Emperor and Clown (16 page)

She
sulked for quite a while in her reeking cabin. Why would Azak not listen to
reason? Why could he not see that royalty should always reward loyalty? ...
that Rap had been a puppet ... that locking him up was grossly unfair ... that
he could easily be dumped on the first handy ship and dispatched out of her
life forever?

Insanely
jealous! It was the only explanation. Where she was concerned, obviously, Azak
was not his normal rational self. She must learn to watch her step very
carefully.

Meanwhile
she could listen to the racket while elvish stevedores unloaded whatever cargo
the ship had brought, and loaded food and water and whatever goods Ilrane
exported. Pulleys squealed over elvish laughter. The whole affair seemed very
inefficient, out here in the river-why not use quays like any normal port? Were
the elves truly so terrified of spies, or did they just enjoy making things
difficult?

Eventually
she heard Azak’s voice raised and decided to go back on deck. She found Zana
watching the argument. Indeed half the crew, all the passengers, and most of
the elves were watching the argument. Only the elves seemed to be finding it
funny, for Azak was trying to browbeat a girl about half his size and much
younger than he, and he was making no progress at all.

“Who
is that?” Inos demanded.

The
girl was strikingly beautiful, even for an elf. She was shining wet, as if she
had swum out from the shore, and yet her blaze of golden curls flared out
around her head in a glory. She wore nothing but a very scanty pair of blue
shorts, like a boy, but she was emphatically not a boy. She stood aggressively
with hands on shapely hips, and her bare breasts, small but firm, were graced
with aureoles and nipples of fiery copper red that held every male eye on the
ship. Even from a distance, the flashing brightness of her big jewel eyes was
obvious, and she was smiling up at Azak’s fury with defiant amusement. In his
present emotional state, the sultan was hopelessly incapable of dealing with
that.

“Some
local official,” Zana muttered, glowering over her yashmak. “She forbids us to
disembark.” The ship was bound back to Qoble, Inos knew. She did not want to
spend another minute on the horrible thing, and she certainly did not want to
return to Qoble and an Imperial jail.

“What
story is he telling?”

“Too
many stories,” Zana said angrily. “First he said he was just a tourist. Then,
when she refused him admittance, he said he wanted to consult a sorcerer. So
she accuses him of lying. He is not doing this very well, my lady!” From Zana,
that was a surprising concession.

But
the discussion seemed to be over. The elf girl shrugged-with remarkable
results-and started to turn away. Azak almost grabbed her shoulder, and
restrained himself at the last moment. His cleanshaven face was brilliant red
with frustration.

He
shouted, “Wait!”

Inos
hauled off her headcloth and veil, swiftly unpinned her hair, and strode
forward.

The
elf turned back and stared at her, her motherof-pearl eyes flickering gold and
rose and then pale blue.

“Go
away!” Azak roared.

Inos
ignored him. “I am Inosolan, Queen of Krasnegar.”

The
copper-red lips pouted in surprise. The multihued eyes were noting the green of
Inos’s eyes, the golden hair, the scars. “I am Amiel’stor, Surrogate Syndic of
Elmas, and Deputy Selectman of the Stor Gens.”

Whatever
...

“I
have been deprived of my realm by sorcery. I wish to appeal to the Four, in
Hub.”

Amiel’stor
glanced at Azak, and then back to Inos. “You are with him?”

“He
is my husband. Forgive his prevarication. He merely wished to keep my troubles
secret.”

Azak
growled and was ignored.

“Another
story?” the girl asked skeptically.

“I
will swear by any God you wish,” Inos said. The elf was disconcerted-she could
not keep her eyes off those burns. “Your face?” she whispered. “Sorcery. A
curse.”

Amiel’
looked back at Azak. “You agree with this now?”

Cheeks
burning like flame, Azak nodded.

“That
is different!” She hesitated, frowning at Inos’s scars. “Beauty always ... The
ship will not sail until the morning tide. Tonight the two of you shall dine
with me. I will refer the matter to higher authoritymy son is Port Warden for
Elmas.”

Her
son? She looked about fifteen.

“You
are most kind,” Inos said sweetly. She began to loop her hair up again,
preparing to cover it. Amiel’ nodded, then turned and vaulted nimbly upon the
rail. She raised her arms, leaped out in a dive as graceful as a seabird. She
was gone, and there had been no sound of a splash.

