Emperor Mage (27 page)

She
thought over what all of that meant. The armies wouldn't march; her animal
friends would see to that. "I need to talk to Prince Kaddar. Will you
trust him if you bring him down here? Or you could blindfold him, if you aren't
sure. But I trust him, if that means anything."

Tano
nodded. "You will leave this place, go home?"

"I
have to do one or two things, but then I'm going." Now that she was awake,
her dreams felt solid, more like visions than dreams. If that was so, then
Numair was here, somewhere. "Tano—I have a message for you, from the first
badger. The male badger god. He said to tell the Banjiku that Lushagui never
meant for you to be slaves."

The
black man frowned. "Never?" Daine shook her head. Tano thought this
over, pulling thoughtfully on his lower lip. "We must talk about this, the
Banjiku. Talk comes later. I go for prince now—you wait."

As he
trotted away, Chirp curled up next to Daine, while the girl petted Zek.
"How did you find the keys?" she asked. "Where were they? How

did you
know they'd be the right ones?"

I found
the emperor when he went to feed his birds, Zek replied, nibbling a fig. Then
he went to his room. In his wall, there was a way down to the cage where he put
you. He went down twice to look at you. Afterward he put the keys near his bed.
I took them and asked Chirp to bring me to you a different way than through his
room. All the People knew how to find you once you woke up. Smugly he added,
But I am the only one of the People who knows about keys,

"You
are the wisest, cleverest creature I've ever met," she whispered, cuddling
him. "You saved my life and my wits. Did you see where he took Kitten? I
dreamed he enchanted her."

Zek
shook his head* He did not visit her, the marmoset explained.

Daine
leaned back against the walL "He wouldn't hurt her. I'm not at all sure he
can. So he's put her somewhere—perhaps in the menagerie with the other
immortals. I dreamed that's what he did, anyway. We'll look and see."

Still
cuddling Zek, she dozed off until Chirp nudged her awake. Kaddar and Tano were
coming. When the prince saw her, he stopped, dark face turning ashen.
"Daine? Tano didn't say—"

She
glared up at him. "You know what your uncle did to me?"

"We
have to get her out of here," Kaddar informed Tano. "Once he finds
her gone, he'll tear the palace apart."

"I'll
go happily, once I get Kitten back," she said. "Tell me something, if
you please. Do you know anything about a drug called dreamrose?"

"It
produces sleep," he replied promptly. "And true dreams."

She
nodded. "All right, then. I think—I'm fait certain—Numair's still in
Carthak, Once I find Kit, will you smuggle me to the university? I can't leave
this place without him. He^" The look on die princes face brought her up
short, "Something's wrong."

"Daine—"

She
rose. "What"

Kaddar
put a clumsy hand on her shoulder, "Please, try to remain calm."

"
Your uncle tricked me, drugged me, put me in a locked room with no air and
stale food, and then he made my friends leave without me. He also kidnapped my
dragon, and I want her. And he's using this as an excuse to start a war with
TortaU, I won't be calm for weeks, so you'd best tell me!"

"They
caught him. Master Numair. He gave them the slip in Thak's Gate, but they found
his hiding place at the university. And my uncle wouldn't risk his escape. Not
a second time. He was executed, a day ago."

For a
moment she listened but heard only an

ominous
thudding in her ears. Then she said flatly,

"You're
lying."

He
squeezed her shoulder. "Not about something like this."

"Then
Ozorne lied to you."

"I
saw it. He made me watch, along with everyone else at the university. Daine,
I'm sorry. Numair Salmalin is dead, and we have to get you out of
Carthak."

Coolness
trickled into her mind until her skull was filled with it. Her world seemed
extra sharp and extra real. Part of her, someplace deep inside, wailed; that
seemed unreal, as if she watched a crying baby from a great distance.

Kaddar
was shaking her. "Daine! Can you hear me?"

She
gently pushed his hands away. "Stop that. I'm thinking."

His
eyes and Tanos held the same worried frightended look.
 
“you wernen’t answering, you looked
frozen—"

She put
a finger to her lips, and he shut up, A thought was coming in the distance. She
waited, patiently, skin rippling in brief shivers, until itj reached her:
Ozorne had to pay.

The
gods had taken too long to say whatever it was they'd planned to say here. With
all those omens and portents they had sent, the sole effect

had
been her kidnapping and her friends execution. Plainly she would have to take
care of this herself. If any gods tried to stop her, they would regret it

"What
time of the day is it?" Her voice sounded distant, but reasonable.
Something about her, though, must not be right. She saw that Chirp backed away
to press against Tano s legs, fur on end. Both men began to sweat.

"Mid-afternoon,"
replied the Banjiku, eyes bright with concern.

"Where
is Emperor Ozorne, Your Highness?"

"Across
the river, reviewing the Army of the North, They march in two days to the
staging point in Thak's Gate."

She had
no interest in armies at this moment "Will he return today?"

"Yes.
He has to meet with some officials—"

"When?"

Kaddar
wiped his forehead on his arm. "After sunset”
”Tano, could you pass word to all the slaves by dusk, if you had to?” The black
man nodded.
 
