Vengeance of Dragons (Secret Texts) (8 page)
BOOK: Vengeance of Dragons (Secret Texts)
4.07Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
We all decide what we will have in our lives, she thought. We decide what we will do; we decide what we will say. And when we decide, then we pay the price. He is the price I must pay to get the Mirror to the Reborn, to save my friends’ lives, to resurrect my parents, my bothers and sisters, and my Family.
Ry kept his eyes on hers, and she made herself watch what Hasmal and Ian did to him. They forced him to his knees, and bound his hands and his ankles. She told them how to tie him so that the rope would hold even if he Shifted. She never looked away from him. She would not be a coward. She would watch the consequences of her action, the end result of her plan. She would not hide herself from the price she paid.
He did not look away from her, either. With his eyes he told her
I love you, even though you betrayed me;
the look she gave him in return said,
I love you, too, but love doesn’t matter.
I love you, even though you betrayed me;
the look she gave him in return said,
I love you, too, but love doesn’t matter.
Something in the air caught her attention, and she turned away. She parted her lips and took in one slow, careful breath. Coming along the ridge . . . being careful to make no noise . . . yes. She said, “Someone followed him. He’s trying to circle behind us.” She could smell him—a man who let himself get upwind because he wasn’t used to thinking about people with senses more acute than his own.
She looked back to Ry. “What’s his name?”
She could see him toy with the idea of lying. But his eyes flicked downward, to the poisoned blade at his throat, and he told her.
She shouted, “Yanth! Stop where you are!”
Hasmal said to Ry, “No words. We’ll do the talking for you.”
Ian added, “Or for your corpse if you give us reason. Please . . . give us a reason.”
Ry twisted his head slowly, fractionally, until he could look upward out of the corner of his left eye. Kait saw the initial bewilderment in his face give way to shock.
“Ian?”
“At least you remember me. And now the situation is reversed, isn’t it? After all these years, your life is in my hands.” Ian kept his voice low and said, “And I’ve sworn to have your life . . . brother. So will you die today?”
Kait stared from one to the other. Brother? Ian was Ry’s
brother
? She closed her eyes for just an instant. What were the odds that she could love the brother that she couldn’t have, and have the brother she didn’t love, all the while not knowing they were brothers? She would have screamed at the coincidence, but it wouldn’t be a coincidence, would it? The gods had their sticky fingers deep in her life, and they were toying with her. Having fun at her expense. Planning traps for her as carefully as she’d planned this trap for Ry.
brother
? She closed her eyes for just an instant. What were the odds that she could love the brother that she couldn’t have, and have the brother she didn’t love, all the while not knowing they were brothers? She would have screamed at the coincidence, but it wouldn’t be a coincidence, would it? The gods had their sticky fingers deep in her life, and they were toying with her. Having fun at her expense. Planning traps for her as carefully as she’d planned this trap for Ry.
“What in the hells did I ever do to you?” Ry muttered.
“Pretend you don’t know and watch how fast I kill you.” Ian kicked him in the ribs.
Kait grabbed Ian and snarled, “Stop it.”
From the top of the ridge, Ry’s friend called down, “Let him go. We’ll kill all of you to get him if we have to.”
Kait reluctantly turned her attention from Ry and Ian and the strange drama enacting itself between them. “Don’t waste your breath. First, I know you’re there alone. Second, the blade at his throat has been dipped in
refaille.
If we don’t like the way you blink your eyes, he’ll die before you can do it twice.”
refaille.
If we don’t like the way you blink your eyes, he’ll die before you can do it twice.”
Yanth, after a moment’s pause, apparently came to the conclusion that he didn’t have the upper hand. “Don’t hurt him. I’m listening. Tell me what you want.”
Kait said, “Go back to your ship. Bring the captain and your parnissa back to shore, and wait for us by the graves. We’ll meet you there.”
“What guarantee do I have that you won’t kill Ry if I leave him here with you?”
Kait said, “If he’s dead, we’ll have no hope of negotiating with your people, nor any hope of surviving a confrontation. As long as he obeys us he’ll come to no harm.”
Under his breath, Ian muttered, “Not today, in any case.”
