The Traitor Queen (30 page)

Her eyes widened and he felt her stiffen under his touch, and sensed alarm sweep aside affection.

—
How do you know?

—
I can only tell you if you promise not to tell anybody else
. She stared at him.

—
I promise, but only if it doesn’t endanger my people
.

—
It won’t
. He explained, and told her what he had overheard. Tyvara’s eyes widened as he did.

—
You can … how long have you been able to do this?

—
Since I was in the palace prison. Mother says people believed my father could do it. She thought it was an exaggeration. That
he was unusually observant
.

—
How often have you picked up surface thoughts from me?

—
Not often. When we were reunited I heard a few words. That was when I realised I hadn’t been imagining it before. Since then
… not deliberately. Only once or twice by accident. I have to concentrate hard, and it doesn’t seem polite to listen in on
other people’s thoughts
.

—
Except with Kalia
. She sounded amused.

—
No. I was certain she was planning something. Now I know for sure. Savara is in danger. You are too
.

—
And you. Savara’s approval and confidence in you goes a long way to convince others that you can be trusted
. She frowned as if something had occurred to her.

—
What is it?

—
How does someone accidentally concentrate hard?

His heart skipped and he sensed suspicion. Was she repelled by him now? He searched for an answer that she might approve of.

—
When I’m paying particularly close attention to you
.

Abruptly her frown vanished and she grinned.

—
There could be some interesting advantages in having someone around who knows when you want something
.

He rolled his eyes.

—
How about we stop thinking of ways you can order me around and work out what to do about Kalia
.

Her smile faded.

—
We have to tell Savara
.

—
Can we do that without revealing my new ability to her? Can we just tell her that we overheard Kalia speaking?

—
Lie to Savara? I can’t do that. Besides, she’ll want to know who Kalia was talking to
.

—
Not lie, avoid telling more than we have to for now. We’ll say she was talking to herself
.

—
Kalia debating betrayal aloud? She isn’t that stupid. Savara is going to need proof if she’s to deal with Kalia
.

—
Then she’ll have to prove to
everyone
that I can do this and that my word can be trusted. Kalia will point out that I’ve kept a secret from them all and say it’s
proof I’m a spy
.

Savara let out a little sigh of frustration. Lorkin took her hand and squeezed it.

—
At least we know Kalia is planning something. We can keep an eye on her. Wait until she makes her move, then stop her
.

—
That’s not going to look good. Savara will be angry that we didn’t warn her. Kalia will claim we set her up. No. We have to
tell Savara. I can’t see any other way. But I don’t think she’ll tell anyone else. It will make people distrust you, and that
will cause too many problems for us right now
.

Lorkin thought of his mother’s warning, then sighed.

—
I hope you’re right. When do you want to do it?

—
Now. It’s our best chance of getting her alone
.

As Tyvara stood up Lorkin followed suit. He resisted looking over to Kalia as they crept out of the room.
I hope I’m not going to regret this
.

Savara was in the kitchen, sitting at a long wooden table with two of the estate’s former slaves. She sent the women away,
invited him and Tyvara to sit opposite her, then listened as Tyvara explained what Lorkin had heard from Kalia. Savara’s gaze
fixed on Lorkin, her eyes slowly narrowing.

“So,” she said in a quiet but slightly clipped tone, “what else haven’t you told us, Lorkin?”

Lorkin immediately thought of the slave girl. He winced, then instantly regretted it. He felt Tyvara move away from him, and
turned to see her staring at him.

“There’s something
else?
”

He looked from her to Savara. In unison, the two women crossed their arms and fixed him with a stare of expectation. It would
have been funny, if he wasn’t facing an admission he’d been dreading.

He dropped his gaze to the table, took a deep breath and
forced the words out from where he’d locked them away. “When I was in the prison, they tortured a slave girl to see if it
would make me speak. I … I gave her water I knew was poisoned. It had the warning glyphs you said to watch for. I thought
she was a Traitor and knew what she was doing.”

He heard Tyvara’s indrawn breath, but could not bring himself to look up and see if it was from horror at what he’d done,
or sympathy.

“You want to know if she was a Traitor,” Savara said.

He made himself meet her eyes. “Yes.”

“You know it won’t make a difference.”

He shrugged. “But I won’t be wondering any more.”

She sighed and shook her head. “She was not, as far as I know. You made a hard and terrible choice, and one you can never
know was right or wrong.” Savara reached across the table, took his hand and squeezed it.

“Our spies make these choices all the time,” Tyvara told him. “We can hardly hold it against you.”

Savara let go of his hand and smiled. “Anything else you wish to confess?” she asked lightly.

