Shadow War Part 20

"Not much," Agel said bluntly. "His physical hurts are minor. Those I have dealt with. But it is his reason that concerns me."

Caelan frowned at the man who was now his master in name only. "Yes," he said very softly.

Agel's gaze narrowed. "It is time that you told me exactly what happened. I can do nothing if I do not have information."

Caelan's frown deepened. "Why did you bring me back here to him? Why drug me? What is your intention?"

"It should be obvious," Agel said coldly. "You are intent on self-destruction, as usual. But this time I will stop you."

"Why?"

"Because we are kinsmen," Agel said sharply. "What happens to you will affect me. If you betray this great man who is your master, will I not also be looked on with suspicion? Treachery is said to run in families."

Caelan stared at him in amazement tinged with disgust. "You are thinking only of yourself."

"I am being prudent."

"You hypocrite-"

Agel lifted his hand. "I will not argue further with you. You are the property of his highness. If you do not stay where you belong, you will be branded a runaway. It is shameful enough to have a cousin who is a slave. Worse to have a cousin who kills for sport. But to have a cousin who attacks his master and then runs from his crime is-"

"Wait!" Caelan said in bewilderment. "What twisting of truth is this? I didn't attack him."

"Didn't you?" Agel said, his gaze never wavering. "Didn't he reprimand you, and didn't you turn on him violently? Your temper has always been unreliable. And now you are afraid, too afraid to confess what you have done."

Caelan was horrified. He realized immediately what the implications would be if Agel spread this lie. "You can't do this," he said, his voice choked. "You mustn't."

"Then cease this stupid insistence that the prince is a traitor," Agel said.

Caelan stared at him, his mind whirling. He felt stunned with disgust at what his cousin was attempting to do.

"Who has set you to do this?" he asked finally. He was shaking inside, from rage and fear both. He wanted to throttle Agel, but he dared not move until he had answers. "Who?"

Agel would not meet his gaze. "Our purpose is to save this man. Tell me what you can."

"Why should I?"

Agel looked suddenly fierce. "I have worked long and hard to secure my appointment to the imperial court. I won't let you jeopardize that."

"Tirhin is a traitor," Caelan said in a hard voice. "You cannot coerce me into saying otherwise. My loyalty to him has ended. Don't serve him, Agel. He is not worth your concern."

"That is not for you to say!" Agel said sharply. "You are not this man's judge."

Anger leaped in Caelan, but he crossed his arms over his chest and said, "If his mind has gone, there is no reclaiming it."

"I did not say his mind is gone. But he is far away, deeply severed." severed."

"That is justice," Caelan said.

Agel's eyes grew even colder. "And I have said you are not his judge! This man is a prince, and you are a slave. You are dust beneath his feet, unworthy in rank even to lick them."

Caelan snorted. "I do not need a lecture about rank and standing. I have been taught my place at the end of a whip. But I am well born, and there is nothing in my lineage to make me ashamed. Never will I forget that."

"If you are a slave, it is because you threw away all the advantages you were born to. You wasted everything. You deserve to be here, abased and wearing a chain of possession."

Caelan's fists clenched. He wanted to choked those pompous, lying words from his cousin. He wanted to hit Agel, to hurt him. He wished with all his heart to see Agel facing a Thyzarene attack, with the dragons screaming and belching fire, and the laughing riders spearing their victims. Oh, to see Agel in shackles, naked and covered with welts from a scourging, lying in filthy straw and grateful for a crust of molded bread.

All Agel knew about slavery was what he saw in Imperial most fashionable circles-the sleek, pampered house slaves, the groundskeeping workers, the champion gladiators who wore fine clothing and had servants of their own. He would never understand the debas.e.m.e.nt and degradation. He would never know the shame or the mental torment.

Agel already lived in a cage, one of his own making. His bars were prejudice and narrow thinking. How could he understand anything, much less the desperate need to be free? How could he understand honor, when he had thrown his own away? How far had the cruel elders at Rieschelhold twisted his thinking?

Caelan's anger faded to pity. His fists uncurled, and he drew in a deep, ragged breath. Agel was not worth his hatred. Agel was not worth anything.

He turned in silence to walk out.

"You can't go," Agel said to his back.

Caelan kept walking.

"You can't! I will say that you attacked the prince and injured him. I will accuse you, and you will go to the dungeons a condemned man."

Caelan drew in a breath. He felt cold with contempt.

Turning around, he sent Agel a steely glare, but it was met by the ice of Agel's gaze.

"You don't want to die, do you?" Agel asked him. "You still care about your own life."

Caelan said nothing. His jaw was clamped too tightly.

Agel took his silence for a.s.sent. "Now. You will answer my questions and give me the a.s.sistance I need."

"If you condemn me," Caelan said hoa.r.s.ely, "will you not also condemn yourself, as my kinsman?"

