. “Your spear, Lord Commander.”

Thamos held up a hand. “I have others. Keep it,
Lieutenant
Mese.”

The man gaped, taking the spear and reverently laying it at the count’s feet as he dropped to both knees. “My spear is always yours, Lord Thamos.”

He lifted his new spear with a shout. “The lord commander!”

The other soldiers raised their tankards, sloshing ale. “The lord commander!”

Rhinebeck and his brothers raised their tankards and drank as well, but Rojer could see hatred and jealousy in their eyes as the men chanted Thamos’ name.

Thamos looked to Lord Sament. “This is Angierian courage, brothers. This is what you ally beside. The peace of the Pact and the loss of battle wards made us all soft, but the heart of a warrior lies in every Thesan breast. Unite with us, and we will drive the Krasians back to the sands where they belong.”

Sament crossed his arms. “Bold words, but what of the Hollow? Will you hold to the Pact as well?”

“The Hollow is mine,” Rhinebeck cut in angrily, “and will do as I command.”

Thamos grit his teeth, but he nodded. “It is as my brother says.”

“Do you have a plan for this glorious attack, Lord Commander, or is this just brash talk?” Sament demanded. “Euchor will not commit soldiers for the latter.”

Thamos nodded. “We send an army to make contact with Lakton and link our forces. Come at Docktown from the land even as the ships of Lakton sweep in from deep water. The siege will be crushed between us, and by the time spring thaws the bodies, we will have secured a permanent border.”

“And Rizon?” Sament asked.

“Will not be won in a season, or a year. But when they see the
Sharum
thrown back, the Rizonans will rise up. They outnumber the Krasians, if only they can regain their spirit.”

“Your plan takes a lot on faith, brother,” Rhinebeck said.

“Indeed,” Mickael agreed. “Do you even know how many of the desert rats there are in Docktown?”

Thamos lost a bit of steam. “Not precisely …”

“You cannot expect Euchor, or
me,
to commit men on such vague planning,” Rhinebeck snapped.

“We have scouts—” Thamos began.

“Not good enough.” Rhinebeck leveled a finger at him. “You will take fifty Wooden Soldiers south to view the enemy and make contact with the dockmasters personally. We will see what they have to say of your plan.”

Thamos blinked, and Rojer could hear the trap snap shut. The duke was giving him what he wanted, but fifty men to cross unfamiliar enemy territory? It was a suicide mission, and Rojer did not doubt the duke knew it.

Thamos bowed stiffly. “As you command, brother.”

“I will join you,” Sament said unexpectedly. “With fifty Mountain Spears.”

Rhinebeck and the other princes looked at him in shock, but the Milnese lord had that eager gleam in his eyes once more, and they knew he meant his words.

“It’s settled, then,” Rhinebeck said.

“When do we leave?” Gared asked.

“The morning after the Bachelor’s Ball,” Rhinebeck said. “But only Thamos will be going to Lakton. You, Baron, will choose your prospective new bride at the ball and return home with her. Hollow County is yours until the count returns.”

If he returns,
Rojer thought.

CHAPTER 21

THE WEED GATHERER

333 AR WINTER

Amanvah sipped her tea, watching Araine and Leesha coolly.

“Ask,” she said at last.

“Ask what, dear?” Araine asked.

Amanvah set down her cup and saucer. “Even if the dice had not told me your question, it is obvious, given the gossip in your court.”

Araine did not rise to the bait. “Do enlighten us.”

“You want to know if I will use the
alagai hora
to determine the cause of the duke’s inability to father, and if I can cure him with
hora
magic.”

Araine stared at her for a long time. “Will you? Can you?”

Amanvah smiled. “I have already determined the problem, and yes, I
could
cure it.”

“But you won’t,” Araine guessed.

“Would you, in my place?” Amanvah asked.

“Why tell us to ask, if you have no intention of helping?” Leesha asked. “Why cast your dice at all?”

“Even
dama’ting
cannot resist a mystery,” Amanvah said. “And I have helped you, by telling you it is possible. The rest you will have to learn for yourselves. I am here as Rojer’s
Jiwah Ka,
not a spy … or a
ginjaz.
”

“
Ginjaz?
” Leesha asked.

“Turncoat.” Araine’s face had darkened. “You’re a long way from home, Princess. We may yet convince you.”

Amanvah shook her head. “Nothing you can offer will change my mind, nor torture pull from my lips what I do not wish you to know. Solve your own problems.”

“If we fail to, you may be handing Angiers to Duke Euchor,” Leesha said. “He’d declare himself king, and make war upon your people soon after.”

Amanvah shrugged. “You seek that as well, or you are a coward. It does not matter. My father is the Deliverer. When he returns to claim your people, they will bow to him. I have no interest in your politicking in the meantime.”

“And if your father does not return?” Araine asked in Krasian. “If the Warded Man killed him in
Domin Sharum
?”

“The dice would have told me if my father was dead,” Amanvah said. “But if it were so, then the Par’chin is the Deliverer, and your people will be claimed all the same.”

