Dark Dreams (36 page)

Imoshen stood at his side. She picked up her cloak and swung it over her shoulders, covering her bare breasts. The great cat came to her and sat at her feet. Tulkhan felt his horse shudder with fear.

The hunters followed the dogs, crashing up the slope. Tulkhan expected the dogs to attack but they slunk back and forth at the edge of the tree line, howling eerily, not daring to come closer.

The Ghebites pulled their horses to a halt and looked across the open ridge top. At that moment Tulkhan knew he was no longer one of them. Because of what he had experienced with Reothe and what he felt for Imoshen, he had taken a step across an invisible line. He might jest and hunt with his men, but in his heart he would walk alone because he had been touched by the T’En.

‘General?’ one of his men called uncertainly. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I am unhurt. The hunt is over.’

‘Witch!’ someone hissed.

Tulkhan raised his voice. ‘My horse threw me, kicked me in the leg. Imoshen tamed the cat.’

A round of uneasy comments greeted this.

‘She’s in league with the evil one!’ someone cried. Tulkhan thought he detected a Vaygharian accent.

‘There is no evil one.’ Imoshen spoke softly, yet her clear voice carried. ‘Only the evil in men’s hearts.’

Tulkhan grimaced. Trust Imoshen to speak a truth his men did not want to hear. Their muttering grew louder.

‘The hunt is over. Go back to the stables.’ Tulkhan urged his horse forward, eager to break up the group before they resorted to violence.

Imoshen walked beside his horse, her head level with his knee. The cat matched her step, never leaving her side.

It was a long trek back to the stables. Imoshen and Tulkhan parted company from the hunters at the ornamental lake and made their way to the menagerie.

The keepers wept with joy to see the snow leopard returned unharmed and Tulkhan felt great shame to think that he and his men had been ready to kill the animal for sport.

Following Imoshen’s instructions the keepers prepared the menagerie’s barred cart and she climbed into the cage with the snow leopard pair.

‘We will take the cats out of town to the outskirts of the farms beyond before setting them free. They will make their way into the highlands,’ Imoshen told Tulkhan.

He wanted her to promise that she would not go south with the snow leopards, but his pride wouldn’t let him. He hesitated, unsure what to say. After all, she had come to warn him of a plot against his rule. She was right, much was against them.

‘Imoshen, be on your guard.’

A soft laugh escaped her. ‘You have seen what I can do and yet you tell me to be careful?’

‘I know how much you risk.’ Risking his own arm, he slipped his fingers through the bars of the cage to grasp Imoshen’s hand. ‘Though you refused to heal me, you did not leave me.’

Imoshen’s eyes narrowed. ‘Remember that when they come to tell you of my treachery, General.’

On returning to the palace, Tulkhan found it abuzz with Imoshen’s latest escapade. The servants whispered that even T’Reothe had not seemed so T’En. Truly, Imoshen was a throwback to her namesake, T’Imoshen the First.

Shape-changer
, his men hissed.
White hair, white cat, white witch
.

It was the stuff of legend and the Ghebite warriors were as quick as the palace servants to spread the story.

Chapter Fifteen

T
HAT EVENING
I
MOSHEN
lay alone in her bed, listening for Tulkhan’s step. She was determined to mend the breach between them. They had grown close while escaping the snow cat and she was sure he would open to her, but she heard him walk right past.

Throwing back the covers, she padded to the connecting door and peered through as Tulkhan made up his simple bed before the fire. She ached to go to him yet dreaded his rejection.

As he lay brooding, Tulkhan heard the softest of sounds and looked up to see Imoshen illuminated by the fire’s flickering flames. For a moment he wondered if his need for her had conjured her.

She crossed the chamber and knelt beside him. ‘How is your leg? Let me...’ Her hands went to his thigh but he pulled away, certain that if she touched him he would be lost.

Imoshen flinched. ‘Why do you shun me?’

He looked up at her. Tears glistened in her eyes and her hair hung loose on her shoulders. She appeared vulnerable, yet he knew what she could do.

He swallowed. ‘You bear the same marks on your chest as Reothe.’

‘Not by choice. I told you he called on the Ancients to draw me to him.’

