Mother of Lies

FABIA CELEBRE

felt as if she had just been dropped from the palace roof onto a gravel path and the palace was about to fall on top of her. Marno’s eyes were bulging. So were Chies’s, although for different reasons. Saltaja was probably not dead.

She said, “Thank you, Chies. Bring me a couple of sheets, quickly!”

He reluctantly dragged his eyes away from the scenery and strode across to the platform. The carpet was sharp with slivers of rock crystal, so she stayed where she was, but now she could concentrate her attention on Marno. She ripped at the vile shadowy net that entrapped him. It came away easily and disappeared.

“You all right?” she asked hoarsely, voice quavering. Her marriage was ended before it started, of course, and she would be very lucky if he did not hurl her into an open grave beside Saltaja.

He sat up, wincing. “I took a few splinters in places I won’t show you. You?”

“Shaken, is all. I don’t think she’s dead.” She saw Chies returning, clutching two silk sheets. His eyes were all over her again in that very un-brotherly way. “Give me one of those. Now tear the other one up and blindfold her quickly!”

She wrapped herself. Marno flowed to his feet, shedding fragments of chair and crystal, then picked his way through the gravel and helped her stand. He did not stun her or break her neck, at least not yet. She was starting to shake with delayed reaction.

Chies said, “She’s coming round. I can’t tear this, my lady!”

“Cut it, boy! You’re standing ankle-deep in broken glass!”

Marno took the sheet and ripped it. “There!” He used the first strip to bandage the Chosen’s eyes, and two more to bind her wrists and ankles. “Will that hold her?”

“I think so,” Fabia said. She finished adjusting her new sarong. “For now. Watch where you’re walking.”

“Here, let me!” Chies had shoes on. He hauled a rug in from nearer the center of the room, where no glass had landed.

“That’s quick thinking, too,” Fabia said. “Chies, I am forever grateful for what you just did. Did she harm you?”

It was story time. He shook his head solemnly. “No, my lady. But I was forced to do whatever she told me. She did something to me so I had to obey her! It was horrible.” He stared down at her with eyes as big and innocent as dark forest pools. But forest pools were notorious for harboring water snakes.

Mother of Lies, have you enlisted a new pupil? Fabia remembered Witness Mist warning her that there was never any way to tell.

“You saved the day, lord Chies!” Marno proclaimed. He pumped the boy’s hand and thumped his bony shoulder so he staggered. “Let’s drink to a very narrow escape.” He handed Fabia the remaining lover cup and Chies the flagon. Then he opened another for himself. “Is that the end of the Hrag farrow?”

“Except me,” Chies said.

The Mutineer had the grace to look abashed. “I wasn’t counting you. You’re my brother-in-law now.”

“So I am!” Chies smiled shyly. “A great honor, my lord. Congratulations on your election. And on your marriage. You, too, my lady.”

“I want to hear what happened at Veritano,” Marno said, “but first, what do we do with the Chosen?”

Fabia wondered, Which Chosen? “The traditional treatment is horrible, but she has more than earned it.”

“We can arrange that very easily tonight. They won’t have finished filling in the palace rose garden yet. Can I just carry her out there?”

All Fabia knew for certain was that Saltaja Hragsdor knew a lot more tricks than she did. “It would be safer to carry her in a sack, I think. If we roll her in a sheet, then you could hold one end; Chies and I could take the other.” She would not dare let Chies out of her sight until she knew how safe he was. Marno must be feeling the same way about her. Whose funeral was this to be?

Saltaja moaned and twitched when they tried to move her. Her head wound was bleeding copiously. Marno gagged her. They rolled her in another of the incredible silk sheets.

“I think I can manage this end by myself, my lady,” Chies said earnestly. “She’s not too heavy. At times she made me carry her.”

“You must be very strong. How can we get out to the rose garden?”

“This door. If you would be so kind as to open it?” Chies knelt, pulled one end of the cocoon over his shoulder, then stood up. Marno raised the other and they went forward with Saltaja slung between them.

