Crowchanger (Changers of Chandris) (27 page)

Chapter 27

J
aevan stirred as the castle returned to life. In the courtyard two storeys beneath his window, servants fetched and carried, stable boys mucked out horses, and weary guards were replaced by fresh, leather-tunic-clad and helmeted colleagues. Jaevan’s green eyes opened, then glanced towards the chair where Sylas had been when he fell asleep. They widened at the sight of Casian alone there, and he lifted his head from the pillow to scan the room. When he looked back to Casian, his eyes asked the question.

“The guards took him an hour or so back.”

Alarm crossed Jaevan’s face and he sat up. “Why?”

“Don’t worry. Your father won’t harm him—not yet. He sent orders that if you were peaceful, Sylas was to be taken away. I don’t think he wants Sylas around you any more than he can help.”

“I see.” Jaevan’s voice was hoarse, and he was more subdued than Casian had ever seen him. The boy was exhausted.

“Do you remember anything about last night?”

Jaevan swept shoulder-length silver hair back from his face. His eyes were still reddened and bloodshot, and his face was puffy. His gaze sank to the coverlet. “Yes.”

“Your father thinks Sylas did something to harm you. He is still suspicious of him after the assassination attempt. Sylas is not in a cell, but he is under armed guard in a room somewhere. One with no windows, I’ll be bound. Your father wouldn’t risk him transforming and escaping.”

Jaevan licked his lips, held out his hand towards his water jug. Casian poured some and passed him the cup.

“What… will he do with him?”

Casian was concerned about that himself. Sylas occupied most of his waking thoughts. Was this what love felt like? Casian had thought himself incapable of it.

“I don’t know. I think he will hold him until Ayriene returns. If there was something wrong with the brew, it was Ayriene taught him how to make it. There is always the chance that it was she who planned against you and Sylas was just a dupe.”

Ayriene had plenty of opportunity many times to do Jaevan harm and not taken it. Even from where Casian stood, Sylas seemed the more likely to have tried to hurt Jaevan. Not that he believed he would, not for an instant. Casian could see his concern for the young prince was entirely genuine—genuine enough to arouse jealousy in Casian’s mind. If Sylas was attracted to one Irenthi, might he not be to another? Jaevan was too young yet for him to act on any attraction, but Casian would watch how the relationship developed.

Casian leaned closer. He was in a perfect position now for Deygan to choose him as a mentor figure for his son. The heir of Lucranne would be an ideal person to introduce the prince into society, teach him how a young man of his position would be expected to conduct himself. If Casian had been a master, he might have been put in charge of Jaevan’s training. Jesely had thwarted that possibility, but Casian could still take advantage.

“If I am to help Sylas, I need to know exactly what happened last night.” Jaevan turned away from him, but not before Casian saw the pained expression on his face. This had been no nightmare. The aiea swirled about Jaevan like a mist. Talent knows talent
.
Could the boy be a seer? Jaevan had the air of one who had been shown something by the kye that he had not wanted to see. Ayriene must have spotted Jaevan’s talent too, and that would make the council all the more keen to get Jaevan into their clutches. Casian must act quickly.

Casian laid a reassuring hand close to Jaevan on the bed, careful not to touch him—that would be presumptuous, although Sylas seemed to get away with much more. He worked hard to make his voice earnest.

“The kye showed you something, Jaevan. I can tell. I know of these things. I have a little of the seeing talent, although I can tell that yours is much greater than mine. Maybe sharing it would help?”

The boy turned back, his face so gaunt and miserable that Casian felt for him. “You see things? Like I did?”

His shot in the dark had hit its target, then. “Sometimes. What did you see?”

Jaevan’s lip trembled, his eyes glittering with tears. Angrily, he raised a hand to dash the tears away. The boy was still young enough to cry, but old enough to be ashamed.

“I saw people dying. They were screaming. Trying to escape. Turning into birds to fly away and being shot out of the air by archers. They turned back into men and women when they died. One of them had an arrow through her throat.” Cellondora? But that had been days ago. Was that even a talent? What point would there be to a talent that showed things that had happened already?

“Was it a Chesammos village?”

Jaevan gulped, gripping the edge of his blankets as if he could hide beneath them from the things he saw. “No. It was the Aerie. The walls were falling in. Ballistas were throwing balls of fire, and the buildings were ablaze. It was a battle, Casian. It was war.”

