all — or shall ever hear about it, afterwards. Enough! This talk wearies me. Nephew, you tried to slay me on Bramian. Were you in earnest? Do you mean to kill me now? I think you must, for I will not cease fighting for our people. And the order you just boasted of giving, which you do not wish Hercol to hear, only proves again that you do not know how such fighting is done.'
Outraged cries from the spear-bearers. But her words struck a chord in Taliktrum. His solemn demeanour vanished; he could not look his aunt in the eye. 'Don't think I lack the courage,' he warned her softly.
'I merely wonder if you have the courage not to be what others expect.'
A flash of annoyance crossed Taliktrum's face. 'Swear you will not reveal the order I gave.'
'Swear it, Diadrelu,' said Hercol, 'do as he wishes. Please.'
'I cannot,' she said softly. 'In fact I will tell the humans I trust. What you have set in motion, Taliktrum, could well destroy the ship, and the clan along with it. Have you paid any attention to what the humans are actually doing, where they're actually taking us? Is vortex a word you understand?'
There were hisses around the circle. 'She taunts him! She shames our lord! You'll pay, woman, you'll pay!' Taliktrum gave his followers an uneasy look, as if torn between enjoying their adoration and wishing they would stop.
'My lord,' hissed Steldak, 'the time for talk is past! I — we, that is, we — are needed elsewhere. And quickly! Don't let her play on your family sympathies! You agreed — she is incurable. She has pledged herself to that! ' He gestured with disgust at Hercol.
Taliktrum's face looked increasingly troubled. 'Giant,' he said at last, then, with effort, 'Hercol. You care for my aunt? That… connects us, in a sense. We too were close; as a boy I learned at her knee. She was a good aunt, she understood a child's… no matter. Can you make her promise to obey me in all things? Will she do that, for love of you?'
Hercol closed his eyes. He already knew what Dri's answer would be. When he opened them she was shaking her head.
One spearpoint was resting against Dri's throat. Steldak gripped it furiously. 'All this was decided,' he said.
With a trembling sigh, Hercol lowered his hand to the floor. 'Her obedience is not mine to give, Lord Taliktrum,' he said. 'I would give it, and anything else you asked of me. Here is your servant. I shall be another, if you will have me. Give me a razor; I will shave my head. Teach me your oaths and I will take them. Only spare her, spare her, my lord.'
He opened his hand, and Ludunte sprang free, astonished. But his amazement was nothing compared to Taliktrum's. The young man's lips were slightly parted; words formed on them, only to vanish unspoken. He looked suddenly at Diadrelu, standing quiet and thoughtful in his trap, neither resigned nor hopeful, merely aware.
'Aunt,' he said, and there was a plea in his voice, as if he were the one who was trapped.
Then Steldak made a furious sound, and jerked the spear. Diadrelu gave a small, clipped cry. She put her hand on her neck. The blood leaped through her fingers, a red bird escaping, a secret no one could keep. Her eyes slid upwards, searching for Hercol, but the light went out of them before they reached his face.
37
Grotesqueries of Change
A hidden deformity,
A sore of the mind,
A wound in a world once blessed,
A chosen tumour,
A heart betrayed,
A stone whose touch is death.
The blind mote in the soul's good eye,
The slave who sells others tomorrow,
The joyless triumph,
The prayer that lies,
The lesson you learn to your sorrow.
'Hate'
9 Umbrin 941
'You're fast, girl,' said Sandor Ott. 'Almost fast enough, had you guessed that the danger lay behind as well as before you. Don't struggle, now, and for pity's sake don't try any of Hercol's tricks. Remember he learned most of them from me.'
Only now did Pazel realise what he'd sensed in the room: not a difference but a sameness that should have warned him. The room should have felt emptier; instead it was as crowded as before. Rose was seated; it was his boot on Pazel's chest. Dastu, holding a fengas lamp, stood to the captain's right. Sergeant Haddismal and another Turach were in the room as well. The sergeant had a thrusting dagger fitted over the knuckles of his right hand. The blade was red to the hilt.
Behind the Turachs sat a row of bound men. Four had their faces concealed by leather hoods; the fifth, Lieutenant Khalmet, was slumped sideways against the wall, mouth open, blood darkening his chest.
Haddismal glared down at Pazel. 'I'll cut off your ears if you so much as sigh for that dung-eating dog! Khalmet swore to live and die for Magad the Fifth. There hasn't been such an oath-breaking in the history of the Turachs. A stab through the heart was a mercy he never deserved — and he knew it, the coward, he all but lunged on my blade. The rest of you won't be so lucky.'
Despite the hoods, Pazel recognised the others. Fiffengurt was still in the shirt he'd worn to the council meeting; he hadn't even rolled down his sleeves. Pazel spotted Druffle by his gauntness, Big Skip by his size, Bolutu by his monk's cloak and the blackness of his neck below the hood. The men's hands were tied very firmly behind their backs. All four were trembling.
'Pazel Pathkendle,' said Dastu, almost sadly, 'you never should have let old Chadfallow mix you up in all this. I hear you had a fine arrangement on the Eniel, and were halfway to citzenship.'
Pazel looked at him, and could not even feel the hate he expected. He was numb to any sensation but a kind of appalled disappointment. 'Why?' he said.
'You should be asking why not,' said Dastu. 'You never knew me, of course. You knew my second self — the one I'm done with at last, I think, Master?'
'Yes, lad, you're done with it,' said Ott. 'You've passed the exam with rare distinction.' He caught Pazel's eye, and gave a hideous grin. 'What do you say, Pathkendle? Top marks for Dastu? Certainly he had you believing in him. The good tarboy, the one without cunning or prejudice or vice, the one nobody could hate.' Ott looked appreciatively at Dastu, who basked in the praise. 'Six years he's been refining the part. Fiffengurt wanted to make him a midshipman; he saw officer material there. I think the truth hurt more than the blows.'
Rose withdrew his sword, and his boot. 'Stand up, Pathkendle. Ott, you will release the girl's hair. She knows better than to fight you.'
Ott slid his hand from Thasha's hair to her shoulder. 'There are a dozen Turachs behind me in the passage,' he said, his lips almost touching her ear.
Pazel got to his feet, still aching from the blow to his stomach. 'Dastu, how can you be with them?' he said, still incredulous in his shock. 'You were at the council. You know what they're doing is insane. You know that Arqual can't win another war — that nobody can, except Arunis.'
'I know you cannot face the truth,' said Dastu, 'but that doesn't surprise me. How could you be expected to embrace Arqual's coming supremacy? You lost your mother and sister in the Rescue of Chereste. You're an Ormali,
