Traitor's Moon

35 ACCUSATIONS

Alec saw Seregil waiting for him on the front steps when he and his search party returned., "Any luck?" he called.

Alec swung down from the saddle and presented him with the Akhendi charm. "It's Klia's, all right. It must have come loose in the struggle."

"Illior's Fingers!" Seregil exclaimed, examining the blackened carving.

"Kheeta's gone to fetch Rhaish," Alec told him. "Saaban claims he should be able to use it to tell us who caused this. It was still white before the hunt. Care to lay any bets on who changed that?"

Seregil took the poisoner's ring from a pouch. "Not just yet, I think."

"Where did you find that?"

"In the fish pond outside Ulan's bedchamber. So far, Thero hasn't been able to divine anything from it, though. He says it's masked."

Alec cocked an eyebrow. "How hard is that to do?"

"Hard enough to make me think that we're dealing with someone powerful."

"Damn! Then this charm may be, too."

"It may be useful to learn that it is," said Seregil, examining the bracelet again. "That would suggest that whoever masked one

masked the other, as well. Chances are they'd have to be there to do so after Emiel had attacked her."

"So we find out who in the hunting party was also at the Viresse banquet?"

Seregil shrugged. "If this turns out to be masked, then yes."

Kheeta arrived with the Akhendi khirnari, and Seregil ushered him into the sitting room off the main hall, where Alec and Thero were waiting.

"You found something in the forest?" Rhaish asked.

"This," said Alec, giving him the blackened charm. "Can you tell us who did this?"

The khirnari held it a moment. "Ah, yes, this is my wife's work. It would be best if I took it to her. I'll send you word of what she finds. She is not well enough today to go out."

"If you don't mind, Khirnari, we'll save you the trouble and come along now," Seregil interrupted.

"Very well," Rhaish replied, clearly taken aback by such presumption. One did not demand access to the home of a khirnari.

"Forgive my rudeness," Seregil quickly added, hoping to smooth it over. "But time is of the essence, for Klia's sake."

"Of course. I was not thinking. Akhendi will do all in its power to ensure her recovery."

"Thank you, Khirnari." Motioning for Alec to accompany them, Seregil led the man out.

Akhendi tupa was modest in comparison to the Viresse, and the faded appointments spoke of better days.

They found Amali resting on a silken couch in one of the garden courts, picking listlessly at a dish of dried kindle berries while she watched several of her women play at dice.

She brightened a bit at the sight of her husband. "Back so soon, tali? And with company for me!"

"Forgive an unforgivable intrusion," Seregil said gallantly. "I would not disturb you if it were not of the utmost urgency."

"Think nothing of it," she replied, sitting up. "What brings you here?"

Seregil showed her the bracelet. "My lady, your gift to Klia was well thought of. I believe it can lead us to her attacker."

"How wonderful!" she exclaimed, taking the soiled bracelet gingerly between two fingers. "But what's happened to it?"

"Klia lost it during the hunt," Alec explained. "I found it when I went back this morning."

"I see." Pressing the charm between her palms, she murmured a spell over it. A moment later she let out a gasp and slumped back against the cushions, face drained of color. "A Haman!" she said faintly. "I see his face, contorted with anger. I know this man: He is here in the city. The nephew of Nazien i Hari."

"Emiel i Moranthi?" asked Alec, shooting Seregil a victorious look.

"Yes, that is his name," Amali whispered. "Such anger and contempt. Such violence!"

"Can you tell us anything more, my lady?" Seregil asked, leaning forward.

"Enough!" Lips tight with anger, Rhaish tore the bracelet from her grasp as if it were a poisonous snake. "Talia, you are not well enough for this." Turning to Seregil, he said sternly, "You see her condition. What more do you need?»

"If she could tell us more of the nature of this attack, Khirnari, it would be of great value."

"Leave this with us for now, then. When she has recovered her strength, perhaps she can see more in it."

"I'd prefer to keep this with me," Seregil told him. "When your lady is well I'll bring it back."

"Very well." Rhaish looked thoughtfully at the bracelet, then handed it back. "How odd, for so much to depend on such a simple object."

"In my experience, it is often the simplest things that yield the greatest insights," Seregil replied.

"Well?" Alec demanded as they walked home with Thero. "I told you he attacked her. There's your proof!"

