The Last King's Amulet Part 20

Actually I had no intention of going anywhere. I was going to do my enemy as much damage as I could. I wanted Jocasta away from here, for her own safety, but also because her knowledge and the stone she carried were a threat to the city. I did not want to think about what they would do to her to break her will, or try and guess how quickly they would do it. I would be happier if she were escorted, and the perfect escort was available, so use it. Get them out of here, then make a mess, slowly but surely.

"Once outside, what?" Meran asked.

"Home," Jocasta said at exactly the same time I said, "North."

"Why north?" She snapped.

d.a.m.n. They could go home if they wanted but when I was done here, I was going north. "Well; two good reasons. One, anyone they want will head south. Any n.o.ble refugees will head south. If they are searching for me they will search that way. Two, I have a duty in the north." I had not forgotten. Tahal Samant was a captive in the Eyrie. Awaiting the head of the Ensibi king as ransom, or probably some other task now that that was either redundant or achieved by other means. I would see it done because I had said I would and for no other reason. But first things first, first take down my enemy here. The men who had tortured me. Who had almost broken me.

"Tahal Samant," Jocasta was on it in a flash. "Don't be a d.a.m.n fool Sumto. You were with an army then, there was a chance. Alone? Forget it and go home. With us."

"There is nothing to go home for."

"What?" She looked genuinely puzzled and I wondered at her lack of political astuteness.

"Tul and I were in joint control of an army that has been destroyed; the last minute change of plan was mine, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss." I held up my hand as she looked as though she wanted to interrupt. "I will be prosecuted for raising troops without authority. A fine or exile. No one would ever follow me again, loan money to me in the expectation that I will win battles and have the money to pay them back with interest. I had my shot and I blew it." I raised my beer. "Here's to fortune."

"So you are going to throw your life away on a futile gesture? And ours?"

"No one has to come with me." No one would, I would make sure of that. "And it is not futile. My only hope is an act of outrageous courage that succeeds and directly benefits all of the city. The award for such an act comes with immunity to prosecution, and money."

Sapphire was frowning thoughtfully to himself. "What act would benefit the city entire?"

"The removal of the threat to the city."

"The enemy is here."

"The enemy is in the north." But Kukran Epthel was here and I planned to kill him before I left. I didn't know how, yet. But I would get it done and make sure I had witnesses. I had natural allies. Everyone in this town who was not from the north. And I had a stone, and some magical ability although quite limited in extent. I would find a way.

Meran put plates on the table. Chicken, potatoes, vegetables. Way more than I could possibly eat. More than I even wanted to look at, in fact. Still, I tried.

"You think this Kukran is one of many? Not the leader but a lieutenant?" Sapphire said.

"Nothing exists in a vacuum. He came from the north, how can it be that he was alone there? There are more like him. If not here then there."

"And how will you achieve this, with just us?" Jocasta wanted to know.

"They will have enemies, these Necromancers. The enemy of my enemy and all that. I'll find a way."

"What will you offer your potential allies to gain their aid?"

"An alliance, exactly that, trade agreements, whatever it takes. I am a patron of the city, and if I succeed I will be in a position to make good on my promises, and if I fail I will be dead. Your sister's betrothed must have learned something in his time among them, for make no mistake they are the ones behind this rising, and everything he has learned will help me. That is what I am going to do, alone if need be."

"You won't be alone," Sapphire said without inflection.

"Jerek must have a champion. I will help you," Dubaku said.

"I'm in," Meran announced.

Jocasta seemed to consider the matter for a moment. "You are crazy. But you are right, it is the only thing you can do. I'll go with you and help make it possible for you to do this."

"Then it's settled," I lied with an easy smile, and raised my gla.s.s to it.

There comes a point in every one's life when they realize they are stupid. It's a bitter and crushing realization, but unavoidable.

We had been in no hurry, eaten at leisure and made our way down to the garden in good time; the bangs, shouts and crashes of doors being kicked open still in the distance and no immediate threat.

The garden was perhaps thirty yards by forty, the wall seven feet or so high. There was a gate that would lead onto an alley and a way through from the bottom of the two flats, through the kitchen; in fact, half the kitchen was outside.

"Hold hands and follow me," Jocasta said.

