Waterdance (27 page)

Peri laughed bitterly.

“It’s quite a jump from escaped traitor to prophet,” she said.

“No jump at all,” Seba corrected. “The prophecy was made long before you or even I drew breath. But, you see, I knew the prophecy for truth, and as the signs unfolded, I knew it was my destiny to see it fulfilled. I had the means already; I only awaited the perfect time, and of course the Harbinger, Perian, and you so kindly obliged me.”

“What do you mean, you had the means?” Peri said slowly. Was there some army gathered that neither she nor Atheris knew about, poised to march into Bregond?

Seba smiled.

“When I reached the temple at Rocarran, I found they’d already received a most interesting prisoner,” she said. “One taken well before the first true engagement, but forgotten in the confusion. He’d been taken in simple nightclothes, after all, and was badly injured, near death. All the healers had gone to join the army, and in his state he couldn’t be questioned to learn his identity. But I knew him immediately. Ah, yes. For of all the people in Sarkond, I was probably the only one who had ever seen the face of High Lord Elaasar of Bregond.”

Peri froze, and Seba chuckled.

“Ah, yes. The greatest disgrace of the Bregondish people—the disappearance of their High Lord during the Sarkondish raid which took the lives of his lady and two of his daughters. Agrond and Bregond mourned him with all due ceremony. Your mother and her sisters mourned him. But nobody ever really knew, did they? And that was Bregond’s shame—and your mother’s even more so, for she knew the truth of why it had happened. And here he was brought, and here he lives still, disgraced even as I was, by life.”

It took Peri a long moment to force enough breath into her lungs to speak. What Seba said couldn’t be true. It couldn’t.

“You’re lying,” she whispered through dry lips.

Seba laughed, unoffended.

“Am I?” she said lightly, standing. She tossed something into the cell. It sparkled on the floor. “Is this a lie? Or have all your truths suddenly become lies instead, as once they did for me?”

Peri knelt and picked up the Signet of Bregond with shaking fingers. She clutched it tightly, biting her lip so hard it bled.

“Why are you telling me this?” she whispered.

Seba smiled.

“Because I’m going to offer you a choice, young Perian—the same choice I had. A dishonorable death, or an even more dishonorable life.”

Peri laughed bitterly.

“You expect me to believe that you’d give me a choice?” she said. “You have no reason to let me live, especially knowing what I know. And I’m your Harbinger, aren’t I? Your sacrifice.”

“Not at all,” Seba said smoothly. “The prophecy requires the royal blood of an enemy, you see. And as I’ve just told you, that we already have, and a High Lord, no less!

“So you may choose. If you prefer, we’ll sacrifice you. It isn’t a pleasant death, I’ll warn you, and such a death at our hands won’t be the honorable ending you’d like. Your spirit would never fly home on Mahdha’s wings, and we’d still have High Lord Elaasar, of course. But at least you’d never have to face your disgrace, would you?

“Or you choose to live, to carry a message back to Bregond for me,” Seba continued. “However unpleasant his death, I imagine your grandfather would find that ending a mercy now. You can go home, face your disgrace, become an outcast as I did. It would be amusing to see if you fare better than I have.”

Peri gazed at the signet, still almost too shaken for speech.

“You can’t expect me to make a choice like that,” she said faintly.

Seba chuckled.

“Oh, you’ll choose,” she said lightly. “You’ll choose, because you must. Think on it, young Perian—only a short time, for that’s all I can give you now. Think on the value of your life.” Then she was gone in a swirl of silken robes.

“Do you believe her?” Atheris asked softly. “That she has your grandfather?”

Peri turned the ring in her hands. She tried to tell herself that the signet could have been taken from High Lord Elaasar’s dead body, but she knew better. If the High Lord had died by his own hand, he would have first taken measures to assure that the signet would not be recovered by the enemy—buried it or had one of his guards swallow it or some such. If he could not die then, he would have still done anything he could to keep the signet from being taken. And if her grandfather was dead, Seba had no reason to release Peri. Unless that offer was false, too. But to what purpose?

“Yes,” Peri said shortly. She clenched the signet tightly in her fist. “I believe her.”

