The Traitor Queen (32 page)

“No,” Saral said. “I will take the first watch. Alone.”

Regin shrugged. “Then where should we sleep?”

“The second suite. If Tovira returns in the middle of the night, he’ll probably head straight for his bedroom.”

Regin nodded, then looked at Sonea and headed for the
door. She followed, amused that he had taken the lead, when in most instances since the Traitors had joined them he had waited
for her decisions.

The second suite had beds in three of the rooms. Sonea picked one at random and sat down on the bed. Looking around, she noticed
smaller versions of Ashaki clothing hanging on a hook. A jewelled jacket overlapping plain trousers …

“What did Osen say?”

She looked up to see Regin standing in the doorway.

“How’d you know I contacted him?”

He shrugged. “An easy guess.”

“Saral said we must stay here until Savara summons us, then asked if that was okay. Osen said it was fine. They want to be
sure we don’t interfere.”

“If Lorkin was in trouble, you would.”

She looked up to find him smiling knowingly. “Only to save him.”

“That’s still interference. Not that I wouldn’t understand.”

“Osen thinks that if Dannyl and I both wear his blood rings, I may get to witnesses the battle through Dannyl.”

Regin looked thoughtful. “That would be a good way around the Traitors’ restrictions.” He frowned. “If the Traitors are struggling,
we’ll know because Saral will leave to help them. Will you follow her?”

Sonea looked away. “Maybe. Probably. But you should stay here.”

“I go wherever you go.”

She felt her heart skip.
That would sound so romantic in less dangerous circumstances
. “No. You’ll put yourself in danger for no reason.”

“You’ll be more of a target than me,” he told her. “Which
reminds me …” He moved over to the bed and sat down. “You should take my power.”

Conscious of how close he was, Sonea turned to face him. “What if Tovira returns tonight? You won’t even be able to shield
yourself.”

“I doubt I’d last long anyway.” He held out his hands.

She stared at them as reluctance welled up inside her.
Too intimate
, she thought.
What if he senses something? It wasn’t likely when we were on the road. We only touched as long as was necessary. Others were
watching
.

“You really need to get over your fear of your black magic,” he told her.

“I’m not afraid,” she told him. Not entirely a lie.
Not exactly the truth, either
.

“If you take my power, I promise I won’t go with you into the city,” he offered.

She met his eyes. He looked back at her, his gaze level and his expression serious. She felt a flash of amusement.

“You won’t go into the city because I ordered you not to,” she told him.

He shrugged. “So we have an agreement?”

Sighing, she took his hands and tried to ignore how warm they were. Closing her eyes, she took the power that flowed from
him and stored it away.

D
annyl stared up at the ceiling, blinked and then pushed himself up onto his elbows.
What …? Something woke me
. He frowned.
Someone called my name? Or was I dreaming?
He created a globe light and peered out of his bedroom door to the main room of his suite.

Was it Tayend? Or Merria? Has someone broken into the Guild House, as Achati and Kai warned?

—
Dannyl
.

He jumped at the mental call.
Osen!
He sighed in relief that the source of disturbance was in his mind, not the Guild House. Then relief melted away. Osen had
called him openly, which any other magician could hear. He wouldn’t do that unless he had something important to tell or ask
Dannyl. Getting up, Dannyl dug into the pockets of yesterday’s robes, found Osen’s ring and put it on.

—
Osen. Sorry. I was asleep
.

—
Then I apologise for waking you. You hadn’t contacted me at our agreed time
.

Dannyl paused. He wasn’t entirely sure what time it was. With no slaves to wake him, and no windows in the suite, it could
be midnight or midday.

—
What time is it?

—
An hour before the first classes start here
.

Since the sun always rose a little earlier in Sachaka, it was mid-morning. Was the battle over? Or had it not even begun yet?
He was amazed that he’d been able to sleep at all. But then, he, Tayend and Merria had stayed up late, and drunk more than
a little of the Guild House’s supply of wine to ease their anxiety over being stuck in a city at war, and the possibility
of being killed out of vengeance or for their magical strength.

—
I spoke to Sonea last night
, Osen continued.
She and Regin are staying in a house on the outskirts of the city. The Traitors have ordered them to stay there until summoned
– which will most likely be when the battle is over
.

To know that Sonea was close was reassuring, though Dannyl wasn’t sure why. Perhaps she could come to his rescue, if the House
was attacked.

—
Unfortunately this means she will not see how Lorkin fares, or know who is the victor. I have been considering the warning
Achati and your former slave gave you, that the Guild House may be targeted. Is there anywhere else you can go?

—
Somewhere we might witness the battle?

—
If that can be arranged without compromising your safety and that of Merria and Tayend
.

