The Traitor Queen (16 page)

A thump from the central room sent a chill through his
blood and he froze. Forcing his head to turn, he looked beyond the bedroom door and saw light in the room beyond.

Someone is in there
…

He dropped the barrier over the doorway and created one around himself, then rose and approached the other room cautiously.
Two slaves were in the centre of the room. A young man lay on the floor, a middle-aged woman crouched over him, one hand pressed
to his head, the other holding a knife.

Oh, no. Not again
.

But then the man blinked. He was alive.
She’s reading his mind
, Lorkin realised. She looked up at him and he recognised her as one of the kitchen slaves. “Lorkin,” she said. Removing her
hands from the man’s brow, she rose to her feet. “I am Savi. The queen sends her regards.”

Lorkin nodded. “How is she?” he asked automatically, then realised he ought to thank her first, since the man she had tackled
had probably meant to kill him.

“Dead.” She grimaced. “Two days ago.”

“Oh.” He thought of Zarala’s mischievous eyes and sense of humour and felt a wave of sadness. “I am sorry to hear that. She
was nice.” Then something occurred to him. “She wasn’t …? How did she …?”

“She came to the natural end of a long life.” Savi straightened. “Savara was elected in her place.”

Lorkin nodded again, not sure if it was polite to express pleasure at the news of a new queen when the old one had so recently
died. The spy had told him in a matter-of-fact way that suggested she didn’t expect him to comment. He was glad to hear Savara
had been chosen as the new queen. Not just because she had helped him many times and was Tyvara’s superior, but because she
was smart, open-minded and fair.

The spy turned to face the main door to the room. The reason for her distractedness came a moment later when Dannyl and another
slave stepped into the room.

Dannyl looked at the man on the floor who, despite being awake and staring at them all, wasn’t moving, then at Savi and Lorkin.

“What happened?” he asked.

Lorkin shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure.” He turned to Savi.

“There have been some additions and removals of slaves here lately that were suspicious,” she told them. “This one,” she pointed
to the man on the floor, “is no slave. He is a magician of low status. He was offered land and Ashaki status if he posed as
a slave and helped abduct Lorkin.”

“Abduct him?” Dannyl repeated. “Again?”

Her eyes warmed with amusement. “Not by us. He received the offer through a friend. He believes it came from the king, though
he has no proof of that.”

“Of course not.” Dannyl looked around the room, his gaze settling on the slave who had brought him to the room. “Is she …?”

“Trustworthy? Yes,” the Traitor replied.

“Good.” Dannyl looked at the younger woman. “Could you wake Ambassador Tayend and bring him here?”

The slave nodded and hurried away. She had not thrown herself to the floor, or even bowed, Lorkin realised. Dannyl was too
lost in thought to notice. He walked over to the man and stared down at him. “Not restrained,” he murmured.

“I have taken his strength,” Savi replied. “Would you like me to kill him?”

“No. Not yet, anyway. We should not discuss anything within his hearing or sight, though.”

The woman shrugged. A dome of white light covered the man’s face. “He won’t hear or see you. I am Savi, by the way.”

“Thank you for intervening, Savi,” Dannyl said. “So he thinks the king is behind this?”

She nodded. “Amakira probably intended to blame Lorkin’s abduction on Traitors.”

“After which he’d read Lorkin’s mind—”

“Attempt to,” the spy corrected.

“—torture the information out of him, and then kill him and make it look like the Traitors did it.”

Lorkin felt a chill run down his spine. Images of the tortured slave flashed through his memory.
I’m not sure I could endure as long as she did
.

A movement in the doorway caught everyone’s attention. Tayend entered, the young slave woman following. He took in the prone
man, Savi, Lorkin and Dannyl, then listened silently as all that had been discussed was repeated to him.

“What matters now is what the king will do when he realises his plan has failed,” he said. “We have no proof he arranged this.
To suggest it would be an insult. He may also decide he must remove Lorkin from the Guild House for his own protection.” He
looked at Lorkin. “Somewhere nobody will find him.”

