The Mirror of Her Dreams (103 page)

For an instant, the Master's eyes widened as if she had surprised him. A grin quickly altered his expression, however. Now his excitement was unmistakable. His tone was both careful and jocose as he said, 'My lady, you cannot possibly be jealous of a maid like Saddith. Nearly all the men she has ever known have been between her legs. I can believe that she did not deliver my messages. But I cannot believe it matters that I have taken advantage of her crass charms.'

Terisa's emotions were in an alarming muddle. Her relief that he had tried to send word to her lasted only a moment: it was replaced almost at once by the sense that the information came too late. It didn't change anything after all. She had made her commitment without him-had put herself on Geraden's side. And not just by default: not just because the Apt was present and Master Eremis was absent. She had chosen Geraden because to distrust him-to spy on him, to betray him, as the Master had demanded-was intolerable. If only Eremis had come to her sooner- She bit her lip to try to keep her distress from showing on her face.

Still smiling, he studied her narrowly. After a moment, he said, 'Saddith is of no importance, however. I will dispense with her to please you. You asked about my family.'

She nodded dumbly, hanging on every word he said while her heart hurt.

'It is a small family. Esmerel is a small estate, though beautiful. My grandfather was a man of high intelligence-and even higher refinement. He had an exceptional understanding of both knowledge and pleasure. And he dabbled in Imagery. In truth, one of our family legends is that he was acquainted with the arch-Imager Vagel. Of course, that was years-or perhaps decades-before the wars for Mordant, during which the arch-Imager went into High King Festten's service.

'Unhappily, my grandfather had but one son, and that one son was a lout. Beauty and refinement were as blank as stone walls to him. He understood nothing except violence-and the pleasures of violence. When he came into possession of Esmerel, he spent years debauching its beauties as well as himself. Then he became a petty brigand to preserve some semblance of wealth in his ''ancestral seat'.

The accidental result of his debauchery was that he had three sons. The first was an exact duplicate of himself-therefore much loved. The second was a bit smaller, a bit less muscular, and a bit more cunning-therefore tolerable.

'I was the third.'

The Master's voice was part of his spell. Terisa expected him to move towards her. The way he studied her made her feel that he was moving towards her. Her pain seemed to hypnotize her. But he remained motionless beside the bed.

'Fortunately,' he observed, 'I was a good deal stronger than I looked. To all appearances, I was the runt of the litter, and my father despised me accordingly. For that reason, my brothers sought to earn his approval by tormenting me.' He spoke calmly; but the glint in his eyes was as calm as a hatchet. 'On one occasion, I recall, they locked me in a wooden shed and set it afire to see what I would do.'

Breathing through parted lips as if she were rapt-or appalled

-she asked, 'What did you do?'

He chuckled. 'I tricked them. I was no heir to Esmerel, but I was my grandfather's heir in intelligence. Before I was old enough to be afraid, I was clever enough to protect myself. And soon I learned that the surest protection was to turn them all against each other. So I set out to teach each of them that he needed my help against the others. With a little judicious prodding, I was able-to make them do whatever I wished.'

Drawn by what he described-things which must have been acutely painful-things which reminded her of closets and fading

-she took a step towards him. 'What did you make them do?'

He betrayed a glint of anticipation. 'I made them all good citizens of the Care of Tor. I tamed my brothers. I deprived my father of his debaucheries. And I made them restore the resources of knowledge which Esmerel had once boasted, so that I could claim my grandfather's true inheritance. It was his interest and researches which led me into Imagery.

'Since leaving Esmerel, I have done what I can to keep my family from bestiality. But a distance of two days' ride seems like the world to men like them. I regret that there was nothing I could do to prevent the altercation that left my father's firstborn dead.' His manner suggested that his regret wasn't especially profound.

She took another step. His pale gaze seemed to be devouring her. 'You came to claim me. What do you want me to do?'

He opened his hands as if to show her their strength. Take off your robe.'

She touched hersash as a giddy acquiescence swept through her. But she shook it away. 'I mean after that. What do you want me to do for Mordant?'

'Why must there be an 'after that'?' he countered. 'I will content your womanhood in ways you have not dreamed.'

In a small voice, she insisted, 'I want to help you. I want to help Mordant.'

'Very well.' As though he were confident that she already knew and had accepted the answer, he replied, Together, we will persuade Castellan Lebbick and the Congery that Geraden has betrayed us.'

When he said that, her heart gave a lurch-and then her courage was gone, as if he had kicked out the bottom of her spirit. Geraden? Was he back to Geraden?-still arguing that Geraden was in league with Gilbur and Vagel? Or did he have some new accusation to level against her only friend? She barely had the fortitude to ask, 'What has he done?'

'Done? What has he not done? Has he not convinced you that
I
am a traitor?'

She shook her head.

Then he is wiser than I thought. You would have become suspicious of him if he had tried to turn you against me.'

The Master considered her for a moment, then said, 'Because he has been wise, you will probably not believe that he arranged to leave you alone in the bazaar so that Gart could attack you.

You will probably not believe that his failure to stop Elega was no accident.'

She stared at him in frank horror.