Dannyl considered. The ship Achati had arranged to wait for them would be a safe place to be, but one of the reasons for that
was that the docks were far from where fighting was likely to take place – so not a good vantage point. Where would the battle
most likely occur?
The palace, eventually. And Achati’s mansion has a view of the parade leading to the palace. Perhaps if we climbed onto the
roof
…

—
Can you get there safely?
Osen asked.

Dannyl felt a chill at this reminder that his thoughts were open to the Administrator, thanks to the blood ring.

—
Sorry. I am finding it hard to curb my impatience. Merin wants news and I was hoping you or Sonea would have contacted me
by now
, Osen sent.

Dannyl smiled in sympathy. For the Kyralian king to be putting pressure on the Administrator directly meant that he’d grown
so anxious about the Sachakan situation he wasn’t content with High Lord Balkan’s reports.

—
I suspect getting to Achati’s house will be the dangerous part, but we will see if it can be done
, Dannyl sent back.

—
Don’t take any unnecessary risks. Oh, and Sonea will be wearing one of my blood rings. We’re hoping she will also be able
to see what you see
.

—
And come rescue me if something goes wrong?

—
That would create less of a political mess than if she has to rescue Lorkin. Hmm. It could be a way to get the Traitors to
let her enter the city. They’d find it harder to justify preventing her coming to the aid of the Guild Ambassador than of
her son
.

Dannyl’s heart skipped.

—
You want me to get into trouble so she has an excuse to enter the city?

—
No. But maybe we could pretend you are … No. Not unless we have to. Get yourselves to Achati’s house first, then we’ll consider
other ideas
.

—
Very well
.

—
Good luck, Dannyl
.

—
Thanks, Osen
.

Slipping off the ring, Dannyl dressed quickly in fresh robes. He paused to look back at the room. Was there anything else
he ought to take with him?
My notes? No. They’ll be safer left here than with me. If I’m killed, this place might be looted, but no looter will want
notebooks. Later someone might go through our belongings more carefully. Hopefully a Guild magician, who will see the value
in them. Maybe Achati … if he survives
.

Pushing that thought aside, Dannyl turned and strode out of his suite in search of Merria and Tayend.

Lorkin sat cross-legged, his back against a wall. The Master’s Room of the estate the Traitors had gathered in was crowded,
but they were taking care to keep clear a narrow path from corridor to corridor so that messengers could move about quickly
and without tripping.

This was the third location Savara’s team had moved to during the night. The second had been another abandoned mansion; then,
towards morning, they’d slunk through the silent city streets to a more defendable house chosen to be the gathering place
before the final confrontation with the Ashaki. Lorkin hadn’t slept, and doubted that anyone else had either.
Not that I would have been able to if I’d had the chance or there’d been room to lie down
. A Traitor entered the room and looked towards him. He turned to see who it was and his heartbeat quickened as he saw it
was Tyvara. She smiled and made her way over to him. There was no space for her to sit beside him, so he stood up. She handed
him a vest.

“This is for you,” she said, raising her voice so he could hear her in the noisy room.

He felt his stomach do a little flip as the weight of it settled into his hands. All of the Traitors wore these vests. They
were covered in small pockets, each holding gemstones fixed into settings of wood, stone or precious metal. He’d assumed he
would be fighting without stones, since he’d had no training in using them in battle.

“It’s easier to use if you put it on,” Tyvara told him.

“Give me a moment,” he retorted. Shrugging into the vest, he found it was a little tight around the arms.

“I thought it would be a bit small,” Tyvara said, trying and failing to bring the buckles and straps at the front together.
“But it’s the only one we could spare.”

“Well, it’s what’s in it that’s important,” he said.

“How the stones are arranged helps you find them if you can’t look away from the enemy, so if the fronts are flapping about
you might grab the wrong one. But I guess you aren’t familiar with their positions anyway.” She sighed and looked up at him,
her expression serious. “Just remember: the left side is for defensive stones, the right for offensive. The stronger ones
are to the centre, the weaker to the sides. Make sure that if you take the vest off you don’t turn it upside down with the
pockets unbuttoned, because if they fall out you won’t know which is stronger or weaker.”

Lorkin repeated what she’d said. He hadn’t seen the Traitors using stones when fighting up to this point. He guessed that
they were saving them for the main battle, or that the stones were more useful in a bigger confrontation. The only stones
he’d seen used so far were defensive, like the barrier stones that Halana had been setting when she’d been ambushed. Those
had created simple shields, but others had been activated that used a shield as an alarm, not strong enough to prevent a person
passing though but emitting a noise when they did. He had also seen a stone, accidentally activated, produce an opaque white
non-resistant shield, and Savara had a stone that would block noise.

“The bigger pockets hold basic shield and strike stones,” Tyvara told him, patting a row of larger pockets near his waist.
“The shield stones are all strong enough to hold against a few strikes, but how many or how powerful depends on the limits
of each stone. Always be ready for their depletion with a shield of your own magic.”