“But why release you?” Atheris said slowly. “The Bonemarch would never allow it, so she must be acting without their knowledge. Even if she does not need you for the sacrifice, why let you return to Bregond to betray her plans?”

Peri shook her head.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I think—I think she wants me to tell them about my grandfather. I don’t think there’s anything in the world that would shake the people of Bregond more than knowing that their High Lord was shamefully taken captive by Sarkonds, that he’d survived all these years, only to die now to serve Sarkondish purposes. I can’t even imagine what that would do to the people—or to Aunt Kairi or Mother, for that matter—if that were known. But why wait all these years to do it? There’s got to be something else, something more, and for the life of me I can’t figure out what.”

“If she is truly mad, as you say,” Atheris murmured, “then how could we possibly understand her reasoning?”

“Because she wants us to understand,” Peri said, shaking her head. “She wants somebody to know what she went through, why—unless that’s it,” she said suddenly. “Can it be as simple as that, just plain revenge for what happened to her? She was captured by Sarkonds as a child, and that made her outcast in Bregond forever. But then Brisi and her allies in the temples found a use for Seba, told her she could serve Bregond, even save it. She was just a child, frightened and desperate, and she believed in the temples, in their authority. She did what she was told, believing she was serving the greater good of Bregond and restoring her honor. And then, after it was all done, she realized she’d been betrayed again—tricked into
becoming a traitor to her own country, nowhere to go, nobody to help her—
”

Peri shook her head again, grimacing.

“That’s got to be it,” she said. “To her, I’m a younger version of herself. I’ve been captured by Sarkonds. I’ll never be accepted in Bregond again. So Bregond’s lost its Heir. I’d have to go back to Agrond instead, and when the truth about my grandfather comes out, that blow will shake Bregond even harder. And it’ll hurt Mother, too—but at the same time Seba’s returning me alive to her. She knows Mother will take me back—Mother accepted her, after all. Mother and Aunt Kairi will be shamed in Bregond’s eyes because their father didn’t manage to kill himself, and Mother discredited in Bregond for accepting me back—and then we’ll all have to live with that knowledge, that pain, just as Seba’s had to live with hers. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t Mother’s fault or mine. It wasn’t Seba’s fault either, all those years ago, but that didn’t save her.” Peri sighed. “Mahdha forgive me, Atheris, what am I going to do?”

Atheris did not look at her.

“Go home,” he said quietly. “Go home to your family, Perian, and fulfill Seba’s plan and live. I know your Bregondish custom, and perhaps I understand it. But I have tasted both life and death, Perian, and believe me when I tell you that life is better. Even with pain, even with sorrow and loss, even with shame, life is better.”

Peri did not answer. Yes, she’d rather be alive than dead, even with the pain of what she knew, even as an outcast from Bregond, even with the shame that she’d been unable to take her own life. Yes, she’d pay that price to live—but, as Danber always said, “Only a fool turns over his gold without checking the horse’s teeth.” And she was far from certain that her life was worth the price that her mother, and all of Bregond, would pay with her.

But possibly—just possibly—there was another choice.

She turned to Atheris.

“Atheris,” she said slowly, “do you believe in that prophecy about the waking of Eregis?”

Atheris lowered his head.

“I have always believed in it,” he said simply. “As you said, what other hope did my people have? It was only the interpretation I ever questioned, not the message itself.” He shook his head. “Even now I cannot refuse to believe. I want to doubt, but a part of me clings to that hope still.”

“Then think about this,” Peri said deliberately. “If these things are destined to happen, then events will shape themselves to make it happen, the same way that everything we did pushed me on to the temple here. Am I right?”

“Yes,” Atheris said cautiously. “Yes, you fulfilled your role as Harbinger despite your best efforts.” He flushed.

“Then if this is really the time that Eregis will rise,” Peri said, “nothing you and I can do will stop it—in fact, anything we might try could just as easily be part of the plan. Right?”

Atheris frowned.

“I suppose so,” he said.

“Then I’ll make a bargain with you,” Peri said grimly. “I’ll need your help. Help me, and I swear to you, by what’s left of my honor, that I won’t stand in the way of your prophecy—and if that means my life, then I’ll give it. Bargain?”