The negotiators stood on the beach with the rolling pulse of the incoming tide growling behind them. Kait studied the parnissa, a cold-eyed young man who looked as though he spent every spare moment in the study of the warrior arts, and the captain, who looked to Kait both sensible and patient. The parnissa’s robes were of bright silk, in greens and golds, heavily embroidered with the sacred symbols of Iberism: the eye of watchfulness, the hand of industriousness, the sword of truth, the scales of justice, the nine-petaled flower of wisdom. The captain, too, had dressed to show his status: the green and silver silks of the Sabir Family but cut in the traditional Rophetian fashion, a heavy silver chain around his neck stamped with the insignia of the god Tonn, and silver beads braided into his beard and shoulder-length hair. Yanth stood behind both of them, his silk shirt and leather breeches both black as an executioner’s. He kept his hand on his sword and glared at her.
Kait knew how she looked to them—a waif-thin woman in the worn and patched rags of the lowliest of sailors, wearing a dead man’s too-large boots. She rested her hand on the pommel of her own sword, with its Galweigh crest and inlaid ruby and onyx cabochons, and pulled her shoulders back and lifted her chin high. She was no impostor. She walked forward, leaving Ian, Hasmal, and the kneeling Ry behind her. “I declare myself Kait-ayarenne daughter of Grace Draclas by Strahan Galweigh. By virtue of my training in diplomacy, where I have reached the position of
yanar
in the Galweigh Family, I will state our case for my people. They are agreed, and my word is binding, sworn to the gods of Calimekka and Ibera.”
yanar
in the Galweigh Family, I will state our case for my people. They are agreed, and my word is binding, sworn to the gods of Calimekka and Ibera.”
The captain raised one eyebrow in quickly suppressed surprise that she knew the formulas of negotiation, then nodded. “I declare myself Madloo Sleroal. By virtue of my captaincy of the
Wind Treasure,
which I have achieved by Tonn’s choice and grace, and in the honorable service of the Sabir Family, I state the case for my people. My word is binding, and sworn before Tonn and Tonn alone.”
Wind Treasure,
which I have achieved by Tonn’s choice and grace, and in the honorable service of the Sabir Family, I state the case for my people. My word is binding, and sworn before Tonn and Tonn alone.”
That was typically Rophetian. They wouldn’t swear on the gods of Iberism, only on the single Rophetian god of the sea. Kait would accept that, though—a Rophetian captain with a whole ocean lying between him and home would never forswear himself in front of Tonn.
The cold-eyed parnissa glanced from the captain to Kait, undid the cord that belted his robe, and held out the black silk rope. He said, “I stand between the disputing parties. I serve only the gods, without loyalty to one party or the other, and the gods oversee through my eyes all covenants, pacts, and bonds made this day. All words spoken before me are spoken before the gods, and carry the force of soul-oath.” Kait held out her right wrist, the captain held out his right wrist, and the parnissa bound them together with the cord, carefully tying the negotiators’ knot. “Bound together, you swear before me to deal honestly with each other for the good of all. Should either of you break the bond, your life will be forfeit.” He stepped back. “Men act and gods attend.”
“Men act and gods attend,” the captain said.
“Men act and gods attend.” Kait inhaled slowly and let the breath out even slower, trying to calm the shuddery feeling in her belly. This, her first negotiation, was for her life and the lives of her friends, and that alone would have made it terrifying. But it was also to negotiate safe passage for the Mirror of Souls, and as such, what she did or failed to do would affect the future of the world. She wondered how many other untried junior diplomats had been faced with such high stakes and decided that she was alone.
The captain said, “Since you have”—he glanced behind her at Ry, kneeling in the ashes with a knife at his throat—“called this negotiation, why don’t you tell me what you want.”
“My needs are simple. First, the services of your physick. Second, guaranteed safe passage and freedom aboard your ship for myself, my three colleagues, and our possessions and cargo, to our chosen destination.”
“Which is . . . ?”
“Southern Ibera. The harbor at Brelst will do.” She did not know how far south her cousin Danya was, but where Danya was, the Reborn was—and that was where Kait and the Mirror had to be, too. From Brelst, she could get the Mirror wherever it needed to go.
“You ask a great deal of us: the diversion of our ship from its intended destination; the disruption of our crewmen’s lives; and an increased chance of encounters with pirates, storms, monsters, and reefs. What do you offer in return?”
“Ry Sabir’s life.”
The captain smiled at her. “He came across the sea to rescue you. Had he not come with your good in mind, you would not now have his life to use as a bargaining chip.”
“And if he had come to rescue all of us, I would not be forced to use it.”
“And you can be so certain that we would not have rescued all of you?”
“Never mind that you assume I knew you came to rescue me. Galweighs and Sabirs don’t share a happy past—knowing a Sabir ship sailed into our harbor, how could I assume that my friends would be your friends? And indeed, I’ve discovered that your Sabir and our captain are enemies.” She did not elaborate—the gods had drawn her to both Ian and Ry, the gods had brought the two brothers together, and now she was sure the gods had their bets placed on what would happen next. She, however, saw no reason to complicate her negotiations with that information.
