The Daylight War (106 page)

To his surprise, Inevera laughed. Not the bark of derision she threw now and then, but a full laugh, infectious and true. There was no more beautiful sound in all Everam’s creation.

‘You never cease to amaze me, Ahmann,’ Inevera said. ‘Every time I begin to question, you remind me you truly are Shar’Dama Ka.’

Jardir might have doubted, but her aura swelled with pride and he knew she meant every word. He reached out, touching her cheek, and watched the shiver it sent through her spirit. ‘I understand perfectly … Damajah.’ He bent and kissed her, feeling himself flush at the passion she was radiating. She might lie to him when she thought it necessary, but Inevera’s love for him was true. What more could a man ask in his
Jiwah
Ka
?

She took a step back when he broke the kiss, reining her feelings in. He was amazed at her control, watching the hot chaos of her aura quickly become cool, ordered. Now was not the time.

‘The skull of an
alagai
prince has been added to your sacred throne, amplifying the wards that have adorned the skulls of martyred Sharum Ka for centuries,’ Inevera said. ‘We used almost all the electrum to coat it …’

‘Almost?’ Jardir asked, smiling.

Inevera returned the grin, showing him her dice, now safely encased in the bright white metal. ‘You have your tools, and now I have mine.’ Her aura said she had coated more than just her dice, but he let her have her secrets. She was his Damajah, and it was fitting she wield power of her own.

‘I was right to give the metal to you,’ Jardir said. ‘Abban would have found a clever use for it, no doubt, but would never have thought of something so …’

‘Altruistic?’ Inevera supplied, and he had to laugh.

‘Unprofitable,’ he agreed.

‘I do not trust the
khaffit
,
husband,’ Inevera said.

‘Abban is as loyal to me as you are,’ Jardir said.

Inevera shook her head. ‘He is loyal to himself first, and you second.’

Jardir nodded. ‘The same could be said of you, Bride of Everam.’

‘There is a difference in serving the Creator first,’ Inevera said.

‘Yes,’ Jardir agreed. ‘And no. No mortal man or woman can truly trust another, beloved. And yet somehow we must find a way, if we are to win Sharak Ka. Waning is upon us. Now is the time to face the dark, not worry about poisoned blades at our backs.’

Inevera opened her mouth to reply, but Jardir touched a finger to her lips. ‘You are the Bride of Everam, wife, yet I am the one with faith. Not just in the Creator, but in His children.’

‘
Faith
never
gets
the
weaving
done
,
my mother used to say,’ Inevera said. ‘The Creator helps those who earn it.’ Her aura called him a brave fool.

‘“The Creator helps”,’ Jardir repeated. ‘Do you think it coincidence we found the sacred metal of Kaji just weeks before the greatest test of my reign? We do not fight Nie alone, even if He does not strike the
alagai
down Himself. And if I am to deliver this world, I must believe that for all our differences, no one, man, woman or child, wishes it to fall to the
alagai
.’

Inevera did not argue further, but her aura remained unconvinced.

‘Your mother was a weaver?’ he asked, trying to change the subject. ‘I assumed she was
dama’ting
.’

Inevera’s aura suddenly went wild. There was shock, and fear, and a secret. Enough to fill him with questions, but not enough to answer them. He wondered if this was what reading the
alagai
hora
was like for her.

‘You never speak of your family,’ he pressed, watching closely.

Inevera’s aura showed her searching desperately for a way to evade the question and change the subject. She gave off the scent of a cornered animal that would rather flee than fight. But then her chest rose and fell several times in rhythm, and a wave of calm spread over her.

‘Most
dama’ting
are the daughters of our order,’ she said. ‘Some few others are called by the dice in
Hannu
Pash
. We cut off all contact with our families when called, and they do not know our fate from the moment we are taken.’

It was fascinating. Every word she said was true, and yet it read on her aura as a lie. ‘But you did not.’

Inevera smiled. A practised distraction while she breathed herself into serenity. She was wondering how much he knew, if he had been spying on her. She was carefully choosing words to reveal nothing she did not wish.

Jardir was tiring of the game. ‘
Jiwah
,
you will stop your dissembling.’

His tone was harsh, and he watched as she leapt on it, using the excuse to get angry as a way to avoid the topic. Her brows drew into the thundercloud she had practised to perfection.

He smiled. ‘Stop that, too.’ He moved to her, taking her in his arms. She stiffened, and there was a token resistance as he pulled her close. ‘Do you love me,
jiwah
?’

‘Of course, husband,’ Inevera said without hesitation.

‘And do you trust me?’

There was a spike in her aura, and the slightest delay. ‘Yes.’ It wasn’t a lie, not precisely, but neither was it truth.

‘I do not know what secret you hold about your family,’ Jardir said. ‘But I see that you hold one, and that dishonours me.’ Inevera pulled back and tried to speak, but he shook his head. ‘When we wed, it was more than a union between us. Your family became mine, and mine yours. Whatever it is, I have a right to know.’

Inevera stared at him a long moment, her aura so chaotic he could not guess what her response would be. But then it calmed once more. ‘My parents are alive and in Everam’s Bounty. They are a source both of pride and of shame to me, and I fear for them if our relation is revealed.’ She met his eyes and bowed. ‘It was wrong of me to keep this secret from you, beloved. For this, I apologize.’

Jardir nodded. ‘Accepted, on one condition.’

Inevera raised an eyebrow.

‘I want to meet them,’ Jardir said.

‘I do not think that is wise, husband,’ Inevera said. ‘They would be in danger …’

‘I am Shar’Dama Ka,’ Jardir said. ‘I have hundreds of relatives. You think I cannot protect them?’