Those are subtle points,' he went on. 'I grant it is difficult to credit him with such subtlety. But I will tell you something you must believe. Cadwal is marching. Have you never asked yourself
why
Cadwal is marching? Have you never wondered why High King Festten feels he must attack
now?'
Terisa didn't reply. Her mind was blank with dismay. A new accusation. New reasons to believe that the only man who cared about her and encouraged her and stayed with her was a traitor.

'In the ordinary course of events,' Eremis explained, 'the High King's spies must have told him that Alend was coming to Orison. What would he do?' His voice was like the wind, growing harsher as it filled the room. Light from the hearth made his face unnaturally ruddy. 'On one side is the risk that Orison might fall, giving the Congery into the Alend Monarch's hands. But with Castellan Lebbick-if not our good King-defending the castle, that is unlikely. On the other side is the certainty that the forces of Perdon would be drawn to Orison's support. Alend and Mordant might easily cripple each other in that battle-and then everything the High King wants could be taken almost without cost.
Why
did he not wait for his enemies to destroy each other?

'I will tell you why, my lady.' The Master made a short, brutal gesture with both hands. 'He did not wait because he knew of Elega's intentions. He knew our danger was greatly increased by the fact that Orison would be betrayed from within by Prince Kragen's allies.

'Think, woman. How could High King Festten have known that Orison would be betrayed to Alend? By Imagery, his Mono-mach can enter or leave the castle-although how this is done remains a mystery. But access to our halls does not give him access to our secrets. Who but a traitor would tell Gart that Elega meant to poison the reservoir, depriving us of water and exposing us to summary defeat?'

'No,' Terisa murmured. She wanted to collapse into a chair. 'No.'

Master Eremis ignored her protest. 'And who but Geraden knew the danger?'

'But he was attacked,' she objected. 'By Imagery. Twice. They tried to kill him-Gilbur-Vagel-'

'Whelp of a bitch!' Eremis sounded furious. 'Those were
ploys,
woman. Tricks. They show only that Gilbur and Vagel are desperate that you do not turn against their ally. By attacking Geraden, they make him appear innocent. The truth is that they feign his death for the same reason that they actively desire yours

-so that you will not expose him.

'If he had not been rescued as he was, I assure you that they would have recalled their insects before he was slain.'

She was no longer looking at the Imager. She wasn't looking at anything. Tears streamed down her cheeks. 'How could I expose him?'

'You have been with him for many days. You have watched him, spoken to him, studied him. And you met him in private in your own world, before he translated you here. You alone possess the knowledge-the experience-that will persuade the Congery of his treachery.'

'No,' she repeated softly. She wasn't speaking to him, however. She was speaking to herself. She hardly heard what he said: she heard only his voice, his anger, the threat of losing him. Geraden was no traitor. Of course not. She knew that precisely because she had spent so much time with him. But she was being forced to a choice. No, more than that. She was being forced to do something about what she believed. She couldn't defend Geraden without turning her back on Master Eremis and everything he represented.

'You said you wished to help Mordant.' He spoke in a hectoring tone that reminded her of her father. 'While you protect the man who betrays us, we are doomed.'

What could she do? She couldn't argue with him. She had never been able to argue with her father. She could only take his side or refuse. That was clear enough.

Quietly, she asked, 'What're you going to do to me?'

Take off your robe,' he snapped. 'Your body, at least, will not disappoint me.'

Now at last she understood the anger and secret triumph she had so often heard in her father's voice, the desire to inflict pain. For that reason, what she had to do was clear to her in the end

-clear and simple-and so difficult that it was nearly impossible.

Her hands were on the sash of her robe. Deliberately, she pulled it tighter.

'No,' she said to the Master.

She thought that he would shout at her or strike her. He started towards her, and his expression sharpened into a grin of violence. Instead of shouting, however, he whispered intensely, 'My lady, I have claimed you. I have placed my hands and my kisses where you will never forget them.' He was close enough to grasp her shoulders. Echoing firelight, his hot gaze held her. 'Every curve of your flesh and pulsebeat of your womanhood desires me, and I will not be refused.'

He pulled her to him and kissed her forcefully. Somehow, her robe was gone from between them. He felt as hard as iron against her inexperienced belly.

She didn't struggle: she felt too weak to struggle. But her body had gone cold; her nerves and her sore heart no longer responded to him. His kiss was only pressure against her face, nothing more. His hardness had lost its fascination.

No,
she protested. I said
no.

Someone knocked at her door so hard that it thudded against the latch.

Swearing viciously, Master Eremis pushed her away. For an instant, he measured the distance to the wardrobe. 'Do not answer!' he hissed.

She was about to faint. 'I forgot to lock it.'

Without waiting for admission, Geraden burst into the room and slammed the door behind him.

But when he saw Terisa standing near the doorway to the bedroom with her robe open and Master Eremis near her, he stopped as if he were turned to stone.

Convulsively, she jerked the robe closed and sashed it. Surprise and mortification made her feel like a lunatic. She sounded like a lunatic as she asked, 'How is Artagel?'

The Master's eyes were savage.

Geraden stared at Terisa as though she were appalling. 'I didn't go see him.'

Then what
did
you do, boy?' inquired the Imager. 'It must have been quite interesting, if it drives you to enter a lady's bedchamber so discourteously.'