The Destroyer Goddess (24 page)

"Yes, yes, you needn't go through the whole list, Dulien."

"Meriten is practically Kiloran's servant. So if Meriten gets that territory, it will be the same as Kiloran's having it." Dulien waited for Baran to agree with him. Baran merely gazed at him with a pretense of polite interest. Dulien continued angrily, "Kiloran's already got Cavasar, Kandahar and its territory, the Zilar River, the mines of Alizar, the Idalar River... Well, the Idalar River if you can't hold onto it. And having the Idalar will give him Shaljir. And now he's after Verlon's territory!"

"Verlon's territory? Really?"

"Attacks on Verlon's assassins. Many dead."

"Jagodan shah Lironi is making war on Verlon," Baran pointed out. "Surely that's why many are d—"

"Yes, yes, but Kiloran is attacking, too."

"How do you know?" He could already guess, but he wanted to be sure.

"A
shir
of Kiloran's was found at one of the massacres."

Oh, yes.

"Ah." Encouraging Dulien, Baran said, "Just like the initial attack on Wyldon's stronghold?"

"Precisely!"

"Very, very disturbing," he agreed gravely.

"And now a
shir
of Kiloran's has been found among Gulstan's slain men, too."

"My, my. Who's next?" Baran mused. 

"Exactly!" Dulien pounced. "Kiloran wants it all!"

Oh, yes. This strategy had Tansen's name written all over it. Not that Tansen could write his name, of course. But this sort of calculated misdirection which was wasting the waterlords' energy and scattering their focus was precisely the sort of tactic Tansen at which excelled—and the sort of thing he had taught the Firebringer himself to do. Such tactics had enabled those two, with no help, to victoriously attack a hundred Outlookers in a fortress near Britar and free twenty
shallah
  prisoners. Really, it was surprising that the other waterlords couldn't see that now. 

Then again, considering what a fool Dulien was, and what a blood-thirsty hot-head Verlon was, perhaps it wasn't so surprising, after all. Gulstan, who was smarter than many waterlords, might have his doubts about the whole thing. However, Gulstan suspected Kiloran's ambition more than anyone else, so perhaps he believed exactly what Tansen wanted him to believe.

The most delightful aspect of all this, Baran thought, was that Kiloran surely knew what was going on, and it undoubtedly made him ache with impotent rage. Even if Kiloran suppressed his pride enough to admit to the other waterlords that Tansen had killed enough of his assassins to plant their
shir
all over Sileria, the damage was already done: suspicions were raised, accusations circulating, counterplots being hatched.

"So what do you want from me?" Baran asked Dulien. "Apart from the pleasure of my company today, I mean."

"Why did you marry Mirabar?"

"Her girlish laughter enchanted me."

Dulien scowled. "What promises did Tansen make you?"

"Actually, Tansen opposed the marriage. He lost his head and nearly tried to kill me. Right there on Sanctuary grounds."

Dulien looked shocked. "
Tansen?"

"I don't think he likes me," Baran confided.

"No one likes you."

"That's not true. Sister Velikar adores me. And Vinn admits that he has become very attached to me."

Dulien made an impatient gesture. "Why are you with Josarian's loyalists? Why did you betray the Society?" He leaned forward again, his voice intense as he demanded, "What do you know that we don't?"

"Ahhh..." Baran leaned back in his chair, fighting a wave of dizziness. He needed Sister Velikar's attentions, but he decided he'd better finish this business first. "You think that Searlon's secret task may be to bring down other waterlords."

"Possibly."

Baran studied him with growing amusement. "You're afraid of what will happen if Kiloran has his way in this war."

Dulien nodded. "In all things."

"Kiloran ruling Sileria?"

"Yes!"

"Would that be so bad?" Baran asked curiously. "He's ruled the Society, after all, since before you and I became waterlords."

"But there were always the Valdani to keep him check. He always...
needed
the Society. Needed the rest of us."