"I suppose so," Seregil mused absently.

"You suppose so? By the Four, Seregil, she was working with her own magic."

Seregil lowered his voice to a whisper. "But why, Alec? Klia and Torsin were poisoned at Viresse tupa, of that I'm certain. If it was done by the Haman, then it was someone other than Emiel, because he wasn't there."

"If the Haman are behind it, then it was planned by a fool," added Thero. "Everyone knew they were hunting the next morning.

Why choose a poison that would affect her while she was in their company?"

"And why go to the trouble of attacking her if she was already dying? " Seregil pointed out.

"Unless Emiel didn't know about the poison," Alec said. "He's a violent bastard, Seregil. He went after me once, right in the city in front of witnesses, not to mention what he did to you!"

"That was different. Attacking Klia was madness. Based on what Amali just told us, he could face dwai sholo." He handed the poisoner's ring to Thero. "Keep at this. I'll bet you my best horse if you do find out who used it, it won't be a Haman."

"You think these could be separate events, then?" the wizard asked, staring down at the deadly little circle of steel.

"You mean more than one clan wanted Klia dead?" Alec felt the beginnings of a headache behind his eyes. "Perhaps Sarikali is more like Rhiminee after all."

It was a depressing thought.

Rhaish i Arlisandin dismissed the women as soon as their Skalan visitors were gone, then knelt beside Amali. Her air of quiet triumph sent a chill through him; for a moment he could scarcely feel the ground beneath his knees.

"By the Light," he gasped, clutching at her wrist. "Amali, what have you done?"

She raised her chin proudly, though he saw tears standing in her eyes. "What had to be done, my husband. For Akhendi, and for you. The Haman is no man of honor; the violence is his."

She reached out to him, but Rhaish shied away. The terrible mix of sorrow and adoration in his wife's face scorched him like wildfire, even as the world grew darker around him. Staggering to a nearby chair, he covered his eyes with his hands.

"You would not confide in me, my husband!" she said imploringly. "Yet I could see your anguish. When Aura placed the means in my hands, I knew what I must do."

"The Lightbearer had no hand in this," he mumbled.

Alec and Seregil went straight to Klia's chamber. Though she had not yet regained full consciousness, it seemed right to be in her presence as much as possible, as if they could lend her their life force through sheer proximity.

It was also the most securely guarded room in the house. Two Urgazhi were stationed outside her door. Inside, Beka sat dozing at the bedside. She jerked awake as they entered, one hand flying to the hilt of her knife.

"It's just us," Seregil whispered, approaching the bed.

Klia was asleep, but there was a hint of color in her pallid cheeks. A sheen of sweat stood out on her brow and upper lip.

"She still can't speak, but Mydri got a little broth into her," Beka told them. "She's been like this most of the day, though she opens her eyes now and then. It's hard to know if she understands what's said to her yet."

Alec caught his breath as a sickly odor assaulted his nostrils. Klia's left hand was bandaged from fingertips to wrist, and angry red lines of infection arced up the inside of her forearm. Those hadn't been there at dawn.

"Amali says Emiel definitely attacked her," Seregil told Beka.

She closed her eyes wearily. "I knew it. Did she say why?"

"No. I think I'd better have a talk with Nazien, though I'm not looking forward to it."

"What about the Viresse?" she asked.

Seregil scrubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. "Finding the ring in Ulan's fishpond should be pretty damning evidence."

"Should?"

"Well, dropping the ring right outside his own bedchamber door is either the most daring or the most stupid thing I've seen in a while. I haven't decided which yet."

"If the Haman are our poisoners, they could have dropped it there to make Ulan look guilty," said Alec.

"That begs the question of whether they support the repeal of the Edict. Nazien might want to see Ulan dishonored, if he was serious about supporting Klia after all. Otherwise, he would have supported him. As for Emiel, he was on the side of the Viresse, so it's unlikely he'd have been behind such a ruse."

"We might have just missed seeing the murderer," Alec said glumly, thinking of the unseen visitor who'd interrupted their tossing of Ulan's chambers.

Thero slipped in just then, and the others greeted him with hopeful looks.

"Nothing yet," the wizard told them, leaning over Klia's bed to pass Seregil the ring. "If only I could question her about that night."

"Our assassin chose his moment well, whoever he was," Alec

muttered. "If we do clear Haman or Viresse, that still leaves most of Sarikali suspect."