The Aerie? Casian’s stomach knotted. “Who? When?”

Jaevan nodded, his face showing his distress. “I don’t know when. Soon, I think. I saw my father there and he looked the same as he does now. But he looked frightening, like he was mad. And…”

“Yes?”

The boy looked down, staring fixedly at his shaking hands. “I—I can’t.”

“Tell me. I need to know everything so I can help Sylas. You do want to help Sylas, don’t you?”

Jaevan nodded, biting his lower lip as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Tell me, my prince.” He had heard Sylas use that term for Jaevan—an endearment the way Sylas said it. He hoped it would make Jaevan trust him.

Jaevan looked up, green eyes despairing and fair eyelashes wet.

“You were there, Casian. You helped my father lead his soldiers against the Aerie. Promise me you won’t. You mustn’t. I want to be a changer and make the Aerie strong again when I am king. If it is destroyed, I won’t be able to learn. I won’t be able to help the Chesammos. Promise me you won’t do it.”

Casian smiled. “I am a changer myself, my prince. Why would I lead an army against them?”

His mind raced. He would lead the army? Beside King Deygan himself? For that privilege, he would sacrifice every changer on the island if he had to. He reached to the Outlands, drew to himself the kye that held his compulsion talent. Then he leaned close to Jaevan, so that he could speak in little more than a whisper.

“You must tell no one else of this, do you understand? You must say nothing to anyone. No letters. No journal entries. No telling anyone anything of what you know.” He felt his compulsion meet its target and he released the kye, satisfied that he had done what he intended.

The prince lay back on his pillows, sighing wearily. Casian left instructions with the guard at the door that the prince had not yet woken after his upset of the night before and was not to be disturbed. Casian allowed himself a satisfied smile as he headed for the royal apartments. Only a few days in Banunis and an opportunity had already presented itself. If this continued, his brother could have Lucranne and welcome to it. Casian had a bigger prize in his sights.

Casian requested a meeting with King Deygan as soon as he left Jaevan. He meant what he had said to Jaevan about helping Sylas—he loved the man, after all—but this opportunity to advance himself in the king’s eyes was too good to miss. And if it led to the downfall of the Aerie, then so be it. They had overlooked him—passed him over for Elyta, who was only two years older. Clearly she would be elected to the council because she had manipulated Cowin into a marriage. He wished her well of him. Casian had a Chesammos changer of his own.

The sooner he established himself in Deygan’s court, the sooner he could have Sylas freed. He had meant what he had said to Sylas. House Lucranne had a healer, and a good one, but Casian could always find a place for a good body servant. Now he was at court he would need an attendant. No need for Sylas to go to his mother’s after all. His pulse raced at the thought.

Permitted entry to Deygan’s anteroom, Casian bowed deeply. He could be a courtier, when required. Plenty of courtiers achieved high position, with power and wealth at their fingertips. If Garvan was determined to displace him in favour of Yoran, Casian would show them both that he could rise higher. If he played his cards right he could become wealthier and more influential than Garvan.

“Casian,” Deygan acknowledged his bow with a wave of his hand. “If you have come to ask mercy for your changer friend then you may as well hold your tongue. The man is as clear a traitor as I have seen in many a year.”

Casian’s heart sank. If Sylas were to stand accused of treachery then his job might be harder than anticipated. Although, Jaevan would plead Sylas’s case—and Jaevan generally won his father round in the end. And inasmuch as Casian didn’t intend for Sylas to be hurt, Miralee had seen Sylas with Casian as king. So whatever Deygan threatened, Sylas would live. Maybe he would be imprisoned until Casian could overthrow the Banunis line, but if he had been in Miralee’s seeing, then at least Casian knew he would not die.

“Sire, I come to offer my service to House Banunis.” Another accomplished bow. His father would be proud of him. All that education, finally making itself useful.

Deygan’s brow furrowed. “You haven’t come to plead for your friend?”

“Sylas must be dealt with as you see fit, Sire. But I am confident you will decide that he meant Prince Jaevan no harm. He saved him from the assassins’ poison, after all; why should he wish him harm now?”

