The Soldier's Lotus (34 page)

“
Abrexa’s
chain.”
The low-breathed
curse was
Talex
Chamri’s
.

Saerileth caught his gaze, and she felt tears begin to
prick her eyes. There he
was,
her untouchable foe. But
then she thought of Darien standing behind her, and she did not even need to
blink away the tears. They vanished of their own accord.

“
You all know who I
am,” said Saerileth, still holding up her bleeding hand. “I am Saerileth, Red
Lotus and concubine to Darien, late of His Grace’s navy.”

Darien murmured something incomprehensible to anyone apart
from Saerileth, but her keen ears caught the indistinct whisper of love.

“
But I am not only
this. I am also Saerileth
Kesandrahn
, last of my
noble line.” She opened her hand then, revealing to all the still bleeding
arrow shape on her palm. “And I have today claimed the one death that has been
owed to me since the slaughter of my clan. I took the life of Ulen
Ahnok
.”

For an instant there was total silence, but then Darien
stepped forward and swept her up into his arms. “Saerileth,” he whispered.

But there was an outcry among the nobles, though the
soldiers, Saerileth noted, said nothing.

“
You have brought
civil war on us, Lotus!”
One old man half-rose from his
chair.

“
Saerileth, you have
endangered the peace.” Even Kamen’s ragged voice was reproachful.

“
No,” said Saerileth
clearly.
“For I have nothing to do with your
Sunjaa
affairs.
I have done this on my own and in
accordance with the laws of my people. Thirteen years ago, Ulen
Ahnok
, then a captain in His Grace’s navy, took his ship on
an unrecorded mission. Unrecorded by your people, but not by mine, and there
are still living many
Sunjaa
sailors who can attest
to it. It is well known among the Zenji that a
Sunjaa
raiding party slaughtered my clan. By the grace of
Melara
and
Abrexa
, I alone was preserved from the outpouring
of death. I was but five years old. I have spent my life since that day seeking
for the one death that, by Zenji law, was owed me.” She glanced around at the
gathered men, who were silent, she judged, from horror. “We are a people of
tradition ourselves, noble lords, and it is in perfect accordance with Zenji
law that I have done this. As the last
Kesandrahn
, I
have taken the life of the one ultimately responsible for the crime.” She
gestured with her bleeding hand. “Here is the proof that I have claimed my
death. Here, on my hand, I have placed the scars of one who has been avenged.”
She turned her blue gaze on
Talex
Chamri
.
“You are a noble lord of my own people. You can tell them I speak truly.”

Talex
Chamri
nodded vigorously. “Yes,
yes. It is Zenji law.”

“
And if,” said
Saerileth, not giving him further time to speak, “Ulen
Ahnok
was slain by a Zenji for a crime against the Zenji, what affair is it of the
Sunjaa
?” She glanced at Kamen. “And if he is dead, then
there need be no sentence of any kind pronounced against him, other than the
one I have myself pronounced. He
can die
guilty of
crimes against the
Kesandrahn
, but not a traitor to
his king – nor would those who followed him now be in questionable state. Those
who fled the city could return without shame, for there would be no issue to
resolve. The whole affair could be swept down-river.”

The
Sunjaa
nobles exchanged
looks, and Saerileth saw by their lightened eyes that they were more relieved
than they had been upset. No one was sorry that Ulen was dead, least of all
Talex
Chamri
, who would now live
in possession of the pearl monopoly he had obtained without even the burden of
owing Ulen.

That knowledge stung, and when
Talex
Chamri
then began to prattle on of undying friendship
between the Zenji and King
Jahen
, she could not look
at him. It took all her strength to keep her countenance steady and her breath
even.

But then, even as the council began to speak with glad
voices of the coronation of King
Jahen
, Darien bodily
picked her up and carried her from the room. He swept her out, down the hall,
and into a curtained alcove. It was the work of moments, for he could move like
the wind itself when he chose.

He set her down once they were
alone,
and there in the dimness of the alcove, so cool and quiet after the heat of the
day and the stress of the throne room, Saerileth burst into tears.

“What have you done, Saerileth?” Darien’s words were not
reproachful; they were full of wonder, and he pulled her tight against him.

“I have given you a death,” said Saerileth. “I gave you
Lord
Itenu’s
life, and now I give you Lord
Ahnok’s
death.” Her tears still coursed down her cheeks,
and she hated the weakness. She was not sorry to have given up her vengeance
for Darien’s sake.

“Saerileth, you didn’t have to—”

“Yes, my love.” She looked up into those dark and depthless
eyes, into that dark face that was the sun of her world. “I did.”

Darien’s voice shook with emotion, and his clasp of her was
so tight that she could hardly breathe. “You knew that they wouldn’t kill him,
and you knew that I desired his death. But you have lost your own revenge. You
have given up
Talex
Chamri
for me.”

“Yes.” Saerileth forced her tears back. “I did, and I would
do it again. It was more than a desire for Ulen’s death, Darien. You
deserved
his death. He had wronged you so many times, in so many ways. I did not care
about his treachery. Why should I when the rest of the
Sunjaa
did not? But he wronged
you,
and that I could not let pass.”

“Saerileth.”
Darien lifted her up off her feet and pressed his mouth to
hers. “I will make it up to you, beloved. I promise.”

“Your kiss is more than enough to make it up to me.”
Saerileth succumbed to Darien’s passion, and his mouth devoured hers.