Tulkhan tore his gaze from her. If Imoshen with all her gifts could not stand against Reothe, what chance had he, a Mere-man? Truly, he was a dead man who walked and talked.

He turned away from her.

After an eternity he heard Imoshen rise and return to her room. Alone again, Tulkhan covered his eyes to hide his hollow soul.

I
MOSHEN TRIED TO
pretend that it didn’t hurt when people refused to meet her eyes. Twenty days had passed since she had freed the snow cats. No one had broached the subject with her, but the rumours were more damaging than direct confrontation.

Tulkhan filled his days with feverish activity and by night she heard him pacing, consumed by something she did not understand and could not ease because he kept her at a distance.

‘T’Imoshen?’

She glanced up to see a palace servant looking distinctly uncomfortable. The woman gave the old obeisance.

‘Yes?’ Imoshen straightened, putting aside her reading.

There was a muffled shout from the room beyond and several people shoved past the servant. Imoshen’s hand went to her dagger but, even as her fingers closed around the hilt, she realised these people were not a threat.

‘We won’t be kept out. The Empress would have seen us!’ declared a stout matron.

‘And so will I,’ Imoshen said easily, rising and approaching them.

For an instant the woman and her three companions simply stared at Imoshen.

The matron recovered first, making the deep obeisance. ‘It is our right to be heard.’

Imoshen smiled at her belligerent tone. ‘Then speak. I am listening.’

‘For nearly three hundred years my family have lived in our home. We don’t want to live anywhere else. You tell him that we don’t want another house.’

The others joined in noisily.

‘Wait.’ Imoshen held up her hand. ‘Who is asking you to leave your homes?’

‘The Ghebite General. He’s tearing down our houses!’

‘What?’ Imoshen bristled. ‘When?’

‘Right now. We were given notice the day after the Spring Festival. The Beatific said she would speak with him, but this very morning his men arrived and began destroying our homes.’

‘I will see this for myself!’

Imoshen marched out of the palace with an escort of angry townsfolk following close behind. There were others waiting in the square.

As they led Imoshen through the streets of old T’Diemn, she heard wails of distress and the sound of builders at work. She rounded the end of the lane to discover the source of the disturbance. Ghebite soldiers had moved all the families’ personal belongings out of a row of houses and were demolishing the buildings.

‘What is going on here?’ Imoshen demanded of the first man she saw.

He flinched at her tone. ‘Following the General’s orders.’

‘And where is General Tulkhan?’

He pointed and Imoshen strode forward followed by a crowd of townsfolk. Little children skipped ahead of her, shouting and calling to their friends.

She found the General standing beside a kitchen table which was perched incongruously on the cobbles amid piles of pots and pans. The table was covered with large drawings and two men were discussing these with Tulkhan.

‘General?’ Imoshen greeted him, aware as always that his Ghebite companions resented her presence. ‘I would speak with you, alone.’

‘Of course.’

A boy chased his pet pig past them, calling it by name. Several children raced after him, eager to help. The General’s eyes met hers and she smiled. But she waited until Tulkhan’s men moved away before speaking. ‘Why have you thrown these people out of their homes?’

‘They received notices. They’ll be relocated.’

‘That’s not what I asked. Why are you doing this?’

‘I’m securing T’Diemn,’ Tulkhan said. ‘Take a look at this.’

Imoshen glanced down at the plans for T’Diemn. ‘What has this to do with my question? You can’t turn people out of their homes.’

Tulkhan tapped the drawings. ‘This other Reothe was an excellent engineer. See how he designed the streets of old T’Diemn so defenders could be marched to each of the four gates to hold off attackers. He also left the inside wall free of buildings so that troops could be rushed along the ring-road to reinforce a breach in the wall. But over the years people built right up against it, destroying access.’ Tulkhan rolled up the plans. ‘I’m removing the houses which interfere with the defensive integrity of the wall.’

‘But these are people’s homes, General. Families have lived in them for hundreds of years.’

‘I’ll build them new homes.’

‘It’s not the same.’ She could tell he did not understand. How could he, when he’d spent the last eleven years travelling with his army? ‘These people are part of a whole neighbourhood. They’ve known everyone from birth, their parents knew their neighbours’ parents. You’re taking more than their homes, you’re taking their heritage.’

