The Eyes of a Doll (The World of Shijuren Book 2) (11 page)

Kapric, Zvono, and I drank in silence, pondering the plan. Finally, Kapric spoke up.

“Be careful, Sevener.”

“Are you thinking I can’t trust Sebastijan?”

Kapric shook his head. “No, you can trust him for this. He’ll not betray you or flee if it gets dangerous.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“I’m not happy either.”

“At least if anyone dies it will be two people you dislike.”

“Sevener!” snapped Zvono.

“You’re right, that was unfair. I apologize, Kapric. I know you don’t want either of us to die, even if you do dislike us.”

Kapric scowled. “None of this business will end well.”

I cocked my eye at him, and he continued.

“If Ylli and Gibroz fall to open warfare, it will explode through Achrida. We’ll be investigating scores of murders, most of people who are not bad or evil, just poor.”

I looked at Kapric with a bit of amazement. “You’re not as cynical as I thought.”

He smiled slightly. “I’m at least as cynical as you thought, but I don’t like these things.”

Zvono leaned over. “Do you understand what you’re doing, Sevener?”

“I don’t actually know if I do or not, Zvono. I’ve never had to pretend to be something I wasn’t.”

“Never?”

I shook my head.

“Even after Penwulf’s rebellion, I never had to pretend I hadn’t sworn an oath to him nor that I hadn’t slain my father in that battle.”

“A different place.”

“A completely different world. I feel so out of place here at times. I’m worried that I’ll get to Basilopolis and even in the Emperor’s service be a fish out of water.”

“And you can’t go home.”

“No, I can’t. Cynric has forgiven me and would freely let me stay, even to the point of granting me bencriht. Hlodowic grudgingly allows that he could use me to help train Cynric’s men. But all his sworn men know my past, even those that weren’t there. They all know I raised my sword against Cynric. This they cannot forgive. In truth, I cannot disagree. I would find that hard to forgive myself.”

“I think, Sevener, you
do
find that hard to forgive.”

I nodded at Zvono. “Yes. Bedarth would be wroth with me for taking so long to forgive myself.”

“You said something at the Gropa Mansion on that night that now you understood why your gods had tested you in this way.”

“Yes, and I have learned. But sometimes, I still look back and wonder if I could have done otherwise.”

“I’ve times like that as well.”

“Thank you, Kapric.”

Karah set a pitcher of Ragnar’s ale in front of us. We filled our mugs and quietly enjoyed Ragnar’s skill.

“Queasies?”

“Shut up, Sevener.”

I had packed my gear and arranged with Eirik to help me saddle Deor in the morning. I sat in the taproom now in the lull of the afternoon, with only a few other patrons.

At one table, Emilija idly chatted with Marko. Emilija enjoyed, I think, actually talking to men, since she spent her evenings telling them what they wanted to hear, while also pleasing them in other ways. In any case, though all knew her profession, we never saw her do business at the Faerie.

The heavy sun of the south marshaled its legions through the windows, even though they faced the east. The air was thick and still, moved only by Karah and Eirik sweeping up and making the room ready for dinner.

Melia slept soundly, sprawled out on an old blanket in a dark corner, uninterested, for once, in getting petted.

I put my feet on a chair and closed my eyes. Melia had the right of it.

Heavy steps entered the Faerie. I looked up at Ragnar’s tone of voice.

“Eirik, be headin’ to the stables. They’s not to be bein’ properly clean.”

“But Da…”

“Be quiet, boy, and do as I am sayin’!”

A large woman led a troop of six swordsmen over to my table. They wore immaculate tabards bearing a livery that seemed familiar, but not quite recognizable to me. Over their tabards they wore purple sashes with iron badges sewn into them. Bits of brightly polished armor gleamed under the tabards, and they walked with a precision that only hours of drilling could produce.

“Edward, son of Aethelred?”

“I am.”

“I am Hecatontarch Pherenike of the Imperial Guard. You will come with us now.”

“Why?”

“You are a foreigner, and you may not know yet that when the Imperial Guard says you do something, you do it.”

Ragnar started to step in, but I halted his rage.

“Very well, Hecatontarch, as a guest here, I choose to leave of my own volition.”

She raised an eyebrow in confusion, but I saw Ragnar take a deep breath.

“Edward?”

I rose from my seat and answered him.

“It’s fine, Ragnar, I’ll see what she needs.”

“Leave the blade.”

“My saex? I will come with you willingly but that I will not do.”

“We are the Imperial Guard, you will do…”

“I was a thegn to a prince, the son of a line of thegns,” I growled, letting my pride and anger show. “I have shed blood on fields from hundreds of leagues away to this city. I am a friend, and a foe, of the zupans of this city. Yet none of those things are as important as my status as a free man. This blade proves my status. You may take this, but I will be dead and so will you. I will come with you willingly, but I will not give my blade to anyone less than the Emperor himself.”

A long, motionless moment passed.

“Fine, keep your blade.”

“You are a woman of your word, proud of your deeds as I am of mine. I would have you swear that you will aid me, should someone attempt to unjustly take my saex.”

She looked startled, and for the first time she was truly aware of her surroundings. She paused for a long while and finally smiled harshly.

“Indeed, Sevener, I will swear that, for if I cannot take your saex from you, then no other shall.”

I walked out of the Faerie in a silence broken only by Ragnar telling me he would inform Piri and Kapric.

The Imperial Guard surrounded me, and we followed Pherenike through the packed streets. We walked swiftly, as everyone who noticed us got out of the way, and were soon at Heartsquare and the Imperial building.

Pherenike led us into the building, but instead of heading downstairs as I had done every other time I had entered, I followed her up the stairs.