She flipped open the top flap of a pocket and pulled out one of the stones. The setting was like a short spoon, with the gem
filling the bowl. “Hold it like this.” She pinched the handle between two fingers and turned the concave side outwards. “Press
your finger into the back of the gem to activate it. Face the gem away or you’ll direct the shield or strike at yourself.”

“That would be embarrassing,” he noted.

A glint of humour entered her gaze. “And potentially fatal. Which would be embarrassing to me. I’ll be forever known for choosing
a very stupid man.”

He chuckled. “What about the other stones?”

“This will be harder to remember. Shield stones have stone settings, strike stones have wooden ones. The rest use bronze,
copper, gold and silver, with different textures on the handle so you can recognise them by touch.” She took these out one
by one, describing what they could do. One was for noise-blocking, another would make an ear-splitting sound. A few could
produce light, for illumination or signalling. One made a short, constant firestrike for cutting or burning, another used
forcestrike to project any small missile set into the bowl. Another pair were designed to explode after a delay, though she
warned him that it could be after anything from a count to ten to a few hundred.

Then she pulled out a handful of rings from her pockets.

“Most of the vest stones are single-use stones. These are multiple-use ones, so don’t throw them away when they’re depleted.
The smallest are for communication,” she said, slipping two rings holding iridescent gems onto his little fingers. “They don’t
activate until you press them down into the setting, against your skin. The one on your left hand connects with the ring I’m
wearing, the other was going to connect with Halana, but Savara will now be wearing her rings. Don’t use hers except in urgent
situations. You could distract her at a bad moment.

“The dark red ones are strike stones. The pale blue are shield stones.” She pressed them onto his first and second fingers,
then held out the last two. “These are new to us, and we don’t have many of them. The clear one … you gave Halana the idea,
actually. We’d never bothered to make stones with the
sole
purpose of storing magic to be retrieved later as pure magic, rather than to be channelled to a purpose.”

“A storestone!”

“Yes. We have about twenty of them. They have only the strength of three average magicians stored in them. Halana didn’t want
to risk adding more, and most of Sanctuary’s strength was being taken and held by Traitor magicians – which made it instantly
accessible rather than having to reach for a ring. If these were strengthened in peace time, however, they could be more useful.”

He took the ring and slipped it on the last free finger of his right hand.

“And the other?

“The purplish one,” she grinned, “is a Healing stone.”

“
Kalia
made it?”

“No. A stone-maker read her mind, tested what she’d learned
on a volunteer, then made a few stones. She says the stones have been taught to boost the body in whatever Healing it’s already
trying to do.”

Lorkin picked up the ring and examined it. “Smart. That way, if it works, it won’t matter what kind of wound needs Healing.
The wearer only needs to know how to use magical force to hold bones in the right position so they don’t heal crooked, or
the sides of wounds together, or to remove poisons, infection or a build-up of blood. It wouldn’t work for using Healing beyond
what the body needs, like easing pain, or tiredness, though. How many did she make?”

“Five. Wait … easing tiredness?” Tyvara frowned. “You can stop yourself feeling tired?”

“Ah … yes. I didn’t mention that when I was in Sanctuary, in case it made people feel more … well … annoyed with me.”

“Does it take much magic?”

“No.”

“Could you ease my weariness, or Savara’s?”

“Yes.”

She waved a hand as he tried to give the ring back to her. He looked at her hands. She wasn’t yet wearing any of her rings.
“Do you have one?”

“No.”

“Then take it. There’s no point in me having it. I can do all these things already.”

“Savara said you’d say that, but insisted I offer one to you anyway.”

“I appreciate the offer, but she’d be doing me more of a favour if you wore it.”

“Why would I need one, when I have you?” Taking the ring, she smiled. “She wants to see you.”

She caught his hand in hers, and led him across the room and into a corridor. Savara was in the main suite, surrounded by
people talking in groups or arriving and leaving. Looking around, Lorkin recognised all of the Speakers – except Halana, of
course. Seeing him, Savara held up a hand to the woman she was talking to, then walked over to meet him.

“Lorkin,” she said, her eyes dropping to his vest then up to meet his gaze. “All prepared for the fight?”

He patted his chest. “Yes, thanks to you and whoever prepared this for me.”

Tyvara held out the purple ring. The queen smiled and nodded. “Give it to Speaker Lanna.”

As Tyvara moved away, Savara stepped a little closer and suddenly all sound ceased as a barrier surrounded them. Her expression
became hard.

“Has she given anything away?”

Guessing she meant Kalia, Lorkin frowned. “No. All I sense is guilt. I’ve caught her thinking that she is a fool a few more
times.”

“Not even a hint that she is planning something?”

He shook his head. “I wouldn’t lower your guard, though.”