Lorkin winced. “Can we pretend nothing happened?”

Dannyl and Tayend exchanged looks.

“We could,” Tayend said, “if it weren’t for this man. We can’t kill him. He’s meant to be the king’s property.”

Dannyl narrowed his eyes at the prone man. “Well, if we’re all pretending that he’s just a slave … we could say that we caught
him using magic, and demand he be removed. We’d have to wait until he regained his strength, or they’ll have to wonder how
any of us managed to strip him of power.”

“We can’t send him away. He knows Savi is a Traitor,” Lorkin protested. “If he tells the king that, she’ll be in danger.”

Dannyl looked at Savi. “Can you leave?”

She shook her head. “This House is being watched closely, day and night. Food and supplies are brought here. The slaves who
attempted to go out for other items have been stopped.” She looked down at the spy. “The king may still use his presence here
as reason to remove Lorkin to somewhere safer. I suspect there are other slaves here who may be Amakira’s spies, too.”

They exchanged silent, worried looks. Dannyl sighed and looked at Lorkin.

“We have got to get you out of Sachaka.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Tayend murmured. He looked at Savi. “I suppose this restriction of slave movement means your people
can’t arrange that?”

“If we could have, we’d have done it already.”

Dannyl shook his head. “I wish I’d known about this. I don’t expect to know everything, but the more I do the easier it is
to make decisions.”

“To tell you would reveal who I was,” Savi pointed out.

Dannyl turned to the Traitor woman. “Well, you have now and that could be to our advantage. Could you read the minds of all
the slaves here? Find out which are Amakira’s spies – and if any are magicians?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes,” she said, but with reluctance.

Lorkin frowned.
But that would reveal who she was to all the slaves. Yet how else do we find out which slaves are spies or potential abductors?
A chill ran down his spine as another option came to him.

She was not the only person in the Guild House who could read minds.

But if he revealed that he could, he would reveal much, much more.
I’m going to have to eventually, and I’m not letting another woman be tortured and killed because of me
.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

Dannyl and Tayend turned to stare at him.

“You know how to …?” Tayend’s eyebrows shot upward. “Oh!”

Lorkin saw Dannyl frown and braced himself for the man’s disapproval, but the man only shook his head.

“Don’t jump to conclusions, Tayend,” he said. “Sonea learned to read minds before she learned black magic.”

Tayend looked relieved. “Really? I thought reading the mind of an unwilling person was something only the black magicians
could do.”

Dannyl’s lips pressed into a grim smile. “We let people believe that. Like black magic, it’s a skill that would be too easily
abused.”

Tayend turned to regard Lorkin, his gaze sharp and thoughtful.
He’s wondering what else I’ve learned. Should I tell them the truth now? It might be seen as suspicious if I conceal it too
long
.

“Another piece of information you didn’t tell me so I can’t reveal it if I’m interrogated?” Dannyl asked.

Lorkin nodded.
He’s right. I can’t tell him yet
.

“Well …” Dannyl turned to Savi. “I’ll block all of the House’s exits to make sure nobody attempts to leave. In the meantime,
rouse the head slave and send him to the Master’s Room, where Lorkin will order him to bring all of the slaves to them to
have their minds read.” He looked at the failed abductor. “We should lock him up somewhere out of sight, too.” He sighed.
“This barely qualifies for the term ‘plan’, but it’ll gain us some time to think of a better one.”

“I’
m a bit … new at this,” Lorkin said, his expression apologetic as Dannyl sat beside him. “It may take a while.” Dannyl shrugged.
“Don’t hurry it. I have plenty to think about. Like a way to get you out of this mess.”

“Let’s hope we have time enough for both tasks.” Lorkin called one of the slaves over. The man threw himself to the floor.
Lorkin instructed the slave to kneel before him, then placed his hands on either side of the man’s head and closed his eyes.

Dannyl examined the rest of the waiting slaves. Aside from a few eyebrows rising in surprise, they showed no expression that
might indicate which were the king’s spies. He looked across at Tayend, sitting on the other side of Lorkin. The Elyne met
Dannyl’s eyes and nodded, perhaps indicating that he was keeping an eye on the slaves, too.