Chapter Twenty

The timbers of
Mirsa’s
Crown
groaned as the ship rocked in the harbor. Darien looked down at the
worn planks that comprised the quarterdeck. She was an old ship, had seen many
battles, had crossed the sea countless times, and would not see many more
summers. But the thought did not sadden Darien, for all things must change. He
had realized this when his world was turned upside down the moment Saerileth
had come into his life.
Saerileth.
Red Lotus without
equal, she who loved her Darien and put his good above
even
her own. She had foregone her lifelong vengeance for his sake, and the thought
made Darien miss his Lotus all the more. He ran his finger along the black
bracelet of her hair. The voyage to the
Dimadan
would
be a short one. It had been decided that the
Sunjaa
fleet would see the Zenji fleet back to its homeland, thus finally securing
Arinport completely. Though Ruben commanded the fleet and captained the
Crown
herself, Darien had asked to go along, a request the admiral had immediately
granted. Darien said he was not certain the Zenji would not try any
shenanigans, so he wanted to come along as added insurance. Ruben welcomed the
company, but when he questioned Kamen’s conspicuous absence, Darien simply
cited his wounds as an excuse. The real reason was that Darien did not want to
be around Kamen, not because he no longer liked him – quite the contrary. He
loved Kamen, and he did not want to torture him with his constant presence.
Darien assumed that the sooner he was out of Kamen’s life, the sooner his old friend
could move on.

“Clear all moorings,” Ruben cried out over the decks,
sending his men scrambling up ropes toward the ship’s edge. They cast off and
took the lead. The moons rose over the eastern expanse of dark sea, and the
harbor waters ebbed. The ships sailed out into open water and pointed their
prows at the rising double-moons.

****

The fleet sailed on in silence and without incident until
the moons were hanging in the bright, night sky directly overhead. That was
when Darien issued forth from his bunk below decks and woke Ruben.

“What is it, Darien?” The captain wiped at his eyes, rising
in instant readiness, a vigilance born of long practice as a sailor.

“Sorry for the disturbance, Captain.” Darien stepped into
the cabin. “I need to speak with
Talex
Chamri
. Something Saerileth wanted me to tell him.”

“Right now?”

“Now.”
Darien could wait no longer, could not let Saerileth’s
vengeance go unfulfilled. He thought of her bleeding palm and how she had cried
in his arms. She had given up everything for him.

Ruben moved over to his wardrobe, exchanged his nightshirt
for a tunic, threw on a vest and sash, pulled on his boots, and walked out onto
the main deck.
“Whatever you need.”

The Zenji flagship was hailed, and they answered. Though
the hour was late and there was some initial confusion, the pale-faced sailors
finally admitted Darien aboard their ship. They were, after all, no longer
enemies, so what harm could come? Darien was great among the
Sunjaa
. To deny him would be a slight to Arinport, a risk
Darien knew they did not want to take. With Ulen freshly killed, they needed
all the allies they could get.

“Get
Talex
Chamri
out here.” Darien towered over the first Zenji sailor to meet him.

The sailor fetched his master, and soon the fat, irritated
face of
Talex
peeked out of the main deck’s cabin.
“What is it?”

“I have a message for you from the Red Lotus, Saerileth.”

Darien read the sudden fear in
Talex’s
eyes, but that fright soon passed, and a self-satisfied twinkle lit his blue
orbs.

“I will hear the gracious words of our loveliest Lotus.”
Talex
stepped out the door and, all smiles, walked over to
Darien.
“So, what news?”

Darien drew back his arm with lightning speed and punched
Talex
in the nose. Blood burst from his face, and
Talex
collapsed to the deck clutching his nose, his scream
muffled through his cupped hands.

The Zenji sailors drew their swords and surrounded Darien,
but he was faster. He sprang at
Talex
and snatched
him up by his hair, standing behind him and placing his enemy’s kneeling body between
his legs, bringing his head back to rest against his chest. Darien wrapped his
arm around
Talex’s
soft neck and squeezed.
Talex
smelled like women’s perfume.

“Kill this black dog.”
Talex’s
voice was a croak.

Darien stared down the Zenji sailors. “You might want to
think carefully about your next move.”

The veiled threat was enough to delay their attack, and
Darien knew his reputation as a warrior would buy him only a few moments. He
squeezed a little harder. “Speak, murderer. Tell them how you slaughtered the
Kesandrahn
clan. Tell them how you got fat off their
spilled blood.”

But
Talex
would not speak. He
held his tongue and thrashed against Darien’s arm, a futile effort that the
large warrior had no trouble countering.

“Kill me, and
it’s
war,”
Talex
said, his voice croaking out of his throat.

“Refuse to speak,” Darien said, “and it will most certainly
be war, for I will order my fleet to sink every Zenji ship in the sea.”

“But you won’t survive.”

Darien shrugged. “Saerileth gave her life’s vengeance for
me. I’m happy to offer my life to her in exchange.”

“You’re bluffing.”
Talex
struggled ineffectually a little longer. He was old, weak, and fat – no match
for Darien’s strength.

Darien pulled out his hand-held mirror and angled it toward
the
moonslight
. “Sure about that? One signal to the
Crown
,
and you and I will be dicing with
Nistaran
by night’s
end.”

The sailors shifted from one foot to the other, inching in
and closing their distance. They would attack any moment.

“If your men injure me, the
Dimadan
will burn for it.”

Talex
tilted his head up far enough to stare back at Darien. The
little fat man’s eyes burned with hatred.