‘They will be generously compensated for their hardship.’

‘Tulkhan, gold does not solve everything. Think of the people.’

‘I
am
thinking of the people!’ He rounded on her, then seemed to collect himself. ‘T’Diemn can’t be defended as it stands, Imoshen. It is absurd to let perfectly good defensive works fall into decay because a few people built their houses in the wrong places. I am trying to make T’Diemn secure from attack. To save the city.’

‘But what of all those people who have their homes outside the old wall? What will become of them?’

‘I’ll get around to them. My engineers and I are working on that.’

He looked so pleased and determined Imoshen sighed. ‘General Tulkhan, we are not at war. The rebels are contained in the Keldon Highlands. All of T’Diemn accepts you as their Protector General. Is this really necessary?’

He studied her, his face unreadable. ‘You stand before me, princess of a conquered people, yet you still ask this? I took Fair Isle because your people had grown complacent. No one will take Fair Isle from me!’

Imoshen flinched.

‘Soon the rebels will be raiding the fertile plains, causing trouble for my commanders who hold estates in the south.’ He urged her towards a lane which led directly to the old wall. A ladder stood against the stonework. ‘Come up and see what I plan.’

She followed him up onto the walls of old T’Diemn. They were wide enough for four people to walk abreast. Her ancestors had designed well. To the west she could see the river gleaming in the sunshine as it wound its way through the countryside, dropping lower and lower, lock by lock, to the tidal flats and the sea. Closer still the new part of the city fell away below them, masses of pointing roofs and spires. It was a prosperous, proud city.

A complacent city?

‘Look at T’Diemn sprawling before us, Imoshen. It is hopelessly under-defended. Where are the earth works, ditches and palisades? With the population and wealth of this city, the townsfolk could have built defences right around the new part. They had all last spring and summer to prepare their defences. But no. They sat here, turning a blind eye to my approaching army.’

‘What approaching army are you preparing to defeat?’ Imoshen asked.

Tulkhan frowned at her. ‘Have you forgotten the threat of Reothe and the Keldon nobles? This is basic warcraft. Bluff and counterbluff. You suffer from four hundred years of peace. Your people fought their wars offshore: territorial wars, trade wars, diplomatic wars. But, ultimately, what is taken by force must be held by force.’

Imoshen drew a calming breath. ‘Will you not reconsider, General? Why not build new defences around the whole of T’Diemn? You will raise the ire of the people if you pull down their homes. Does the security of old T’Diemn outweigh the goodwill of the townsfolk?’

He shook his head. ‘I knew you would not understand. This must be done, Imoshen.’

‘Will you pull down the shops and homes on the fortified bridges as well? When will you stop?’

‘When I think T’Diemn is defensible.’

‘Then make it defensible, but don’t interfere with the old city.’

‘What if the outer defences are breached? If an invading army took all of new T’Diemn, the people could retreat to the old city and hold out against their attackers.’

‘Only if they needed to. Why do you think Fair Isle
suffered
from four hundred years of peace? We used diplomacy instead of force.’

‘And when diplomacy no longer worked, what happened?’ he countered. ‘A wise commander plans ahead. I swore to be Protector General of Fair Isle and I keep my word!’

Imoshen searched his face for any sign of softening. He looked strained and tired but determined. ‘I think you are making a mistake, General. It is not the size of the defences but the heart of the defenders which keeps the enemy at bay. If you lose the hearts of the townsfolk, you might as well open all the gates and invite Reothe in. Please reconsider.’

He folded his arms, looking out over T’Diemn. ‘I do what I know to be right, Imoshen.’

It was clear he would not be swayed and she suspected he was right. She would have to persuade her people to accept his actions.

While Imoshen climbed down the ladder, Tulkhan remained staring out over the city. Thousands of people trusted him to defend them. He could not fail them just because a few families did not want to be moved.

He returned to the ground. As he strode out of the alley he could hear the impatient mutterings of the townsfolk and Imoshen’s clear voice. If she was stirring up the people against him he would throttle her.