He thought of the stone he was carrying.
Either I reveal what I know now, or never confront them with the truth. If the Traitors find out later that I’ve learned about
it, and that the Guild has discovered their secret, they
will
be angry. And with Kalia trying to make them mistrust me, and Savara now having reason to worry about me because of my ability
to read surface thoughts
…

“You’re not actually
looking
for things to confess, are you?” Tyvara asked, shaking her head.

“Not exactly,” he said. He turned to Savara. “There are going to be things I won’t want to tell you. Things about the Guild.
I may not be a Guild magician any more, but I don’t want to make them my enemy, either. Or yours.”

Savara nodded. “I understand.”

“I also don’t want to bring about harm to the Traitors from not having told you something.”

“I’m pleased to hear it.”

He reached into his pocket and brought out the stone from the wasteland. As he placed it on the table in front of Savara her
expression changed to dismay.

“Ah.”

He looked at Tyvara. She looked a little sheepish, he was glad to see.

“Mother gave it to me,” he told them.

Tyvara cursed.

“Indeed,” Savara agreed. “But we’ve been very lucky that nobody worked out what they were before now. We’d be even more so
if what our predecessors did was never discovered.” She looked up at him. “You understand why they did, don’t you?”

“To do what the Guild was accused of: ruin the land to keep Sachaka weak.”

She nodded. “Not permanently. It will recover.”

“And you’ll get the credit for restoring it.”

She reached out to take the stone. “Now that the Guild knows, I doubt we will.” She placed her elbows on the table and rested
her chin on her hands. “In the long term, it won’t matter. We will win, repair the damage and be forgiven, or we will lose
and the Ashaki will do it and we’ll be forever hated. The land will be restored either way.”

“So what do we do about Kalia?” Tyvara asked. “Can we lure her into making her move?”

Savara straightened. “No. If we do she’ll claim we set her up, by taking advantage of her doubts. We do nothing.”

“But …”

The queen looked up at Tyvara. “Don’t think that I’ll ignore her, or trust her.” She shook her head and sighed. “When offering
a person a chance at redemption, you can’t force them to take it.”

“And Lorkin’s ability?”

“Tell nobody of that, either. The Traitors are tolerant, but this
will
stretch their trust too far.” She stood up. “Halana is always telling me I need guards. I choose you two. You’ll have to
stay close to me at all times, even sleep nearby, but at least you can keep an eye on Kalia when my attention has to be elsewhere.”

Tyvara smiled. “You know I’d be the first to offer. And you know we’ll be good company as well.”

“Yes.” Savara sighed, then she looked at Lorkin and narrowed her eyes. “No reading my surface thoughts, though.”

He shook his head. “I would never dream of it.”

As more pages broke from the spine of the old record, Dannyl sighed. He really ought to leave it be, but he needed something
to fill the long, empty hours so he was rereading some of the books he’d acquired. It had been days since Achati’s visit.
Nobody else had visited the Guild House. Tayend had received no invitations. Merria had heard nothing from her friends.

A sense of expectation filled the House. They came together at meals and talked for long hours afterwards, going their separate
ways once they realised they were circling around the same old worries and speculations one time too many. Dannyl consulted
Osen twice a day now. The Administrator would
report on Sonea and Regin’s progress and a few Guild matters that would have seemed more important if Dannyl hadn’t been stuck
in a city about to be overtaken by civil war.

“Ambassador Dannyl.”

Looking up from the record, Dannyl found Kai standing in the doorway of his office.

“Kai,” Dannyl replied. “What can I do for you?”

The slave smiled and Dannyl felt a strange confusion. It was as if Kai had become a stranger. He realised he’d never seen
Kai smile. And then something else occurred to him.

Kai had not thrown himself to the floor. He had addressed Dannyl by name.

“You Kyralians are strange,” Kai said. “But it is a good strange.”

Dannyl’s mind was racing. What did this mean?
You know what it means
.

“They’re here, aren’t they? The Traitors.”

Kai shook his head. “Not yet. Tomorrow. We have decided to leave now. The Ashaki know. They are killing slaves.”

Dannyl frowned. “But surely you are safer here. We won’t harm you.”

“I know.” Kai smiled again. “You can’t stop others, though. They will come seeking power. Or revenge. Or both. You should
leave, too.”

“Our orders are to stay.” Dannyl pushed away a simmering fear.

“Then I wish you good luck.”

“And I to you.” Dannyl forced himself to meet the slave’s eyes. “And I apologise, on behalf of the magicians who stayed here,
if we have done anything … ah, who am I kidding?” He spread his hands. “The whole slave and master thing was wrong. And disturbingly
easy to get used to.”

