The False Martyr (77 page)

She ran. Her legs barely
supported the weight of her body, her thighs trembled, her knees
nearly buckled. She was winded before the first block was past, but
she forced herself on, block after block, not even thinking about
where she was or where she was going. She was focused on being
outside, on the feel of the air, the smells of the city, the
escape. As much as it hurt, it felt good to run, to be away from
Garth and Dasen, Kian, the Tappers, those girls,
everything.

On each side of her were
blocks of buildings, shops with residences above, built in solid
rows that ended only to give way to another street. She took the
easy turns at each intersection, flowing where the road seemed to
take her, barely aware that she was going in a great octagon around
the city’s central hill. A smattering of people walked those
streets, typically men, usually in groups, all tightly bound and
wary. They stared at the boy running past them, drew closer
together, and mumbled back and forth, passing by Teth in blurs that
she barely recognized as people. In a few blocks, the fortress
loomed above her, standing on top of the steepest section of the
hill, looking down on the city from its barren perch with only a
single winding road to connect it to the town below. She kept the
hill on her right, missing the streets that spurred from it for the
wagons, hawkers carts, or gaggles of people that seemed to block
each. Soon, the grade of the hill eased, and a few manor houses
appeared. Her breath was labored, heart hammering, feet tripping,
but she focused on the houses of the city’s remarkably small elite
– no more than six manors that she could see nestled between the
fortress and temple.

Somewhere, she realized
that she was going in a circle, that it was almost complete, that
the inn would soon appear. She looked for a side street, something
to take her away from that place. She found one on the other side
of the street going south. Planting her foot, she pivoted to turn
and was nearly trampled. Eyes wide, breath catching, she placed a
hand on the side of the dun horse to stop her momentum. It reached
back for her with its teeth and the driver flailed at her with his
whip. “Out of the way, ya idiot!” he yelled and struck again. Teth
dodged, abandoning the side street to escape the whip and the
guards that followed. Cursing silently, she continued around the
hill, thinking little more of the encounter than to chastise
herself for being careless.

Until she saw their inn,
The River Maiden, looming again before her. She had come full
circle, was coming back to the inn and the cluster of familiar
faces standing outside watching the streets for her. Before they
could find her, she dart up the first street she saw, staying to
the right to remain outside the view of the inn. She did not look
before she turned, expected to hit something, braced herself to
dodge, to trip, to flail, but the street was empty, inviting, as if
asking her to take it. It was only the slope that diminished her
willingness to accept the invitation. It was not steep, a gentle
slope meant for wagons to access the temple and backs of the manor
houses, but her tired legs made it feel like ascending Cat’s Back
Hill back home. By the time she reached the top, they were spent.
She leaned against the rear of the temple’s rectory house, gasping
for air and wondering if her legs could support her even to stand.
She was just about to accept their surrender and slump to the
ground when she heard the voices.

“
You will do nothing of
the kind,” a familiar voice said. Teth’s gasped. She looked toward
the source, expecting to see the man who had spoken, but found only
the space between the rectory and the temple’s shed. Straining,
waiting for more words that might help her put a face with the
voice, Teth eased herself in behind a barrel that had been set to
catch the rain running from the rectory roof. “Your cousin gave us
exactly what we need to take this city, and I will not allow you to
throw it away.”

There was a pause. Teth
could hear footsteps. She ducked down, praying that the barrel hide
her, but the steps turned before they reached her and padded back
into the alley. “And if they find him?” This voice Teth knew
clearly, and it brought everything into focus. Suddenly she was
straining against the barrel, hanging on every word, heart racing,
body shaking. “The governor’s asking questions. He’s going to get
suspicious soon, and then we’ll have nothing but our heads on
pikes,” Kian ranted without allowing his voice to rise above a
whisper.

“
Then we allay his
suspicions. We parade them out right before him,” Valati Lareno
answered smoothly.

“
And that’s going to help
us take the city?”

