Lord of Lies

'But if Trahadak knew the Adirii were after us, why didn't he send his own warriors to intercept them?'

Atara held a cup of brandy in her hand, but she did not drink of it. She said, 'Because Trahadak didn't know. Indeed, when Sajagax learns of what happened here today, he will be hard put to keep Trahadak from leading all the Zakut across the Snake against those greedy Akhand.'

'But why then,' Baltasar persisted, 'did Trahadak alert you?'

Atara smiled at him. 'Because he knew Valashu Elahad and I were companions on the great Quest.'

'Very well, my lady, but why did you ride here with so many of your sisters? How did you know to find us here?'

It was the same question that I had first asked her. While a sliver of moon spilled a little light down upon us and the wolves out on the steppe howled out their long, soulful hungers, I looked at Atara to see what she would say. And so did everyone else.

In answer to Baltasar's question, Atara brought forth a clear crystal as round as a child's ball. The white gelstei caught the fire's flames and sparks in little flickers of orange and red. Inside its polished curves, for the briefest flash of a moment, I thought I glimpsed an entire world burning up in bright flames.

'You're a scryer,' Baltasar said. He nodded his head as if a great mystery had been made clear to him. 'We've all heard that one of Val's companions was a scryer. But who has ever heard of a scryer without eyes who yet can see?'

Atara's entire being seemed to chill as if she had drunk deeply from an icy stream. She said, 'Can I see? Sometimes it seems I almost can. And sometimes …'

Her voice died off into the night. The brandy I sipped burned my throat down into my chest; it reminded me that while Atara could often 'see' the forms and features of the earth down to the thinnest blade of grass a hundred yards behind her, at other times she was truly blind — as blind as if the hand of fate had cast her into a black cave.

'Scryers, it's said,' Baltasar went on, 'can see things distant in time. But whoever knew they can see things near in space?'

'Few scryers can,' Atara told him.

'Is that why the chief of the Akhand called you imakla? What does that mean?'

It meant, as I remembered, that Atara was not entirely of this world, that she rode with the immortal warriors of ages past and could not be touched by the hand or arrows of man.

'Please,' Atara said as she put down her brandy and squeezed her crystal sphere, 'let's speak of other things.'

Atara's cup was still full, while Karimah's was as dry as bone. Seeing this, Lord Harsha stood up and limped over to her. From his bottle, he poured forth a few ounces of brandy into her cup. Then he stoppered the bottle with a cork, and laid his hand on Karimah's bare arm, saying, 'Perhaps then we should speak of the beauty of the Sarni women. Perhaps we should make a toast to this and — '

Almost quicker than belief, Karimah drew forth a dagger and held its razor edge to Lord Harsha's wrist. With a smile on her jolly face, she said to him, 'Take your hand from me, Lord Knight, or you shall lose it as you have your eye.'

Lord Harsha's single eye blinked with astonishment. With surprising speed of his own, he jerked back his hand as if from a heated iron. Then he coughed out, 'Forgive me — I forgot myself. It seems that my son-in-law's flirtatious ways have corrupted me.'

Here he nodded at Maram, who mumbled, 'Son-in-law, is it? I thought I was still a free man, at least until next spring, when it might be a good time for a wedding. And as for my ways, I make poems, too, but I'm never accused of corrupting anyone when he is moved to recite verse.'

Karimah smiled at this and turned back to Lord Harsha, and said, 'You are certainly forgiven, then.'

But this wasn't quite good enough for Lord Harsha, who went on to explain, 'You see, it was only my intention to honor your beauty. So fair you are! In the Morning Mountains, we have no women like you.'

Karimah's smile grew broader and bolder. 'Well, you certainly may honor my beauty — from a distance. Indeed, I'd be honored if you did.'

'Then are you imakla, too?'

'I? No, Lord Knight, but I am a warrior of the Manslayers.'

'Then are men forbidden to touch you?'

'Forbidden? Do you mean by law? No — there is no law. There is only this.' Here Karimah held up her dagger, and her smile showed her strong, white teeth. 'It is we who forbid men this. Or not, as we please.'

Maram, who was now a little drunk, couldn't help making a little joke. 'And I must tell you, my, ah. . father-in-law, that what pleases them usually is not. They may not marry or bear children.'

'Not until we've slain a hundred of our enemies,' Karimah said.

'And how many have you slain, then?' Lord Harsha asked her.

'In my life? After today, eighteen.' 'It is more than most Valari knights ever account for.' 'Perhaps — I wouldn't know,' Karimah said. 'But it is fifty-three fewer than Atara the Blind has sent to the wolves.'

Karimah brushed back the hair from Atara's face as if to array her in splendor so that we all might honor her for this rare and terrible feat. But after Argattha, Atara no longer took pride in slaying men. She sat pressing the white gelstei against her forehead, and she sighed out 'Please, may we speak of other things?'

'Let's speak of sleep, then,' Lord Harsha said. 'It's been a day of battle, and who knows what tomorrow will bring? Maram, are you coming to bed?'

'Soon,' Maram said, yawning. 'As soon as I've finished my brandy. And perhaps had a little more.'

'You've had enough already,' Lord Harsha said to him as he tucked the brandy bottle inside his cloak. After nodding at Karimah, he looked back at Maram and said, 'But at least this is one night we won't have to worry about you wandering into the women's quarters.' So saying, Lord Harsha limped off toward a nearby fire where Behira and Estrella lay sleeping. Shortly thereafter, Lord Raasharu and Baltasar said goodnight as well, and so did Sunjay Naviru. As promised, Maram drank down the last dram of brandy before belching and ambling off to bed. Karimah, however, seemed reluctant to leave Atara alone with me. She stroked Atara's hand and said, 'My dear one, the wolves will be out tonight, the lions, too. If the darkness falls about you, how will you find your way back to us?'

'If I fall blind, truly blind,' Atara said, 'I'm sure that Lord Valashu will accompany me.'

Karimah looked at me long and deeply as she might search the Wendrush's dark grasses for lions. Then she kissed Atara's hand and said, 'Very well, then. We'll be waiting for you.'

And with that, she stood up and walked off toward the Manslayers' campfires glowing against the shadowed steppe away from the river. 'Your Lord Harsha,' Atara said to me, 'should be careful of Karimah.'

'Do you mean, careful of his hands or careful of her knife?'

'I mean, careful of her heart. As long as we make our camp close to yours, there will be a danger for both our people.'

'But surely your sisters must often encounter men.'

'Yes, of course — but not men such as you Valari.'

'Are we so different from your Sarni warriors, then?'

'Yes, you are different. You have no care for counting your cattle or your gold, or boasting of the women you possess.'

'We do not think of ourselves as possessing our women. Is a woman a thing to be owned?'

'Do you see?' Atara said as she faced me. 'Do you see?'

I remained silent for a moment as I gazed at her golden skin and her long, golden hair. Then I said, 'We're warriors, Atara. We slay men, too.'

'Yes, you slay your enemies with such terrible, terrible fierceness, but not because you love killing — only to protect those you love.'

'Sometimes, that is true,' I said. 'But sometimes we're savages.'

'You are savages of the sword/ she said to me/ifcruly, truly. And yet at other times