The Gods of Amyrantha (58 page)

Warlock watched him leave with a deep frown creasing his forehead, unable to decide if the spymaster was teasing him or predicting his future.

CHAPTER 58

Jaxyn Aranville was waiting for Declan in the stables. He was already mounted, wearing an oilskin coat and wide-brimmed hat, riding a fractious bay gelding who apparently wasn't all that enchanted with the idea of going for a ride in the rain. Declan felt the animal's pain. He wasn't all that interested in riding in the rain, either.

'You're late.'

'I'm sorry, my lord,' Declan said, as a groom brought his mount forward, already saddled and ready to go. 'Lord Torfail sent Cecil for a report on our search for Princess Nyah.'

'What did you tell him?'

'That we're questioning every barge operator on the Lower and Upper Oran,' he said, swinging into the saddle. He turned his collar up against the rain and gathered up his reins, wishing he'd thought to bring a hat, too.

'That's very creative, Hawkes. You're quite good at this sort of thing, aren't you?' Jaxyn clucked at his horse, which nipped at the neck of Declan's mare before the immortal could bring him under control and get him heading in the direction he desired.

'Despite any rumours you may have heard to the contrary, my lord,' Declan said, his much-better-behaved mare moving off after them without complaint, 'I didn't get my job because of my impressive family connections.'

Jaxyn laughed as they rode out of the shelter of the stables and into the drizzling autumn rain. He seemed

in a rare mood for someone with his woes. When they'd been standing there at the palace dock watching Tryan and Elyssa disembark, Declan had gained a great deal of malicious satisfaction from seeing the immortal's horrified look when he realised the identity of his guests. He'd been hoping it might slow the immortals down. It wasn't an idle hope. Just when Jaxyn thought Glaeba was in his grasp — and he was probably assuming Caelum would follow naturally in a year or two — he'd discovered his neighbours were actually his Tide Lord brethren with their eyes on conquest of the entire continent, just as his were.

Following him out of the stables, Declan glanced at Jaxyn, looking for some sign as to why the suzerain was so anxious for this meeting, but the Tide Lord was giving nothing away. Declan looked up, wondering if the rain would stop soon. Fortunately, the downpour wasn't as bad as he'd feared and it seemed to make little difference in any case. The rain barely touched them. Clearly, Jaxyn was doing something to affect the weather.

'I've heard a great many rumours about you, Hawkes,' the immortal remarked as they headed out across the courtyard toward the palace gates and into the city beyond.

'Such as?'

'That your mother was a whore.' 'True.'

'And the rumour you'd killed three men by the time you were fifteen?'

Declan couldn't help himself. He laughed aloud at the suggestion. 'Tides, I haven't heard that one in years.'

is it true?'

He glanced at the Tide Lord, knowing there was a great deal more to this casual and seemingly banal conversation than the king's new Private Secretary taking the opportunity to better acquaint himself with

the King's Spymaster. 'I make it a rule not to deny or confirm any rumour about me that can't be substantiated by recorded fact, Lord Aranville. Reputation is everything in this game.'

Jaxyn nodded with approval. 'You'll go far, Hawkes, I think, if you play your cards right.'

Declan looked at him curiously. 'How much farther is there to go, my lord? I'm already the King's Spymaster. For a common-born man with my ...
background ...
that's about as high as I'm ever likely to get.'

The immortal shrugged. 'Go back far enough Hawkes, and you'll find all the high-born families were low-born once, so don't let that stand in the way of your ambition. You do
have
some ambition, don't you?'

Why?
Declan wondered.
Will that make me more pliable if you think I'll do anything to get where I want to be?

'I suppose,' he admitted aloud.

is it true your grandfather claims he's a Tidewatcher?'

To cover his alarm at the unexpected question, Declan forced a laugh, as if the very suggestion
any
man could be a Tidewatcher was ridiculous, let alone a relative of his. 'Tides, Lord Aranville, who have you been talking to?'

is it true?'

'That he was a Tidewatcher, or that he claimed to be one?'

'You tell me,' Jaxyn said.

Declan nodded, smiling in what he hoped was fond remembrance. 'My grandfather used to claim it all the time. The more he had to drink, the more insistent he was about it, too.'

'You speak of your grandfather in the past tense.'

'He died a few weeks ago, my lord. That's why I had to return to Lebec. To settle his affairs.'

'His
affairs?'
Jaxyn asked, a little sceptically. 'You were gone for weeks, Hawkes. How many affairs could an old drunkard have had for you to settle?'

'Perhaps it would be more accurate to say I was settling his debts, then,' Declan corrected, cursing his own stupidity for not realising Jaxyn would have checked into the spymaster's background, almost as closely had Declan had checked into the Tide Lord's.

Still, this was proving an interesting conversation. It was almost as if Jaxyn was sounding him out. Interviewing him, perhaps? Was that why he was so interested in knowing if Shalimar was a Tidewatcher? Because the grandson of a man who claimed to believe in the Tide Lords would be more accepting of the idea they had returned? Jaxyn would have power to burn once the Tide returned, but it took more than brute strength to subdue an entire nation. He needed allies — minions — to help him maintain control.

Tilly
is going to love this.

'And are his debts settled?'

'Pretty much.'

'Then you can give the king's business your undivided attention.'

'I thought I
was
giving it. my undivided attention, my lord.'

Declan followed Jaxyn as he turned onto the main thoroughfare into the city, leading to the central markets. It was midmorning and even the rain couldn't stop the commerce of the city. They walked their horses in the centre of the road, over the slick paving, expecting the pedestrians to get out of their path.