“He was in a prison cell charged with being associated with those who poisoned my son, that’s why. He got himself out of being hanged as an accomplice. The man will have been looking for an opportunity to harm the prince ever since.”

Deygan’s face was reddening and Casian could see there would be no arguing. Sylas would hardly try to kill the prince when he had been known to have made and administered the potion. Not without fleeing the castle after. He certainly would not have spent the night in Casian’s arms, had he just plotted murder.

“As you say, Sire. The truth will be brought to light when Mistress Ayriene returns.” The Creator will it so, for Deygan seemed set in his mind that Sylas was guilty. The first flurry of doubt scattered across Casian’s mind. What if he couldn’t convince Deygan that Sylas was innocent, even with his talent? What if a seeing was not set once it was seen? What if Sylas’s death meant Casian would not become king, after all? He dismissed the thought. He was too far along his route to change course now.

“Sire, I have had a seeing. May I have your permission to share it with you?”

Deygan scowled. “Seer, are you? I had not heard that. You are proving a useful man to have around, Casian of Lucranne. There has not been a seer at court for many years.”

“My talent is weak, Sire. Nothing to compare with Mistress Yinaede, or others at the Aerie, but I believe this seeing will be of interest to you.”

He recounted what Jaevan had told him, of the burning and the killing, and that Deygan himself had led the destruction, with Casian at his side. He made no mention that it was Jaevan who had seen it, of course, passing the seeing off as entirely his own.

“And what will prompt me to take this action?” Deygan asked, a thoughtful look settling on his face.

“I do not know,” Casian had to admit. “I see what I see, and it is rare for all the background to be revealed to me.”

“And it was soon, you say?”

“You looked as I see you now, Sire, in the full prime of your manhood.”

Deygan sniffed and Casian wondered if he had pushed his flattery too far. The king mistrusted flatterers, preferring men to speak their minds—as long as what they said broadly agreed with him.

“I had not thought to destroy them yet. They are a thorn in my side, and their sheltering of the Chesammos rebels verges on treasonous, but I was not sure I had enough justification. I had thought intimidation—an army at their gates—would be sufficient. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe nothing short of destruction will suffice. Leave me, Casian. I must go and see my son. It is good to know that I have a loyal servant in you, even if you do have the misfortune to be one of the tainted.”

How easy to plant the idea of destruction in the mind of a man already partly controlled by the aiea-dera.

Deygan rose, wobbling as he got to his feet. Casian suspected the king had slept little, troubled by what had happened to his son, yet unprepared to admit the depth of his concern by returning to Jaevan’s bedside overnight.

“Is he any better?”

“Prince Jaevan was sleeping when I left him, Sire, but I am sure he will have recovered from whatever ailed him last night.”

That had gone reasonably well, Casian reflected, returning to his room. The question of recruiting Sylas to his household remained, but Casian was confident he could persuade Deygan it was for the best.

The maids had tidied; his bed was made up, the pitcher of water replenished. Sylas’s belongings were gone, his few possessions removed from the room. Whether those were now in his guarded room or with the king to be searched for evidence of his supposed treason, Casian did not know, but the room felt empty without him. He wondered again about the permanence or otherwise of seeings, and for the first time he wished he had paid more attention in Mistress Yinaede’s lessons.

This time, when the pounding came on the door of Casian’s bedchamber, he was alone, fully dressed and lying on his bed. His Majesty required him in His Highness’s chambers, the guard said. Deygan didn’t waste long telling him why.

“He can’t say a word!” Deygan raged. “What in the Creator’s name was in that bloody potion?”

Creator! What had he said to the boy? ‘Say nothing to anyone.’ Something like that. And he had said it under the compulsion of the aiea-dera, while Jaevan had been susceptible to suggestion. A laugh threatened to bubble up in Casian’s throat, wholly inappropriate in the circumstances, and he forced it down. The lad was doing exactly what he had been told.

Casian looked into Jaevan’s eyes. He knew. He knew what Casian had done and he would tell Deygan, if Casian ever released him. His talent would be revealed. His passing off of Jaevan’s seeing as his own. His ability to coerce and manipulate the king and his son. Deygan would not let him stay in his service. In fact, Casian thought, it would be a wonder if he didn’t have him quietly done away with. Deygan would never let a man live who had such power over him and his son.