"And now?" Baran prodded.

"Now, if he can destroy Josarian's loyalists, what will Kiloran need with the rest of us once the fighting is over?"

"When Tansen and Mirabar are dead, I'm dead, the Guardians are all dead, and Josarian's cause is just a memory."

Dulien nodded. "Kiloran's already killing other waterlords and taking over their territories."

"First, Cavasar," Baran mused. "Then, Wyldon." Smiling maliciously, he added, "And, of course, there's the Zilar River... which
you've
always wanted, if memory serves."

His expression dark with envious fury, Dulien said, "And those are just the things we're certain about! What about Verlon's accusations? What about the
shir
found among Gulstan's men? What about the Shaljir River, which Meriten will get for him? What happens when you're dead and nothing stands between Kiloran and the Idalar River, nothing between Kiloran and the city of Shaljir?" Dulien pounded his fist on the table and shouted, "He will get rid of us all, I tell you! We will be nothing but a threat to him after you and Tansen and Mirabar are dead!"

"Yes, yes, I see your point."

"Why are you with them?" Dulien demanded.

"Do
you
want to be with them?" Baran asked with interest. He enjoyed imagining Tansen's reaction when he heard that a waterlord wanted his friendship. Surely even Tansen's face would be vivid with surprise at such news. When Dulien didn't reply, Baran prodded, "Do you?"

Dulien shrugged sulkily. "I want to know what the circumstances of our friendship would be."

"In other words, can the waterlords rule their territories without interference after Kiloran is dead?"

"Yes."

Just when you think you've seen everything...

Dulien was an even bigger fool than he had realized. Baran asked, "What about Verlon? Does he want new friends, too?"

"Verlon says he has already reached out to someone." 
      "Who?"
Who
is
there besides me?

"He won't say who," Dulien grumbled. "But he believes that, with this ally, he can protect himself from Kiloran." He frowned a moment later and added, "And from Tansen and the Guardians, too."

"Well, well." Baran wondered who Verlon believed had that kind of power. "What about Gulstan?"

"Gulstan says that you are an unpredictable madman and I'm a fool to approach you."

"He's right." Gulstan might be comically fat, but he was no fool.

"Even so," Dulien added, "Gulstan wants to know what you say today."

"Tell him I miss his keen wit and handsome figure."

"You hate Kiloran."

"Who told you?"

"You've done what you've done because of that," said Dulien.

"True."

"You believe that if he wins now, you will never have a chance to destroy him. So you're trying to help them defeat him now. That's why you're with them, isn't it?"

Terribly pleased, despite the pain that was now making him sweat like a nervous bridegroom, Baran replied, "Yes, I think you'll all be extra waterlords if the Society wins. Fire and water may be enemies, but they can probably share the future in Sileria, if they really want to. Whereas Kiloran will certainly wipe out all the weaker waterlords once he no longer needs them."

He didn't believe it for a moment. Tansen and the Guardians would let no waterlords survive this war. And Kiloran wasn't reckless enough to kill the other waterlords—not unless they became the sort of intense nuisance that Wyldon had become. 

Yes, Dulien, Verlon, Gulstan, and whoever else was experiencing misgivings had it all wrong. They were making a huge mistake, because Kiloran was still their friend, and Tansen and the Guardians would always be their enemies. If any waterlords betrayed Kiloran now, they would destroy themselves.

Even better, they would damage Kiloran. He couldn't fight Josarian's loyalists all by himself. He needed the Society.

"Dulien," Baran said kindly, reveling in the sweet taste of ripening vengeance, "would you like me to speak to Tansen for you?"

Dulien hesitated only a moment before condemning himself to certain death. "Yes."

"What'll we do with him?" Zarien asked Tansen while wrapping a fresh wound on his bloodfather's arm.

"Not too tight," Tansen instructed, his long hair gleaming blackly under the ash-streaked light of the setting sun.