Fabia drew the bolts and almost fell over a Werist snoring on the floor outside.

“It’s not his fault, my lord,” Chies said. “She commanded him to go to sleep. This way…”

A heavily bolted door at the end of the corridor led outside, to a paved terrace overhung by a leafy trellis. Rain pelted down harder than ever, making the fires in the city glow golden through clouds of steam.

They rounded a corner and came to what must once have been the rose garden and was now a wasteland of muck, a macabre scene lit by a hissing bonfire, smelling of wood smoke and wet loam. Two men stood chest-deep in a pit, hurling out shovelfuls of mud, while a third leaned on a spade, watching them. Light shone on their brass collars and wet skin; also on a stack of Vigaelian corpses waiting on a cart nearby. From the number of spades and picks she could see, Fabia guessed that the total workforce must be at least a dozen, so finding only three men here was good luck. None at all would have been even luckier.

The watcher jumped in alarm, recognizing the Mutineer.

Marno said, “I just killed an ice devil hiding in the palace. We’ll bury him here.”

The Werist took one look at the draped bundle, which was definitely starting to writhe. Then another, at Cavotti.

“My lord is kind. You two-out!” He offered each workman a hand in turn to haul him out of the pit. Marno and Chies swung their load and let go. Saltaja dropped into the grave with a splash. There was enough water in there to drown her. Fabia braced herself, waiting to see if she was going to be thrown in there also, and perhaps Chies as well. She knew very little about her husband, except that he could be utterly ruthless. She doubted that she could Control four Heroes at the same time. Whose side would Chies take?

Cavotti single-handedly lifted a corpse from the cart and tossed it on top of Saltaja. “Now fill it in.”

“My lord is kind.”

Holy Xaran, accept back Your faithful servant Saltaja Hragsdor and deal with her as she deserves, according to Your wisdom.

All three workmen shoveled vigorously. Chies eagerly grabbed a spade and lent a hand. In moments the hole was half filled and a great evil had gone from the world.

“You will not mention this to anyone,” the Mutineer told them. “I do not wish people to be alarmed.”

Fabia could have ensured the men’s silence more certainly, but did not offer to do so. Marno put an arm around her and they headed back to the palace, feet squelching in the mud.

In the morning, servants would wonder about the muddy tracks they found in the hallway, not to mention bloodstains and burned rugs in the state bedroom, but doges need not worry about trivia like gossip. Fabia was starting to appreciate the power in the man she had married, the radiant authority of Marno Cavotti. She had put herself and the city in the big man’s hands and he had taken charge of them without a moment’s doubt or hesitation. He would not loosen his grip until he, too, was summoned by the Oldest God.

Ignoring the reek of burned wool in the sleeping chamber, he set three chairs in a triangle, handed out wine, and told Chies to sit down and speak up. He interrupted only once, when he heard how Flankleader Sesto Panotti’s men had let themselves be enslaved by Saltaja while on patrol. He said “Idiotic,” paired with a noun Paola Apicella had not taught her foster daughter.

Fabia could not detect a single wrong note in the boy’s story. Probably most of it was true, because a good fiction should be based on as much truth as possible. Mother of Lies, you found an apt pupil! What was she going to do about Chies? Was he or wasn’t he? Could one palace hold two Chosen?

At the end, she asked what had happened to Sesto.

“She killed him, my lady. It was horrible! In a small wood not far away from the city. I think I could lead your men there, my lord. I know the area. I would like the poor man to have a decent burial.”

“And how did she kill him?”

Chies hesitated for just an instant. “She cut his throat.”

Not she. He. Blood and birth; death and the cold earth. An initiation.

Cavotti glanced inquiringly at Fabia. He probably just wanted her comments on Chies’s story, but she deliberately misinterpreted, because she wanted to tell her brother the Chosen a few things.

