Inversions

DeWar felt a damp patch on his pillow, where his cheek had lain during the night. He turned over on his side, absently touching the fold in the head bolster which he must have dribbled on to during the night. How undignified we become in our sleep, he thought, rubbing the damp triangle of material between his fingers. Perhaps he had been sucking it while he slept, he thought. Did one do that? Did people do such a thing? Perhaps children-

He leaped out of bed, pulled on his hose, teetering one-legged and cursing, fastened his sword belt across his waist and grabbed his shirt as he kicked the door open and raced through the early morning shadows of his small living room and out into the corridor, where startled servants had been snuffing the candles. He ran quickly, bare feet thudding on the wooden boards. He pulled his shirt on as best he could.

He was looking for a guard, to tell him to follow him, but there were none to be seen. Rounding a corner that would take him towards Lattens' sick room, he crashed into a servant carrying a breakfast tray, sending the girl and the tray tumbling across the floor. He shouted back an apology.

There was a guard at Lattens' door, slumped asleep on a chair. DeWar kicked the seat and shouted at the man as he burst through the door.

The nurse looked up from the window where she had been sitting reading. She looked with widened eyes at DeWar's bare chest revealed by the half-tucked shirt.

Lattens lay still in his bed. A basin and a cloth lay on the table by his head. The nurse seemed to shrink back a little as DeWar strode across the room to the boy's bed. DeWar heard the guard come in behind him. He turned his head briefly and said, 'Hold her,' and nodded at the nurse, who flinched. The guard moved towards the woman, uncertain.

DeWar went to Lattens' side. He touched his neck and felt a weak pulse. Clutched in the boy's fist was the pale yellow scrap of material that was his comforter. DeWar prised it from his hand as gently as he could, turning to watch the nurse as he did so. The guard stood at her side, one hand clamped over her wrist.

The nurse's eyes went wide. Her free arm flailed at the guard, who kept a hold of her and eventually succeeded in grabbing it and bringing it under control. She tried to kick him but he twirled her round and forced her arm up her back until she doubled over and screamed, her face level with her knees.

DeWar inspected the sucked end of the comforter while the guard looked on, mystified, and the woman gasped and wept. DeWar sucked tentatively at the piece of material. There was a taste. It was slightly sweet and a little acrid at the same time. He spat on the floor, then knelt down on one knee so that he could look into the nurse's reddened face. He held the comforter in front of the woman.

'Is this how the boy's been poisoned, madam?' he asked softly.

The woman stared cross-eyed at the scrap of material. Tears and snot dribbled down her nose. Her jaw was clenching and unclenching. After a few moments she nodded.

'Where is the solution?'

'Uh — under the window seat,' the nurse said, her voice shaking.

'Hold her there,' DeWar told the guard quietly. He went to the window and threw off the cushion in the seat set into the thickness of the wall, pulled open a wooden flap and reached inside. He threw aside toys and a few clothes until he found a small opaque jar. He brought it over to the nurse.

'Is this it?'

She nodded.

'Where does it come from?'

She shook her head. He took out his long knife. She screamed, then shook and struggled in the guard's grip until he tightened it and she hung gasping again. DeWar put the knife very close to her nose. 'The lady Perrund!' she screamed. 'The lady Perrund!'

DeWar froze. 'What?'

'The lady Perrund! She gives me the jars! I swear!'

'I am not convinced,' DeWar said. He nodded to the guard, who forced the woman's arm further up her back. She shrieked in pain.

'It's true! The truth! It's the truth!' she screamed.

DeWar sat back on his heel. He looked at the guard holding the woman and shook his head once. The man relaxed his hold on the nurse again. The woman sobbed, her whole doubled-up body shaking with the effort. DeWar put the knife away and frowned. Another couple of uniformed men came thundering into the room, swords readied.

'Sir?' said one, taking in the scene.

DeWar stood. 'Guard the boy,' he told the pair who had just entered. 'Take her to Guard Commander ZeSpiole,' he instructed the man holding the nurse. 'Tell him Lattens has been poisoned and she is the poisoner.'

DeWar tucked his shirt in as he strode quickly towards UrLeyn's apartments. Another guard, also alerted to the commotion, came running up to him. DeWar sent him off with the man taking the nurse to ZeSpiole.

There was one guard at UrLeyn's door. DeWar drew himself up, starting to wish he had taken the time to put on all his clothes. He had to see UrLeyn no matter what orders he might have left, and this guard's help might be needed to effect entry. He assumed what he hoped was his most commanding tone. 'Straighten up there!' he barked. The guard jerked upright. 'Is the Protector inside?' DeWar demanded, scowling and nodding at the door.

'No, sir!' the guard shouted.

'Where is he?'

'Sir, he went to the harem, I think, sir! He said you need not be informed, sir!'

DeWar looked at the closed door for a moment. He began to turn and move away, then stopped. 'When did he go there?'

'About a half-bell ago, sir!'

DeWar nodded, then moved away. At the corner, he started running. Two more guards joined him when he called them. They headed for the harem.

The double doors to the three-domed receiving room slammed back against the walls on either side. There were a couple of concubines in the softly lit hall, talking to members of their families and sharing a light breakfast with them. All fell silent when the doors crashed open. The chief eunuch Stike sat like a sleepy white mountain in his pulpit raised near the middle of the room. His face cleared of sleep and his brows met and creased as the doors swung slowly back from their twinned impact. DeWar sprinted across the room towards the doors leading to the harem proper, the two guards trailing in his wake.

'No!' bellowed the chief eunuch. He rose and started to wobble down the steps.

DeWar reached the harem doors, wrenching at them. They were locked. Stike came lurching over the floor towards him, wagging his finger. 'No, Mr DeWar!' he cried. 'You do not go in there! Not ever, in any event, but especially not when the Protector himself is in there!'

DeWar looked at the two guards who had followed him. 'Hold him,' he told them. Stike screamed as they tried to take hold of him. The eunuch was surprisingly strong, and each of his legthick arms knocked over the guards once each before they could secure him. He cried out for help as DeWar tore at his white robes, looking for and finding the set of keys he knew was there. He cut the keys from the struggling giant's belt, tried one, then another, before the third key slipped in and turned and the doors opened.

'No!' wailed Stike, almost pulling himself free from the two guards. DeWar looked around quickly, but there was nobody else who could help. He pulled the key out and took the full set with him as he entered the inner harem. Behind him, the two guards struggled to contain the mighty rage of the chief eunuch.

DeWar had never been here before. He had, however, looked at the layout of the place on drawings, so knew where he was, even if he did not know where UrLeyn was.

He ran down a short corridor to another set of doors, Stike's anguished cries and entreaties still ringing in his ears. There was a round internal courtyard beyond, gently lit by a single translucent dome of plaster high above. The glowing space rose on three colonnaded levels. A small fountain played in the centre and couches and seats were scattered about its floor. Girls in various states of dress and undress stood or doubled up where they lounged, yelping and screaming when they saw DeWar. A eunuch leaving a room off to one side of the lowest colonnaded level saw him and shouted. He waved his arms and came running up to DeWar, slowing and stopping only when he saw that DeWar held a sword.

'The lady Perrund,' DeWar said quickly. 'The Protector.'