“We made it so.” Kai shrugged. “It was what we were trained to do. But not any more.”

“No.” Dannyl smiled. “I hope the Traitors succeed.”

“I hope you will be safe and stay alive.” The slave took a step back, then hesitated. “Have you ever explored the parts of
the House the slaves occupied?”

“Not fully,” Dannyl admitted.

“Do so,” Kai advised. “More than just the kitchens when you get hungry. There are places you might hide in, and other exits.
They may save you.”

Dannyl nodded. “I will. Thank you.”

Kai grinned. Then he stepped away from the door and walked, shoulders straight, out of the suite.

For a long time Dannyl stared through the empty doorway, then he got to his feet.
No point in wasting time or Kai’s advice. He didn’t say
when
the Traitors would arrive tomorrow. It could happen first thing in the morning. Or the Ashaki might attack us overnight. I
can’t help thinking that if both Achati and the slaves think we’re in danger, we are. Best start making plans to get out of
here if we need to
.

Leaving his suite, he made his way through the Guild House to find Tayend and Merria.

A
s Lilia neared the door to Sonea’s rooms she quickened her steps. The days since Skellin abducted Anyi had been unbearably
long. It was hard to pretend nothing had happened. Hard to behave as if her lessons still mattered. Harder still to concentrate
enough to learn anything. Hardest of all was to be around Kallen, when she couldn’t help thinking that, if he had just found
and dealt with Skellin as he was supposed to have done, Cery would be alive and Anyi safe.

Reaching the door, she reached for the handle eagerly. Once inside she could stop pretending. Already she could feel the prickle
of tears coming. Every day, as the strain of hiding her feelings disappeared, she had curled up on her bed and cried.

It’s all my fault. If I’d arrived earlier I might have been able to save Cery. I might have stopped Skellin taking Anyi
.

Gol and Jonna argued otherwise. Gol had explained about the minefire trap he and Cery had set. As soon as she had healed his
leg bones, despite her warning that he should not put weight on them yet, he had climbed to his feet and walked to the walls
on either side, plucking tubes of powder out of holes and cursing.

“
Why didn’t it work?” he said, over and over
, she recalled.
Then
he asked me to bring my globe light closer. Showed me how the paper was stained with damp. Moisture in the walls had got in
and ruined them. Not all, but he and Cery had only lit two of them, and they’d picked two of the damp ones
.

Lilia suspected that Cery’s heart had been slowly failing for a long time. It could have stopped at any moment. If she had
been around to help him when it happened he would have survived. She told Gol this, and hoped it made him feel a little less
guilty.

Jonna had lamented that she hadn’t found Lilia quickly enough. She told how a magician had stopped her, concerned that she
looked upset. When she’d told him she was looking for Lilia, he’d directed her to the wrong classroom. It would have been
an easy mistake for the magician to make. Lilia’s timetable had changed a lot recently. He had probably made a guess, hoping
to be helpful.

Turning the handle, she opened the door and stepped inside. Seeing Lord Rothen standing there, she blinked away the threatening
tears and swallowed hard.

“Lord Rothen,” she said, bowing. Gol was sitting in one of the chairs, Jonna standing behind him. She and Jonna had smuggled
Cery’s bodyguard, disguised as a servant, up to Sonea’s rooms, the night after Skellin’s attack.

Jonna had persuaded Lilia to tell Rothen everything. “
You need a magician ally
,” Lilia recalled her saying. “
Rothen can be trusted to keep a secret. He’s kept plenty for Sonea over the years
.” To Lilia’s relief, Rothen had been as discreet and helpful as Jonna had promised. He’d wanted to tell Kallen, until Gol
repeated Skellin’s claim of having sources in the Guild.

As Lilia closed the door, Rothen’s mouth thinned in a sympathetic smile. “Lady Lilia.” He looked at Jonna, then down at
the table. Following his gaze, Lilia felt her heart lurch. A square of paper lay there, with her name scrawled on it.

“Is it …?”

“From Skellin?” Rothen grimaced. “Probably. We haven’t opened it. We guessed you’d want to read it first. Sit down before
you do.”

She slid into a chair, Rothen and Jonna taking the other seats. With trembling hands, she picked up the message and turned
it over. The seal, she noted, was a simple crown hovering over a knife.
King of the Thieves
. Disgust and anger steadied her. She broke the seal and unfolded the paper. Her eyes moved over the words. As their meaning
became clear, she dropped it back on the table.

“It’s an address,” she told them. “It says ‘tomorrow’ and a time. And he says to tell no one and come alone.”