‘Not without costing them the simple life they enjoy now, far from palace intrigue,’ Inevera said.

Jardir laughed. ‘You can engineer my nieces into the ranks of
Sharum
,
but not plot a way for me to meet your parents away from prying eyes? We both know you can find a way if you wish it.’

Inevera regarded him, still wary. ‘And if I do not wish it?’

Jardir shrugged. ‘Then I will know I come third in your eyes, and not second after Everam, as you claim.’

The curtains were still drawn as the counsellors entered the throne room. A few oil lamps gave artificial light, preserving Jardir’s crownsight as he regarded Jayan and his twelve
Damaji
. At the side of each of the tribal leaders were his second sons, and in Ashan’s case his nephew. Save for Asome and Asukaji, both eighteen years old, all were fifteen. Not wholly boys, but not men, either, still in the white bidos of
nie’dama
,
a strip of white cloth thrown over one shoulder.

He could see in their auras that the
Damaji
still resented the boys who had displaced their own heirs. Leadership of a tribe was not automatically hereditary as it was in the green lands, but it was functionally so, with the brothers, sons, and nephews of the
Damaji
holding every advantage.

More, he could see the ties that bound the men to him like threads in the air. The common
Sharum
and
dama
might truly believe Jardir divine, but the
Damaji
served out of fear.

If
I
die
this
night
,
he thought,
my
sons
will
be
killed
the
moment
it
is
known.
Jayan might hold his grip on the white turban, perhaps, and Ashan would protect Asukaji and Asome, but the other
Damaji
would not hesitate to slaughter his
nie’dama
sons. Aleverak would not break his oath not to harm Maji, but that oath had a clause they knew well. The ancient
Damaji
would drink poison to allow one of his sons to do the deed.

The
Damaji
talked among themselves, but Jardir thumped his spear once, and they fell silent. ‘Waning is upon us, Damaji. Alagai Ka and his princelings will rise tonight to test our people as we have not been since the Return.’ He could see doubt in some of the men, and fear in others. Most, however, held the flat control of years of meditation. ‘Jayan,’ he looked to the boy, seeing in his aura an eager excitement and a hope to prove himself, ‘will lead the
Sharum
.’

There was a burst of chatter at that. Jardir thumped his spear again.

‘Forgive us, Deliverer,’ Damaji Aleverak said. ‘Jayan has done well as Sharum Ka, and we offer no disrespect, but is it not the place of Shar’Dama Ka to lead in Sharak Ka?’

Jardir nodded. ‘I will stand beside my son for as long as I may, but when the princes of Nie show themselves, I must be free to act.’

‘And what will our place be?’ Asome asked.

Jardir looked at his son, seeing the seething anger beneath his calm exterior. ‘The
dama
will beseech Everam’s favour in the coming battle. That is no small thing, my son.’ He could see immediately that Asome thought prayer less than nothing with demons at the walls, but hoped he was wise enough not to voice the feeling.

Asome was not so easily deterred. ‘Why do
dama
study
sharusahk
,
Father?’

‘Eh?’ Jardir asked.

‘Since I took my first steps, I have been practising the
sharukin
,
’ Asome said. ‘I know of none,
dama
or
Sharum
,
who can stand against me.’

Jayan snorted. ‘You boast because you have never faced a real opponent. You would find the
alagai
more formidable than the empty air you fought in Sharik Hora.’

Asome turned to his elder brother and sneered openly. ‘Come at me then, O great killer of
alagai
,
and we will see.’

Jayan growled and took a step forward.

‘You will do no such thing!’ Jardir shouted with a thump of the spear. He had forbidden all of his sons to fight one another, even in sparring, and the wisdom of that decree was never clearer. He could see in their auras that Jayan and Asome would not hesitate to kill each other to clear their own path to the Skull Throne. ‘I will not have my sons brawling like
nie’Sharum
in the gruel line!’

Asome turned back to him, bowing. ‘As you command, Father, but you have not answered my question. I am forbidden to fight my brother. I am forbidden to fight the
alagai
. You have abolished the title of Andrah, so there is no need to fight the
Damaji
for the throne. Why have I spent every day of my life learning to fight, if I must stand idly by as Alagai Ka walks the land?’

Jardir hesitated. In truth, he could not disagree. Prayer would not help this night. But the
Damaji
and
dama
were not just Holy Men to his people; they were the secular leaders as well. The clerics were masters of
sharusahk
,
but with the exception of Ashan they had never personally faced the
alagai
,
and would offer little aid in coming battle. When dawn finally came, they would be essential in restoring order.

‘There is wisdom in what you say,’ Jardir admitted, ‘but Jayan speaks truly that the
alagai
are a foe the
dama
are not prepared for, and you yourself said Waning was not the time to introduce untried forces into
alagai’sharak
.’ He deepened his tone and swept his spear across the men in white. ‘The
dama
will bestow the blessings of the Creator upon the assembled men, and then go to the underpalace.’

Asome gave no outward sign as he bowed, back straight with dignity, but his aura seethed with rage, even as Jayan’s danced in delight. Already Jardir was regretting the decision, but it was done and he could not be forsworn with all Nie’s abyss about to rise.

‘Go!’ He clapped his hands, and the men began to file out. ‘Ashan,’ he called, and the
Damaji
waited behind as the others left. Jardir descended from the dais to stand beside him, Inevera following a step behind.

Ashan had been at Jardir’s side for twenty-five years, steadfast in his support as Jardir climbed the rungs of Krasian society to his place of power. The
Damaji
was married to his eldest sister, and had produced children of shared blood. There was no reason to doubt his devotion, but still Jardir called upon the powers of his crown, not just reading his surface aura, but probing deeply into his very spirit.