Kigh - Fifth Quarter Part 48

Vree stared at the pale scar on the back of her hand. Gyhard had defeated, humiliated, and brought out the worst in Bannon. For those reasons alone, Bannon would be unlikely to share the experience with anyone but, more importantly, withholding the knowledge of Vree's betrayal meant he held new power over her to replace the old power that had been burned away.

"Vree?"

She tightened her grip on the reins, but all she said was, "I know my brother."

Unable to put it off any longer, Bannon having removed the need for her constant attendance on the prince, Karlene brought her horse up beside Vree's and tried to think of the best way to begin. Bards were supposed to be good with words, but she couldn't think of any that would lessen the impact of what she had to say. Finally, she said, "We have a problem."

Vree looked surprised. "Just one?"

"This is serious, Vree." She pitched her voice to carry to the younger woman's ears but no farther. "What are we going to do about Gyhard?"

This time the surprise was unfeigned. "We? I thought that was my problem?"

"Our problem."

Karlene shook her head. "Over the last hundred years, Gyhard has killed a number of innocent people. We can't let him get away with that. He must be brought to justice."

"Gyhard has killed to survive. So have I." Vree's eyes narrowed.

"It's not the same. He's removed himself from the Circle..."

Vree chopped her hand down and cut the bard off. "I don't know about your

Circle," she snapped. "But I know about justice.""Vree...""SHUT UP!" Her horse danced sideways. She reined him in and fought for calm.

"How are you going to put him on trial? You have no proof. You have no bodies.

You have only his word for it that he's killed anyone. In fact..."

Her expression lifted the hair on the back of Karlene's neck.

"... you don't even have him. I do."They rode in silence for a moment, every fall of hoof against stone, every creak of harness adding to the tension between them.

"So what do you plan to do?" Karlene asked at last. "Go back to the army? Go back to being a blade of Jiir? I don't think you could do that even without Gyhard. I'm sure you can't do it with him."

"Bannon..."

"Leave Bannon out of this for now." She reached between the horses and touched Vree's cheek with the back of two fingers. "What are you going to do?" Vree jerked away from the contact and at the same time turned almost desperately toward the older woman's touch. "I don't know."

Karlene found herself suddenly willing to do just about anything to banish the stricken look from Vree's eyes. She tried to fight it, sighed, and surrendered instead. "What do you want to do?"

"Start again."

Only bardic training could have picked those two quiet words out of the surrounding noise. With Vree on one side of the scale and justice on the other, Karlene silently cursed Gyhard, Bannon, Neegan, the Imperial Army, and the Emperor himself.

"Gabris, you've got to listen to me!" The prince had claimed Bannon and with all the excitement of the return to the palace, Karlene had somehow managed to keep Vree with her.

"But she's got two kigh!" Gabris repeated.

"I know that." Karlene grabbed the older bard's arm and yanked him away from Vree before he did something foolish enough to push her over the edge and get himself kissed by an a.s.sa.s.sin's blade. They had a lot to discuss before their audience with the Emperor and very little time to do it in. Eyes locked on Gabris' face, Karlene began talking.

"... and although by now His Imperial Majesty will have heard the prince's story," she finished, "His Highness will have been able to tell him nothing about Gyhard."

Eyes wide, Gabris waved both arms in the air. "Well, then he has to be told!""Why?""What do you mean, why?" His face flushed, he was almost shouting. "This man has removed himself from the Circle by the taking of innocent lives! Have you forgotten your vows?"

"This man doesn't even exist anymore except as a part of Vree."

"Then we Sing him out of her!"

"How? The little I know about Singing the fifth kigh does not include forcing apart two kigh that don't want to be separated. How do I get him out of Vree's body without destroying her?"

At that, Gabris turned and pointed a shaking finger at Vree. "You push him out!"

"No."

There was such a complete and utter finality in that quiet syllable that it formed

an impenetrable barricade. Under other circ.u.mstances, Karlene would've been amused to see Gabris stopped cold by it. "Wouldn't it make more sense to have Gyhard make amends for what he did in the past?"

His angry gaze still locked on the a.s.sa.s.sin, Gabris muttered, "How?"

"The fifth kigh. No one knows more about it than he does-than they do. We can't throw this opportunity away."

Having heard the story of his son's ordeal as Otavas sat cradled in the safety of his mother's arms, forgetting age and dignity in the need for comfort; having seen the shadows that lurked behind each word and would forever scar the prince's heart; having been told by the captain how the bard had placed herself between the boy and the darkness during the return to the Capital, the Emperor chose to believe the tale she told.