“
Trust me. Lady Esther is
the perfect weapon for this fight. The governor will not see it
until it is far too late. And when the city is ours, the boy will
be worth far more.”

“
But what if he doesn’t
help us? What if he can’t use the magic or won’t or if it’s not
enough. I know what I saw him do, but I also remember what the
invaders did. They leveled Thoren, and Dasen Ronigan didn’t do a
damn thing to stop them. What’s to stop them from doing the same
thing here?”

“
Your mind is stuck,”
Lareno said. “You are still trying to fight a battle that has been
lost. The invaders have won. Do not confuse what you tell the
people with your real goals. The invaders are a way to rally the
people, a common enemy to bring them to you, but opposing them will
lead you nowhere.”

“
What are you talking
about, Lareno? What are we doing if it’s not stopping the
invaders?”

“
Kian,” Valati Lareno
sighed. “I thought you were smart. That is why I chose you to lead
us. Do you not see the opportunity before you? The invaders are
leaving. They care nothing for the Unified Kingdoms. Their
aspiration is the world. They will stay only as long as it takes to
prepare an assault on Liandria. And when they are gone, who will
rule here?” Lareno paused as if Kian might answer. He didn’t even
try. “I saw Ipid Ronigan in Thoren. He is the invaders’ puppet.
Everyone says that he is their leader’s favorite pet. Would you
leave your favorite pet behind when you move? Certainly not, and
after what he’s doing to the country, he couldn’t rule anyway. So
who will fill his place when the invaders move on and take him with
them?”

There was another pause.
Then Kian started to laugh. “You’re insane, Lareno. Even if we
capture Gorin, that is a long, long way from being
Chancellor.”

“
Not so far as you think.
Listen. The invaders will be gone. Ipid will go with them, but they
will have to leave someone in charge, and it is unlikely that they
will care who that person is. And there you will be with the people
behind you, standing as a symbol for the entire southern half of
the Kingdoms. They can send their army to crush you – drawing them
away from their real goal – or they can negotiate. And what better
prize to bring to those negotiations than the only thing they have
not been able to squeeze from this country, Dasen
Ronigan.”

“
What are you saying
Lareno? That I give them Dasen Ronigan and they make me
Chancellor?”

“
Why not? They don’t care
who the Chancellor is. They get something they want, and they unify
the country without spending a man or a day away from their
campaign in Liandria to do it.”

“
And what do I know about
being Chancellor?”

“
You don’t need to know
anything. You will have an excellent Di Valati to guide you. One
day, you may even be able to turn the nation back on the invaders,
but first, you need to give them what they want, and you have to do
it from a position of power. That is why we take the city
then
we give them the
boy.”

“
Okay. I see what you
mean.
If
you can
deliver the city?”

“
Trust me and do what I
say, and the city will be yours before the moon changes. Just keep
your cousin, his wife, and the Morg under control. They do not
share our ambitions, and I fear that they are getting too close to
Dasen and Teth, that they will not do what must be done when the
time comes.”

“
Them?” Kian scoffed. “My
cousin and his wife have way too much to lose. And the Morg? We can
get rid of him any time. Even Morgs have to sleep.”

“
Not yet!” Lareno snapped.
“We still need him.”

“
Alright, but maybe I
should keep him away from the girl.”

“
No. Let him keep training
her. That will keep them both away from Dasen. And it will give you
another weapons when you take the city. You’ve seen what she can
do, and when (not if) she is tragically killed in the fighting,
Dasen will be so despondent, he won’t even realize what’s happening
until we deliver him to the invaders.”

“
Damn, you’re a devious
bastard,” Kian chuckled. “I sure am glad we’re on the same
side.”

“
I do what I must to serve
the Order.”

“
So what do we do
next?”

“
Go ahead and join the
guards. Take Sam, Geoff, and Rog with you. I need Jaren and the
twins for my part,” Lareno instructed. “You’re more valuable now on
the inside. We’ll bring Lady Esther out on Teaching Day. Tomorrow
night, we meet and discuss the plan. I will take it from there.
Just make sure that you are ready when the time comes.”

