The Skull Throne (76 page)

“Yes,” Amanvah went on. “Sikvah is doing what I should have ordered her to do months ago. Destroy the enemies of the son of Jeph. It is my failure, and now honored Coliv and blessed Rojer are on the lonely path.”

“Amanvah,” Leesha said, “if someone killed Rojer, we can tell …”

Amanvah hissed, cutting her off. “I am through waiting for corrupt
chin
justice while our enemies strike. I need neither assistance or permission to avenge my husband.”

“And suffer the same fate?” Leesha asked. “I cannot help you if you have this man murdered.”

Amanvah gave her a withering look. “You can, and you will.” She pointed to Leesha’s belly. “Your child has cousins growing even now in my and Sikvah’s wombs. Children of the son of Jessum, tied to yours with blood. Will you trust them to your
chin
justice?”

Leesha stared at her, knowing she was beaten, but hating to admit it. “Corespawn you, no.”

Leesha hadn’t needed to fake her weeping at the sight of Rojer brought down from the tower. She’d thought herself drained of tears forever after the massacre in the courtyard, but seeing her friend, pale and bloody, brought new reserves. She had waited too long, thinking Rojer safe in the South Tower. Amanvah was right. She should have pressed harder.

“Rojer dead in the tower,” Araine said later at tea. “Janson found sliced open on the commode.”

“Both within hours of each other,” Lorain noted, “right under our noses.”

“Let us not forget a dozen palace guards,” Leesha noted. “One of whom murdered my friend in his cell after you agreed to his release. Men who reported to Janson for orders and pay. Why were a dozen armed guards crammed into Rojer’s cell, do you think?”

“I’m sure I don’t know,” Araine said. “What I do know is that they are dead. Palace guards, Leesha.
My
guards. Dead, while Amanvah is missing.”

“Perhaps her brother sent men to rescue her while we were distracted at the wall,” Leesha said, “and they took the opportunity to dispose of a dangerous minister in the process.”

“Or perhaps the witch managed to smuggle in some demon bones,” Lorain said.

Leesha nodded. “Perhaps. Or perhaps there are other explanations still. Regardless, it seems the matter is resolved, and I would as soon leave it behind us.”

“How can you say that?” Araine demanded. “You wish no justice for your fiddler? Don’t you care?”

“That
fiddler
has saved more lives that the Mountain Spears have taken,” Leesha snapped. “He was my best friend in all the world, and my heart is broken that he is gone.”

She leaned in, eyes hard. “But I have watched this cycle long enough. Two years ago Jasin Goldentone killed Rojer’s master and put Rojer in my hospit. Then Jasin tries to finish the job, and Rojer is imprisoned for defending himself. Now Rojer is dead, likely at Janson’s command, and Janson is dead in return. How many deaths does it require to end this?” She shook her head. “Nothing can bring Rojer back to me, and so I want nothing more than to take him back to the Hollow and lay him to rest.”

“Perhaps you have the luxury of letting things go,” Lorain said, “a week’s ride to the south. But the murder happened in the palace. The killer must be found, and Rojer’s body is evidence.”

Leesha visibly lost patience, slamming her teacup down on the table so hard it rattled and spilled. It was an act only, but she thought Rojer would have been proud of her performance. “Unacceptable. My people and I have been held prisoner in Angiers too long. Baron Cutter will be in the city soon with thousands of Cutters. When he gets here, he’s going to have questions about how his best friend was murdered in your care, and one way or another we will be leaving.”

“Is that a threat?” Lorain demanded.

“It is a fact,” Leesha said.

Lorain shook her head. “Angiers is no longer weak …”

“Don’t think your little trick impresses me, Princess,” Leesha said. “I know more of the secrets of fire than you. You’ve saved Angiers, but what you’ve unleashed may be worse still. We do the demons’ work for them when we should be banding together.”

Lorain snorted. “You can’t possibly believe all this Demon War Deliverer business.”