"Even if I were free to go about reading minds, it would take months," added the wizard.

Beka took the poisoner's ring. "A lot of good this does us, if you can't divine any more than you have of it."

"I told you, I wasn't meant to. Someone has masked it so that I can't trace it to its owner," Thero snapped. "This is a real wizard we're dealing with, not some hedgerow conjurer."

"Then for all we know, the man we're looking for has escaped already," she fretted, handing it back to him. "People come and go all the time here. Our man could be miles away already. By the Flame, Seregil, can't these rhui'auros of yours do something?"

He sighed, resting his face in his hands. "According to the one I spoke with this morning, I already know who did it, whatever that means."

Beka paused beside Seregil and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Tell us what he said, word for word."

Seregil glanced down at Klia and found her eyes open and focused on him. He lifted her good hand and held it gently. "Let's see. He fed me breakfast and we spoke of Nysander. He admitted that he sent Nyal but claimed that he didn't send him to me." He looked at Thero and shook his head. "You know how they can be. Anyway, then he gave me the Plenimaran bottle of lissik. When I recognized the workmanship, he told me 'He who has two hearts is twice as strong, and called me 'ya'shel khi. »

"Half-breed soul," Alec translated for Beka's benefit.

Seregil nodded. "I've been turning that around in my mind all day, along with his talk of my so-called gift. Whatever that is."

"And he said you fight it," Alec prompted.

Seregil shrugged again. "A gift for magical ineptitude? A gift for picking pockets and lying well? The only thing he said that makes any sense to me yet is that somehow or other we've missed asking the right questions."

"Or the right people," Beka said. "What did Adzriel say about the vote? Will it go forward as things are now?"

"Nothing's been changed, so far as she knows."

"Both Viresse and Haman are still under interdiction," said Alec. "Doesn't that give us an advantage? I mean, we know that Viresse would have voted against us, and Haman might have."

"Haman would have been the keystone," Seregil said. "With just

Viresse out of the picture, Nazien's vote would have broken any tie vote, for good or ill. Things are as uncertain as ever now. Of the nine left, we know Golinil, Khatme, and Lhapnos are against us. Ra'basi and the rest? Who can say, now that everyone's so leery of Phoria? Ulan may win without having to vote at all. Beka, I'd like you to fetch Nazien i Hari. Don't say why, just that I have information regarding his nephew."

"Maybe it's time I went back to the taverns," Alec offered. "Short of going into housebreaking as a full-time occupation, I don't see how else we can find much more than we already have. Whoever left that ring meant for us to end up right where we are now, mired solid."

"You might as well—"

He was interrupted by Mydri's arrival with fresh infusions for Klia.

"But not alone," he continued. "Take Kheeta with you, and a rider or two. No one goes out alone, not anymore."

"Then you think our murderer is still here?" asked Beka.

"We have to be prepared for the possibility, and that he's not done with us yet," Seregil replied.

"Do take care," Mydri warned, picking up the thread of the conversation. "Adzriel has had people out listening around the city; word of what you found has already spread, and tempers are ugly. Akhendi is the worst, accusing Viresse outright of murder. There's talk of banning Golinil, and even the Khatme seem to be under suspicion. It's rumored that Lhaar a Iriel and Ulan i Sathil were meeting secretly to plot against Klia."

"Any news from the Nha'mahat?" Seregil asked.

Mydri gave him a surprised look. "You know they don't mix in Iia'sidra business."

"Of course." Seregil bent to pat Klia's hand one last time, then motioned for Alec to come with him.

On the way out they nearly collided with Sergeant Mercalle in the corridor.

"Begging your pardon, my lords," she said, giving them a quick salute. "I need to speak with Captain Beka regarding orders."

"What is it, Sergeant?" Beka asked, stepping out to join them.

"It's about the prisoner, Captain. His people are at the front door, asking what we mean to do with him."

"Well, well, Nazien has saved us the trouble," Seregil murmured. "Tell him we'll speak with him at once, Sergeant. Put them in the sitting room off the main hall."

Mercalle nodded to one of the Urgazhi on guard at the door, and the man hurried off. "There is one other thing, as well," she added. "The house servants wish to know what's to be done with Lord Torsin."