There was a long pause.
“Very well,” Kian broke it. “We’ll do it your way. I think it’s
risky as sailing to Slyia, but by rights, I should already be dead,
so what have I got to lose.”

“
Until tomorrow, then.”
Hands clapped together in a shake. Boots scraped against stones as
the men turned and departed in opposite directions out of the space
between the buildings. Too stunned to move, Teth did not realize
what was happening until it was too late to run. She ducked down
behind the rain barrel as Kian strode past. To her relief, he
continued on down the hill, did not look back, did not see her
crouched in plain view behind him. He had a spring in his step, and
he whistled as he went.
Pleased as a crow
in a cornfield
, her aunt would have said.
But another of her Aunt’s phrases had captured Teth’s
thoughts,
the time to be wary is when
there’s nothing to fear.

#

The last rays of sun were
fading beneath the horizon as Teth dashed around the corner toward
the River Maiden. The patrols were setting up with their caged
wagons to sweep the streets, but there was no one to sweep. The
flow of refugees had stopped and everyone else knew not to violate
the curfew. Only those unable to pay their rent found themselves on
the streets now, and faced with the camp, those gave everything,
anything within their power to avoid eviction. Stories were rampant
of abuse, of previously unimaginable demands, but when the
alternative was an almost certain death of disease and starvation,
the price was almost always met.

“
Better hurry, boy,” a
guard yelled after Teth as she bolted past. “Suns almost down. And
I don’t think even the camp can make you any skinnier.” The
soldiers surrounding the wagon laughed.

Teth did not bother to
answer. She rounded another corner, saw the temple above where this
had all started then the carved, painted picture of a beautiful
maiden with long hair flowing down into a river that arched around
her slim shoulder: The River Maiden. Slowing to a walk, she looked
back over her shoulder. The soldiers were far enough back that,
even should they start their sweep now, she would reach the inn
before they caught her. She struggled to catch her breath and
gather herself. She had spent the last few hours wandering the
streets of Gorin West considering what she had heard on the hill.
She ran some, walked some, drank for unguarded rain barrels and
thought. She always thought best when she was moving, and this
problem had certainly required movement. Even so, it remained
unsolved.

Going round and round
searching for answers, she had found herself at the edge of the
city with the sun sliding below the horizon. Only when she saw the
people watching her nervously as they closed their doors and
shutters did she remember what it meant to be on the streets of
Gorin West after the sun had set. Somehow, her exhausted legs had
found the strength to get her to The River Maiden ahead of the
sun’s demise. If only finding their way out of the trap that Lareno
and Kian had laid were as easy as running.

The sergeant was just
calling his men to start their sweep when Teth pushed open the door
of the inn and entered the packed common room. She barely fit
through the door and found herself squeezing between two fat,
middle-aged men who were speaking loudly over pewter tankards. They
looked at her with distaste and crumpled their noses. Teth had not
thought about how she must look and smell after a day of strenuous
exercise capped by a mile-long sprint. It was not a hot day for the
middle of summer, but she was still dripping, clothes soaked, scent
strong enough to offend even her own nose.

“
By the Order, there you
are,” a voice rose over the roar of the crowded room. Mrs. Tappers
advanced like a frigate through a storm – battered, buffeted,
nearly toppled, but undeterred. “The Order be merciful, we’ve been
so worried. I think your sister is about to have a breakdown. Do
you realize what you’ve done to her, disappearing like that? And
your man has been in a state. No one dares go into the courtyard
for the looks he gives them. Oh my, it’s almost sundown. Another
few minutes, and you’d have found yourself in the camp. Did you
think of that? I suspect not. . . .” Mrs. Tappers went on
chastising Teth, but her face showed relief, her eyes fondness, and
Teth could not help but feel somehow comforted by the concern. She
did her best to keep from smiling as she nodded at each
transgression and agreed to each requirement. “Mark,” she finally
yelled, “tell Lady Esther that her brother has returned. I’m sure
she’ll be relieved.”