hole.
Jaspar dropped his mask into his hand. 'It will be more pleasant to converse without these.'
Carnelian took a step back, staring at Jaspar's face. It was blue. His entire skin was lapis-blue. Jaspar pulled off one of his gloves. His hand was the same vibrant colour. He regarded it as he turned it this way and that. His blue lips gave a little horizontal smile. 'It is an interesting cosmetic, neh? Of course, it is exceedingly outlandish. One would not dare use it in Osrakum. But out here… so far from civilization, well… Besides, cousin, I intend to show it to none but you.' He leant towards Carnelian. 'It can remain our little secret, neh?'
Carnelian stared at the gleaming idol's face. 'W-where did you find it?'
'One of my slaves brought it to me in Thuyakalrul. Apparently it is rather in vogue among the marumaga there. My Lord might not know that the more neutral pigments have been forbidden them by a recent statute of the Wise.'
They copy us?'
Jaspar flourished his hand in the air. 'Does not all the world? The pretensions of the marumaga are legion. They are like children aping the ways of their elders. But we were talking of the pigment. The creature… my body-slave, has sworn upon his skin that the paint is proof against the sea-air burn.'
'His skin?'
'His skin against mine. It is an unequal wager, but he has nothing else to hazard.'
'Is it necessary to resort to such terror?'
'Say whim rather than necessity. But after all, is terror not the birthright of the inferior?'
Carnelian turned away to hide his frown. He pretended to survey the rolling surface of the sea. Spray flickered chill across his face. He wondered if it was burning through his paint.
'Would my Lord be amused to try the pigment for himself? I have a jar spare.'
'I thank you, no. It would be wasted. I do not intend to venture much abroad.'
'Indeed, I too do not intend that the day should often look upon my face.'
The other Lords?'
The Ruling Lord your father I cannot speak for, cousin, but as for the others, if the voyage out was any indication, we will see nothing of our dear Vennel.'
'Perhaps he does not mind stale air.'
'Rather he does not thrive in the company of his… peers. Even when we were blown off to the east and daily threatened with foundering, he affected a disdain to meet us. He sent up word that he should not be disturbed. At the time, I ventured to suggest to Aurum that our Lord might well find shipwreck most disturbing.'
'He is brave, then?'
'On the contrary, he is craven. His blood lacks the true passion of the Great. His thinking bears comparison with the cold calculating of the Wise. The most I would say of him would be that he is, shall we say, capable of serving.'
'And Aurum?'
Jaspar regarded him with a blue smile. 'Whenever I came up he was always here surveying the sky as if he were marshalling the winds.'
'He is powerful?'
Jaspar chuckled. 'Not that powerful.'
Carnelian put on a smile.
'Once he was mighty. Intimacy with Nuhuron, the last God Emperor, gave him much influence. Naturally, this ceased with the accession of the present God. In spite of this, Aurum is still one of those who channel the currents of power in the Clave. Recently, many of us had hoped that his channelling days were finally coming to an end.'
'He supports one of the candidates and you support the other?'
'Not so, cousin, not so. My father's faction supports neither of the Jade Lords, as yet.'
Then it is Lord Vermel's faction that supports the other candidate.'
'No, no, no. It is Ykoriana, sister and wife of the God Emperor and mother of the contending twins who supports one of them, Molochite. Vennel is merely a puppet. It is her hands that move him.'
'I am confused, my Lord,' said Carnelian.
Jaspar examined his hands as if looking for some chink in their blueness. 'It seems that my Lord requires clarification,' he said at last. 'When we left Osrakum, Aurum could command the support of three-quarters of the Great of blood-rank two. With Nephron's ring, that of the God Emperor's mother, and the Pomegranate Ring, Aurum could count on about twenty thousand votes. The Empress Ykoriana could rely on only a quarter of the Great of blood-rank two, but almost all the blood-rank one Houses whose cause she espouses. Additionally, she also had in her hand the rings of your maternal grandmother, the Lady Tiye, and of her own mother, the Lady Nayakarade, both of blood-rank three. Throwing in their rings, that of her son Molochite and her own she had something over twenty-one thousand votes. My father's party had the support of those of the Great whose blood pride keeps them from siding with the lesser Houses. With a few others this gave us nearly thirteen hundred votes.'
'Your faction then controls the balance of power?'
'It did, but as each day passed the Emperor grew weaker and the aura of his endorsement dimmed about Aurum's faction. When we left, Osrakum was murmuring with rumour of the desertions he might expect to Ykoriana's party. After all, as the Gods' power wanes hers is in the ascendant.'
‘So you all came to our island?'
'Aurum used his power in the Clave to elect your father, He-who-goes-before.'
'How could he carry the vote there when he could not win the sacred election?'
Jaspar raised an eyebrow and sighed. 'Because, cousin, since they form part of the Imperial Power, the members of the House of the Masks cannot cast their votes in the Clave. Will you allow me to continue?'
Carnelian lifted his hand in assent, annoyed with himself. He had known that the Imperial Power was excluded from the Clave.
'When Aurum announced that he would go and put the offer to your father, the other factions insisted that each would send its own representative.'
'But why did Aurum come himself? Will his faction not crumble in his absence?'
That is likely. As for why he felt the need to come himself,' who knows, he signed. 'At the Clave it was not considered likely the Lord Suth would return. Aurum must have hoped to persuade him.'
'But what does he expect that my father can do for him?'
'For too long Aurum has forced his rancour on the Clave. He caws and caws, seeming to forget that, for all its wisdom, none will give ear to a raven. Your father has a reputation for a certain old-fashioned, patrician virtue. He can remind the Clave of its ancient and glorious opposition to the Imperial Power. He can make all the traditional speeches about blood pride, responsibility, honour.' Jaspar shrugged. 'Besides, his voice has not been heard in Osrakum for many years. The novelty of such a voice might be listened to, perhaps by enough of the Great to shore up the breach in Aurum's faction. Nevertheless, it was a desperate gamble.'
'Not so desperate, my Lord. After all, we are here with all our old-fashioned virtue.'
Jaspar regarded him with his wintry eyes. That may be so, my Lord, but there was little reason to suppose the Ruling Lord Suth would wish to terminate his absence from Osrakum merely because we dangled the bauble of the Pomegranate Ring before his eyes. After all, the Ring has been offered him before and he turned it down.'
Carnelian stared. 'Offered before? But… our exile…?'
'Exiles are as varied in their kinds as precious stones. It seems in keeping with Lord Suth's fabled eccentricity that he should choose to retire so far and to such a forbidding shore.'
'Choose…?' said Carnelian. It was as if lightning had flashed before his eyes.
Jaspar drew back, his head leaning to one side. 'Surely you knew, Carnelian, that your father's exile has always been self-imposed?'
Carnelian was not even sure where he was. He jerked a nod, fumbled on his mask. 'Lord… excuse me.'
Jaspar's blue face was frowning as he watched Carnelian disappear into the funnel.