Atheris hesitated.

“I trust your honor,” he said quietly. “But how can I help you?”

“All I want is—” Peri began, then fell silent as she heard the outer door open. Too late—the Whore had returned, and now all she could do was hope that Atheris had enough faith in her to follow her lead.

Seba stopped a short distance from the bars.

“You look resolved,” she said, smiling. “Have you decided to accept my offer?”

Peri hesitated.

“What about the Bonemarch?” she said. “Are they just going to let me go, just like that?”

Seba laughed.

“They can’t prevent what they don’t know,” she said. “Tonight you’ll escape. It’s as simple as that. There will be a search, of course, Bone Hunters dispatched to find you. But with a little care on my part, it will be some time before your absence is discovered. Few are permitted down here at all, so you shouldn’t be missed too quickly.”

Peri paused thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded briefly.

“I’ll go back,” she said. “I’ll take the signet and make sure they know what really happened to my grandfather. That’s what you want, isn’t it? But I want something in return.”

Seba laughed.

“In return! I offer you life instead of death by torture, and that’s not enough?”

“I want him,” Peri said, pointing at Atheris. “I still have to get back through Sarkond. I had to travel in disguise before, and his magic was all that kept the Bone Hunters from finding us more than once. Without his help I might never reach the border alive, and that won’t serve your purposes, will it? And you can’t exactly give me a guard escort, can you? Besides,” she added practically, “my own escape will look a lot more credible to the Bonemarch if they believe I had the help of a heretic trying to escape his own punishment, won’t it? Give him a priest’s robe and we can actually make it through Sarkond without someone killing us.”

Seba chuckled.

“And how do you think your family will react when you bring your Sarkondish lover home with you?” she said gently. “Well, no matter.” Her voice hardened, and her gaze held Peri’s. “You swear on your honor you will return to your family?”

“Don’t worry,” Peri said grimly. “I’ll return the signet to my kinfolk, and I’ll make sure they know what really happened to my grandfather. I swear on my honor, on my sword, and on the blood of my family.”

A faint hint of surprise, then puzzlement flitted across Seba’s expression, but she nodded at last.

“Very well,” she said. “Both of you will be released when darkness falls.”

“What about the geas on us?” Peri asked.

Seba smiled slowly.

“Those need not be removed,” she said. “Atheris’s will be negated because we are releasing him, and you—well, you will have no need to take your own life, will you?”

“I gave my word,” Peri said shortly. “I’ll keep it. But if I come home reeking of Sarkondish magic, they won’t even let me in the door long enough to deliver your message.”

The faintest scowl of impatience troubled Seba’s brow.

“Oh, very well,” she said. “I will see that the geas is released in one day, then—time enough for you to reach the border. You’ll leave here tonight, at low watch.”

“One more thing,” Peri said. “I need to see my grandfather.” When Seba’s scowl deepened, Peri said, “All I’ve seen is a signet. That could’ve come off his dead hand. I’ll be returning to my family an outcast, with no honor, and they won’t want to believe me. If you want me to convince them, I’ll have to be able to tell them I saw him here alive.”

Seba was silent for a long moment, then smiled.

“I see no reason to refuse,” she said, shrugging gracefully. “Although I fear you’ll find the old High Lord something of a disappointment.”

She disappeared into the shadows and returned shortly with two guards. The guards unlocked Peri’s cell and opened the door, stepping aside to let her out. Peri half expected to be manacled or geased, but to her surprise Seba seemed content with the two guards to protect her and prevent Peri’s escape.

Peri did not look back at Atheris as her captors led her out of the cells.

They emerged in a hallway Peri didn’t recall from her earlier hurried flight through the temple; there was no way of knowing how far or from which direction she had been brought while she was unconscious. For all she knew, she could be hundreds of feet underground, past a dozen locked or even bespelled doors and several dozen armed guards. She was, after all, an important prisoner at a crucial time in the temple; security would be tight.

Some of her suspicions were confirmed as Seba led her through several halls and down four successive flights of stone stairs; there were guards everywhere, all armed and alert. Provisionally, however, Peri was encouraged; where there were guards and locks and keys, magical safeguards became less likely.