“I don’t believe in the Deliverer,” Leesha said, “but there can be no denying the demons are mounting against us. I felt one in my mind, and know what they are capable of. Your new weapons will be worthless against them.”

“We shall see,” Lorain said. “But we stood against the demons for three hundred years. It was not us who attacked.”

Leesha nodded. “All of us have been … compromised in this battle. There is blood enough for all our hands.” She looked at each of them in turn. “I saved your son’s life, Araine. And yours, Lorain. Both at the risk of my own, and the life within me. Pray, let us part in peace, as allies.”

The two duchesses looked at each other, already speaking volumes by expression alone. Araine nodded to Leesha. “Take Rojer and your new apprentices and go in peace.”

New apprentices. Jizell would be closing her hospit to take position as Royal Gatherer to the Duchess Mum, and sending the rest of her apprentices south with Leesha to train in the Hollow. Among these “apprentices” was the pregnant Duchess Melny, and—unbeknownst to Araine—Amanvah and Sikvah.

The duchesses would have questions when those two reappeared back in the Hollow, but those were questions best answered by Messenger and not face-to-face. Leesha had no intention of leaving the Hollow again with anything short of an army of Cutters to escort her.

CHAPTER 31

WHISTLER

334 AR WINTER

Abban had never seen
Sharum
flee before. Everam his witness, he was not could not remember a time they ever had. It was an ugly, disorganized thing, born of panic.

Thousands of
dal’Sharum,
the elite of Jayan’s forces, had ridden into the city. Only a handful made it back out, screaming and bloody. Those who did abandoned the field entirely, racing their chargers back the way the army had come without anything approaching a plan. They left the rest of the forces—siege crews,
kha
and
chi’Sharum,
and Jayan’s personal guard—standing confused in the churned mud of their passing. Others took their cue, abandoning their posts and following.

“Everam’s beard,” Abban breathed as the enormity of the defeat began to dawn on him.

He turned to Earless. “Fetch my trunk.” As the mute
kha’Sharum
rushed from the tent, Abban turned to his other bodyguard, his son Fahki. “The maps and papers, boy, quickly. We must flee before—”

Just then the tent flaps burst open and Jayan stormed in, followed by Hasik and two
kai’Sharum
Spears of the Deliverer.

“So much for your bold plan,
khaffit
!” Jayan barked.

“
My
plan?” Abban asked. “I merely agreed with the wisdom of the Sharum Ka. It was the
dama’ting
who seemed to promise victory.”

“The
chi’Sharum
cowards are surrendering,” Hasik said, peeking through the tent opening. He stepped outside, and shouting and chaos filled the tent until the heavy flap fell back in place.

“Better than turning their spears on us,” Abban said. “Without spoils or
dal’Sharum
whips to propel them, there is nothing for them to gain in sharing our defeat.”

“I will kill that lying witch when we return to Everam’s Reservoir,” Jayan said.

“She did not lie, precisely,” Abban noted, still gathering papers and stuffing them into a satchel Fahki held. “She promised you would shatter the gates and enter the city, and indeed you did.”

“Leaving out that my men would be slaughtered moments later,” Jayan growled.

“I have never cared for
dama’ting
prophecies,” Abban said. “They never tell all.”

“Don’t they?” Hasik asked, entering the tent once more.

Jayan turned to him. “What’s that?”

“The
dama’ting
prophecies are not meant to tell us what we wish to hear,” Hasik said. “They are to tell us Everam’s will. I did not truly believe it before today.”

“Everam’s balls, Whistler!” Jayan shouted. “What you are babbling about?!”

“I asked Dama’ting Asavi if I would ever have my revenge on Abban the fat
khaffit,
” Hasik said. “She told me there would come a day of smoke and ruin, when the Sharum Ka would lose Everam’s favor.” He slipped a curved blade from his sleeve. “And on that day, none could stand against my wrath.”

“What are you doing?!” Jayan gave a shrill whistle. “Whistler! Heel!”