We formed a line and followed as she walked through the beds of flowers, almost everywhere some were in bloom. Her hand was cool in mine, small and delicate, the stone warm by contrast. Both felt good. There were apple and cherry trees, a vegetable patch and at the far end of the garden a wicker screen covered in clematis, behind which was the usual garden paraphernalia of earth, tools, pots and seeds. Once there Jocasta let go of my hand, a little reluctantly I thought. Wishful thinking, maybe. Still she had traveled five hundred miles for me, stolen from her family, risked her life and ruined her reputation. Well, she couldn't feel nothing for me, could she? Even I'm not that dumb. It was a new thought and I drunkenly puzzled it out. She had nothing to go back for either. Her reputation was shot. No patron would wed her. Her family might disown her to save their own reputations. It wasn't nothing. Not by any means.

"Now what?" I asked.

"We wait," she hissed, "quietly."

It wasn't what I had meant but I let it go, for now. Sometimes, I decided, it was better to say nothing. She must know that she was as barred from going home as I was, and it struck me that she had not fought very hard against the idea of going north. I looked around for something to sit on and found a pile of sacks of compost. When she gave me a disapproving look I shrugged and raised an eyebrow. Might as well be comfortable, I tried to convey. Dubaku squatted, feet flat on the ground, leaning forward. To me it looked intensely uncomfortable but he seemed happy enough. Sapphire stood stock still. Meran leaned against the wall. After a while, Jocasta shooed me up a bit and I made room for her. I was intensely aware of her hip against mine. She wore thin trousers that put just two thin layers of cloth between me and her soft thigh. Her arm touched mine, shoulder just under mine. She wore a shirt and jacket. Man clothes but I found them enchanting. I could smell her, her hair seemingly just under my nose.

"You smell nice," I whispered.

She turned slightly and glared up at me and breathed a word of advice. "Shush, stupid."

Not exactly the words of endearment my fuzzy brain was hoping for. Still, she did blush a bit, though after I nodded she looked away.

The sounds of the search got closer. We waited, tense. At least I was tense. Everyone else seemed completely at ease. After a time we heard them in the streets about us, at our door, inside the flats. A head peered out a window at us and disappeared. A minute later a barbarian wandered into the garden, looked around aimlessly for a bit and left. A minute later another did the same. Then the search moved on.

I didn't move. Jocasta was still close, I whispered to her. "Is that it?"

"Wait," she whispered back, just loud enough for all of us. "Just in case."

Everything had gone quiet. I didn't like it. I caught Sapphire looking at me and met his gaze squarely. He didn't like it either. The search had stopped. Why?

We waited, tense, doubtful, uneasy. You only stop searching when you have found what you are looking for. I was just about to say so when Ferrian sauntered out into the garden. Behind him were two barbarian guards, just as Gatren always had with him. Big, cruel looking men who had seen a good deal of casual violence in their time, perpetrating most of it. He stopped and looked about the garden frowning. Then walked forward, wandered around aimlessly, not even coming close to us, and stopped facing his two guards. "What happened?" he asked.

They told him.

"Nice maze, Sumto," he said turning around and facing us again.

My blood was running cold in my veins and my breath seemed as shallow as a film of water on gla.s.s. He knew I was here. How did he know I was here?

"There are soldiers in all four streets. And beyond. There is nowhere to go. You might as well come out. You and your friend, whoever he is."

Friend, only one friend, but still he knew I wasn't alone. How did he know I wasn't alone? We'd left no sign in the flat, just in case. How did he know I was here?

"Well, you can't stay there forever," he grinned, "you'll get thirsty. Ready for a drink? I have a nice wine with me. Well, it's a filthy wine actually but I expect your palate is a bit dulled by now."

I wasn't paying attention, I was thinking, looking around for escape, knowing there was none. How did he know? And it was then that I realized I was stupid. It was a disappointment to me. My heart sank a little more as I held up the stone I wore around my neck. 'I harmonized them, so I could find you,' Jocasta had said. I had a.s.sumed she meant she had attuned this stone to the one she had sent me. But she hadn't, I knew. She had attuned this stone to mine when she had come with her sister to ask for my aid. I remembered the almost invisible flash, now. And Ferrian now had my ring. And I had this. And now Ferrian had me. I looked at my companions one at a time. They all looked at me. They all had the same tense worried expression, except for Dubaku, who expressed nothing on his face or in his eyes. And Sapphire, who was frowning slightly at me in an irritated sort of way as though it were all my fault, which it was. And Jocasta, whose mouth was open in an oh, her eyes wide with fear as she shook her head, her hand on my arm.

