Mist said, “What would you do if I sent you back to Kavelin?”
“I’ve played that what-if a thousand times. Til last month I wanted to show the world what the poet meant when he said don’t inflame the wrath of kings. I was set to burn Kavelin to the ground. I was pitiful y selfish. Now I understand who did the real betraying. So I’m just pitiful.”
“That response surprises us only in that you were able to articulate it,” Mist said.
“Is that why you’re here? To see if you dare cut me loose?”
“What would you do if you woke up in Kavelin tomorrow morning?”
“Go looking for my family. Kristen and my grandkids, not Inger and Fulk. I wouldn’t make war on Inger. I’d try to get her to go home to Itaskia.”
“She might not be able. The Greyfel s fortunes col apsed after she locked up the Duke.”
He could not restrain himself. “Excel ent!” Greyfel s vil ains had caused him misery since he was a boy.
Mist said, “Sending you to tame the chaos is under consideration. Steps are being taken. But nothing has been decided. My councilors wil argue that the chaos is benign.
Why risk loosing such a stubborn enemy?” Ragnarson smiled. “Nor would I want the world to think I was beholden to you.”
Mist actual y chuckled. “You wouldn’t, would you?”
...
The door shut behind them. Shih-ka’i asked, “Was that true?” “He could pul Kavelin together. A strong central authority there would be to our advantage, commercial y.”
“I see.”
“We’re here. You said you want me to see something.”
“I have captives of my own. One, as Ragnarson is for you, is an old friend and recent enemy, now entirely harmless.”
“Ooh. Mysterious.”
Shih-ka’i’s nerves tautened.
“You want to show me your prizes, then?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“Do it. I don’t have much free time.”
No one would ever cal Shih-ka’i a coward. Not after his war with the Deliverer. But the pig farmer’s son was not confident. His hands trembled as he entered the apartment where Kuo Wen-chin and the sad old man were caged.
Kuo was nowhere to be seen. The old man was a few feet from the entrance, looking vague.
Mist halted as though met by some savage weapon. “Lord Ssu-ma. Can this be?”
“Il ustrious?”
“This ancient…?”
“He is the companion of my friend, who is my prisoner.”
“You don’t realize who he is?”
Shih-ka’i stopped. Her intensity alarmed him. “I do not, Il ustrious. He is here because my friend insisted on bringing him. He’s feebleminded. He can manage only simple tasks.”
“Real y?” The Empress sounded disappointed.
Shih-ka’i studied her briefly before asking, “Who is he, then? Or, who was he?”
“One of the eyewitnesses to my father’s demise. That night probably left him like this. I suppose nobody in the whole world knows he’s stil alive.”
Ssu-ma Shih-ka’i had not been a witness. He said so, tartly. “I’m sorry. He’s the legend. The Old Man of the Mountain. He
occupied Fangdred before Varthlokkur.”
Shih-ka’i was so moved he took off his mask. This man might be as old as the Star Rider. He stood witness to thousands of years. Kuo Wen-chin stepped into view. “The Old Man? Truly?” His voice was soft but rich, vibrant with awe.
Shih-ka’i failed to catch the Empress’s response to Kuo’s continued existence. He was enthral ed by the moment, too.
That grinning idiot was half as old as time?
That brain must hold incalculable knowledge. The magics of the ages, perhaps. Al inaccessible, now? Sad beyond comprehension if true. Shih-ka’i asked Kuo, “You didn’t know?”
“I had no idea. Of myriad possibilities that particular one never occurred to me. I thought him a tool abandoned by Magden Norath.”
Kuo bowed to the Empress. He did not speak to her.
Lord Ssu-ma asked her, “You’re sure he is who you say?”
“I’ve done dozens of past divinations involving that night.
This man was there. He hasn’t changed in appearance, except to become more gaunt and frail.”
Mist considered Shih-ka’i and Kuo, unshaken by Kuo’s survival. She asked Kuo, “You consider him your friend?”
“Not exactly. I felt responsible for him after I found him. He’s better now than he was.”
She considered the apartment. It resembled the one where King Bragi was confined, two floors below. She instructed the Tervola to arrange cushions around a low table. The three settled there, leaving a space for the idiot opposite the Empress.
She considered Kuo, then looked Shih-ka’i in the eye and said, “I understand.” She told Kuo, “Don’t make me regret my trust in Lord Ssu-ma’s judgment.”
“I am at thy mercy, Il ustrious. Blessed be, I am bereft of ambition. Not that I was ever driven. I honor those who were friends in the harsh times as wel as the sweet.” Shih-ka’i frowned. Kuo might golden-tongue himself into a tight spot. The Empress said, “I hope that we have entered into a new age. The Tervola have begun to demonstrate a more traditional attitude toward the values underpinning our empire.”
...
Scalza asked, “Do you understand any of that, Uncle Varth?” “I’d say that I understand without ful y comprehending.” The boy told his sister, “He’s about to unload a bucket of mystic wizard crap.”
The prophecy was harsh but essential y accurate.
Varthlokkur had been about to say something vague meant to protect children.
From what? he wondered. Maybe Scalza could use an unadulterated, ful -flavored dose of grownup reality.
“Lord Ssu-ma is your mother’s most important al y. The other Tervola is Lord Kuo Wen-chin, the man she deposed.
Evidently, he and Lord Ssu-ma were close. Lord Ssu-ma saved his life and hid him. Lord Ssu-ma has revealed himself. Your mother has chosen to honor his decisions.” Ekaterina asked, “Where does the old man fit? How come he worries you?”
That was a grownup question. “Because he was who he was. The Old Man.”
“The one who was missing here when you went to find him?”
“Yes. I thought he was dead.”
Nepanthe arrived, bringing lunch. Ethrian accompanied her, carrying Smyrena and a pail of smal beer. The glow in front of Varthlokkur drew him.
He became quite animated. He pointed at the Old Man and chattered.
Varthlokkur said, “See that he doesn’t drop the baby.” Unnecessarily. Both children did so automatical y.
Ekaterina said, “He says that’s the man who helped him get away when he was a prisoner, before he got turned into the Deliverer.”
“You understand him?”
“Sometimes. Not always.”
Varthlokkur was amazed. He had not realized that children often understood one another when adults heard only baby talk and halfformed word sounds.
He did not turn the moment into an interrogation. These kids would turn stubborn on principal. “That old man may be the key to the future. He’s in a bad place mental y but he could recover and help break the tyranny of the