The two
kai’Sharum
were fast, moving instantly to stand side by side in front of Jayan, weapons at the ready.

Hasik charged in fearlessly, his face stone as he swatted away a spear thrust and kicked hard against the
kai’Sharum’s
shield, knocking him across the floor to crash into Abban’s table, landing in a flurry of papers.

Hasik stepped into the space before the other
kai
could adjust position. He pivoted, thrusting his curved knife into the armpit of the warrior’s shield arm where there was a small seam in the impenetrable glass armor all the Spears of the Deliverer wore.

Jayan launched his own attack before Hasik could withdraw the knife, a spear thrust for his unarmored throat. Hasik saw the move, ducking away from the thrust. It skittered off the helm under his turban instead, taking part of his ear with it.

Hasik laughed, grabbing the spear shaft just under the head and pulling it aside while he punched out hard, fist wrapped around the heavy knife handle. Jayan’s nose crumpled, and he fell back, senseless.

“Flee, Father!” Fahki cried, shoving the satchel into his hands and propelling Abban toward the exit. His intent was good, but the boy was still an idiot, continuing to push even as Abban’s crippled leg buckled. He fell to the floor, Fahki landing on top of him.

The surviving Spear of the Deliverer was back on his feet amidst a cloud of swirling reports. He had lost his spear, but drew a knife to match Hasik’s and moved in, shield leading.

The shield should have been a telling advantage in a knife fight, but Hasik feinted a thrust, then dropped his own knife, spreading his arms and locking his hands around the shield. He twisted, lifting with savage strength. The
kai
was thrown bodily over Hasik, and Abban heard the snap of his arm at the apex of his flight.

He landed on his back, and Hasik effortlessly broke his other wrist, taking the
kai’s
knife to replace his. With the man prone, he gripped his breastplate and yanked, snapping the fastenings and baring his chest for a knife thrust.

Abban’s leg screamed at him, but he ignored it, pulling hard on both Fahki and his crutch to get to his feet.

Jayan groaned, pushing himself onto one arm. “Whistler, what … ?”

Hasik leapt upon him, thrusting his knife into Jayan’s mouth. His face was a demon’s snarl as he pushed the curving blade up into the brain of the Deliverer’s first son.

“My name!” Hasik pulled the blade free and thrust it in again. This time it slid easily to the hilt. “Is not!” He yanked the blade out and stabbed a third time. “Whistler!”

It was then that Earless returned. The mute stood at the entrance to the tent holding Abban’s treasure trunk.

Abban said nothing, but raised his hand in the sign for kill, thumb pointed at Hasik.

Silently as a diving wind demon, Earless took three running steps forward. Filled with gold, the trunk weighed over two hundred pounds, but Earless easily raised it over his head and threw. It struck Hasik in the back, knocking him from Jayan’s lifeless body.

Protected by his own glass armor, Hasik was not seriously injured, but he stumbled to his feet, off balance as Earless closed the distance between them, grappling Hasik and bearing him down.

“Quickly, boy!” Abban shouted, limping toward the exit. “Come!”

The combatants rolled across the tent floor. Earless, heavier and in control, came out on top, pinning Hasik’s knife hand with a knee. He held Hasik’s other arm down at the wrist, pummeling him about the face with his free hand. They were powerful, terrible blows, but Abban had watched Hasik fight in the food lines since they were boys in
sharaj
and knew it would not end there.

One of the punches knocked Hasik’s head to the side, and he bit hard into the wrist of the hand Earless used to hold him prone. The giant could not speak, but his toneless roar of pain was all the more terrible for it, an animal cry bereft of humanity.

The moment the grip weakened, Hasik had his hand free, cutting off the mute’s cry with a punch to the throat. He surged, reversing the pin, and saw Abban drawing near the tent flap.

“Not this time,
khaffit
!” Hasik cried, throwing the knife.

Abban threw his arms up, but the blade was not aimed for his head or chest. It sank into the thigh of his good leg, and Abban fell again with a scream.