"Treachery and murderous a.s.sault are two different things," Agel said in a calm voice. "I cannot be blamed for the latter. You are well known to be a violent man, of unreliable temper and savage fighting skills. And it is also known that you expected his highness to free you for your successes in the arena. He has not done so. Are these not sufficient provocations for a man of your ilk?"

Caelan frowned, wondering how Agel could be so ruthless. "Why are you doing this?"

"I told you. It was very difficult to get this appointment. Now that I have it, I intend to keep it. How better to impress the emperor than by healing his beloved son of these injuries? Do you think I came to Imperia merely to treat wounded gladiators, favorite slaves, and imperial concubines? No, I came to treat the emperor himself, and I will not let your stupidity keep me from that."

Understanding dawned on Caelan. "You haven't been received yet," he said slowly. "The emperor has not yet permitted you to examine him."

It was Agel's turn to stand silent and tight-lipped.

"You are here on a trial basis. You can be dismissed if you fail to please."

Agel's chin lifted. "Already I have been called on by the empress. That was a great step forward, at least until you broke in and interrupted the consultation."

Caelan shook his head. "She wasn't the empress, you fool. Her Imperial Majesty wouldn't come to your shabby infirmary in person."

"But she did."

"I have been here longer than you," Caelan said scornfully. "I know palace protocol. The empress would send for you, by messenger and escort."

"But the guard said she was ... she herself said she was-"

Agel's confusion made Caelan laugh. "People lie," he said. "Especially do aristocrats lie to their servants and inferiors."

A tide of red crept up Agel's throat into his face.

"She was not not the empress," Caelan said emphatically. "Perhaps she came to you on her Majesty's behalf, to observe you and your methods, to see how clean you are, to see whether you are suitable. That's all." the empress," Caelan said emphatically. "Perhaps she came to you on her Majesty's behalf, to observe you and your methods, to see how clean you are, to see whether you are suitable. That's all."

"But... but still, the empress has expressed interest," Agel said finally, trying to rally. "It changes little. As regards you, it changes nothing."

Caelan's amus.e.m.e.nt died. He looked at Agel stonily.

"Now, back to the matter at hand," Agel said, gesturing at the unconscious prince. "Does he know anything about severance severance? Can he return by himself? Has he had any training?"

"No."

"Of course. Severance Severance is not practiced here." Agel compressed his lips and stared at Caelan very hard. "You were on the Forbidden Mountain. You encountered wind spirits-" is not practiced here." Agel compressed his lips and stared at Caelan very hard. "You were on the Forbidden Mountain. You encountered wind spirits-"

"No, shyrieas." shyrieas."

Agel waited, but when Caelan said nothing further he walked to the far side of the room and motioned for Caelan to follow him. "Am I to wrest every word from you like drawing teeth?" he asked angrily. "Must I threaten you again to elicit your cooperation?"

"No, I think you have threatened me sufficiently," Caelan said.

"Then answer my questions, that I may do my work."

It occurred to Caelan that if he was to accuse the prince with any hope of being believed, then Tirhin should be conscious. It was possible that Tirhin might confess or reveal his guilt in some way if questioned. Unconscious and half-dead, he would have the benefit of his father's sympathy, and only Agel's lies would be believed.

Sighing, Caelan nodded. "Very well."

He went back to Tirhin's bedside with Agel and stood there looking down at the man he had once respected.

"You know what shyrieas shyrieas are," Caelan said before Agel could prompt him. "Demons of this land. I cannot describe their appearance. They-they feed on a man's thoughts, his fears. All that is dark inside you draws them like honey. All your sins, all your evil intentions are food for them. They come at you half seen, like wind spirits. They scream until you go mad, and then they are upon you ... in you." are," Caelan said before Agel could prompt him. "Demons of this land. I cannot describe their appearance. They-they feed on a man's thoughts, his fears. All that is dark inside you draws them like honey. All your sins, all your evil intentions are food for them. They come at you half seen, like wind spirits. They scream until you go mad, and then they are upon you ... in you."

His voice grew ragged, and he fell quiet. His memories were unwelcome, bringing back the horror of that attack. They had fed on him as well, and he still felt shaken and not quite whole. He wondered if he ever would. Worse, he kept thinking back to the night he had been attacked by the wind spirits at E'nonhold. Old Farns had tried to save him, and had died for the effort. The memory of the old man's dear face, so drawn and still on the pillow, came back vividly. Prince Tirhin's face had a similar look. Caelan could feel himself knotting even tighter inside. The prince was not likely to recover. And if he did not, Caelan's warning would never be heard.

He needed Tirhin on his feet and sane, to betray guilt when questioned so that the council would believe Caelan's accusations.

"If the demons have indeed taken his reason," Agel said in his somber way, "then I cannot restore it."

Caelan drew in a sharp breath but did not speak.