“Now it’s my turn. Yes, I am a Chosen. When Stralg took Dogaressa Oliva hostage-ostensibly hostage, but really as slave plaything-he gave me to a wet nurse, Paola Apicella. She had lost her husband in battle and her baby had died. But she was a Chosen, and Mother Xaran provided for her.” Her husband winced when he heard the forbidden name, but so did Chies, equally. The boy was good! “She was my foster mother until four years ago, when Saltaja Hragsdor had her murdered. I heard that from a Witness, so it is true. Paola was a gentle, loving, caring person. She was nothing like the Queen of Shadows’ triple-distilled evil.”

Cavotti was a monolith. Chies was wide-eyed innocence.

“I could have refused to accept the Old One as my goddess. I did not. Had I wanted to be like Saltaja, I could have joined her gang, her family. She wanted to marry me to her nephew Cutrath. I refused. I have tried to use my powers to promote justice. I slew the man who killed Paola. I rescued an innocent woman being held captive by Horold Hragson, although I knew he would punish her guards. I did persuade Orlad and the others to trap Saltaja and her escort on the Edge. It was the only way I could see to end her career and stop her meeting up with Stralg. I honestly believed that fewer innocent people would die in the long run.” She shrugged, wishing she could read the thoughts moving behind her husband’s bestial face. “I do not intend to commit any more murders. Of course, if I or my loved ones are ever threatened by violence, I will respond.”

“You worship the Evil One,” Cavotti said.

“The goddess of death. She is the oldest and greatest of the gods. She is the Mother of Lies because we all lie about death. It is the one thing we all fear and fear most, so we lie about it. We say that people have returned to the womb, or passed through the veil, or feast in the halls of Weru. We tell stories about what happens after death as if we knew, but we don’t.”

“You are sworn to the Evil One!” he persisted.

“She chose me. I do not know why. Do the gods ever justify their decisions to mortals? I thought a lot about this while we were crossing the Edge. Mother Xaran is goddess of blood and birth, death and the cold earth. Death is not always evil. It can be a release, or a judgment. Birth is also Hers, because without birth there could be no death; without death we could not have birth, else we should fill the world, shoulder to shoulder.”

On the Edge, Fabia had been very close to death. The Mother had taught her much, speaking clearly.

“She grants enormous powers to us, Her Chosen, but She also lets us choose how we use those powers. Saltaja treated other people like weeds, to be trampled. I truly believe that Paola used hers for good. So far as I know, the only violence she ever committed was in self defense. Power is not innately evil!”

She wondered how Chies was taking this lecture, but she kept her eyes on her husband, who continued to stare straight at her. “The uses of power may be,” he growled.

“They often are, but that is the fault of whoever wields that power. All power can be used for good. All power can be abused. Absolute power can be abused absolutely.”

Cavotti yawned and stretched, flexing his great muscles. “It cannot be far from dawn, and we have much to do these next few days. Where do you normally sleep, Chies?”

“Directly above here, my lord.”

“Then you will not meet any guards on your way there. Go and sleep, and in the morning you can thrill your mother with a dramatic story of your escape from Veritano. Do not mention Saltaja to anyone!”

“Oh, I won’t, my lord! I mean, they might think I had helped her and then they would want to bury me, too!” Grinning, he jumped up.

So did Fabia. “Wait! Chies, you have wonderful night vision.”

He looked puzzled. “My lady?”

“I watched you when we went outside. You dodged branches that lord Marno did not see. You avoided rocks and holes. You must learn to be more careful, Chies!”

He smiled cheekily. “Careful about what, sister? I’ve always had wonderful night-sight. Ask Mama. She’s always nagging me to carry a lamp, but I never need one.”

Fabia stepped close and kissed his cheek, just as she had when they first met at Veritano. “I mean, ‘Do not serve evil.’ It is a terrible temptation, I know. If you are found out, you know what will happen, and we will not try to save you. But welcome back. Mama has been out of her mind with worry about you. You are one of the family and I hope you always will be. Thank you again for… distracting Saltaja.”

“Sorry I broke the pretty goblet.” He bowed. “Good night, my lord, my lady.”