Beka grimaced. "Sakor's Flame, it's been a couple of days, hasn't it? He'll have to be burnt, and his remains sent home to Skala."

"It will have to be done outside the city," Seregil told her. "Nyal can probably find the materials we'll need. Have it done tonight; the priests can deal with the proper rites back in Rhiminee. You'd better bring Emiel into the hall now. I want him there when I give his uncle the bad news."

"I can't wait to see their faces," Beka said, striding off toward the back stair with Mercalle.

Thero waited until the two women were gone, then lowered his voice. "I've been thinking about what you said of the rhui'auros. Whatever your sister may think, I believe they see more than mere politics in all this. I'm convinced they want this alliance."

"I know," Seregil replied. "What puzzles me is why they don't seem to be making that clear to their own people."

"Maybe the Aurenfaie aren't listening," Alec suggested.

Nyal was loitering in the stable yard when Beka came out with Mercalle. Her heart gave an unruly leap at the sight of him. He'd been out riding, judging by the dust on his boots and cloak. Coming closer, she smelled beer and green herbs on his breath, the scent of a fresh breeze in his hair. She'd have given a month's pay for five minutes alone in his arms.

"We need materials for a funeral pyre, a fast, hot one," she told him, keeping her tone neutral.

His hazel eyes widened in alarm. "Aura's Light, not Klia—"

"For Lord Torsin," she told him.

"Ah, of course. The proper materials are kept in the city for such contingencies," he replied. "I'm sure they'll be made available to you, but it might be best if someone of Bokthersa clan made the request on Skala's behalf. Shall I find Kheeta i Branin?"

"Thank you," Beka said gratefully. "I want his ashes ready for tomorrow's dispatch rider, if possible."

"I'll see to everything," he said, already on his way.

"He's been a good friend to us, Captain," Mercalle said with evident affection.

By the Four, how I want to believe that! Beka thought, watching

her lover out of sight. "Get an honor guard together for me, Sergeant. Have them in the main hall in five minutes. Lord Seregil is meeting with the Haman and we want to make the proper impression."

Mercalle winked knowingly. "I'll make sure they're all tall and mean, Captain."

"Mean shouldn't be too difficult to come by, considering who our guests are," Beka replied, clapping her on the shoulder.

She'd been too distracted by Klia's condition and her own guilt to pay very much attention to the unwelcome «guest» in the barracks. As she headed in to fetch Emiel, she reflected that it couldn't have been a comfortable few days for him, with Klia's own guard looking daggers at him every waking hour. There wasn't one of them who wouldn't cheerfully cut the Haman's throat.

Half a dozen riders were taking their ease inside. Two more kept watch at the back of the room, where Emiel sat on his pallet, the remains of a recent meal on a plate beside him. He looked up at her approach, and she was pleased to see a flicker of apprehension cross his face.

"On your feet. You're wanted in the house," she ordered.

Outside, Emiel blinked as his eyes adjusted to the slanting afternoon sun. He betrayed no fear, but she did catch him stealing a quick glance at the stable yard gate, which stood tantalizingly open.

Go on, try to run for it, Beka thought, loosening her grip a little, wondering if he knew how much she'd welcome the opportunity to take him down.

The man knew better, of course, and kept up a disdainful front until he entered the hall and saw his uncle and a half dozen kinsmen standing tensely before Thero's makeshift tribunal. Alec and Saaban flanked the wizard, with Mercalle's guard in a line behind them. Seregil entered a moment later, escorting Rhaish i Arlisandin.

"Is there anyone else you wish to have present?" Thero asked Nazien.

"No one," the old Haman answered. "You claim to have proof of my kinsman's guilt. Show it to me and let's be done with the matter."

The Akhendi stepped forward, and Seregil handed him Klia's warding charm.

"You know of my people's skills with such magic," said Rhaish. "Your kinsman's guilt is written here, in this little carving. You recognize what it is, I think."

Nazien took the charm and clasped it, closing his eyes. After a

moment his shoulders sagged. When he looked at Emiel, there was disgust in his eyes. "I brought you to Sarikali to learn wisdom, nephew. Instead, you have brought disgrace on our name."

Beka felt the young Haman go rigid. "No," he rasped out. "No, my uncle—"

"Silence!" Nazien ordered, turning his back on Emiel and facing Thero. "I vow atonement to avert teth'sag between our people. If evidence of my kinsman's innocence cannot be found within the next moon cycle, he will be put to death for the attempted assassination of the queen's sister."

