They all looked at him expectantly. In Ashok’s mind, the images ran together: Ilvani’s skeletal form huddled beneath his cloak; Reltnar’s desperate, hungry gaze as he reached for her; the split-open bodies of the shadar-kai. And he heard the screams of his dying enclave as he trampled through the tunnels of his home carrying death’s flaming banner.
By the time Vedoran waded through the crowd of shadar-kai, he was at the point of collapse from his wounds and exhaustion. Finally he reached the trade district, and Traedis’s small temple to Beshaba loomed before him. The green door opened before he could knock.
“I saw you coming,” Traedis said. “The whole city is afire with talk of your mission.”
The cleric helped him to one of the cots and immediately began seeing to his wounds. Vedoran stared blankly at the altar to Beshaba while Traedis prayed over him.
“They chant his name,” he said when the cleric had finished. “I can still hear them. They chant Ashok’s name and Tempus’s.”
“Of course they do,” Traedis said. “I told you this would happen, Vedoran.” He took Vedoran by the shoulders, but the shadar-kai was lost in his own thoughts and didn’t immediately acknowledge the cleric.
When he did look up, he saw Traedis’s holy symbol wavering before his vision. The gods were everywhere, he thought. He couldn’t escape them.
“Why do they follow him, Traedis?” Vedoran said. “Why do they love him so much?”
“Not all of us love Uwan and Tempus,” Traedis said. “You are not alone, my friend. Come, unburden yourself. What happened on your mission?”
Lost in thought, Vedoran told the cleric everything. He left nothing out, including a suspicion he’d been nursing in his mind during their long journey back to the city. When he finished, Traedis’s eyes were lit with triumph.
“This is more than I could have hoped for,” he said. “Now we must plan.”
When they had recovered from their mission, Ashok and his companions took up their training again as if nothing had changed. But there were subtle differences Ashok could not ignore.
His Camborr training resumed, for one. Olra came to fetch him without ceremony one day from the training yard. She said only, “Come,” and jerked her head toward the forges and the pens.
There was no nightmare to train, and Ashok found himself missing the beast’s presence without meaning to. But Olra started him working with the hounds and shadow panthers, the stalking beasts of the Shadowfell. They were no replacement for the nightmare, but they were deadly enough to satisfy him, Olra said.
Ashok worked by lantern in the caves where the animal pens were kept. Most of the time, he had only the beasts for company. The forge smoke hung heavily in the air, stinging his eyes, and the flickering light made them water, but Ashok never complained. He kept his mind focused obsessively on his work so that the deep tunnels only occasionally transformed into the blood-soaked passages of his enclave. He banished those images as soon as they intruded on his thoughts and accepted them as the price of solitude.
Anything to be away from the rest of the shadar-kai.
Ikemmu regarded him as more than one of their own. Strangers greeted him on the tower steps with warmth and deference. Ashok heard them whispering when he was not quite out of earshot. He hurried his steps to get away from their words. He didn’t want to hear himself called Tempus’s emissary.
A tenday passed, and Ashok had not spoken to Uwan again, nor had he seen any sign of Vedoran either at training or in the trade district.
He was surprised then one day to be summoned to Uwan’s private chamber, where he found not only the shadar-kai leader but Vedoran as well.
Ashok glanced at Vedoran as he entered the room and saw that the warrior’s wounds had been healed, and there were no visible scars from the battle in the tunnels. Vedoran looked healthy and strong-a sharp contrast to the way he’d appeared outside Negala’s bog. He met Ashok’s gaze and nodded. Ashok returned the greeting, but there was no time to exchange words.
“Thank you for coming, Ashok,” Uwan said. The light in his eyes, the enthusiasm he’d expressed a tenday before was absent from his demeanor today. His face was subdued, his tone business-like as he came around the long table to face Ashok and Vedoran.
“Vedoran has made his report,” Uwan said, “and he’s brought a disturbing accusation to my attention. This concerns your escape from the shadar-kai enclave. Do you know what I’m referring to?”
Ashok glanced at Vedoran, but the warrior’s expression revealed nothing. He felt panic clawing the pit of his stomach. Did they know? Had Vedoran seen through Ashok’s pretense in the caves and realized he’d known them as his own home?
If so, he was lost. Ashok bowed his head, and was preparing to confess, when Uwan spoke again.
“In your report, you failed to mention Chanoch’s actions in the tunnels,” Uwan said. “Vedoran claims that he defied orders, and in doing so endangered Ilvani and the rest of the group. Is this true?”
Ashok felt a dizzying mixture of profound relief and trepidation. His shameful secret was safe, but Vedoran had not forgotten Chanoch’s insult.
He chose his words carefully. “It’s true that there was a confrontation,” he said. “Chanoch went back to retrieve an item that was obviously important to Ilvani. I do not believe he acted out of malice-”
Uwan held up a hand. “Did he or did he not disobey Vedoran’s orders?” he pressed.
Ashok felt the weight of the leader’s gaze. “There were many disagreements during the journey,” he said. “The storm, the bog, the illusions … All of it took a toll on us.”
“Answer yes or no,” Uwan said flatly. “If the next words from your lips are any other words, you’ll be disobeying
He spoke calmly, but Ashok heard the threat underlying the words. It was a side to Uwan he’d never seen before-a coldness as forceful as his words in the training yard.
That was the ruler of Ikemmu speaking, Ashok thought. The Watching Blade who had executed countless warriors for disobeying orders and endangering shadar-kai lives.
Desperately, Ashok looked to Vedoran, but the shadar-kai’s face remained a neutral mask.
“Don’t do this,” he begged Vedoran.
“Damn you!” Uwan cried, slamming his fist down on the tabletop. He drew his greatsword and put the blade’s edge against Ashok’s throat. “Answer or die.”
“No,” Ashok said. “Chanoch didn’t disobey any order.”
Uwan’s face went livid. The blade quivered at Ashok’s throat. “Are you calling Vedoran a liar? If you are, the punishment will be the same for him, for bearing false witness against Chanoch. Consider your answer carefully, Ashok.”
Ashok clenched his fists. He was trapped and damned, and Uwan knew it. He half-expected the leader to slit his throat, but he held the strike. Of course Ashok knew why. The chosen of Tempus, he thought bitterly. The gods preserve my life once again.
“Vedoran does not lie,” Ashok said through gritted teeth. “Chanoch disobeyed orders. But I beg Lord Uwan’s mercy. We would never have made it out of the caves without Chanoch’s blade. He is a true warrior of Ikemmu and a devoted servant of Tempus.”
Uwan lowered his sword and stepped back. “True words,” he said. “Do you think I don’t realize Chanoch’s worth?”
“Then spare him,” Ashok said. “Forgive him.”
Uwan shook his head. “Chanoch knew his responsibility to himself and to his comrades, and he chose to ignore it.
“By killing one of its protectors?” Ashok shouted. “Is that Tempus’s word or Uwan’s?”
Uwan’s jaw tightened. Ashok thought he would raise his blade, but he did not. Deliberately, he sheathed the weapon. “Wait outside, Vedoran,” he said.
Vedoran nodded and left the room. He did not look at Ashok.
When he’d gone, Uwan went to the table. He pulled out one of the large chairs. “Will you sit?” he asked Ashok.
Ashok shook his head. Uwan sighed and sank down in the chair himself. He let his elbows rest on his thighs
