The Eyes of a Doll (The World of Shijuren Book 2) (16 page)

“Sevener?”

I nodded to Sebastijan and prepared to attack again. My saex against its two dagger arms and a shield. At least I could still move, and with movement came tactical possibilities.

“Throw, Sebastijan, throw!”

He threw three knives in quick succession. I stepped to my right but immediately jumped back to my left. Sebastijan’s three knives hit the creature’s side, causing it to twist even farther towards my right. I was now inside its range, next to its left side with a chance at several quick strikes. I stabbed into its real armpit, slashed its left pointed arm, and concluded with a stab at its side to help me leap backwards out of range.

The attack rendered its left true-arm useless, and its left pointed arm now moved oddly as well. Two of Sebastijan’s knives remained in its flank, and it wavered, flipping its remaining pointed arm at me.

I caught my breath and stared at the creature’s blank eyes. I wondered what kind of man it had once been. It was time to end his agony.

“Sebastijan,” I yelled once more.

He looked up, and through the hood I could see understanding in his eyes.

I raised my saex in salute and then charged.

No feint this time, no dodging, no nothing. I flipped my saex in a twisting motion to drive the creature’s remaining pointed arm past me and was inside its dangerous point for just a moment. A quick slash at the wrist of that arm and a deep stab right above it neutralized it.

It battered me with wounded arms, but my scale deflected most of the harm. I remained there, stabbing and slashing at every part I could reach.

Then, suddenly, it stopped swinging at me and collapsed.

I looked up and saw Sebastijan at the pedestal, latching the lead-lined box closed with his ungauntleted hand.

Though I suspected the creature had lost all of its power, I drove my saex into its throat and then into its skull. It shuddered and finally lay still at my feet.

We stepped away from the pedestal and the monstrous corpse. Sebastijan grimly stuck the box into the bag and handed the bag to me. As I slid it over my shoulder, he dropped the gauntlet to the floor and pulled the hood over his head. His hair, soggy with sweat, draped in odd rivulets down his skull.

We all took deep, ragged breaths. I wiped my saex clean on my tunic and slid it into its sheath. I pulled my sword out of the monster’s arm, cleaned it, and sheathed it. I then collected all of Sebastijan’s knives that I could find.

By this point Sebastijan had escaped the leaden tunic and was settling his bandolier back in its proper place. We looked at Katarina.

“Leave the tunic here. It’s served its purpose.”

Sebastijan sighed in relief.

“Now we must leave this place,” she added.

We did not argue. I gave Sebastijan his knives. While he put them away, I grabbed my shield boss from the floor.

Katarina pointed at a tome resting on the worktable. “You’ll want that too, I suspect.”

I slid it into the bag and drew my sword again. “Up the steps as quickly as we can?”

She nodded.

“Can they still attack us now that the Mavric iron is shielded?”

She shrugged. “How could I know?”

“Let’s go, and deal with what we must.”

We scurried up the steps, alert for threats. Breathless, we soon stood on the ground floor in the kitchen. Before us, a single servant looked up briefly. It hissed in anger, but then turned back to cleaning out the non-existent ashes in the hearth.

We left him be.

Nothing had changed on this floor, but that did not stop Katarina from urging us onward.

“Hurry, hurry.”

I wondered at that but simply hurried. Soon we were back outside.

“Lezh is that way. You see that rise along the road in the distance?”

I looked and nodded.

“Leave the box there.”

I nodded again. I stuck the tome into one of my packs on Deor, who had welcomed me at the door with a soft nip. I mounted him and saw Sebastijan already on his mount.

“Goodbye, Katarina. Safe travels.”

An exhausted smile answered me. I realized her impatience was fatigue at holding off the Bardheküülle’s power.

We rode to the rise she had pointed to. I placed the bag and the box on the ground and waved at her. I saw her climb onto her horse.

“Let’s move,” growled Sebastijan. “I want to be out of sight when she gets here.”

I was not as worried as he, but his suggestion made sense, so I matched his canter and we soon accelerated into a full gallop. I let Deor set his pace, and he eagerly attacked the roadway.

As we curved around a hill, out of view of the rise where I had left the box, Sebastijan reined in and we proceeded at a jog.

The anger of the Bardheküülle still resided around my soul, but I could feel the blanket getting thinner as we distanced ourselves from it.

Suddenly, though, I felt the anger wiped away and exultation replace it. For a long moment I sat there, the exultation forced on my mind warring with the hope and fear coming from my soul.

Then, as quickly as it had come, the exultation disappeared and the shield against the anger returned.

