Wind Rider's Oath

infuriate his subjects.

'That's all bad enough,' Yalith continued in a flat, bitter voice, 'but it isn't everything. Two of the Voice's handmaidens were sent from Quaysar to Kalatha with a message from the Voice to me. They never arrived.'

This time, Kaeritha was far more than merely shocked.

'Mayor Yalith, are you suggesting -?'

'I'm not prepared to suggest that Trisu personally had anything to do with their disappearance,' Yalith interrupted before Kaeritha could complete the question. 'If I had any proof-or even strongly suggestive evidence- of that, I can assure you that I would already have charged him with it before Baron Tellian, as his liege, or demanded that the case be investigated by the Crown Prosecutor. But I do believe that whoever was responsible-who must have shared Trisu's attitude towards war maids generally to have done something so insane-probably took his cue from Trisu. And I'm not at all satisfied with Trisu's so-called 'investigation' of the incident. He claims he can find no evidence at all to suggest what happened to the Voice's handmaidens. Indeed, he's gone so far as to suggest that they never disappeared at all. That the entire story is a fabrication.'

Kaeritha frowned. There'd been no mention of this incident in any of Trisu's correspondence with Tellian or his magistrates. In the wake of what Yalith had just told her, that omission took on ominous overtones.

'The Voice hasn't been able to determine what happened to her handmaidens?' she asked after a moment.

'Apparently not,' Yalith said heavily. She sighed. 'All the Voice can discover is that both of them are dead. How they died, and exactly where, she can't say.'

A chill ran down Kaeritha's spine. The murder of the consecrated servants of any temple, and especially that of two acolytes sworn to the personal service of a Voice of Lillinara, was an incredibly serious matter. The fact that Trisu wasn't tearing Lorham apart stone-by-stone to find the guilty parties was frightening.

And perhaps it's also the reason Tomanak needed one of His blades involved, she thought grimly.

'How long ago did this happen?' she asked crisply.

'Not very,' Yalith replied. She glanced at the calendar on her desk. 'A bit less than four weeks ago, actually.'

Kaeritha's mood eased just a bit. If the murders had happened that recently, it was at least possible Trisu hadn't mentioned it to Tellian because he was still investigating it himself. After all, if it had happened in Lorham, it was Trisu's responsibility to solve the crime, not Tellian's. If he was unable to do so, he had the right-and, some would argue, the responsibility-to call upon his liege for assistance, but he might simply feel he hadn't yet exhausted all of his own resources.

Sure. He might feel that, she told herself.

And the fact that it had happened that recently undoubtably explained why nothing had been said to Tellian by Yalith or the Voice at Quaysar. Kalatha held a Crown charter. That meant that, unlike Trisu, Yalith was not one of Tellian's vassals, and as such, she had no responsibility to report anything to him. Nor, for that matter, was Tellian legally obligated to take any action on anything she did report to him, although he undoubtably would have acted in a matter this serious which involved or might involve one of his vassals. As for the Voice, Trisu was the appropriate person for her to turn to for an investigation and justice. If he failed to provide them, only then was she entitled to appeal to his liege.

'Perhaps now you can see why I was surprised to see a Champion of Tomanak rather than one of the Mother's Arms,' Yalith said quietly.

'To be honest, so am I, a little,' Kaeritha admitted, although she privately thought the Arms of Lillinara were a little too intent on avenging victims rather than administering justice. All the same, she was surprised Lillinara hadn't dispatched one of them to deal with the situation. The Silver Lady was famed for the devastating retribution she was prepared to visit upon those who victimized her followers.

'Perhaps,' she went on slowly, thinking aloud, 'if Trisu is as hostile towards you as you're saying-hostile enough to extend his feelings towards the war maids into public disrespect for Lillinara-She and Tomanak felt it might be better for Him to send one of His blades. The fact that I'm a woman may make me a bit more acceptable to you war maids and to the Voice, while the fact that I serve Tomanak rather than Lillinara may make me acceptable to Trisu despite the fact that I'm a woman.'

'I hope something does, Dame Kaeritha,' Yalith said soberly. 'Because if something doesn't bring about a marked improvement in what's happening here in Kalatha and Lorham sometime soon, it's going to spill over.'

Kaeritha looked at her, and she grimaced.

'Kalatha's status as our oldest free-town means all war maids tend to keep up with events here, Milady, and I just explained why Quaysar is important to all of us. If Trisu and those who think like him are able to get away with running roughshod over us here, then they may be inspired to try the same thing anywhere else. That would be bad enough, but to be perfectly honest, I'm actually more concerned about how the war maids will react. Let's be honest. Most of us aren't all that fond of men in positions of authority, anyway. If Trisu proves our distrust is well founded, it's going to cause our own attitudes to harden. I can assure you that at least some of the war maids are just as bitter and just as prejudiced against the Trisus of the world as Trisu could ever be against us, and some of those women are likely to begin acting on their bitterness if they feel we've been denied justice in this case. And if that happens, then everything we've accomplished over the past two hundred and fifty years is in jeopardy.'

Kaeritha nodded, blue eyes dark as she contemplated the spiraling cycle of distrust, hostility, and potential violence Yalith was describing.

'Well, in that case, Mayor,' she said quietly, 'we'll just have to see to it that that doesn't happen, won't we?'

Chapter Twenty-Three

Edinghas Bardiche knew his expression wasn't the most tactful one possible, but there wasn't a great deal he could do about that. He was too busy gazing in disbelief at his newly arrived . . . 'guests.'

He stood in the muddy paddock outside the main stable, acutely aware of the watching eyes of the Warm Springs armsmen currently on duty, still ringing the building protectively. Alfar Axeblade stood before him, holding the reins of a borrowed horse, and eight hradani stood behind Alfar-seven of them in the colors of the Order of Tomanak. It was remotely possible, Edinghas thought, that there could have been a more unlikely sight somewhere in the Kingdom. He just couldn't imagine where it might have been. Or when.

Finally, after endless seconds of silent consternation, he succeeded in goading his tongue to life.

'I crave your pardon . . . Milord Champion,' he managed. 'I must confess that when I dispatched Alfar to the Baron, I didn't anticipate that he might return with a- That is, I didn't expect a champion of Tomanak.'

His attention was focused on the mountainous hradani looming before him, yet a corner of his eye caught the expression on Alfar's face. He couldn't begin to sort out all of the emotions wrapped up in that expression, but embarrassment and something almost like anger seemed to be a part of them. His retainer opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the hradani glanced at him with a tiny head shake, and Alfar's mouth closed with an almost audible click.

'What you're meaning, Milord Warden,' the hradani replied in a deep, rumbling bass perfectly suited to his huge stature, 'is that you were never expecting a hradani champion.'

Edinghas felt his tired face heat, but the hradani sounded almost amused. It might be a dry, biting amusement, but it wasn't the anger the lord warden's self-correction might all too easily have provoked.

'Yes, I suppose that is what I meant,' he admitted.

'Well,' the hradani said, 'I won't say as how that's after making me feel all warm and cuddly inside, Milord. On the other hand, I can't be saying as how it's after surprising me, either. Like enough, I'd feel the same, if the boot were on the other foot. Still and all, here I stand, and it's in my mind that what's happened here is after being the sort of thing as one of Himself's champions ought to be looking into.'