She held up the stone she wielded, her expression mutating into one of grim determination. I gripped both stone and hand in my fist and shook my head. No. "There will be too many." I had to come close to her ear, my lips brushing her earlobe, my cheek brushing hers, the scent of her hair in my nostrils. I whispered quickly. "If you are free you can act to free me again. If dead, you are dead. If taken we are lost. Stay free. I'll go." I stood up. She clutched my arm, desperately I thought. Gently I pulled her hand away and moved before I could change my mind.

Meran made to follow me but, to my surprise, Sapphire gripped his arm and pulled him back hard. I didn't see the rest, I didn't dare stop moving lest I lose all control. Fear, it's too short a word. Too easy to say. I was trembling with it. I knew what I was letting myself in for. Still, I held myself still, walking steadily down one narrow path of the garden toward the man who had become my bitter enemy and whom I would surely kill one day. I caught a glimpse of movement and turned my head slightly. Sapphire was walking another narrow path and there were some pretty pale blue flowers on a bush between us. It's one of those strange contrasting images that will stay with you for a lifetime - the man I had seen murder another man, my eyes locked to his as he twisted the knife into the man's kidney, now seen through a haze of delicate blue flowers as he walked calmly to sacrifice himself for me. And I had no doubt he knew exactly what he was letting himself in for.

The biggest problem was that they wanted me to teach magic and I didn't have any to teach. I knew exactly eight spells. I remembered learning them, a loupe tucked firmly into one eye socket as I watched them cast by a sorcerer. This to make a light, this to warm a layer of air close to your skin, this to keep you dry if it's raining, this to make a flame. They were simple spells, easy spells, they were nothing. There cannot be a n.o.ble alive who didn't know them. If I cooperated they would soon learn that I knew nothing worth teaching, nothing they wanted to know. Then they would begin asking questions about the loupe; why did I have it? Where did I get it? And I didn't know what to tell them. They would not believe I'd stolen it.

I say that was my biggest problem. I'm not sure it's true. They'd let me keep my stone, after a fashion.

"We didn't think you could climb down. Didn't think you had it in you, frankly," Ferrian told me when I was safely ensconced in my room, my cell. "I guess your dangerous-looking friend killed the guards. He'll be an a.s.set, I'm sure, one way or another."

I didn't see the point in responding.

"Larner put a ward over the window, so no going out there. It'll hurt and we will know."

So Larner had been Turned. I'd started to think of it in that way, like a t.i.tle. The Turned.

"He'll be along to see you later; talk to you, see what you know. We won't be seeing much of each other, I'm afraid. I have other duties. But I'm sure Larner will look after you admirably; he has one or two ideas."

I didn't respond. Why bother? They would do what they would do and I would endure as best I could. Jocasta was safe, for now, and free. That mattered. It didn't much matter what happened to me. I was, after all, pretty useless.

He went to the door. "Relax," he said, "take a drink," and was gone.

I did. A small brandy. I sipped it slowly and fantasized murder.

Larner strode through the door some time Later. "Ah, our lost lamb returned to the fold. How are you feeling?"

I was sitting up on the bed, still imagining new ways to kill Ferrian. I didn't respond.

"Not very friendly, Sumto." He crossed the room to stand by the bed, too close for my liking. "Here, I have a present for you." He pressed his hand against my forehead, too quick for me to react, and there was a near invisible flash of light. I slapped my hand to my forehead as he stepped rapidly back. "There, perfect. Now we will always be able to find you."

I probed at my forehead. There was something there, something small and hard and warm. A stone. The stone Jocasta had given me, or mine, it didn't matter which.

"It's embedded in your skull. I suppose you could cut it out. Well..." he thought a moment. "Yes, I think you do have it in you to do that, so..." He leaned in again and I made a fist, waiting. "I could always bring the guards in here to hold you down. What do you think?"

No. I couldn't win this battle. No point in fighting it. I dropped my hand to my lap and relaxed.

He touched my forehead and there was another flash and pain, sudden flaring pain that was fading even before I could cry out. "Now if you remove it you will burst several blood vessels in your brain. Not a healthy thing to have happen."

"What did they do to you?"

He shrugged, face suddenly bitter and angry. "Changed my mind. Opened my eyes, as they will open yours one way or another. It is easier to obey..." he trailed off, then suddenly came to himself. "Now, I have another present for you. Want to see?"

I shrugged. "Do I have a choice?"

"Not really, no." He crossed to the window, waved his hand to disable the ward and stepped onto the balcony. I could still see him when he turned back. "Come along, then."

I followed him. They'd broken him. Somehow. He was not the man I knew, that was for sure. This crazy old man had nothing in common with the Larner I had known in the camp. His false cheer was grating, unnatural. I decided I didn't want to know what had Turned him. Some horrors it's better not to contemplate.