“You don’t know Arlen at all, if you think that,” Leesha said. “He has no interest in thrones.”

“So long as your spears are pledged to him in the night,” Amanvah said. “As with my father. But deny this, as the Andrah and Duke of Rizon did, and the Deliverer will take them from you.”

“You’ll forgive me,” Araine said, “if I need more convincing than that before I hand over my duchy to an invading army, or a farm boy from a hamlet the size of my sitting room.”

Amanvah bowed. “It is not my place to convince you, Duchess. It is
inevera.
”

“Is that Everam’s will, or your mother’s?” Araine asked mildly.

Amanvah gave a gentle shrug of her silk-clad shoulders. “They are one and the same.”

Araine nodded. “Thank you for your candor, Princess, and for your help, such as it was. Will you excuse us, now? I wish to speak to Mistress Leesha in private.”

“Of course,” Amanvah said, her tone and bearing making it seem her own idea to leave as she rose and glided from the room.

Wonda peeked her head in as the woman left. “Need anythin’?”

“All is well, Wonda, thank you,” Araine said before Leesha could speak. “Please see we are not disturbed.”

“Ay, Mum.” Wonda seemed to nod with her whole body as she backed out and closed the door.

“Insufferable woman,” Araine muttered.

“Wonda?” Leesha asked.

Araine waved in irritation. “Of course not. The sand witch.”

Leesha dipped a biscuit in her tea. “You don’t know the half.”

“Can we trust her?” Araine asked.

“Who can say?” Leesha lifted the biscuit, but she had soaked it too long and the end broke off in the cup. “This is the same woman who slipped blackleaf into my tea on her mother’s orders.”

Araine raised an eyebrow at that. “No wonder you’ve a distaste for weeds. So she’s more interested in politicking than she claims.”

“She’s more than she claims,” Leesha agreed, “though she’s proven trustworthy enough since marrying Rojer. I don’t think she’s lying now, but neither do I think we have the whole truth. She may have hinted us toward a cure because the dice tell her it will weaken the North to keep the duchies divided. Or hidden the cause of Rhinebeck’s problem because Euchor will overreach and bring civil war to Thesa even as the Krasians press north.”

Araine squeezed lemon into her tea, though it seemed her mouth could wrinkle no farther than it already had. “I don’t suppose you can make a set of these dice yourself?”

Leesha shook her head. “Even if we stole a proper set, I haven’t a clue how to read them. It takes years of study, as I understand it, and is more art than science.”

Araine sighed. “Then for all our sakes, I hope you can succeed where every other Gatherer in my employ has failed. It’s pointless to guess at prophecies, even if I believed in such things.”

Leesha awoke with a start at the knocking. Her face was numb, and as she rubbed it she could feel the imprint of the book she had fallen asleep on. There was drool on the pages.

What time was it? The room was dark save for the glow of the chemical lamp on her table, illuminating the pile of books of old world medicine she had been studying. Wonda had turned down the lamps when she retired.

The knocking came again.

Leesha cinched her dressing gown tightly as she went to the door, but she had put on weight in recent months, and it strained in the front. She clutched the top in one hand to keep it closed.

Who could it be? She thought to call for Wonda, but they were in the center of the palace, with guards everywhere. If she wasn’t safe here, she wasn’t safe anywhere.

But her free hand slipped into her pocket, clutching her
hora
wand as she let go her gown to open the door.

Rojer stood there, and looking haggard. “We need to talk.”

Leesha relaxed instinctively, but Rojer had a look about him that filled her with dread. What was he doing back so soon? Everyone had expected the duke and his entourage to be away in the hunting lodge a week at least, but they had been gone but a single night.

“Is everything all right?” Leesha felt her chest constrict. “Is Thamos …”

“He’s fine,” Rojer said. “He led the party to bring down a rock demon last night. Hunting rockbirds and boar had little allure after that, and I think everyone wanted to be back in the city to ponder what they saw.”

Leesha breathed out her sudden panic. Thamos had sworn not to wed her with another man’s child in her belly, but with Araine’s support, she had begun to hope once more. If anything happened to him … 

“Mistress Leesha?” Wonda was in the doorway to her chambers, rubbing sleep from her face. The knife in her hand was the size of Leesha’s forearm. “Heard voices. You okay?”

“Fine, Wonda,” Leesha said. “It’s only Rojer. Go back to bed.”

The woman nodded, her shoulders drooping as she turned to stumble back to her pillow.

Leesha opened the door to admit Rojer, and he walked in a little too swiftly, jerking his head this way and that as his eyes searched the room. “Is anyone else here?”

“Of course not,” Leesha said. “Who else …”

Rojer looked decidedly uneasy. “Thamos hasn’t been to see you?”

“No,” Leesha said. “Why? You’re scaring me, Rojer. What’s happened?”

Rojer shook his head. His voice was so low she could barely hear. “Ears everywhere.”