“Father!” Fahki cried, rushing to him.

“Flee now,” Abban told him. “Find warriors and tell them Hasik has killed the Sharum Ka.”

“I won’t leave you,” Fahki said, squatting to try and haul Abban to his feet. Hot blood ran down his leg but Abban grit his teeth and planted his foot, leaning heavily on his camel crutch. He cried for help, but in the chaos outside, no one heard him through the heavy canvas walls.

Hasik and Earless were on their feet now, trading blows meant to cripple and kill. Earless was holding his own—barely. Both men’s faces were bloodied and beginning to swell. One of Earless’ eyes was filling with blood, and Hasik’s nose was flat against his cheek, broken.

But he was smiling. Their army was destroyed, Jayan dead, and Hasik fighting for his life, but the brutal eunuch was smiling like Abban had never seen.

Abban tried to take a step, but even with Fahki to support him, the pain was unbearable.

Hasik managed to get inside Earless’ guard, catching him by the ears. He pulled hard as he drove the crown of his helmet into Earless’ face. His helmet spike tore a jagged hole in the mute’s forehead.

The giant shoved Hasik back hard, then gave a cry, clutching at his head.

“Looking for this?” Hasik laughed, holding up the ear he had torn free. “Now you truly
are
earless!”

The giant came back in, angry for the first time. His punches would have knocked out a camel, but Hasik batted them aside easily, getting in close and heel-kicking him in the stomach. Earless was knocked back into the central pole of the tent, cracking it in half and bringing the canvas roof down.

Abban grit his teeth and moved for the exit with all his strength. One step. Two. But it was not enough as Hasik appeared from the tangle of canvas.

“Behind me,” Abban said, gripping Fahki’s arm and pulling him out of Hasik’s path. “It’s me he wants.”

“I won’t let him—” Fahki began, moving to stand before his father.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Abban cut him off. “You are no match for him.”

“You should listen to your father.” Hasik was still smiling. “Run and leave your father to
inevera.
” His eyes flicked to Fahki’s spear. “Or I will fuck you with your own spear.”

“As Shar’Dama Ka did to you?” Abban asked.

The smile fell from Hasik’s face, and Abban thrust his camel crutch out, pressing the release that sprang a six-inch electrum from its tip. The blade was poisoned with tunnel asp venom, the deadliest poison known.

But Hasik moved faster than he thought possible, grabbing the camel foot at the base of the crutch and turning the blade aside. He yanked it from Abban’s hands, sending the
khaffit
sprawling, and broke the crutch over his knee.

Fahki gave a cry and charged, thrusting with his spear. His spearwork was fine, but he was only a boy, and Hasik one of the deadliest killers alive. He knocked the tip aside with the bladed half of the crutch, stomping hard on the side of Fahki’s knee. The boy screamed and dropped to one knee, using his spear for support.

Hasik kicked the spear from under him, guiding Fahki’s fall with kicks and whips of the crutch shaft to put the boy on his back.

Then Hasik thrust the electrum blade of the crutch up Fahki’s ass. The poison worked fast. Fahki began to convulse wildly, his mouth white with foam.

“You took my cock, but I still fuck in my way,” Hasik said to Abban as he stalked in. He was smiling again.

There was a rustle of canvas and a toneless cry as Earless freed himself from the tangle and tackled Hasik about the legs.

It was a momentary advantage only. Hasik had both arms free, and even as they fell he was driving extended knuckles into the mute’s eyes and neck. He landed heavier blows as they hit the floor, and at last the mute lay still.

“There will be no coming back from this,” Abban warned as Hasik rose for the final time. “The Damajah will find you. Your life is over.”

Hasik laughed. “Life? What life? I have nothing,
khaffit.
You have seen to that. Nothing but daily humiliation.”

He smiled. “Humiliation, and my revenge.”

“Then kill me, and have done,” Abban said.

Hasik laughed, drawing back a fist. “Kill you? Oh,
khaffit.
I’m not going to kill you.”