“Kneel,” Karn ordered. “You resisted the magic before. This time, let it flow through you. The Wardkeeper has ways to know that you are truly bound to me. This must be true and complete.”
“I understand.” Teer knelt, looking up at the Spehari and hoping he wasn’t making an incredible mistake.
Purple and red light flickered around Karn’s hands as he stepped closer to face Teer.
“Do you, Teer, swear to serve me, Kard of House Morais, unto your death?” he asked—and Teer caught the slight change in the name. “Do you swear to serve with true fealty, sustained and bound by the magic of my blood?”
“I swear.”
Karn’s—Kard’s?—hands latched on to Teer’s neck and fire burnt into his skin. Teer hadn’t expected the deal to come with a physical brand, but he did as instructed. Magic reached into his skin and into his mind, and he let it in.
Red and purple light swirled around his head. His neck was burning on both sides and his mind was screaming at the strange intrusion. He could feel Kard’s magic rearranging parts of his head.
And then suddenly, it was over. He released the breath he’d been holding the entire time and closed his eyes as Kard stepped backward.
Suddenly, he knew exactly where the other man was. He knew that Kard was fatigued—presumably, the working he’d just done was incredibly draining—but otherwise in good health.
“I can feel you,” he said aloud.
“That means it worked,” Kard told him. “That’s part of the bond. You are now magically bound to protect me, though I suspect the compulsion won’t work as well on you as it does on most. I can sense you, too. I can tell if you’re lying, for example.”
The Spehari coughed.
“Don’t touch the sides of your neck for the rest of the day if you can manage it,” he instructed, stopping Teer as he reached for the still-sore regions of skin. “You are a cattle man. You know what a brand is.”
“I wasn’t figuring on one,” Teer admitted.
“I didn’t tell you everything,” Kard agreed. “The name you swore to? Do not use it until we have left town. You are now, under the law of the Unity, my property. Which means that Komo has no authority to keep you here. Come.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere but here,” the Spehari told him.
6
Komo and Atara were waiting outside the door when Kard opened it—and both of their gazes instantly went to Teer, standing by Kard’s side and feeling utterly awkward.
“He is leaving with me,” Kard told them. “I have claimed my Right of Retribution after all, Wardkeeper Komo. I have claimed Teer as my Bondservant. His life is mine and I have taken it.”
“That’s not…”
“Have you a Crimson Writ, signed by a Spehari Magistrate, to overrule the right of a Spehari to decide the fate of their Bondservant?” the Spehari demanded. “I have made my choice and the wording of the Right of Retribution is clear: his life is mine to claim. I have claimed it in servitude.”
Komo traded a glance with his lover, then stepped back out of the way.
“I would never interfere with the rights of a Spehari,” he conceded. “And I won’t pretend I had any desire to hang the kid. I am required to confirm the bond, though.”
“I know,” Kard told him. “Come, Teer. We will allow the Wardkeeper to do his duty.”
Teer followed Kard. He was hoping to find a bath and a change of clothes somewhere soon. If nothing else, his clothes were still torn from his being dragged to the jail cell. Whoever had brought him in had not been gentle.
Komo rifled through the cabinet on the side of his office for a minute before removing a particular crystal. To Teer’s eyes, the red stone pulsed with an inner purple light—and he was now wondering how he’d ever missed that he could see the energy in Spehari magical tools.
Of course, he’d only really seen wardstones and crystal lamps. Those were visible to everyone. He thought. It now occurred to him that others might not be able to see the magical shield that wrapped around a wardtown. They might only see the line in the dirt that marked it.
The crystal Komo had found was mounted on an iron wand roughly six inches long. Script in the High Spehari language, the one they didn’t teach in Unity schools, was engraved into its side.
The Wardkeeper studied the script for several seconds, clearly interpreting a language he only barely knew.
“It’s the right one, Keeper,” Kard told him gently. “I take it your High Spehari is rusty?”
“I think it might be just rust at this point,” the Keeper admitted. “I can read these labels and that’s about it.”
He stepped over to the pair with the wand and lifted it.
“Akadda,” he snapped. The stone burst into brilliant light. Now that Teer knew to look for differences, he could see that this light cast shadows in a way the previous light hadn’t. This one was visible to others.
The stone glowed pure white for a few seconds, and then Komo put the wand between Teer and Kard. It instantly turned to a gentle blue, pulsing slowly. Pulsing, Teer realized, in time with his heartbeat.
“Akadda,” Komo repeated. The light faded and he pulled the wand back. “By the testing tools given to me that I may serve the Unity, I confirm the Bond, Lord Karn.” He shook his head. “Your choices are your own, of course, but I will record all of this for the Magistrate. I do not expect him to issue that Crimson Writ, but that is his decision.
“For now, I have no authority to hold you.”
He paused and shook his head, relaxing and letting some of the formality leave him as he laid the crystal-tipped wand back on his desk.
“And no desire, either, Lord Karn,” he admitted. “I…am grateful for your mercy. I hope young Teer appreciates it as he begins his life of service.”
“It