"For your part in the rescue of my son, I grant you both Imperial pardon. As you remained in my service, we will consider that your desertion never occurred."

And Commander Neegan never died? No. There were limits to Imperial power after all. Heart pounding, Vree shot a look at the elderly bard out of the corner of one eye. If he was going to say anything, inform the Emperor that Gyhard did not die during that heavily edited final confrontation, this would be the time.

Gabris looked uncomfortable, but Karlene's arguments held.

"Take these also." The Emperor continued, indicating the two fat purses resting on the edge of the dais. There were no servants, no officers of the court at this very private audience-only the two kneeling a.s.sa.s.sins, the bards, and Marshal Usef-so he waited until Vree and Bannon had each taken up a purse before he continued. "It is little enough for the safe return of my son." His gaze moved to Bannon alone. "His Highness has requested that you remain in his service as a bodyguard-companion." For a heartbeat, his expression softened, the pain of the father replacing the authority of the Emperor. "I have agreed."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

As Bannon spoke, Vree suddenly found it difficult to breathe. It was happening. It was really happening.

From this point on, her brother would officially no longer be a part of her life. She felt Gyhard stir and fiercely willed him to be quiet.

"And you, Vireyda?"

Startled by his tone, she looked up and found him studying her with a mix of sympathy and curiosity. The sympathy was almost more than she could bear. She swallowed hard and tried to keep her lower lip from trembling. Then she remembered how Gyhard jumped his kigh and hastily dropped her gaze.

"You've been through a great deal these last few weeks with this man who lived so long by leaping his spirit from body to body. Are you certain you don't want to return to the security of what you've always known?"

From the moment she'd left Ghoti carrying her brother's kigh with hers, she'd wanted nothing more. From the moment she'd left Ghoti until the moment she discovered she couldn't allow Gyhard to die. "No, Majesty. The bards, they say they can learn about the fifth kigh by studying me and I'd like to help them."

His Imperial Majesty shifted so that he could include the two bards in his gaze. "You are certain, Lady Bard, that you can stop this ancient Cemandian who brings the dead to life should he return again?"

Karlene bowed. "It is unlikely, Majesty, that he will return again. According to the kigh, he was heading toward the mountains where he feels safe." According to Gyhard's kigh-which made it not exactly an untruth. Someday, it would be necessary to go into the mountains after him, to not only lay a tormented fifth kigh to rest but to protect the other four from his insanity. That, however, was bardic business and none of His Imperial Majesty's.

"I did not ask you if you believed he would return, merely if you could stop him should he return."

Her second bow was considerably deeper than the first. "Yes, Majesty, I am certain we can stop him."

"Good." There was a certain amount of threat lurking behind the word. Turning Imperial attention back to the a.s.sa.s.sins, his voice took on formal cadences and drew the full attention of everyone in the small audience chamber. "While we are loath to lose your skills in the service of the Empire, we grant all that you have asked in appreciation of the return of our son. Vireyda Magaly, Albannon Magaly, from this moment on, you are released from your duty to the Imperial Army and released from all oaths pertaining to that duty." He leaned forward, away from the brilliantly enameled sunburst carved into the back of the small throne. "We welcome you as private citizens of the Havakeen Empire."

In his place behind the Emperor's left shoulder, safely out of sight, Marshal Usef turned purple.

"I don't approve of this," Gabris muttered as they left the audience chamber and pa.s.sed through the first in a series of reception rooms. "Bards should not lie."

"Who better than a bard to judge the damage the truth can do?"

"I think you're on dangerous ground," he growled, "but I reluctantly agree that there's no point in ruining the young woman's life further."

"And you have no real urge to study the fifth kigh?" Karlene grinned at him, feeling almost giddy with relief. Considering what could have happened, she thought the whole thing had gone rather well. Then she sobered as she caught sight of Vree. "What is it?"

Vree gestured at Bannon, vanishing around a corner with a senior member of Prince Otavas' household. "What," she asked, trying to keep her voice from quavering, "do I do now?"

"Begging Your Most Imperial Majesty's pardon, but I must protest."

The Emperor paused half out of the throne, and settled down again. "You do not believe their story, Marshal?"

Shoving his short sword back out of the way, Usef dropped to one knee before the dais. "If Your Majesty believes then I believe. But, Majesty, a.s.sa.s.sins do not ever leave the army. It is far, far too dangerous."

