Storm Rising

Which was precisely what he was doing now; waiting. He fully expected the cat to show up alone, but with a written reply, a tentative suggestion that his overture was being considered. It was also possible that the cat would show up with the boy, though that was less likely. Negotiations took time, and many exchanges of paper, before anything concrete came of them.

He did not expect the answer he got—a cat all right, but with the cat was a woman, garbed in elaborate robes of gold and white, robes that he recognized from the descriptions passed to him by his spies. And now he cursed his stupidity for not recognizing a less-elaborate, masculine version of the same robes on the boy.

This was High Priest (not Priestess) Solaris, the Son of the Sun, the secular and sacred leader of all the people of Karse. And from her expression, she was perfectly prepared to whip that ritual dagger she was carrying out of her belt and slit his throat on the spot.

He, of course, could not move. Once again, the cat held him paralyzed.

Her eyes glared at him with a fire of rage that gave even him, a battle-hardened veteran, pause. Her face was as white as the snow outside, but her hands were steady. 'You give me one good reason may, why killing you I should not be, as murdering my friend you did,' she snarled, in heavily-accented Hardornen.

Not bad, considering that she probably hasn't studied it much.

His mind raced. What should he tell her? What could he tell her? What would she believe?

Nothing, probably.

No, there was no reason to defend himself or his actions. Coming up with excuses would not save him.

He would have drawn himself up in his chair if he had been free to. Instead, he gazed directly into her eyes. Once again, he would probably be forced to speak the truth, so why not simply do so to begin with?

'I cannot,' he told her with bald honesty. 'By the laws of your land and of my own, my life is certainly forfeit to you. I committed murder, if only by secondhand. I cannot justify a decision that has proved to be so very wrong, and so ill-conceived.'

Her eyes narrowed a trifle, as if she had expected duplicity, or at least an attempt at it. Had she not put that magic on his lips that forced him to speak truthfully?

'By the same token, my best information at the time was that the mage-storms were a weapon of terror sent by your Alliance,' he continued. 'I sent my own weapon of terror to disrupt your Alliance. I proved by that assumption, I suppose, that my moral standards are lower than yours, since I could even think that you might send terror-weapons that strike at armies and civilians alike. I further proved the same thing since I retaliated with a weapon of terror. The Empire is a bad enemy to have, lady, and we have made worse enemies over the centuries. We are prepared to see just about any atrocity, and to meet it with the same.'

Her frown deepened, but her eyes widened a little.

'But I put this to you, Son of the Sun—as a leader, I would venture to say that you have been in similar situations. Whether you would have responded in the same way, only you can say.'

That hit home; he saw it in her eyes, in the way she winced slightly. But her anger had not lessened.

'For the first time in this, my life,' she said through clenched teeth, 'I considering am my ban upon the demons revoking, and up the demon-mages bringing to those terrible spirits turning loose upon your troops. That is what you have me brought to!'

He thought very carefully before speaking. 'By all repute, Solaris, you are too just to levy upon the innocent a retribution due only to their leader.'

Her chin rose. 'So. You offer to me your life?'

He only raised one eyebrow—that much movement, at least, was permitted him. 'The people of this place depend on my leadership, as do my men. Without me, Shonar and the barracks will be in chaos, for there is no single man that they will all agree on as leader. Likeliest, it would be one of my generals who triumphed; a general who would not know as much about you, and who would still consider your Alliance to be his mortal enemy. You are too good a leader to slay a former enemy who might be replaced with someone who will still be your enemy.' He tried a touch of boldness. 'I am not your enemy. Solaris. I told the truth in my missive. We have lost touch with the Empire, and the Empire has abandoned us. My duty to my men dictates that I see to their safety and there is no safety in continuing an aggression on behalf of someone who has left us here to rot.' He managed a slight shrug. 'The real enemy we both face is the force that sends these mage-storms. Isn't it better to face that enemy together?'

Her eyes narrowed to slits in speculation, although her jaw was still clenched tightly in anger.

'You have not attained and held the rank of Son of the Sun without learning the lesson of expediency, Radiance,' he finished. I believe this is the place to stop—while my luck is still holding. One more word