Leesha frowned, but she went to the jewelry box where she kept her
hora,
opening small drawers to take the appropriate bones. These she arranged in a circle around two chairs. She slipped her warded spectacles on, making sure the wards linked and the circle activated.

“There.” She picked up the servant’s bell and moved to the circle, reaching her arm past the wards and ringing the bell vigorously. She saw the clapper strike, felt the vibration, but neither she nor Rojer heard a sound.

She took a seat, waiting for Rojer to join her. “Not a sound will pass through the circle. We can scream at the top of our lungs, and Wonda will keep snoring twenty feet away. Now what’s so secret you couldn’t even whisper it in an empty room?”

Rojer blew out a breath. “I think Rhinebeck and his brothers tried to kill Thamos last night.”

Leesha blinked. “You
think
?”

“It was a … passive attempt.” Rojer quickly related how the duke’s group had held their fire when the battle seemed to be going against Thamos, only shooting when victory seemed assured. “They didn’t try to hurt him themselves, but from where I stood, they seemed content to let the demons do the job for them.”

“There must be some other explanation,” Leesha said. “Perhaps there was a problem with their weapons.”

“All of them?” Rojer asked. “At the same time?”

Leesha huffed. It did seem unlikely. “But he’s their brother, and far removed from the throne. Why would they want him dead?”

“Not so far as all that,” Rojer said. “The royal families of Angiers are still stung from Rhinebeck the First’s coup two generations ago. If the duke dies without an heir, neither Mickael nor Pether will hold the throne without bloodshed, especially with the Milnese buying up allies throughout the city.”

“And you think it will be different for Thamos?” Leesha asked.

“Thamos has his own army,” Rojer noted. “One already bigger and better trained than his elder brother’s. At the rate the Hollow’s growing, it may soon be a match for Angiers and Miln combined. And Thamos is a hero, with more than one song to his name. Rhinebeck was too petty to even let his brother claim his own rockbird kill. How do you think he felt when Thamos shamed him in front of the other men?”

Leesha felt a stab of pain and looked down. She kept her nails short so they would not interfere in her work, but they were still enough to dig into her skin when she clenched her fists tightly enough. She forced herself to relax. “Have you spoken of this to anyone else?”

Rojer shook his head. “Who would I tell? I don’t think Thamos would believe me even if I told him, and Gared …”

“Would do something stupid,” Leesha agreed.

“There’s already been stupid to spare,” Rojer said. “I haven’t told you all.”

“Those idiots!” Araine clenched her fists, pacing with the strength and speed of a much younger woman.

“What are you going to do?” Leesha asked, when the old woman final slowed.

“What
can
I do?” Araine demanded. “I have no evidence but your Jongleur’s word, and Rhinebeck is duke. Once he sets his mind on something he can be stubborn as a rock demon, and I don’t have the power to overrule him.”

“But you’re his mother,” Leesha said. “Can’t you …”

Araine raised an eyebrow. “Use my magic mother powers? How often do you listen to yours?”

“Not often,” Leesha admitted. “And I usually come to regret it when I do. But Thamos is your son, too. Can you not beseech—”

“Believe me, girl,” Araine cut her off, “I’m not above playing every guilt and wile in my considerable repertoire to get my sons to alter course, but this … this is pride, and no man lets that go without a spear at his throat.”

She began to pace again, but it was slow, stately. She reached up, stroking her wrinkled chin. “He probably thinks himself quite clever. If Thamos is killed, he has one less rival. If Thamos succeeds and makes contact with the Laktonians, he can take credit for the whole thing.” She snorted. “It’s the closest Rhinebeck’s ever come to an attempt at espionage.”

She turned to look at Leesha, and smiled. “But just because we can’t stop it doesn’t mean we can’t turn it against him.”

“Oh?” Leesha asked.

“Rhiney and the others have never attempted espionage because they’ve never needed to. Janson gives them information, and they’ve never once asked where it comes from.”

Leesha felt a smile tug at the corner of her mouth. “You have contacts in Lakton?”

“I have contacts everywhere,” Araine said. “The dockmistress of Docktown was a friend of mine, did you know? Your Ahmann Jardir’s eldest son tried to force her to marry him when they took the city.”

“Tried?” Leesha asked.

Araine chuckled. “She put his eye out with the quill from the marriage contract, they say.” Her face went cold. “When he was finished with her, they say the lump of meat that was left barely looked human.”

Leesha remembered Jayan. Remembered the savage gleam in his eyes. She wanted to disbelieve, but it was all too plausible.

“We need the Krasians out of Docktown,” Araine said, “if we’re to take back the duchy and press them back to Rizon.”

“Everam’s Bounty,” Leesha said. “I’ve seen those lands, Duchess. The Krasians are entrenched. It will never be Rizon again.”

“Don’t be so sure of that,” Araine said. “I’ve been funding Rizonan rebels for months, and they’ve begun quite a bit of mischief. The Krasians in Lakton will be looking over their shoulders as their ‘safe’ lands burn. They won’t see us coming.”

“So Thamos has a chance?” Leesha asked.