Nazien regarded Emiel stonily for a long moment. "Did you know," he said at last, "that during the hunt I pledged my support to Klia and her cause?"

"No, Khirnari, we did not," Thero replied. "The princess has been unable to speak since her collapse."

"Who heard you give this pledge, I wonder?" Rhaish i Arlisandin asked harshly.

The Haman eyed him levelly. "We spoke in private, but I'm certain Klia will verify my words when she recovers. Good day. May Aura's light illuminate the truth for all."

None of the Haman spared Emiel a glance as they filed out. He watched his kinsmen leave, then turned on Rhaish i Arlisandin.

"I might have known the Akhendi would use their paltry trinkets to sell their honor!" he snarled, twisting out of Beka's grasp and lunging at the khirnari, hands outstretched to throttle the man.

Beka grappled him to the ground but needed the help of three strong riders to hold the man down as he thrashed and cursed. Beka got an elbow in the eye for her trouble but held on blindly until the Haman suddenly jerked and went limp.

Peering up blearily, Beka found Alec standing over him, rubbing his fist.

"Thanks," she grunted, getting up. "Tie this madman up, Sergeant, and clear out one of the storerooms for a cell. If we've got to hang on to him, I want him behind a locked door!"

Mercalle motioned to her men, who dragged the unconscious Haman none too gently out the door.

Beka bowed to the Akhendi. "My apologies."

"Not at all," the older man replied, apparently shaken by what he'd just witnessed. "If you will excuse me, I must return to my wife. She's still not well."

"Thank you, Khirnari," Thero said, holding up the bracelet.

"Your help has been invaluable. I hope to learn more from this, as well."

"I'm unfamiliar with your methods, Thero i Procepios, but I caution you not to undo any of the knots. Once the magic of the object is so broken, no one will be able to tell anything from it."

"That shouldn't be necessary," Seregil replied, taking it and tucking it away for' safekeeping. "Captain, see that the khirnari gets home safely."

It was just as well that Beka went with the Akhendi. There was something different in the air today and tension hung over the formerly placid streets. It was nothing overt, just a sense she picked up as they passed too quiet taverns and small knots of people.

Nyal was waiting for her on the front steps when she returned. "You are exhausted, talia," he said, taking her hand and pulling her down beside him.

"I don't have time to be tired yet," she returned sourly, though she knew he was right. She ached with weariness, and the world was taking on a surreal glow.

"I hear Emiel did not exactly confess?"

For an instant, Beka saw the Ra'basi through Seregil's eyes—an outsider who asked too many questions. "That's not for me to discuss," she said curtly, and quickly changed the subject. "Our troubles have upset the general population, I think."

Nyal gave her a slanting smile. "Perhaps the Khatme have been right all these years. Let the Skalans into Sarikali and suddenly we have fistfights in the streets."

"Well, we'll be gone soon enough."

"Leaving havoc in your wake. This simple request of yours has brought a good many simmering clan disputes to a boil. Now, with the deaths, everyone suddenly has new reasons for distrusting their enemies."

"Have the clans ever gone to war among themselves?" Beka asked. Such a thing hardly seemed possible, even with all she'd seen lately.

Nyal shrugged. "They have, though not for a long time. It's not murder, to kill in war, but lives are cut short nonetheless. For a 'faie to shed 'faie blood—ah, Aura forbid! It's the worst thing imaginable."

Perhaps if she hadn't been so tired his words would not have rankled so. As it was, they burned like salt in a fresh wound.

"What do you know of war?" Beka snapped. "Your people sit

here, clucking their tongues at us, but when we try to get help saving a few hundred of our short lives, you sit on your hands, debating whether we'll pollute your blessed shores! Never mind that you've murdered one of our people and maimed Klia so that she may—"

She broke off abruptly, seeing the sentries nearby shifting in embarrassment. She was practically shouting.

It wasn't Nyal's fault, not any of it, but right now he seemed to stand for every slow-talking, law-spouting, way-blocking Aurenfaie in the land.

"I'm tired, and there's so much left to do," she said, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Rest awhile," Nyal said softly. "Sleep if you can."

She sighed. "No, we've got a pyre to build."