The door closed. If that young lout ever starts asking for a bedroom on ground level I will personally -

“Will we regret this one day?” Marno murmured behind her. “Is he?”

“I think so, I don’t know. Never trust anything he says.”

She turned and looked up at her bridegroom’s face with the shadowy ceiling above it. Could he ever trust her was more to the point. “I did mean to warn you before we were married. I thought we would have much more time after Papa died.”

“Tonight, did you turn Chies on Saltaja? Were you the reason he suddenly changed sides?”

She hesitated. “I don’t think so. Just holding off Saltaja was taking everything I had. Let him have the credit. And, Marno, I swear I did not use any power on you earlier! In the chariot, I mean. When we talked about what was going to happen after Papa died and who would be doge, I did not put the idea in your head!”

He clasped her shoulders in his enormous hands. “Of course you didn’t. I had been thinking for a long time that Florengia would be in turmoil for years and Celebre would need a strong doge, one who could employ a Werist horde for defense without being deposed by it. My mother is an elder. I saw no need to suggest my name to her. I knew she would think of it all by herself. And then, when Hero Dimo came streaking down off the Altiplano in a lather to say that the doge’s children were back… No, you did not put the marriage idea in my head.”

“And you did not just arrange for the doge’s children to disappear at Veritano. You could have done.”

A Cavotti shrug was an impressive sight. “Never thought of it. But Chies is not the only one who must learn to be more careful.”

“What do you mean?”

“I did not notice your night-sight, but I did wonder at your courage.” His smile did not reach his deadly eyes. “You told me you were a virgin-which Giunietta had already Witnessed, by the way. I am a killer, a Werist, and three times your size. I could inflict serious injury on you in a moment’s carelessness. Just being playful I could crush you. Yet you showed no fear of me. Tonight you came frolicking to my sleeping platform as if you had no cares in the world. You repeatedly hinted that you wanted to consummate our marriage. You are either incredibly ignorant of what men and women do together, or you trust in some special defense.”

She could feel herself blush. “If you tried to hurt me, I… Yes, I would stop you.”

“Just tell me. It will never be deliberate.”

So here it came. “I trust you. Can you trust me?”

“I will. How can I prove it? Like this?” He scooped her up bodily, as if she were a child, and kissed her. It was an extraordinary experience, lips and tongue. Her eyes snapped shut to let her concentrate on it. She had never realized that a lovers’ kiss was not like any other. It went on and on, somehow growing in intensity, sending tremors of excitement tingling in her breasts and deep down inside her. Her one free hand pawed at Cavotti’s massive arm, hard as a tree trunk. Her heartbeat soared incredibly. When he took his mouth away and set her feet on the floor again, her knees buckled.

He clasped her tight against him. His chlamys was still wet, and her ear was level with his heart, which was thumping almost as fast as hers. His distinctive musky scent was overpowering, intoxicating.

“I will trust you, Fabia.”

She gasped until she got her breath back. “You said you had consulted a Healer of Sinura since we first spoke. I asked my goddess directly.”

“Blood and birth, you said?” His voice echoed deep inside his chest.

“Yes,” she admitted. “Ingeld… Horold Hragson’s wife told me how he impregnated a woman to see what would happen. She died giving birth to his child. It was human, but as big as a two-year-old. I will not be trapped like that. The Mother has authority over birth. I will be able to insist that your sons vacate the premises at the end of a normal lease.” She had asked for confirmation of this the first night after she met Cavotti, and Xaran had reassured her.

“You bribe me. I thought I had lost the chance of children.”

“I want children also.”

The big man sighed in wonder. “You are prepared to trust the Mother of Lies?”

“If she plays me false I will die, but we all die, Marno.” She twisted her neck to stare up at him. Yes, he was incredibly ugly. But he was a lot of husband. “Why else would I have come here tonight? Are you willing to be married to a self-confessed Chosen?”

One of his precious smiles brightened the room. “In your case, yes. And you want me to prove it now? Be warned, all your chthonic powers will not be enough to stop me once I get going!”

“You talk too much,” she said. “Let me see some action.”