"There, good," he said as I joined him. He took my arm and led me to the balcony edge. Once there he pointed into the courtyard. I looked down.

They might have been dogs, once. But the G.o.ds alone knew what they were now. They were in the hands of two handlers, and pulled at their leashes. Their fur had gone gray. Terror will do that to you. They strained toward me, snarling and barking madly, jaws spraying spit, muzzles wrinkled. Their handlers were having a hard time holding them back, and they were both big men.

"They don't like you much. Sorry there are only two of them. I suppose I could make more, but I think two will do, don't you?"

I nodded dumbly.

"They can smell the stone, you see. Smell it anywhere, no matter how far away you are they will come after you. You will hear them coming, the sound vibrating from the stone, into your skull and then to your ears. A reminder that they are out there, coming for you. So," he said sweetly, "no running away it is then, okay?"

I just stared at them.

"Good," he said as though I had agreed with him. "Inside now, and I'll see you tomorrow."

I went inside. He restored the ward and left.

He took the brandy with him #.

Anyone who has suffered prolonged periods of inactivity will know how the time pa.s.sed. Pacing, talking to myself, trying to sleep and failing, sweating, shaking, wanting a drink, pacing, breaking things, and so on. I went out onto the balcony. It hurt, like fire in my marrow, and an alarm sounded. The pain faded as soldiers spilled out into the courtyard and looked up. I gave them a cheerful wave and looked about. The view wasn't much but it was better than the four walls behind me.

The town took up much of it, a spread of buildings of various sizes, none bigger than this one. The streets were busy. Life going on as normal, or as normal as it can be under an occupying army. The bulk of the people had merely exchanged one master for another. The army will have soaked up their goods, taken their food stocks, stolen their treasures, filched their possessions, probably taken their women. Armies do all of that, usually. We had laws about loot, and we did not practice rape. Okay, if a legion were let off the leash they would loot and pillage till they were spent but it didn't happen very often. There would be reason for such retribution even if some of those who suffered it were not part of the decision that caused it. In any case the scene was remarkably ordinary. Beyond the walls lay the enemy encampment and I studied them for a while. There wasn't much to see. The army sprawled over a larger area than the city and they were a fair way away from me. Just movement and stillness mixed together. I left them all too it and went back inside.

I took my shirt off and tossed it aside. It was soaked in sweat. Lack of booze to an addict causes all sorts of physical reactions. I felt hot but shivered as though cold, for example. My muscles ached and my head throbbed. My mouth tasted foul and I stank of a sick, stale smell that offended me. There was nothing to do about that. I wasn't tired, not in the sense that I needed sleep at least, but I crawled under the eiderdown and tried to sleep. It was a long time coming.

When the mist swirled and thinned around me I knew what it was, but not where. I couldn't see much. A couple of shafts of light in which dust motes danced. As things cleared I could tell no more than that I was in a large, dusty, empty room. Empty of all but Jocasta She stood in front of me, anxious, her face a picture of concern.

"Why did you do it?" I said.

"What?" It wasn't what she had been expecting me to say.

"Why did you come after me?"

"Oh, that." She frowned prettily, looking down. When she looked up she had made some kind of decision, her expression was challenging. "When you were courting my sister I was jealous."

"Is that all?"

"Of course that's not all! Really, Sumto, do you think we should be talking about this now?"

"Yes. Why did you come after me?"

"It wasn't just jealousy. You talked to her. I liked the way you talked, what you talked about. She didn't understand. I'm afraid my sister is a bit foolish. But I understood, and I liked what I heard."

I tried to remember. I can't have said much of importance. It was only one year we visited together, strictly chaperoned. "What, specifically?"

"You talked about truth. How all beauty comes from truth and all ugliness from lies."

I remembered now. I had been pretentiously attempting to form my own philosophy. We do not use religion. The fact that we have souls is undisputed fact. But getting sense out of a spirit was like having a conversation with yourself. They turn your own ideas back on you as though deliberately forcing you to understand life, not what comes after it. Perhaps that was exactly what they were doing. In any case, without religion, and knowing that there is an afterlife, what is left as most important is a philosophy validating life itself. Leave the unknowable for when you experience it. I had not found any of the philosophies I had read satisfying, so I had set about developing my own. Truth seemed a good place to start. Facts, actually. Well, I had been talking to a girl so beauty must have crept into the philosophy for her benefit.