Word of traitors

CHAPTER THIRTY

3 Aryth

Ekhaas saw it happen.

Between one heartbeat and the next, Makka burst through the veil of green vapor and charged with a roar like wind in the mountains. Ashi turned but the bugbear’s sword-the bright blade that he had stolen from her-was already thrusting at her belly.

Then, darting from among warlords clustered on the platform, Vounn threw herself between sword and victim.

There was a rippling in the air around her, and Ekhaas recognized the shield of force conjured by Vounn’s dragonmark. Ashi’s mentor twisted as she moved, using her phantom armor to deflect the blade.

It didn’t work. Makka’s mighty blow plunged his sword through the rippling shield into Vounn’s body-and through her into Ashi. The force of it slammed both women back so hard that Ashi’s arms seemed to wrap around Vounn.

Makka held them there for a long moment, then released the hilt of the sword. Vounn and Ashi fell together, joined by the honor blade of Deneith, hitting the platform with a hard impact that drove a cry of pain from Ashi. Ekhaas thought she saw Vounn turn her head to look at Ashi, thought she saw the lady-seneschal’s lips move before blood oozed from them and her body went limp. Ashi shuddered once, then her head fell back against the rough wood of the platform.

At the side of the platform, Pater d’Orien’s eyes went wide. He glanced up and met Ekhaas’s gaze, then his lips pressed together and his eyes lost focus as if he was gazing into the far distance. He took a small step-and vanished.

Somewhere far away, someone would learn very shortly of the murder of Vounn and Ashi d’Deneith.

And Ekhaas knew she wasn’t the only one to witness Pater’s disappearance. As the curtain of green vapor faded into drifting wisps, she saw Tariic staring with shock and dismay at the place where House Orien’s envoy had been.

Makka threw his head back and howled a second time, then spun to face Ekhaas and Geth. His body tensed, ready to leap Tariic’s voice cracked like thunder. “Makka, be still!”

The bugbear froze. Instantly. Completely.

Thought broke through Ekhaas’s shock. Their chance at escape was passing. She turned her horse sharply and reached out to grab the bridle of Geth’s horse, pulling it after her. The shifter was still staring at Ashi’s body, trembling with a rage so great it seemed he might shatter.

“Ride, Geth!” she ordered, but it was Chetiin who slid around Geth’s shaking body and snatched the reins from his hands. Tenquis slapped the horse on its hindquarters, then they were all galloping across the plaza, heading back the way they had come.

Ekhaas clutched her reins tight, expecting at any moment to hear the command from Tariic that would summon them all-or at least her and Tenquis-back, but it didn’t come. She heard Dagii shouting, ordering his men to protect Tariic. She heard more shouts as other warlords, knowing only that an attempt had been made on the lhesh’s life, tried to break free of the defensive lines and pursue them. She heard calls from the confused crowd.

And finally, just as they’d almost reached the edge of the plaza, she heard Tariic’s voice rise in a command that made her stomach lurch as if he’d called to her directly. “Dagii of Mur Talaan, stop them!”

She twisted her head and looked back over her shoulder to see Dagii turning his tiger after them, his face once more hard and cold. The rapidly thinning crowd that remained in the plaza scattered at the great cat took two huge bounds, closing at least a third of the distance between them.

Then they were around a corner onto an empty street and the plaza was out of sight. Ekhaas’s ears pressed back flat against her scalp. A horse could outpace the tiger in a distance race, but their horses had already run halfway across Rhukaan Draal. Dagii’s tiger was fresh. She looked at Tenquis, hunched over his horse’s neck, then at Chetiin and Geth. The shifter seemed to have come back to himself-he’d taken the reins from Chetiin, though his face was still twisted with rage and grief.

The same emotions gnawed at her. One day Makka-and Tariic-would pay for Ashi’s murder, but this wasn’t that day.

“Keep riding!” she snapped.

Geth looked at her, but she just looked away and reined in her horse, turning it around in the street. Behind her, hoofbeats slowed and Tenquis called her name. She ignored him.

Dagii’s tiger came leaping around the corner into the street, a streak of fire striped black and orange. Its master’s gray eyes fixed on her, and he raised his sword. Ekhaas’s hands tightened into fists. She drew breath, reached down into herself, and drew up magic.

The song that rolled along the street was not, however, hers. The voice that sang was high and clear. It danced and rippled, like sunlight falling on water or through the leaves of trees. It seemed to move around, coming first from a doorway, then a high window, then a deep shadow.

Dagii blinked and shook his head, allowing his tiger to slow to a walk as he looked around in confusion for the source of the music. Even the tiger seemed dazed.

Ekhaas held her horse still in the middle of the street as Dagii and his tiger came within a few paces of her, then turned around and went back the other way. She might as well have been invisible.

She knew the singer, even if she didn’t know the song. Looking around, she found her. Senen Dhakaan had pressed herself into a deep doorway. She met Ekhaas’s eyes and nodded. When Dagii had passed her again, she left off singing-though the song seemed to linger-and hurried to Ekhaas’s side.

“I’m sorry for Ashi’s death,” she said.

Ekhaas bit back her anger. “What are you doing here?”

“I saw you enter the plaza. When you left your horses at the street, I guessed this would be the way you’d leave. I slipped away before you attacked.” Senen’s ears flicked. “So the Rod of Kings commands obedience.”

“Aruget told you,” Ekhaas said. The changeling’s name tasted like dirt in her mouth.

“I guessed it just now. When the real Tariic appeared, your tiefling friend fled the plaza and covered his ears. I did the same.” She glanced at Dagii, still caught by her magic, then up at Ekhaas. “You’ll be an outlaw now. You should have told me everything. I could have helped you.”

Ekhaas bared her teeth. “This isn’t the time, Senen.”

“I know.” Senen stepped back. “A duur’kala should listen as much as she sings. I’ve been listening in Khaar Mbar’ost. Find refuge in Volaar Draal, Ekhaas. Take a message to Tuura Dhakaan: there should be no alliance. Lhesh Tariic Kurar’taarn will not be a friend to the Kech Volaar.”

“I don’t think Tariic will be a friend to anybody,” said Ekhaas. “What the rod shows him will destroy Darguun.”

“The vaults of Volaar Draal are deep.” Senen nodded toward Dagii and his tiger. “The song will fade soon. Ride now!”

She turned away without waiting for a response and vanished into an alley. Ekhaas realized that her hands, even clenched into fists, were trembling. She looked at Dagii one last time, then turned her horse and urged it back to a fast trot.

Tenquis, Geth, and Chetiin hadn’t followed her instructions. They’d stopped just around the next bend in the street and as she rode up, they fell in beside her. “Well?” growled Geth.

“We have a hiding place.”

“What good’s hiding?”

“It keeps us alive,” said Tenquis.

“Ashi’s dead,” Geth snapped at him, “and Tariic has the rod.”

Ekhaas looked up at the red bulk of Khaar Mbar’ost. The sun was settling into the west and it lit the fortress of the lhesh up like a pyre. A pyre for Darguun and Haruuc’s lost dream. She looked back to Geth, her ears pressed flat. “We’ll find a way to take it away from him.”