lance on the temple floor at Afa marag.
Much though it grieve me, Hanan said somberly.
You are correct, my lord.
Imrana surged to her feet. Oddly, in this room suddenly crowded with men of war, she seemed the only one with any grip on what to do next.
Saril, what is the meaning of this intrusion? Icy and commanding in the wrap of her robe a witch queen out of legend could not have carried it better. How dare you storm in here, in company, without a word of civilized warning. What is this, the steppes?
Ashant goggled at her. It lasted a good, useful moment then the spell broke.
Whore! he yelled, pointing a trembling finger.
Filthy whore!
Oh, don t be such a fucking prick, Egar told him wearily, and came up off the bed with his hands full of knives.
He figured anything less would get him killed. Two Demlarashan veterans, noble-born and -bred, full of piss and righteous outrage, and the law on their side. Yhelteth jurists accorded any man, even a commoner, the right to butcher his wife on the spot if he caught her in the act of adultery. There were some legal limits on what could be done to the lover, but most magistrates were inclined to be lenient if the husband got carried away. And if that lover was Majak, and the injured party a nobleman just back from serving his Empire in uniform, well, it didn t take a law clerk to work out how this was going to boil down
Ashant reached for his sword and Egar went in hard, full-body blow, pinned and blocked the draw before it got started. He knocked the knight to the floor risky move, if Ashant had been sober and better poised, he probably wouldn t have gotten away with it. He heard the hushed rasp of steel on his flank as Hanan cleared his blade was already whirling to face the other man. The stiffness in his wound slowed him down, and his leg buckled on the turn. Hanan misread him, sliced too high. Egar snatched the chance, let the stumble take him all the way forward and down, stabbed savagely with his right-hand knife, down through the toe of Hanan s boot and into the floorboards beneath.
Hanan roared, ignored the pain, tried to chop him again with the sword. Egar was already rolling away, leave that knife where it is, Dragonbane. He banged into Ashant, who was trying to get up. They clawed at each other, held each other down, wrestled back and forth across the floor until Egar pulled a Majak wrestling trick, got loose and hacked, elbow to throat, once, twice, short vicious arcs, Urann s balls wouldn t this guy ever quit, three times then, and there, finally, Ashant fell back and lay faceup on the carpet, choking.
Get up, Dragonbane, get up
Because Hanan, tough little motherfucker that he d turned out to be, had meantime reached down and torn the knife up out of his foot with a bellow equal parts triumph and agony, and was now limping forward, sword and dagger style
Egar rolled to his feet, found himself inches off Hanan s long blade. He leapt back, just as the Yhelteth knight thrust. The blade fetched up inches short once more. He gave ground again. Hanan grinned ferociously at him, whipped the supple court sword back and forth across the air so it made a sound like shredding cloth. Came on one grim, limping step at a time.
How now, steppe scum! he rasped. How now?
Falling back, Egar had an eyeblink instant to assess down to one knife, left-handed; he had a third blade stowed in his burglar s garb, but it was way too late to free it. He was going to get cut up badly on Hanan s court sword, getting in close enough to kill the man, but
From the floor, Brinag blood matted in his hair, streaming down his face from where Ashant had kicked him grabbed desperately at the knight s ankle.
Hanan stumbled, cursed, whipped about and plunged his sword point into the eunuch s arm. Brinag groaned and hung on. Egar the knife changing hands like sorcery, spun from palm to gripping palm without thought seizing the moment, leaping in
Hanan caught the move in the corner of his eye, swung about, court sword rising clumsily back to guard, and thrust. Egar ducked and hooked with his free arm, the blade went over his shoulder, the hooking arm caught it at the midpoint twist at the elbow, get that tender inner arm out of the way, lead with the bone smashed down and stepped in. A poorer blade would have snapped, a poorer soldier would have lost his grip. But Hanan hung on and the blade bent and sliced into Egar s forearm as the knight twisted it desperately about.
Egar yelled and stabbed in under the sternum, full force.
Hanan shrilled like a stuck pig. You knew from that cry he was done, but Egar only lurched closer in, hugging the man like a lover. Drove the blade deeper, twisting and hacking down into the belly. Stared into the man s eyes as he carved the life out of him.
How now, city dweller? he spat. How now ?
The court sword twanged free of Hanan s grip as he went down. Blood and viscera gushed out over Egar s hand as he pulled the knife free.
He held Hanan s sagging body up for a moment with his other arm. Patted the dead or dying man companionably on the shoulder a couple of times, panting, then let him fall.
Weeping into quiet.
Egar looked about vaguely, already sensing the fight was done. No more intruders, the open chamber doors yawned wide, but there was only gloom beyond. Imrana was knelt sobbing at her husband s side, holding his head in her hands while he finished choking to death. Brinag fumbled to his feet, came and stood beside Egar, nursing the hole in his arm where Hanan had stabbed him. His face was a garish fright mask, red-streaked and smeared with the blood from his torn scalp.
Quite the harem adventure this morning, my lord, he said acidly.
Egar lifted and turned his own left arm, looked at the dark spreading soak of fresh blood through his sleeve where Hanan s blade had sliced him up. He grimaced.
Bit tight, yeah.
From the floor, Imrana turned a hectic, tear-streaming face on him. You killed him! Eg, he s fucking dead, you killed him!
He spread his arms, blood-clotted knife still clutched in his right hand. Not a lot you could say, really. Second or third blow to Ashant s throat, he d felt the windpipe crush inward, he already knew he d killed him. Wished she wasn t so visibly upset about it, though. Could have done without that.
You d better get out of here. Brinag, at his shoulder. Somehow, I don t think we re going to get away with dumping these two down the old well. Not this time.
Yeah. Egar glanced at the eunuch. I owe you, Brin. You going to be all right?
They cut off my balls at fifteen, Brinag said tonelessly. What else is there?
Egar, who in his time had seen the mutilated enemies of the Dhashara hill tribes and the roasting pits of the Scaled Folk, thought this showed remarkably little imagination on Brinag s part. But now was really not the time. He clapped the eunuch on the shoulder.
Good man. You take care of her, then. Blame whatever you need to on me.
Brinag looked steadily back at him, nodded.
Eg? Imrana, back on her feet, wiping away tears with angry swipes of her palm. Eg, what are you talking about? What are you going to do? You can t just
He sighed. Imrana, they re going to put your slaves to the question, they re going to know I was here. And you told me yourself we re pretty much an open secret in court circles. Hanan certainly knew, seems he fronted Saril with it, in front of who knows how many noble witnesses. You ve got to hang this on me.
She stared at him. No.
Don t be a fucking idiot, woman. It s either that, or we conspired together to murder your husband, and you ll go to the chair for it. Is that what you want? Look you d given me up, right? Fallen back in love with your husband. I broke in here furious, to rape you or whatever, that whole Majak steppe-thug thing, Hanan and Saril arrived just in time to stop me, but I killed them and fled. You re just a victim of a noblewoman s silly indiscretion that got out of hand. That ll wash, right? You ve got friends at court who ll see it done?
She nodded numbly. He tried to take her in his arms, but she was still rigid with the shock. He settled for