Inos
looked up to meet Azak’s fury. “I think I saved the day?”

“You
are a meddlesome slut!”

“But
it paid off.” She would not let him cow her. His fists were balls of murderous
bone and the curse he bore made them especially dangerous to a woman. He was
shaking with the effort of self-restraint. “Don’t be childish, dear,” Inos
said, barely keeping the tremor out of her voice. “It takes a woman to deal
with a woman. It worked!”

“But
only because it was a woman! Cover your face! Zana tells me she never heard you
ask a sailor for a pen! If you ever again dare to speak to a man when I am not
present, I will have you flogged!”

Inos
had jotunn blood in her, and she could only stand so much. Remembering the
onlookers, she managed to keep her words low, for him alone. “You arrogant
bastard! Had I not intervened, we would be on our way back to Qoble right now!
A marriage is a partnership, and the sooner you learn it the better, Azak ak’Azakar!”

“Not
where I come from!”

“But
where you are now. And since I have just done you a considerable favor, there
is something you owe me .”

“If
you are referring to that lover of yours . . .”

“He
is no lover-” Their voices were rising. “He is dead!”

“What?”
She reeled back. Looking at Azak’s face, she did not doubt.

“Dead!”

“You
promised no bloodshed!”

He
stepped forward to loom over her, his mouth working with rage, bloodred eyes
almost starting out of his head. “There are ways- to kill a man without
shedding blood! The family men understood me, even if you did not. Do you want
me to list all the things they did to him? They-”

“No!”
She put her hands over her ears.

“As
you will. He took a surprisingly long time to die, but he is most certainly
dead now.”

Sudden
wrenching nausea wiped away her anger. She should have guessed why Azak would
not talk about Rap.

He
nodded in gruesome satisfaction at her dismay. “And be warned, sultana! For you
to as much as smile at any man is to sign his death warrant! Do you understand
now?”

Shandie
giggled softly. When he moved his headlike this--the whole room moved-like
that! Funny! He did it again. And even in between times it was going up and
down and sometimes round and round, and everything was all very nicely woozy.

He
was lying on his bed, legs dangling over the edge, nothing on but his tunic.
Silly tunic. Mookie had been trying to put Shandie’s toga on him, and Shandie
had kept dropping it, or falling over, and now the toga was a rumpled mess and
Mookie had given up. Much better. Poor Mookie.

Woozy
woozy woozy!

Mookie
had been weeping. Valets were not supposed to weep! Mookie had gone away, and
now here he came back again, with Moms. Oh, dear! Moms would not think it
funny, maybe.

Moms
was shaking him ... the room going wild, all ways at once! Very funny-now he
was trying to explain about the room, but his tongue was tying itself around
his teeth, tangling itself up like his toga, and he had started to giggle again
and couldn’t stop. Maybe the wardens would think it was funny. He would tell
them. Going to see the wardens, going to see the wardens ...

Mustn’t
move when the wardens come.

And
here was Ythbane, nasty butt-beating Ythbane. Beat all you want today, Ythbane.
Can’t feel a thing.

“What’s
the matter with him?” asked Ythbane. Moms: “He’s been at his medicine again.”

“Gods!
Can’t you keep him away from it for a single morning?”

“He’s
sneaky! He hides it and then says it’s run out, asks for more . . .”

“Well,
he’s got to be there! Try some black coffee or something. Brainless brat!”

“You!
Leave us!” That was Moms speaking-to-theservants voice. Oh, dear, was Mookie in
trouble? Poor Mookie.

“Now
you listen to me, Yth!”

Yth?
Surely Moms never spoke to Ythbane like that? In her speaking-to-the-servants
voice?

“.
. . is all your doing! Gods forgive me, why did I listen to you? That foul
stuff was your idea-what is it anyway, laudanum?-and you’ve turned my son into
a-”

“Of
course it isn’t laudanum! Laudanum? Don’t be crazy, woman! It’s a gentle elvish
nostrum. And you know how much our future is going to depend on ... a suitable
attitude?”

Words
words words ...

“But
you’re making him into a-”

“Never
mind now. Gods, the investiture’ll be starting in-”

“Even
if it isn’t laudanum-I don’t care what it iswe’ve got to stop him taking it-”

No,
not the medicine! Not take away the medicine! Then the scratchy-twitchy feeling
would come, and he’d feel sick, and his head would throb ...