"It's still bleeding a lot."

"Let me see." Tansen frowned at the messy gash. "Put pressure on it for a bit, then wrap it when the bleeding has slowed."

Zarien put pressure on the wound, then repeated, "What'll we do with him?" He looked across the encampment at
Toren
Ronall, who sat drinking a large quantity of volcano ale and gazing blankly into an enchanted Guardian fire, where someone cooked the evening meal.

"I'm not sure," Tansen admitted. 

"He says he won't go back to Shaljir. Won't go back to the
torena
."

"I know. I was going to send him there with the next courier, but I don't think we can trust him not to run away."

"It seems strange, since you're trying to save his life."

Tansen shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure he
wants
to live."

"Also the lives of other Valdani," Zarien added.

"That seems to be the only way we'll influence him." Tansen gazed at the drunken
toren
for another moment. "But I think he's past listening to sensible conversation today. We'll have to try again tomorrow, before he starts drinking... Which, I've noticed, means we'll have to catch him very early in the day."

"It's the right thing to do, father." Zarien still felt sick when he remembered those heads decorating the gates of Shaljir.

"Saving Valdani lives." Tansen sighed. "Josarian would enjoy the irony. His sense of humor was easily tickled."

After a long moment of silence, during which Tansen was undoubtedly brooding about the Firebringer's death, Zarien asked, "Do you think the
toren
loves Jalilar?"

"No."

"But he's upset about the baby?"

"Not as upset as Emelen is," Tansen admitted.

"But... but you think they'll..."

Tansen shrugged. "Emelen and Jalilar love each other. They could work this out, I'm sure, if..."

"If she weren't carrying the
toren
's child."

"Emelen is struggling hard with the idea that he'll be father to another man's child." His gaze caught Zarien's as he added, "It's nothing like a bloodvow, Zarien. Emelen didn't choose this. When I look at you, I see my son. But that baby... Emelen's afraid he'll always see Ronall's child when he looks at it."

"Yes. I suppose choosing a child is different from..."

"From your wife announcing that she's having one that isn't yours," Tansen concluded.

"Or from another woman announcing she's marrying a man to have
his?
" Zarien guessed, thinking of the
sirana
.

"I knew you would say that," Tansen said wearily. "Let's leave her out of this, shall we?"

"Of course, father," Zarien said politely. 

He ignored the suspicious glance Tansen sent him. His bloodfather didn't show it, not to anyone, not even to him; but losing Mirabar to Baran had wounded him badly. And Zarien found it hard to see Tansen bear a wound he couldn't bind for him. So he poked and prodded, thinking that maybe they'd both feel better if Tansen would at least talk to him about it... 

Zarien sighed and shrugged off the thought, knowing it was futile. Tansen did not have a confiding nature. There was so much, Zarien was coming to realize, that his father might never tell him. Including what haunted his dreams at night. Yes, Tansen's nightmares came to him even more often than did Zarien's nightmares about his dead sea-bound family.

"Will Jalilar and Emelen be safe there?" Zarien asked now, turning his thoughts away from those painful memories, away from the consuming hatred he felt for the goddess Sharifar.

"In Sanctuary?" Tansen replied. "Of course."

Tansen had instructed Jalilar and Emelen to remain together in that remote little Sanctuary of the Sisterhood. It was more imperative than ever, he insisted, that the Firebringer's sister remain in a secure place. Emelen would stay there to provide for her... and to try to repair their damaged marriage. Tansen would give them some time alone together, and then he would send men to guard the Sanctuary and watch over Jalilar, as well someone named Sister Basimar to tend her in her pregnancy while Emelen returned to the fighting—as he would have to do. He was needed. 

Meanwhile, Tansen and Zarien returned to their encampment with Ronall in tow. Zarien had never met anyone quite like the
toren
and wasn't sure what to make of him. Tansen seemed to alternately pity and despise the man.