The Traitor woman, Savi, had assured him other Traitor spies would be among the slaves and would help should a fake slave
react to imminent discovery by attacking them. It would be better if they were not forced to reveal their identities, however.
As for the failed abductor, he had been locked in a stone-walled storeroom under the kitchen, watched over by Savi and Merria.

So. Time to get thinking
, Dannyl told himself.
If the king did arrange this, then he will know his plan has failed when his abductor doesn’t turn up with Lorkin. He may
already know it’s failed, if the man was supposed to deliver Lorkin by now. So what will he do?

He can’t do anything unless we reveal something happened, unless he had another spy in place ready to slip away and call for
“help”. So what if he did? If we claim Lorkin read the abductor’s mind and found out the truth, the king will insist on taking
the man away to check. The man will suffer some kind of accident so when Amakira claims the man was tricked into thinking
he worked for the king, nobody will be able to prove otherwise. He’ll then use the attempted abduction as an excuse to take
Lorkin away
.

If we pretend nothing happened, the king will know we’re lying. The abductor can prove otherwise
. Dannyl did not want to kill the man. Not just because he’d rather not have to murder anybody, but if evidence was found
that a Kyralian had killed a Sachakan – especially a free Sachakan – it would weaken the already shaky peace between their
countries.
And I’d end up in the palace prison for having destroyed the king’s property
.

What else could he do with the man? Smuggle him away? With the House being watched so closely that even a Traitor didn’t think
she could sneak out, he doubted they’d succeed.
If we kill him we’ll have to destroy the body completely or make sure someone else is blamed. I’m not sure how to do the former,
but it has to be less risky than the latter
. He shook his head.
I can’t believe I’m contemplating this
.

A faint hammering noise brought his attention back to his surroundings. Lorkin had sent the first slave away to the other
side of the room. He looked at Dannyl.

“I think someone’s knocking on the front door.”

With all slaves in the Master’s Room, there was nobody outside to greet anyone. “Well, that didn’t take long.” Dannyl muttered.

“It’s not too late for social visits,” Tayend pointed out. “According to Sachakan customs.”

Dannyl sighed and stood up. “I’ll go see who it is.”

Lorkin didn’t look reassured. “Should I … clear the room?”

“Yes, but …”
Where to put the slaves?

“Take them to my rooms,” Tayend offered. “You can continue the mind-reading there.”

Dannyl looked at the lone slave who had been read. “Is he trustworthy?”

Lorkin shrugged. “He’s not a spy, if that’s what you mean.”

“Good enough,” Dannyl beckoned to the man, who hurried forward and threw himself on the floor. “Wait until everyone but me
has left the room, then go bring our visitor here,” Dannyl ordered.

Within a surprisingly short time, Dannyl found himself alone in the Master’s Room. He drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly
and braced himself for a troupe of Sachakan magicians to emerge from the corridor. Only one set of footsteps reached his ears,
though, then a lone man appeared and hesitated at the threshold of the room.

“Achati!” The name leapt out of Dannyl’s mouth. “Ashaki Achati,” he quickly added, as proper formality dictated.

Achati’s forehead was deeply wrinkled. He searched Dannyl’s face as he hurried forward.
He looks anxious
, Dannyl thought.
He’s actually wringing his hands
.

“Ambassador. Dannyl.” Achati paused two steps away, once again gazing at Dannyl searchingly. “I must warn you of a plot. I
expect that you won’t believe me, but I had to at least try to warn you. The king has a spy among your slaves. Probably
a man, since we have few woman magicians and they aren’t trusted. He will try, some time in the next few days, to abduct Lorkin.
You need to keep a watch and limit the slaves’ access to Lorkin. And perhaps, to weed out the spy, you could use those interrogation
skills you put to use when we were looking for Lorkin.”