An Imperial brow lifted. "For whom?"

"Majesty, the citizens..."

"Will never know. You will not tell them, the bards will not tell them, and I'm quite certain our two young a.s.sa.s.sins will not tell them. a.s.sa.s.sins, Marshal, are like well-trained hawks who, even when released from hood and jesses, fly only as they have been taught." Smiling, the Emperor raised his left forearm parallel to his body, fist clenched, and studied the scars of talons made in spite of heavy gloves. "I have flown all types of hawks, Marshal. It will be interesting to see how these two fly."

"Majesty, these are people, and people are much more complicated than hawks."

"Not in this case. I've studied the training a.s.sa.s.sins go through, how they're conditioned from childhood to respond. The boy will protect my son. What has just happened will never happen again. Perhaps we shall see about adding a.s.sa.s.sins to the rest of the Imperial households. For now, the girl will remain in the palace..." All at once, he jerked his left arm up into the air, as though releasing a bird of prey. "We'll find something for her to do in time."

"Vree!" Karlene rushed into the bardic suite and all but pounced on the woman standing by the window. "I think I have a solution to your problem!"

Vree turned, brows drawn into a tight vee over the bridge of her nose, holding her elbows through the billowing fabric of a pale yellow shirt. "I have a problem?"

"He's making you sarcastic, you know. I don't like it." Looking pleased with herself, Karlene dropped into a chair. "The first five of the Empire's bards have arrived from Shkoder. You knew that, of course..."

Over the last week, neither Karlene nor Gabris had had more than a moment to call their own and Vree had found herself wandering the half dozen bardic rooms like a lost spirit, trading trivialities with Gyhard as though he were a stranger, afraid to move off the dagger's edge they balanced on.

"... but you don't know about the news they brought. There's a new, young healer training in Shkoder who Sings the fifth kigh."

Vree spread her hands. "So?"

"So, if anyone can help Gyhard find a body he can use, it'd be her."

A wild, unlookedfor hope began to grow in Vree's chest. "A body he can use," she repeated. "Are you sure?"

Karlene leaned forward and took the other woman's face in her hands. "No," she said soberly. "But, dearling, you can't spend the rest of your life hiding out in here." She traced the curve of Vree's lips with her thumb then reluctantly sat back. "Nor can you share the rest of your life with another person's kigh. Gabris and I still have no idea of how to get Gyhard into a body of his own..."

"He says he has an idea," Vree muttered, grimacing.

"You weren't intended to repeat that."

"Oh, I bet he does," the bard snarled. "But he'd just better remember where he stands."

"As we can neither remove you nor bring you to justice for the lives you've so callously ended, as long as you remain in Vree's body, you have, for the moment, found sanctuary. And you'd best not forget what you owe her for that. But this is where we draw the line; if anyone else dies because of you, anyone, the bards will see to it that your kigh goes back into the Circle so fast you won't know what hit you."

"Allow me to set your mind at rest," Gyhard said through Vree, the weariness in his mental voice evident in her translation. "Unless Vree is willing to push me, I can't jump into anyone while she remains whole and healthy. In order for me to leave without her help, her body must be dying. Before you bother to point out the obvious, I agree that in the past this has not been difficult to arrange. For now, you may be certain of one thing at least-I will never harm her."

Karlene's lips drew back off her teeth as she asked, "You mean more than you already have?"

"He isn't going anywhere," Vree said sharply, unwilling to be caught in the middle of that particular argument. "Not unless there's a way to do it so that no one dies. You have our word on it."

"Vree ..."

"I mean it, Gyhard. No one else dies because of this. "

"Then we're going to be together for a very long time. "

She hugged herself tightly and repeated, "No one else dies."

As the heavy door to the small audience chamber swung shut, the Emperor looked down at the scars on his wrist. "You see, Marshal, I told you we'd find something for her to do."

Dropping to one knee, Usef was momentarily at a loss for words. I should've done what I said I was going to do and retired when the prince was returned. "Majesty," he finally managed to choke out, "to send an a.s.sa.s.sin into Shkoder... Begging Your Majesty's pardon, but that could be considered an act of war."

"War, Marshal? Not at all. Remember, I'm not sending an a.s.sa.s.sin. The young woman is a private citizen who has privately chosen to travel."

"But..."

An Imperial hand lifted to cut off the protest. "A private citizen, who could, if properly commanded, be very... useful."

"If I may be permitted to remind Your Majesty, you have released her from her oaths. Who is to command her? She is no longer in the army."