“No surprises there,” Gol muttered.

“Where is the address?” Jonna asked.

“In Northside.”
Cery’s old territory. He’s rubbing it in
. She looked at Rothen. “I have to go. I have to try to save Anyi.”

He nodded. His agreement sent a perverse anger through her.

“Shouldn’t you tell me I can’t?” she asked. “You know what he wants. It’s bad enough we have a rogue magician ruling the underworld.
A rogue black magician will be so much worse.”

“It may not be what he wants. He may already have found a book on black magic and learned it for himself, though that is unlikely.
If there are any more books out there, they’re well hidden.” Rothen sighed. “Even so, we Higher Magicians have considered
what to do if he does learn black magic.” He smiled thinly. “It won’t mean we can’t catch and deal with him, it’ll just be
a little more dramatic when we do.”

“But many more people will die before you do. And we don’t even know if Anyi is still alive.” She felt her throat close and
fought back tears again.

“He won’t have killed her,” Gol assured her. “He knows you’ll ask to see her before you teach him anything.”

Lilia took a few breaths to steady herself. “Even if she is alive, how do I know he’ll let her go after I’ve taught him?”

“You have to make sure she can get away before you teach him anything,” Rothen said.

“It would be easier if I could take another magician.”

“He’ll never let you,” Jonna said. “You can’t even take a magician disguised as a servant. He said you must be alone.”

Rothen nodded. “If he has sources here, a disguise may not work anyway.” He sighed. “If it weren’t for these sources, I’d
suggest we go to the Higher Magicians. They could have Kallen make a blood ring so we can track Lilia with it. If the exchange
goes badly we’ll be close enough to help.”

Lilia looked up at him in surprise.
A blood ring! Why hadn’t I thought of that?
“I can make blood rings. Kallen taught me.”

His eyes widened. “You can? Well then …” He straightened and rubbed his hands together. “We could have the beginning of a
plan.”

Gol looked away. “Don’t ask me to help. Last plan I made wasn’t very good.”

“You did what you could with the few resources you had,” Rothen told him. “It was impressively bold. I’d never heard of minefire
before. Intriguing stuff. If your trap had worked, you’d have delivered Skellin right to our door, so to speak.” He smiled
briefly. “I’d appreciate your advice, Gol. You know the underworld and the city better than we do.”

Gol frowned. “Well … this idea of using a blood gem, if I’m getting it right how they work, will only be any good to us if
you can pick the places you’re seeing through it,” Gol pointed out. “What if you don’t know where they are? What if you’re
blindfolded?”

“Both would be a problem.” Rothen drummed his fingers on the chair, his brows creased in thought.

“Does Skellin know what a blood ring is?” Jonna asked. “He might notice it and make her take it off.”

Lilia shook her head. “I’m not supposed to wear a blood ring made from anyone else’s blood – except Sonea’s and Kallen’s.”

Rothen nodded. “Of course. Whoever supplied the blood would be able to read your thoughts and might learn about black magic.
So Gol must wear one made of your blood.”

Lilia turned to Gol. “And you must smash it if anyone tries to get hold of it.”

“Otherwise it could be used against Lilia.” Rothen shook his head. “If only there was another way to follow you. It’s not
like we have to track magicians often …” He drew in a quick breath and his eyebrows shot upward. “Ah! Of course! Sonea! We
located Sonea before she joined the Guild by sensing her using magic.” He looked at Lilia. “All you have to do is use magic
without hiding it. Concealing the use of magic was one of your earliest lessons.”

She nodded. Every year, when new novices joined the Guild, she detected a few of them using magic before they were taught
how to conceal it. “But won’t Skellin sense that, too?”

“Only if he’s trying to. If you do something small and constant, like holding a shield, that may lessen the chance he’d notice,
too.”

“So you track me using magic,” Lilia said, “while Gol wears my blood ring because he’s more likely to recognise where I am.”

“Once you have tracked Lilia to Skellin, are you strong enough to fight him if something goes wrong?” Jonna asked Rothen.

“Skellin
and
Lorandra,” Gol added.

Rothen frowned and shook his head. “I doubt it. But between Lilia and me, we may be strong enough. We can’t risk recruiting
another magician in case they are Skellin’s source. I wish Dannyl was here,” he added in a murmur.

“I can be as strong as I need to be,” Lilia pointed out, meeting Rothen’s gaze and holding it.

He grimaced. “It would be better if you avoided breaking the law against using black magic without permission. But … perhaps
we can bend it a little. I will give you permission, as a Higher Magician, but that doesn’t comply with the law completely
since it is supposed to be agreed upon by all Higher Magicians.”