At each floor the decorations adorning the stairs increased in quality and number. At the top floor we stood in a large, opulent room with several doors leading out of it. The windows stretched from floor to ceiling and looked to be of real glass. The carpet was deep and looked like something woven far to the east. The scent of rose petals filled the air.

Pherenike led us to one of the doors on the far side of the room. The wood was carved with leaves swirling around the door and had been stained with a golden, gleaming oil. Sunbeams seemed to compete for the honor of illuminating the grain of the wood.

She made two precise knocks and entered. I followed. Her troop remained outside.

The room matched the door in glory. One wall consisted entirely of an intricate mosaic of colored glass or quartz. I presumed the man prominently displayed riding to hunt was the Emperor. Across from it, rich, heavy fabric had been pulled aside to let the sunlight shine into the mosaic, and the light from the stones’ shimmering refracted upon the other walls. These walls were paneled entirely in that same golden-stained wood of the door. A lean, sharp-eyed man sat behind a large desk, also made of the stained wood. Two chairs sat between me and the desk.

“Edward of the Seven Kingdoms?”

I nodded.

“I am Andreas, governor of Dassaretum Province.”

His face bore a benevolent smile, as if he were bestowing upon me the greatest of gifts out of the generosity of his own heart.

“The Imperial governor? I am impressed.”

“Please sit, we have much to discuss.”

I sat in one of the chairs before the desk, and he matched me in his much larger, more ostentatious chair behind it. Pherenike stood by the door in that precise manner of palace guardsmen the world over.

“I’ve been told that you have come to the Empire to swear your oath to the Emperor.”

“Yes, as soon as I fulfill my obligations here in Achrida and can go to the Great City.”

“It is quite an honor to be accepted. Many around the world travel to our fair lands in the hopes to wear the Emperor’s sash.”

“Yes, but I am confident I can earn my right to join.”

He nodded, and his smile grew broader.

“I have heard much about you. I suspect your confidence is not misplaced.”

“Thank you.”

Andreas tried to wait me out, but the hours of sitting with Bedarth, pondering questions of philosophy and magic, stood me in good stead.

“What if I told you that you could enlist in his Imperial Guard right now?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Do I not have to prove my worth to him?”

“Of course you do,” he answered, looking pleased, “but the Emperor does not personally monitor the testing of every member of his guard. This is the task of his most important assistants.”

“Ah.”

“Ah, indeed. I suspect you understand my meaning, but I shall make my meaning plain. Your actions in this previous month have proven to me, in my position as Dux Dassaretum, bearing the responsibility and might of the Emperor, that you are worthy of the Imperial Guard.”

“I am honored.”

“As you should be. I merely need your signature or symbol on this proclamation and we can swear you in. Pherenike will then take you to their barracks and get you properly outfitted and explain your duties. Your first task will be to leave Achrida for Basilopolis, where they will finish your training.”

He pushed a document before me, next to a quill and inkwell. Then he sat back, beaming happiness more oppressively than the afternoon sun’s heat.

I, too, sat back. I let him think I was happily stunned by the offer, but in truth I was clamping down upon my wrath. Someone knew too much. Someone thought to remove me from Achrida and leave Honker exposed.

I did not need to look around at Pherenike to see her disapproval of the idea I could be worthy of the Imperial Guard, so Andreas must be repaying a favor to someone.

Could Ylli have enough power to influence Andreas? That did not seem likely. Neither the zupans nor the kraljevics would use Andreas, so for the moment I had no idea who that someone might be. Who else could it be?

And how had that someone found out my plans so quickly?

In any case, the author was less important than the tale at this moment. I decided blind stubborn ignorance would help me muddle my way past Andreas.

“I am stunned. I just can’t believe that when I get done with my obligations here I’ll actually have my place.”

Not surprisingly, his smile wavered.

“Well, you see, the current crop of recruits is leaving for Basilopolis in the morning, so you have to head straight back to the Imperial barracks to prepare. Never you mind, though, we’ll have porters retrieve the rest of your possessions from the Frank Faerie.”

His beaming smile had returned, but I wiped it off of his face with my quick response.

“Oh. Well, I cannot leave tomorrow to the south. I have made promises that I must fulfill before I can leave Achrida. When will the next crop of recruits leave?”

“You misunderstand, Sevener, you must leave tomorrow.”

“I apologize, but I cannot. I have sworn oaths, and surely one as educated as yourself knows that the word of a man of the Seven Kingdoms is not given or broken lightly.”

“Your honor is becoming legendary in my fair province. Nevertheless, your position with the Emperor requires your presence in Basilopolis as soon as possible.”

“Then there is no problem. I will fulfill my obligations as quickly as I can and then go to Basilopolis. That will be as soon as I can possibly be there.”

“No, I mean that you must be in Basilopolis within three weeks. Your fame has spread that far that the Emperor wishes to see you. You would not wish to make him wait.”

“No, of course not. But surely he would not wish me to foreswear an oath by swearing an oath to him. He is the foundation of law, is he not? And are not oaths the basis of that foundation? By staying here and fulfilling my oaths I am honoring the Emperor and his will.”

Behind his large desk, Andreas nodded sadly and sighed. “I see your point, misguided though it is. I’m afraid however, that you misunderstand your options.”

“What are my options?”

“One does not refuse the Emperor’s summons.”

“So I either accept the posting, or…?”

“You remain my guest here in the Imperial building. In wonderful quarters to be sure. I have no doubt that as you ponder your place in the cosmos, you will come to recognize where your true duty resides.”

Smugly, he leaned back and looked to Pherenike.

“Please escort my guest to his quarters.”

She nodded and looked at me, and I nodded as well. This was neither the time nor the place.