“Fair enough,” the captain said evenly. “What is your cargo?”
She shrugged. “Bedrolls, the few possessions that the mutineers didn’t steal, a single artifact that we came here to get.”
“The Mirror of Souls,” Ry said. Kait heard the slap that followed, and Ian’s voice saying, “Another word from you and you’re dead—and if we die with you, we’ll at least send your friends to the grave first.”
The captain snorted, clearly disbelieving what Ry had said, but the parnissa was staring at her with wide eyes. “The Mirror of Souls?”
She could not lie—not bound in negotiation, with the gods her witnesses and her life forfeit if she failed. She said, “Yes. We found the Mirror of Souls.”
She thought for an instant that the parnissa was going to drop to his knees before her, but then he steadied himself. “Captain,” he said, and she heard the trembling in his voice, “the Mirror cannot be allowed to go anywhere but to Calimekka. It is . . . it belongs to . . .” He swallowed so hard she watched the head of his windpipe bob. “Only the parnissas should be permitted anywhere near it. In the wrong hands it would be enormously dangerous—it is the most magical of the old Dragon artifacts.”
The captain looked from the parnissa to Kait. “Hmmm,” he said. “We seem to have a problem.”
Kait stared at the parnissa, disbelieving. She said to the captain, “The parnissa’s
neutral.
By suggesting courses of action to you or interfering in any way with the negotiations, he voids the process and eliminates himself as the arbiter. Without an arbiter, we cannot negotiate. And if we cannot negotiate, we will have to kill Ry. You cannot use anything he’s told you. You have to forget all of it.”
neutral.
By suggesting courses of action to you or interfering in any way with the negotiations, he voids the process and eliminates himself as the arbiter. Without an arbiter, we cannot negotiate. And if we cannot negotiate, we will have to kill Ry. You cannot use anything he’s told you. You have to forget all of it.”
The captain closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. Then he sighed. “I hate diplomats.” He looked over at the parnissa. “Just be quiet and observe, Loelas. The girl and I will work this out without any help from you. This is—this
has
to be—between the two of us.”
has
to be—between the two of us.”
She caught something that surprised her then. The faintest ghost of a smile passed across the captain’s lips, and the slightest scent of admiration reached her sensitive nose.
“Let’s dicker, girl,” he said.
She nodded.
“You want safe passage for your people, medical help for one of ’em—I’m guessing one that isn’t here.”
“Yes.”
“Fair enough. I’ll give you that right away, for Ry’s life. Agreed?’
“Let me hear the rest first.”
“The rest? Well, yes, there is more.” His smile was plainer now. He was enjoying something about this—he’d thought of some trick, or perhaps some loophole that would let him go back on his word. “You want us to take you to Brelst. I cannot do that. By the time we get back there, the Wizards’ Circle storms will be at their worst, and Brelst gets the blow from four circles.”
Kait considered that, then nodded. “We’ll negotiate for another port, then.”
He pursed his lips and blew out his cheeks until he looked like a puff-fish. “Phah! The port isn’t the biggest problem. The Mirror of Souls is the problem. What I’ve heard about that is . . . frightening. To take it on board my ship, I’m going to need something extra.”
“I understand your position,” she said. “But I cannot permit the Mirror of Souls to stay with the parnissa or to go to Calimekka. If that’s your demand, we all die here.”
He chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect you to agree to giving the parnissa your prize, girl. You came all the way across the ocean and braved terrible dangers to get it.”
She nodded. And waited.
“Something you’ve gone through so much to get, you deserve to have, don’t you agree?”
She nodded again, slowly sensing a trap closing around her but not able to see where it was coming from.
“Good.” The captain smiled a tiny smile. “Because everything you went through to get your prize, our parat went through to rescue you. And if you deserve to keep your prize, you must agree that he deserves to keep his.”
Other books
The Most Dangerous Animal of All by Stewart, Gary L., Mustafa, Susan
Next Stop Funnel Cake by Champa, Heidi
IM02 - Hunters & Prey by Katie Salidas
Out of the Depths by Valerie Hansen
Lethal Force by Trevor Scott
A Break Up Survival Guide by Nancy Wylde
In Stone by Gornall, Louise D.
Siren Island: Shipwrecked (An Erotic Adventure Series) by Virginia Wade
The Secret of the Swamp King by Jonathan Rogers
Suzanne Robinson by Lady Hellfire