Lilia looked down.
If anything goes wrong, and the Guild doesn’t agree with him bending the law, he’ll lose his position
. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Allowing you to go to this meeting, when there’s a chance you’ll be forced to teach a rogue black magic, is far worse
than allowing you to strengthen yourself using willing volunteers. I can give you my strength tonight.”

“And mine,” Jonna said.

“Mine, too,” Gol added.

Rothen nodded. “I will recover my strength overnight.”

“Will we?” Jonna asked.

“Yes.”

“Then take strength from me tomorrow as well,” Jonna said. “It’s not as if I use it. Perhaps, if we give Lilia enough magic,
she’ll be able drag Skellin back here with her.”

“Let’s concentrate on getting Anyi back,” Rothen said.

“Of course,” Jonna agreed. “But if there’s an opportunity to catch Skellin at the same time, let’s do it. It’s about time
the King of the Underworld became the Inmate of the Lookout.”

The dusk sky was slowly darkening. No clouds hovered overhead for the sun to paint in colourful shades. Looking down from
the rooftop, Lorkin wondered how this could be the same city he’d entered with Dannyl so long ago, excited at the prospect
of being assistant to the Guild Ambassador to Sachaka.
It feels like years ago, but not even one year has passed since we arrived
.

Though the walls and buildings had not changed since Lorkin had left Arvice in the slave cart, the population had. Before,
slaves had hurried up and down the streets, keeping their distance from carriages bearing their masters. Now the streets were
crowded as ex-slaves fled the city centre, most on foot, some clinging to stolen carriages and carts.

A small group had been waiting when Savara and her team arrived at the mansion chosen as the gathering place before the battle.
After taking the strength offered by the ex-slaves, Savara had sent them away, then split her team – now over sixty Traitors
– into two groups: one to watch and guard, the other to arrange a meal and bedding. As the arrangements were made, Savara
had headed for the roof.

“Why aren’t the Ashaki trying to stop them leaving?” Lorkin wondered aloud.

“Another man’s slave is another man’s problem,” Savara
quoted. “They’re probably too busy trying to stop their own slaves escaping than worrying about everyone else’s.”

“In most estates, slaves came and went all the time,” Tyvara told him. “How else could they get food and other goods to the
estate? All that kept them in place was the fact that there was nowhere to run to. An escaped slave would eventually be caught,
and sent back to his master.”

“Unless an Ashaki manages to round up and imprison all of his slaves in one place, he can’t stop some of them getting away.”
Savara’s eyes narrowed as she looked over the rooftops. “And plenty of Ashaki are away from home, fighting us.”

Lorkin followed her gaze.
How many of these mansions house Ashaki preparing to face us in battle? How many are empty?
So far Savara’s team had only fought small groups of Ashaki. He’d wondered at that, but reports via message stones had told
of a larger, more organised army of Ashaki west of the city. After it had surprised and defeated one of her teams, Savara
had ordered Traitors in that area to avoid it by circling around and joining teams to the north and south.

King Amakira must expect the Traitors to join together to form one army once they reached the city. Savara had indicated they
would do so eventually, but for now the Traitors remained in smaller groups, taking advantage of most of the populace of Sachaka
being on their side. While the Ashaki were out hunting for them, the Traitors were lying low, growing stronger on the strength
of the Ashaki’s slaves.

While Lorkin saw the advantage in that, he was also worried that keeping the Traitor army divided made it vulnerable. The
king’s army could easily defeat one of the smaller Traitor groups. It would be weakened by the fight, but in time would regain
its strength, while the Traitors … once dead they
stayed that way.
But if the Ashaki are relying on slaves to replace the power they use, they will have a problem. The slaves have left
.

Still, it would be better that no Traitor group confronted the army on its own in case, some fell into the king’s hands. He
would torture information out of them, learn of Savara’s plans, the threat of gemstones … He would
possess
gemstones, too.

“The city will be empty by tomorrow,” Savara murmured. “Except for the Ashaki. The ones returning from the west will join
those still here, and then we’ll see if our strategy and preparations and losses lead to the freedoms we seek.”

She sighed and looked up. Lorkin followed her gaze. Stars had begun to dust the sky and a chill had crept into the air. He
frowned as they rippled, as if reflected in water.

Then something slammed into his right side and propelled him into Tyvara.

They both tumbled onto the roof. Tyvara scrambled into a crouch and he did the same, though more awkwardly than she. Pain
speared through his right arm.
Broken
, he thought. Instinctively he sent Healing power to numb the pain, but he resisted mending the bone. He might need his strength
for more important things. Like avoiding a more fatal strike.