Dannyl stared at Achati in amusement and suspicion.
What is he up to? Why warn us when it’s already happened? Does he mean to trick us into trusting him? Has the king sent him
to check if his abductor has acted yet? Hmm. I guess I’ll have to play along and see where this leads
.

“When we thwart this abduction, what should we do then?” he asked. “Kill the spy?”

Achati shook his head. “No, you would be destroying the king’s property.”

“Only if the spy
is
a slave, and the king admits he owns the man.”

“Oh, he won’t admit to anything. He’ll claim to have no knowledge of the plot, and say the man was bribed by the Traitors.
When the man is revealed to be a magician, not a slave, you’ll be charged with murder.”

“Despite the fact that I didn’t know this?” Dannyl shook his head. “So he’s setting me up, then?”

Achati shook his head. “Not specifically, but if you were foolish enough to kill the man, it would give him the perfect excuse
to send you back to Kyralia.”

“Then what is the king’s aim? Ah. It’s to manufacture a good reason to claim Lorkin isn’t safe here and take him away.”

Achati’s mouth twisted into a grim but approving smile. “I knew you’d see the danger.”

“So what do we do? We won’t be able to pretend nothing
happened. The spy will inform the king of his failure. He’ll try again, or the king will send another spy to abduct Lorkin.
There may already be others here already, in case the first attempt fails.”

Achati grimaced. “If Lorkin can be smuggled back to Kyralia, you should arrange it.”

Disobey the king? That’s not what I expected
. “How?”

Pinching his lower lip between two fingers, Achati frowned. “If there are any Traitors among the slaves, they might be able
to arrange it.”

“With the House being watched so closely? I doubt it. Is this all a ploy to capture some Traitors?”

Achati opened his mouth to reply, but another voice cut him off.

“Well, well. Ashaki Achati. What brings you to the Guild House at this late hour?”

Dannyl and Achati turned to see Tayend stroll into the room. The Elyne’s lips thinned in apology as he approached Achati.
He glanced at Dannyl. “Merria is helping out,” he added quietly, reassuring Dannyl that Lorkin wasn’t dealing with the slaves
alone.

Achati nodded. “I was sent to make another attempt to persuade Lorkin to talk tomorrow, but …” He repeated his warning about
the abductor. “That is my true reason for visiting.”

“You think Dannyl should interrogate the slaves?”

“Yes, to find out which is the spy.”

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous? You said this spy is a magician? How strong is he? Is he a higher magician?”

“I don’t know,” Achati admitted. “Probably. He has been ordered not to kill anybody. He …” His gaze shifted to the doorway
Tayend had entered through. Dannyl followed his
gaze and felt a shock of surprise as Lorkin walked into the room.

The young man’s gaze met Dannyl’s, then slid away. His eyes were very dark and his face pale. Straightening his back, he gave
Achati a forced smile.

“Ashaki Achati. What brings you here so late at night?” Lorkin asked, his tone jovial but strained. “Come to take me back
to the palace prison?”

A strange, pained look crossed Achati’s face, then the man’s expression smoothed. “No, no. I am trying to prevent that.”

What was that expression?
Dannyl asked himself. Then he felt a jolt as he recognised what he had glimpsed: sympathy and sorrow. He felt his recent
doubts about Achati weaken a little.

“Achati has warned us that a spy among the slaves is going to attempt to abduct you soon,” Tayend said.

Lorkin’s eyes widened and he looked from Tayend to Dannyl. “Really?”

“Yes,” Dannyl replied. “Tomorrow night, or a following night.”

Dannyl was relieved to see Lorkin’s eyes narrow as he considered the implications. He looked at Achati again.

“Why are you helping us?” he asked bluntly.

“I …” Achati sighed and looked down, then lifted his head to regard Tayend, Lorkin and Dannyl in turn. “I don’t like how the
king is treating you. Sachaka may not need Kyralia as an ally, but it also doesn’t need another enemy. We received news a
few months ago that has divided our opinion. The …” Achati paused and frowned, then shook his head. “I see no way to explain
this without telling you: our spy among the Duna revealed that the Traitors proposed they join forces and attempt to take
over Sachaka.”