Diane looked at
Kaddar.
 
“Does anyone that you care
about live in the palace?”
He wet his lips with his toung.
 
“Yes.
 
But-“

“Tell
the slaves and your friends to be ready by nightfall.
 
When things break loose, they must leave the palace.
 
I don’t care where they go so long as they
do." She sat down again and let Zek climb into her lap.

"You
can't just—"

Something
in her face made him stop back. "Please don't say what I must and mustn't
do, Highness." It was amazing, how cold she felt. "Hurry, now. Dark
comes early here, I've found. Tano—the emperors birds."

The
little man bowed deeply, hands crossed over his breast. "One of the
tunnels opens inside the glass birdhouse, Great One."

"If
I tell them to go with you and your folk and not be frightened, will you carry
them to a safe place? They won't try to escape you."

Tano
nodded: "We will take them away, gladly."

Daine
nodded. "Thank you. Before dark, please!"

Tano
bowed again, and drew the prince away. Chirp followed them into the tunnels.

Dry-eyed,
the girl stared at the ceiling. "You don't have to stay, Zek. It may be
scary"

I will
stay, replied the marmoset, Scary with you is better than scary without you,

Daine
tickled his stomach gently, then closed her eyes. "I didn't get to say
good-bye or anything." She swallowed hard. Her friend, her teacher—he had
shown her the use of her wild magic, looked after her when her first trial with
it backfired, taught her the science that enabled her to learn more about the
People than she had ever dreamed of knowing.

Gathering
up her power, she spoke first to Ozorne's birds. It was quick work to persuade
them to go with the black men and women who had already begun to emerge from an
opening in the aviary floor. Once all of them had gone back into the tunnels
with the Banjiku, she cast her wild magic to the far side of the River Zekoi,
and summoned every small creature that crawled, walked, or flew to the camp of
the Army of the North, Let Ozorne see how far his soldiers could march with
gnawed rope and leather, bad food, foul water, and useless weapons. Anyone who
tried to use ballista or catapult would be in for an unpleasant surprise, as
would the wagon drivers. Mule skinners and horse-masters wouldn't go very far
without their charges.

She had
done it before, calling on her friends to harass the enemy in a siege or to
keep soldiers too busy to go to anyone's aid, Never before had she done it on
this scale, but it wasn't that hard to summon thousands instead of hundreds or
tens. It was almost a relief.

If
Ozorne's gods weren't prepared to instruct him on polite behavior, she would
have to do so.

The
mingled voices of her friends above die ground told her at last that dark had
come. Guided bv a helpful cat, using cat's eyes to see in the dark, she found
her way through the underground tunnels, until they had reached a trapdoor that
opened into the Hall of Bones. "Thank you," she told the cat as she
tucked Zek into her shirt. "And now, you'd best get out. It's going to be
very busy here for a while."

The cat
rubbed affectionately against her shins and raced off into the darkness,

"Ready?"
Daine asked Zek. She could see his wide eyes and feel him tremble slightly.

No, he
told her. Go ahead anyway.

She
climbed the ladder to raise the trapdoor half an inch. The room above was dark
and empty. Climbing out, she looked around.

She was
in a niche between the mountain-runner nest and the hall where the smaller
skeletons were kept. These wouldn't do. Turning, she entered the hall of the
larger dinosaurs, and went to the three-horn that faced the main door. It
seemed right to begin with him. Rubbing her hands, she touched the skeleton's
long nose horn. White fire blazed. The dinosaur tossed its head, as if to shake
off sleep.

"Now,
that's the wrong way to go about it," said a cracked voice. "You'll
kill yourself again, and you won't rouse nearly enough of them."

Daine
faced the Graveyard Hag. "You," she hissed coldly. "Am I angry
enough now? Isn't this what you wanted?"

"No,"
was the frank reply. "I wanted you to wake the human dead. Give 'em a
start to see corpses dancing in their streets. It'd be just like the old days.
Well before your time, of course."

Daine
rested a hand on the three-horn's neck frill. It had moved up beside her and
stood firmly braced, as if telling the goddess that she would have to go through
it to get to Daine. "And when the dead lie back down, the mortals will
forget A couple weeks, a month, and it'll seem like a bad dream. I want to give
them a lesson that wiU keep them busy awhile."

"What
might that be, dearie?"

"Palaces
are important," replied the girt "Rulers keep their gold and gems and
art in palaces. The tax rolls and imperial records are here somewhere. If I rip
this palace apart, it'll take them years to clean up. They'll have something
besides going to war with their neighbors to do. And if I kill king, a new
emperor might not be so bad. Guaranteed, they'd go back to proper worship of
the gods—-I imagine that would make all of you happy"

The
goddess frowned. "Its not what I would do.”

"What
you would ve done you should ve done years ago!" Daine cried, voice
breaking. "If you hadn't let it go, and let it go, things might not have
come to this state! But you didn't, and you left it to me, so now we'll do it
like / want to! Add your own flourishes if you wish, but either help me or get
out of my way!"