open. Chiana paused on the threshold, then stepped forward. Blade eyed her.
'Do not tell me the Queen already knows I have returned.'
Chiana bowed her head. 'My Lord. The Queen knew even before you entered the city.'
He sighed. 'Of course.'
'She wishes to see you at once.'
Blade studied the chief advisor, struck by her subdued attitude and air of pent-up anguish. 'What is it?'
'That is for the Queen to tell you.'
He stripped off his damp tunic, throwing it on the rack. 'Something momentous has happened.'
'Yes.'
Blade frowned. 'More plots?'
'No, far worse than that.'
The assassin shrugged on a dry tunic. 'Very well, take me to her.'
Queen Minna-Satu turned from the windows of her morning room as Blade entered, and stepped towards him with a welcoming smile. Chiana stopped just inside the portal and performed her prostration, rising to stand with her hands folded, awaiting instructions. Blade approached the Queen, whose eyes shimmered with something more than mere gladness as he stopped before her and bowed.
'My Queen.'
'Lord Conash, welcome back.'
'Thank you.'
She gestured to the cushions. 'Sit. We will have wine.'
Chiana left to order it, and Blade sank onto a pile of embroidered cushions as Minna settled on another. She wrung a knot of white linen he assumed had once been a handkerchief, but which now resembled a rag. Her anguish struck him as odd, for he had never imagined Minna-Satu capable of weeping. He waited while she composed herself, glancing around for Shista. The sand cat slumbered in a patch of sunlight, as relaxed as ever, apparently oblivious to the undercurrents.
Minna took a deep breath. 'I require your advice. King Jan-Durval has been slain by his son-in-law, Prince Verone, lately a widower. Our kingdoms were bonded by blood, for the son of Queen Jilla-Peru, my grandmother, wed King Jan-Durval's sister Earist.
'Now the bond has been broken. The King and his sons are all dead, slain by the imposter Prince. King Jan- Durval was our greatest ally, and defended our western border from the desert army. No sooner had I heard of his death, I was informed that Prince Verone no longer stands by our treaty.' Minna bowed her head. 'His army has invaded Jashimari lands to the west.'
Blade stared at the red wine in his cup, likening it to the blood that was soon to be spilt in this new war.
Minna took a sip of her wine. 'We are beset on two sides now. I have sent troops to our western border, and even now refugees flood from the region, hampered by the snow.'
She raised sorrowful eyes that glowed in a pale visage. 'We cannot hope to win this war. I have no other allies. The savages to the east are peaceful, but they will do nothing to aid us. Jashimari will be overrun before the year is out.'
Blade put aside his cup, frowning. 'Is there no hope of a treaty?'
'No. Prince Verone desires conquests. He knows that the Endless War has weakened my kingdom. He knows that Jashimari will be an easy conquest when beset on two sides.'
The assassin stared out of the window at the leaden sky heavy with unshed snow and unborn storms. It befitted the bloody war that was coming, as sorrowful as a funeral day. With the Cotti to the south and only icy wastes further north, there was no way out for the Jashimari people, nowhere to run but for the bog-lands of the east, where people, it was said, lived like animals and scratched a living in the mud. He frowned, lowering his gaze to Shista's golden form as he pondered just how much he disliked having weighty decisions thrown into his lap. If not for his elevation, he would have survived whatever befell the kingdom, unconcerned. Even now, he wished only to leave the palace and disappear into the city's back streets to find a good alehouse. His hatred of the Cotti had prompted him to kill King Shandor, but he bore the Contara people no rancour. Aware that the Queen awaited his reply, he glanced at her.
'Assassinate this Prince Verone.'
Minna smiled and shook her head. 'He has five grown sons and scores of grandsons. Even if you killed them all, there are cousins and nephews, three brothers, four sisters and numberless in-laws. King Jan-Durval was old and ailing, his people had grown tired of his puritanical ways and iron-fisted rule. They have embraced this new prince. They welcome the war and the spoils it will bring.'
She turned to stare out of the window. 'We need a great and powerful army to survive, but I do not have that. I have a war-weary people whose sons, brothers and fathers have been slaughtered on the desert border, and now face a new threat from the west. Already I have weakened the desert border by sending troops to the west, for it is easier to defend.
'Soon I shall be sending raw recruits, boys barely out of their teens, to the front to be slaughtered like sheep. When they are all gone, Prince Verone will invade, slaughter and rape our women, plunder our land. The desert armies will invade from the south, and perhaps the two will strike a bargain to divide the remainder of my land, and Jashimari will be no more.' She bowed her head to hide her despair.
Blade jumped up and strode over to the window. 'What would you have me say? I am not an advisor, merely an assassin. I have no solution to offer you.'
'You are no fool, either.'
The assassin placed his hands on the window ledge and gazed out at the spires visible beyond the palace's garden walls. 'Does Kerrion know about his child?' He looked around to find her staring down at her twisting hands.
'No.'
'If this child is meant to bring peace, why wait? If you can make peace with the Cotti, it will leave you in a position to fight the Contara.'
'Kerrion has yet to be crowned. My spy in his palace tells me that he faces a blatant challenge from his brother, Prince Lerton.' She looked up and forced a wan smile. 'Oddly, it is your doing. He is accused of colluding with a whore to murder his father. If Lerton convinces the judges, Kerrion will be deposed and face execution for treason.'
Blade snorted, suppressing a chuckle.
'It is a serious matter,' Minna admonished. 'If Kerrion is deposed, my plans also fail. There is no hope of peace with Lerton.'
'Is there much with Kerrion?'
'Shamsara predicted it.'
'Yet he did not predict the Contara invasion.'
'He made no mention of it, no.'
Blade pushed himself away from the window and turned to face her. 'I see no solution to this problem, My Queen.'
'You do, just as I do, but you will not admit it.' She gestured to the cushions in front of her. 'Sit, My Lord.'
Blade returned to sink down on the cushions, studying the embroidered hem of her skirt to avoid her gaze.
She sighed. 'I wish there was another way out of this, but I see none. Look at me.'
Surprised, he raised his eyes to meet hers.
Minna shivered, as if a chill had shot through her. 'The fate of Jashimari rests with you, Blade. Kerrion must ascend the throne if we are to survive.'
'You are ordering my death.'
She looked away. 'Perhaps not. I have sent a message to my spy. He will conduct you to the Cotti oasis, and Kerrion's palace. Once you have testified to the judges, make good your escape, and he will bring you back to Jashimari.'
'Make good my escape?' His brows rose. 'From a Cotti courtroom where I have just testified to assassinating King Shandor? I will be slaughtered on the spot.'
