Wind Rider's Oath

'No doubt it was more confrontational than one as courteous as you've already proven yourself to be would have phrased it to her host, Milady. For that, I apologize. But that was essentially what she said, was it not?'

'Essentially,' she acknowledged.

'I thought it would be,' he said and gazed at her speculatively for a few more seconds. 'Given your willingness to consider and examine the evidence Salthan and I offered you, I would assume you've raised this point in order to hear my side of it directly.'

His tone made the statement a question, and she nodded.

'Dame Kaeritha,' he began after a moment, 'I won't attempt to pretend that I'm not more uncomfortable dealing with Lillinara and Her followers than I am with other gods and their worshipers. I don't understand Lillinara. And I don't much care for many of the things Her followers justify on the basis of things She's supposed to have told them. To be perfectly honest, there are times I wonder just how much of what She's supposed to have said was actually invented by people who would have found it convenient for Her to tell them what they wanted to hear in the first place.'

Kaeritha arched her eyebrows.

'That's a . . . surprisingly frank admission, Milord,' she observed.

'No sane man doubts the existence of the gods, Milady,' he replied. 'But no intelligent man doubts that charlatans and tricksters are fully capable of using the gods and the religious faith of others for their own manipulative ends. Surely you wouldn't expect someone charged with the governance of any domain to close his eyes to that possibility?'

'No, I wouldn't,' she said, and felt a brief flicker of something very like affection for this hard-edged, opinionated youngster. 'In fact, that sort of manipulation is one of the things champions spend a lot of their time undoing and repairing.'

'I thought it probably would be.' Trisu sipped brandy, then set down his glass, and his nostrils flared.

'I brought up my . . . discomfort with Lillinara intentionally, Milady. I wanted you to be aware that I was aware of it. And because I am aware of it, I reminded myself when I met Lillinara's newest Voice that the fact that I don't like what someone tells me She wants me to do doesn't necessarily make that someone a liar. But in this instance, I've come to the conclusion that the so-called 'Voice' at Quaysar is one of those manipulators.'

'That's an extremely serious charge, Lord Trisu.' Kaeritha's voice was low, her expression grim, yet she wasn't remotely as surprised to hear it as she should have been.

'I'm aware of that,' he replied with unwonted somberness. 'It's also one which I haven't previously made to anyone in so many words. I would suspect, however, that Mayor Yalith, who-despite our many and lively differences-is an intelligent woman, knows that it's what I think.'

'And why do you think it, Milord?'

'First and foremost, I'm sure, is the fact that I don't much care for this particular Voice. In fact, the day I first met her, when she arrived to take up her post at Quaysar, she and I took one another in immediate and intense dislike.'

'Took one another in immediate dislike?' Kaeritha repeated, and Trisu chuckled sourly.

'Milady, I couldn't possibly dislike her as much as I do without her disliking me right back! I don't care how saintly a Voice of Lillinara is supposed to be.'

Despite herself, Kaeritha laughed, and he shrugged and continued.

'It's not unusual, I imagine, for the lord of any domain to have differences of opinion with the priests and priestesses whose spheres of authority and responsibility overlap with his. Each of us would like to be master in his own house, and when we have conflicting views or objectives, that natural resentment can only grow stronger.

'But in this case, it went further than that.'

He paused, and Kaeritha watched his face. It was as hard, as uncompromising, as ever, yet there was something else behind his expression now. She didn't know quite what the emotion was, but she knew it was there.

'How so, Milord?' she asked after the silence had stretched out for several breaths.

'I don't -' he began, then stopped. 'No, Dame Kaeritha,' he said, 'that's not true. I started to say that I don't really know how to answer your question, but I do. I suppose I hesitated because I was afraid honesty might alienate you.'

'Honesty may anger me, Milord,' she said with the seriousness his tone and manner deserved. 'It shouldn't, but I'm only the champion of a god, not a god myself. But this much I will promise you, on my sword and His. So long as you give me honesty, I will give you an open ear and an open mind.' She smiled without humor. 'As you've been honest with me, I'll be honest with you. You hold certain beliefs and opinions with which I am as uncomfortable as I'm sure you are with the war maids. No doubt you'd already realized that. But whether or not I agree with you in those matters has nothing to do with whether or not I trust your honesty.'

'That was well said, Milady,' Trisu said with the first completely ungrudging warmth he'd displayed. Then he drew a deep breath.

'As I'm sure Mayor Yalith told you, the original town of Quaysar has effectively been absorbed by the temple there. In the process, the office of the Voice of the temple has merged with the office of the mayor of Quaysar, as well. By tradition, the same person has held both of them for the past seventy-odd years. Which means the Voice isn't simply the priestess of the temple, but also the secular head of the community. In that role, she's one of my vassals, which has occasionally created uncomfortable strains between the various Voices and my own father and grandfather. Inevitably, I suppose, given the unavoidable difficulties the Voices must have faced in juggling their secular obligations to the Lord of Lorham with their spiritual obligations to his subjects. And, of course, to the war maids over whom my house has no actual jurisdiction.

'My father had seen to it that I would be aware such difficulties were only to be expected from time to time. I think he was afraid that without such an awareness I would be unwilling to consider the sorts of compromises which situations like that might require. He'd seen enough of that attitude from my Uncle Sareth, I suspect, and even as a child, I'm afraid I wasn't exactly noted for cheerful compromises.' He snorted a sudden laugh of his own and shook his head when Kaeritha looked a question at him. 'Your pardon, Milady. I was just thinking about how fervently my tutors and arms instructors would have endorsed that last statement of mine.'

Kaeritha nodded. At least he was able to laugh at himself sometimes, she thought.

'At any rate,' he continued, 'I was prepared for the possibility that the new Voice and I might not exactly take to one another on sight. What I wasn't prepared for was the . . . well, the wave of wrongness that poured off of her.'

' 'Wrongness'?' Kaeritha repeated very carefully.

'I don't know a better word for it,' Trisu said. 'It was as if every word she said rang false. Every word, Milady. I've met other people I simply didn't like, and I'm sure other people have had that reaction to me. But this was like a dog and a cat closed into the same cage-or perhaps a snake and a ferret. It was there between us from the instant she opened her mouth, and although it shames me to admit it, something about her frightened me.'

He looked squarely at Kaeritha, and his gray eyes were dark.

'If you want the full truth of it, Milady,' he said very quietly, 'I wasn't at all sure which of us was the ferret . . . and which the serpent.'

* * *

Kaeritha stared up at the heavens, recalling Trisu's expression and tone, and a chill ran down her spine like the tip of an icicle. Trisu of Lorham might be a pain in the arse. He might be opinionated, and he was certainly stubborn. But one thing she did not believe he was was a coward. For that matter, no true coward would have been prepared to admit to a champion of Tomanak that he'd been frightened by anyone. Especially not if he was also a thorough-going conservative of Trisu's stripe admitting he'd been frightened by a woman.

But Yalith had shown no sign of any similar feelings towards the Voice. It was tempting, dreadfully so, to put