'You've done well distracting our Caelish visitors, but I'm not sure how long it will last. Lord Torfail is threatening to invade if we don't produce the princess.'

'We don't have the princess.'

'He's threatening it, none the less.'

Declan shook his head, certain — like the rest of this discussion — the question was some sort of test.

Maybe Jaxyn wanted to know something of his tactical assessment abilities, it's an empty threat he can't back up. Torfail hasn't got the authority to raise an army in Caelum, and even if he did, the Caelish are woefully undermanned. Our felines would outnumber theirs three to one, if it came to a pitched battle.'

'That was my assessment, too,' Jaxyn agreed, with an approving nod. 'What do you suggest we do then?'

'Send them home for starters, my lord.'

'Easier said than done.'

'Bribe them.'

Jaxyn turned to him. 'Bribe them, did you say? With
what?'

'With whatever it takes,' Declan said with a shrug. 'Tides, there's got to be
something
they want.'

'Tryan wants the Caelish throne, Hawkes,' Jaxyn retorted impatiently, forgetting himself for a moment, 'something I have neither the power nor the inclination to grant him.'

'What about his sister?'

'What about her?'

'What does she want?'

'A good fucking, probably,' Jaxyn announced sourly.

Now, now, Jaxyn, you're getting testy.
'And if we can't arrange that?' he asked in a bland tone.

'Tides, I don't know. What do you suggest?'

Declan made a show of thinking about it for a moment, and then said, 'Shower them with gifts. Send them home overburdened with tokens of Glaeba's goodwill toward her closest neighbour. You know what I mean ... a barge full of our finest vintages, handfuls of freshwater pearls from Lebec, a few slaves, maybe even a breeding pair of canines or something like that.' He glanced at Jaxyn, who seemed to be receptive, hoping he didn't destroy everything with the next part of his not-very-well-

thought-out plan. 'We could tell them we've got a lead on Nyah's location, too, which should get them moving. Tell them we think she was taken down the lake to Whitewater City by whoever took her out of Caelum. That we think she's been caught by Senestran slavers. We could even offer to help look for her in Senestra.'

'Better yet,
they'll
go looking for her in Senestra and leave us alone,' Jaxyn mused. 'Suppose they don't buy it?'

'Then perhaps a show of force is in order, my lord?'

Jaxyn shook his head, but his expression was thoughtful, 'I doubt even our young and inexperienced king would wish to provoke his neighbours by threatening them with his army at this point.'

'No reason
you
can't, though.'

'What do you mean?'

'You're the new Duke of Lebec, my lord. Nobody would think it odd if you decided to bring your felines to the city as an honour guard. The king won't mind and I'm sure Lord Torfail won't miss the hint, either.'

Jaxyn smiled. 'You're probably right.' They had reached the vast Herino markets. He stopped his mount and leaned forward to pat its neck and then turned to look at Declan. 'I hope you're putting as much care into securing the appropriate outcome in the trial of Stellan Desean as you are into misleading our neighbours.'

'Never fear, my lord,' Declan promised, it won't be long before the former Duke of Lebec will bother you no more.'

'You have no qualms about arranging false witnesses?'

Declan shrugged, glancing out over the marketplace. 'As I told you the first time we discussed this, my lord. The man's a pervert and the crown needs to be protected from the scandal. I have no moral dilemma over what you've asked me to do.'

Jaxyn smiled. 'You see, that's what I like about you, Hawkes. I suspect you don't have any morals, at all.'

Declan decided not to respond to such a backhanded compliment. 'And what of the former Duchess of Lebec, my lord? Do you have word from Torlenia on when we can expect her home?'

Jaxyn shook his head. 'Not yet. But it won't be long, I imagine.'

'Did you want me to take care of her trial the same way I've taken care of her husband's?'

Jaxyn looked at him curiously for a moment, and
then
he smiled so cruelly it chilled Declan to his core.

'No, Hawkes,' the Tide Lord said. 'You needn't do a thing. When Arkady gets back to Glaeba, I'll take care of her myself.'

CHAPTER 59

Tiji was quite sure she would never get over the shock of waking up in a cellar in the middle of a sandstorm in Brynden's old palace with a suzerain standing over her.

As best she could tell when she woke, she'd been out for several hours, which was worrying for any number of reasons, not the least of which was that on waking, she felt surprisingly well. A blow to the head hard enough to leave her unconscious for several hours shouldn't have her waking in the peak of good health, and the bruise on her cheek was tender rather than painful. She remembered the storm, she remembered someone digging her out of the swirling sand. She remembered the stench of suzerain around her, so powerful that even the savage wind couldn't whip it away.

And then she remembered nothing, until she came to in the ruined fortress.

The only conclusion she could draw — despite what he'd told Arkady — was that Cayal had done something to her, to keep her out of his way for a while.

And the only logical reason he would do something like that is so he could be alone with Arkady.

She looked up from the fire, frowning as the thought occurred to her for the hundredth time since they'd left the shelter of the old ruin and headed out into the desert again. The sandstorm was long gone, the landscape sculpted into something entirely different

by the wind. There was no caravan any longer, just Arkady and Tiji and the camels who'd sought shelter in the ruins. And the Immortal Prince.

Cayal was their guide, their saviour and their enemy. He was the only one of them who knew the way to Brynden's abbey, the only one of them with any idea of how to survive in the desert. But he wasn't helping them because he was generous, or noble or even particularly nice.

He was helping them because it helped him. They had something he didn't have. Something he needed, apparently.

Access to Brynden.

'Is that water boiled yet?'

Tiji looked up and nodded to Arkady, pointing to the pot sitting on the edge of the reeking, camel-dung fire. 'Help yourself.'