Dannyl felt a chill run down his spine.
I wonder
…

“Unh?” he asked.

Achati smiled. “I’m hardly going to tell you who our spies are, Dannyl.”

“No,” Dannyl agreed. “But Unh’s name did spark some interesting reactions from his people when I mentioned it. If it is him,
then I suspect they know he is a spy.”

“The Duna turned down the Traitors. Many of the Ashaki have concluded that the Traitors would not approach the Duna unless
they needed them, and they feel confident the Traitors would not win a confrontation with us.”

Was this why the Traitors had destroyed the Duna’s stone caves? Was it punishment for refusing to help?
Dannyl wondered.

“The king agrees,” Achati continued. “He does not believe the Guild is to be feared. He says you are a Guild of only two magicians.
It is more important to rid Sachaka of the Traitor threat before they become strong enough to beat us than to avoid offending
Kyralia and the Allied Lands. Only the voices of Ashaki who do not want to lose trade and peace with the Allied Lands, like
myself, prevent him taking the information from Lorkin by force.”

A tense silence followed Achati’s words. Lorkin was staring at the floor. The young magician sighed and narrowed his eyes
at Achati.

“You wouldn’t have come here if you weren’t willing to work against your king’s orders and wishes,” he said. “How far are
you willing to go?”

The Sachakan stared back at Lorkin. He looked uncertain. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “There’s a big difference between preventing
my king doing something foolish, and outright betrayal. What do you have in mind?”

Lorkin opened his mouth to reply, but did not get to speak.

“Take the spy away,” Tayend injected. “Make him disappear.”

Dannyl frowned. Though it was a test of Achati’s trustworthiness, it was not a good one. If Achati took the spy to the king
instead, the king would still claim that Lorkin wasn’t safe in the Guild House – and he would find out Savi was a Traitor,
too.

“No,” Lorkin said. “Take me.”

Dannyl blinked in surprise.
Maybe he hasn’t realised this could all be a trick to get us to trust Achati
. Tayend shook his head and laid a hand on Lorkin’s arm, but before anyone could speak, Lorkin raised his hands to stall their
protests.

“I’m not stupid. I know it’s a risk.” He looked at Achati levelly. “He could hand me over to the king, but judging by the
number of slaves here that aren’t slaves – and I don’t mean they’re Traitors – I’m going to end up back at the palace soon
anyway.”

This time the shiver that travelled down Dannyl’s back sent cold through his whole body.
Just how many spies are there? How many of them are magicians?

“All you need to do is smuggle me out of the Guild House and take me to your mansion,” Lorkin told Achati. “The Traitors will
arrange the rest. They will ensure the king does not know your part in my escape. In return, and not until I am sure of my
safety and freedom …” Lorkin sighed, then his expression hardened “… I will answer the question your king most wants to ask
me. I will tell you where the Traitors’ home is.”

Achati stared back at Lorkin, his surprise changing to thoughtfulness, then approval. He nodded. “I can do that. It won’t
be easy getting you into the carriage unseen but—”

“Lorkin,” Dannyl interrupted. “You don’t have to betray the trust of—”

“Let him go,” Tayend said. He met Dannyl’s eyes, his gaze sharp and unwavering, and nodded. Dannyl felt a stab of anger, but
it quickly faded.

Tayend wouldn’t do anything to risk Lorkin’s life unnecessarily. He must think this will work. Or that it is the only chance
Lorkin has
. Which meant that Tayend thought Achati was telling the truth.
How strange that it is Tayend who trusts Achati now, when I’m no longer sure of him
.

Dannyl could believe that Achati didn’t approve of the king’s actions, but it would take a lot to convince him that the man
was willing to go against his ruler’s orders, and risk that his actions would be discovered and considered treachery. He would
lose not just the king’s trust, but his position, reputation and wealth. And possibly his life.

But Dannyl couldn’t think of an alternative, so he watched in silence as Achati and Lorkin sealed their agreement with vows.
When they were done, Tayend beamed at them all.