Hear
himself making a funny noises, trying to sit up. Trying to talk. Can’t talk to
say not to take away the medicine, please not take away the medicine ...

“Looks
like he’s coming round a bit. Get him dressed up, and we’ll put him on a chair
over at the side and maybe nobody will notice.”

“But
it’s not just today! He’s like this half the time now, whether there’s a
ceremony on or not, and-”

“Maya!
Beloved!”

“Er
... yes?”

Oh,
good. Ythbane using his sweetie-pie voice. Calm Moms down. Wonder if they’ll do
it on this bed? Awful small for three.

“I’ve
been neglecting you, my darling. But you do understand how busy I’ve been, don’t
you? And from now on I’m regent, and things will be a lot easierand a lot
better between us two. You’ll be wife of the regent, and first lady again, and
you and I can have a lot more time to ourselves again. In fact, I’ll promise
you-right after the state dinner, you and I will slip away ...”

Sweetie-pie
sweetie-pie sweetie-pie ... Going to see the wardens ...

Maybe
formal. ceremonies weren’t quite so terrible, Shandie thought, if you could sit
down for them. And Moms had said he could move if he wanted to, as long as he
didn’t fidget too much. She was sitting beside him, on a gold bench thing, and
she would nudge him if he fidgeted too much. He was still woozy, but a very
nice woozy.

He
kept wanting to yawn. Mustn’t yawn.

He
was hardly trembling at all today. Must be the medicine, or else the sitting
down.

Nobody
was paying much attention to him, over here near the east door. Today was a
north day. He could see all of the Rotunda instead of just half of it.
Important day! All of the Senate seemed to be here, filling up the whole north
half. Some of them were right behind him, even-noisy old men, coughing and
wheezing all the time over his head. The south half was all junior nobles and
important people and a few assemblymen. For weeks and weeks the court had
talked of nothing except who’d got tickets and who hadn’t.

Important
day. Going to see the wardens!

Getting
quieter. There was a very loud senator just behind Shandie. He kept saying
things in a voice like a hoarse trumpet, and whoever was with him was trying to
hush him.

“
. . real Evilish disgrace, that’s what it is! Everyone knows he’s a mongrel.
Merman blood in ... Mm? Well, it’s common knowledge. Mongrel sitting on Emine’s
throne? Mm! Can’t think what Emshandar was thinking of when he made him a
consul. Told him so myself. Well, hinted anyway. What? Speak up, man!”

Shandie
squirmed just a little and tried to swallow a yawn.

It
was a nuisance being down on floor level, instead of one step up. But he could
see the back of the Gold Throne and the Opal Throne beyond that, in the middle,
and all of the others when people didn’t get in front of them. Lots of people
were fussing around, getting ready. Grandfather hadn’t been brought in yet.

All
the seats were full, ‘cause this was a very-specialimportant formal ceremony.
Today the wardens would come! He shivered a little, and glanced at the White
Throne on his right and the Blue Throne on the far side, but they were still
empty. He was almost in back of the Gold Throne, near the aisle. People were
still coming in and squeezing into their seats. Ever so many people, though; he’d
never seen the Rotunda so packed.

And
lots of people coming and going on the floor, ministers and secretaries. There
was Marshal Ithy with his gold uniform and the red crest on his helmet. Lots
and lots of lords.

This
would be a bad seat if the sun came out. The Rotunda got very hot in summer,
but today was rainy. Trouble was, all these people were making it stuffy. Mustn’t
yawn!

“Think
the wardens’ll go for it?” The old senator was still mumbling. “Wouldn’t be
surprised if they didn’t show up. That’d show him! Show us, too! Sneaky
business. Never saw so much grease. Mm? What?” There was a mumbling sound, and
then he spoke more quietly. “Resolution, indeed! Should have been a formal
Bill, three readings and recorded vote.”

Mumble,
mumble. “Yes, but it’s from two dynasties back. Emshandar always talked of
updating it; never got around to it. Anyway, it says next of kin, not some
upstart halfbreed flunky!” There were more hushing sounds.

The
floor was clearing, notables hurrying out so they could make a formal
reappearance. Shandie’s attention wandered to the big table before the Opal
Throne. Those things lying on it must be Emine’s sword and buckler! He’d never
seen those, and he couldn’t see very well now, and he tried to make himself a
little taller, and Moms flashed a frown at him and he subsided quickly. See
them later ...