"If he is simply hiding deep within himself from shock, then he has a chance to eventual recovery," Agel said. "But it will be slow and difficult."

Caelan looked at him. "Can you determine which it is?"

"I will try."

Agel leaned over Tirhin and placed his palms on the prince's face. Uttering the severance severance mantra under his breath, Agel closed his eyes. After a moment his own expression grew still, then went slack. He began to sway rhythmically at first, then more jerkily, then convulsively as though he were trying to hurl himself back but could not break the contact. mantra under his breath, Agel closed his eyes. After a moment his own expression grew still, then went slack. He began to sway rhythmically at first, then more jerkily, then convulsively as though he were trying to hurl himself back but could not break the contact.

His mouth opened, and he made wordless, gasping sounds.

Alarmed, Caelan reached out, then stopped himself at the last moment from touching his cousin. Even without actual physical contact, sevaisin sevaisin was stirring in him. He could feel a force of evil reaching forth, something that sent chills racing through him. The evil was centered in Tirhin's body, but now it was twisting and entwining through Agel as though the healer's touch had brought it forth. As Caelan stood beside his cousin, he sensed this evil wanted him too. was stirring in him. He could feel a force of evil reaching forth, something that sent chills racing through him. The evil was centered in Tirhin's body, but now it was twisting and entwining through Agel as though the healer's touch had brought it forth. As Caelan stood beside his cousin, he sensed this evil wanted him too.

Repulsion filled him, but Caelan had no time to delay if he was to destroy this thing.

Sweat was pouring off Agel. Still standing there with his eyes closed and his mouth screaming silently, he went on twisting from side to side, unable to break free.

Pressing his fingertips together, Caelan closed his own eyes and plunged deep into severance. severance. At once its icy walls closed around him, buffering him from the black, writhing, indescribable thing that coiled and twisted around Tirhin and Agel. It turned its wedge-shaped head and opened its mouth to display dripping fangs. Hissing, it struck at Caelan, but At once its icy walls closed around him, buffering him from the black, writhing, indescribable thing that coiled and twisted around Tirhin and Agel. It turned its wedge-shaped head and opened its mouth to display dripping fangs. Hissing, it struck at Caelan, but severance severance shielded him. He forced himself to look on this evil, to look into it. He saw its threads of life and where they stretched back to the source that governed it. shielded him. He forced himself to look on this evil, to look into it. He saw its threads of life and where they stretched back to the source that governed it.

Caelan severed severed the threads. The creature screamed with a shriek so piercing it brought Caelan pain. Both Tirhin and Agel screamed too. the threads. The creature screamed with a shriek so piercing it brought Caelan pain. Both Tirhin and Agel screamed too.

In that one brief second of contact, Caelan felt a flood of black hatred and viciousness flow over him. He felt one touch from what lay beyond the creature, and it was clammy and rotted and utterly horrifying.

Then he was free, and the link was broken. The creature faded from black to gray, then to nothing at all. It was gone, as though it had never existed.

Breathing hard, Caelan released himself from severance severance and stood blinking and shivering in a room that was suddenly too cold for comfort. Even now he could still feel a lingering foulness that made him shudder. But whatever had been planted inside Tirhin was gone. and stood blinking and shivering in a room that was suddenly too cold for comfort. Even now he could still feel a lingering foulness that made him shudder. But whatever had been planted inside Tirhin was gone.

Leaning over, Caelan rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands and gulped in more air. He felt spent and winded, as though he'd run miles.

Then he pulled himself together and straightened. Almost afraid to know, he turned to the others. Tirhin looked gray-faced and dead. Agel lay slumped over him.

Anxiously Caelan pulled his cousin upright and gripped him by both arms to shake him.

Agel flopped in his grasp, semiconscious, knees buckling.

Caelan sank with him to the floor. "Agel! Agel, wake up!" he said urgently. "Come on. Wake up. You must wake up."

Agel moaned and opened his eyes. His face was still beaded with sweat. He looked as though he had been dragged through a place no man should ever have to enter.

Caelan patted his cheek, still talking to him, urging him.

Finally Agel grabbed his hand and pulled it down. He blinked in an effort to focus, and scowled at Caelan. "I am am awake," he said acidly. "Stop trying to revive me." awake," he said acidly. "Stop trying to revive me."

Relief swept Caelan. He grinned and almost laughed as he helped Agel sit up. "Thank Gault," he said. "I thought you were lost to us."

Agel leaned over again, bracing his hands on the floor as though he was going to be sick. But he was not. After a moment, he pushed himself to his feet and stood swaying unsteadily.

His eyes met Caelan's and held them. "What, in the name of all purity, have you brought here with you?" he asked.

Caelan sobered instantly. "I don't know. It's gone."

Agel closed his eyes a moment, then opened them to glare at Caelan. "How do you know?"

"I sent it away."