“So.” Sebastijan stared up at the afternoon sky. “She has the Mavric iron. Are you sure you made the right decision?”

“We could go back. I think we could defeat her right now. She is tired and weak from shielding us.”

“Even with the amulet? She’d use it against us.”

“Even so, we could defeat her.”

Sebastijan nodded and we sat there on our horses, thinking.

“Lezh awaits,” he finally said. He wheeled his horse westward.

He just wanted to be out of reach.

I, on the other hand, prayed that Katarina’s mind would prevent her from succumbing to the lure of all that power.

The gates of Lezh stood open, though guarded, when we crested the last hill.

The previous night, Sebastijan had still worried that we might be ambushed, so he had led us on foot through the dark. When sun arose, he pushed us through to our destination.

I ached all over, not simply where the guardian’s pointed arm had penetrated. The bandage itched under the bloody tunic and dented scale armor.

“Made it,” I yawned.

“Yes, we’re safe now.”

I chuckled at Sebastijan’s sarcasm. “How long to the Westering Winds?”

“From here? An hour or so.”

I nodded and followed his lead. The guards at the gate barely paid attention to us as we entered. I shook my head.

“Bothers your sense of rightness, eh?”

“Yes, Sebastijan, it does. Guards should guard.”

“Nobody’s ever attacked Lezh from landward.”

“Then that’s how I’d attack them.”

He chuckled. “And I might do the same as well, but we’re not leading an army so we’re no threat to them. We’re also not leading a caravan, so we’ll provide no tolls.”

“What if we were smuggling something?”

“They’re paid to ignore that by the kraljevics here. They’ve already gotten their cut.”

“Just when I thought I’d gotten used to Achrida.”

Sebastijan chuckled. “The line between zupan and kraljevic is blurred here. Ylli is definitely a kraljevic, but he runs one of the zupans like the zupans run the governor in Achrida.”

“Meaning the governor here is truly powerless.”

“Actually, no.” He chuckled as we wove through the streets, ignored by all but the hawkers.

“What power does the governor have?”

“Lezh and Lezhum are different than Dassaretum. It’s a much more important city strategically, at least when thinking of defending the Empire.”

“Ah, it’s a coastal town and must be ready to defend itself.”

“Yes. Also, it’s a major Imperial port.”

“The Emperor puts energetic governors here and weak ones in Achrida.”

“Exactly.”

I thought for a moment. “And because the Dassaretae and the Enchelei have often been so powerful, Lezhum has to be strong enough to counter them and keep the rivalry going.”

“Welcome to the Empire, my friend.”

I shook my head. We crested a hill, and I glimpsed the Middle Sea shining between buildings.

“You’ll want to go over there, up at the top of the hill.”

I saw a tower looming over the harbor.

“What is it?”

“It’s the tower of Emperor Heraclius. He built it there to see the sun set on the Empire.”

I looked at him strangely.

“He was an odd man, and an odd Emperor. He sat in that tower for years, watching the sun go into the sea.”

“How did the Empire continue?”

“The Empire is run by its governors and officials. People like Kapric and Zvono. Often, they just keep doing their jobs no matter who reigns.”

“Did the government move here? What happened to the Great City?”

“Some of his courtiers moved here, but most just stayed where they were. Couriers were dispatched daily back and forth.”

“Inconvenient.”

“Emperors often are.”

I chuckled.

“At least this one made sure his successors would have his gift. His tower is, indeed, a fantastic place to watch the sun set. Travelers come from leagues around.”

All of the sudden, my memories clicked. “Bedarth came here once.”

“Bedarth? Your tutor?”

“Yes, when he was young. He told me of the glittering line of the sun on the distant sea pointing back at him, red and proud and stern.”

“Why was he in the Empire?”

“I think he was here to visit Veikko.”

“Veikko?”

“A Reader he corresponded with.”

As I answered, Sebastijan turned onto a street that led along a ridge overlooking Lezh. The Westering Winds sat in an odd little dell, and the reason for its name became immediately obvious. A continuous zephyr carrying west from land to sea cooled the street before it.

“Sebastijan! You here to pay for last time?”

Sebastijan wryly smiled as a short but impressively pudgy man yelled from the doorway.

“Dardan. It’s good to see you.”

He dismounted. I followed suit, with a meaningful eye to remind Deor not to bite. He disdainfully shook his head.

“Rooms, then?”

Sebastijan nodded.

“For you and the Sevener?”

He nodded again.

“Does the Sevener speak a proper language?”

“Ask him yourself.”

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND IMPERIAL?” Before I could muster a response to his shout, he grumbled at Sebastijan, “So you’ve brought an outlander barbarian to dirty up my inn. That’ll be costing you extra.”

In the most precise Imperial I could manage, I finally answered. “Deor, if you want to bite this one, I don’t think I’ll mind after all.”

Deor nipped at Dardan’s shoulder. Not hard, but enough.

“You were saying about a barbarian?”

I used all my willpower to say that with a straight face. Sebastijan did not even try.

“I think he’ll keep the place clean enough.”

“But that demon horse,” grumbled Dardan.

I laughed. “He’s that, alright, but he’s also my friend. I think I can convince him not to tear you limb from limb.”

I looked at Deor. “If he stops calling me a barbarian and you a demon, will you please not bite him?”

Deor neighed and shook his head.

“If he does that and he gives you a few treats?”

He snorted and bobbed his head up and down.

I turned back to Dardan.

“There you are. Don’t call me a barbarian, or him a demon, and give him treats. He likes apples.”

The zephyr carried Sebastijan’s booming laughter out to sea, probably annoying fishes and stranger creatures. I started laughing myself, and soon enough Dardan joined us.

“Come, let’s get you settled.”

Before we could even see the stable on the far side of the inn Dardan was yelling for apples. The stablekeepers of the Westering Winds did not tend Deor as lovingly as Eirik did, but they had apples. He chomped happily as settled him in a clean stall.

We followed Dardan up to two adjoining rooms. Each had a clean pallet and a crude table. A small opening led from room to room, allowing the wind to flow through and keep the air fresh and cool, even though the rooms had no windows. Not the Faerie, but I had certainly spent nights in worse.

As we deposited our belongings, Dardan motioned Sebastijan into my room.

“The zupan warned me to expect you.”

I nodded.

“Though these rooms don’t look like much, they were lined with protective symbols as we built the Westie. No doubt a powerful enough mage can break the warding, but these rooms will provide you much protection.”

I nodded appreciatively.

“The zupan warned us that you might have someone wanting to prevent you from whatever you plan to do. We’ll protect you while you’re here. He did not tell what that might be.”

“Because he does not know. In fact, he left so he could remain blissfully ignorant.”

“Or at least plausibly,” snorted Sebastijan.

Dardan nodded. “Of course. Fortunately, all of the servants and workers here are Dassaretae. They’ll help as they can. Let us know.”

“You’ll tell Vukasin everything, of course.”

“Of course, we’re his family and friends.”

I nodded. I would certainly get no better. I motioned at Sebastijan.

“And I take it from your greeting that you’ll not stab this Enchelei in the night? At least until I’m done with him?”

“He’s survived staying here before.”

Sebastijan shook his head. “I need wine.”

Dardan led us to the taproom and provided us with a hearty, bitter wine that Sebastijan enjoyed and I merely sipped. The two of them refreshed their memories of each other while I relaxed.

The Westie, as everyone seemed to call it, provided a much more secure bastion than I could have hoped for. Nevertheless, I wondered how much Vukasin’s power could shield me in Lezh, and also how much power the Imperial Governor of Lezh might wield.

Eventually Dardan let us be.

“Tomorrow we find Timoshenko?”

He nodded. “I know where his shop is.”

“Good.”

He looked at me. “You’re nervous?”

“Not exactly. I’m worried about Honker, Ragnar, and the families. I’m worried about each day we’re gone.”

“I understand, but remember that Vukasin and Vesela are upset. Whatever else they might have thought prior to the governor ignoring them, they are on your side for now.”

“For now.”

“Now is enough.”

“True,” I agreed.

Sebastijan shrugged. “And maybe you don’t have to worry about the krals either. Certainly not Gibroz, and we left Katarina on as good of terms as we could hope for.”

I chuckled. “That won’t matter for Katarina if she thinks something will be fun.”

“Still.”

I nodded. “Still.”

“So, whoever is attacking you isn’t likely to be one of the great controlling powers of Achrida.”

“Yes, but that means whoever’s attacking is someone from the shadows. I’ve been dwelling on that ever since I realized Andreas was paying back a favor. If it’s not a zupan or a kraljevic, then what other Achridan could it be?”

“I’ve been wondering the same thing. I don’t have an answer for you.”

I sighed.

“Still, your friends will keep Honker and Ragnar safe. I’ll bet Piri and the Pathfinders are eating there regularly. Same for Svetislav and the Lakewardens. And don’t forget my men.”

“I just hate relying on others when it’s my responsibility.”

Sebastijan just chuckled.