The Traitor Queen

Oh, no. Not again.

But then the man blinked. He was alive. She’s reading his mind, Lorkin realised. She looked up at him and he recognised her as one of the kitchen slaves. “Lorkin,” she said. Removing her hands from the man’s brow, she rose to her feet. “I am Savi. The queen sends her regards.”

Lorkin nodded. “How is she?” he asked automatically, then realised he ought to thank her first, since the man she had tackled had probably meant to kill him.

“Dead.” She grimaced. “Two days ago.”

“Oh.” He thought of Zarala’s mischievous eyes and sense of humour and felt a wave of sadness. “I am sorry to hear that. She was nice.” Then something occurred to him. “She wasn’t...? How did she...?”

“She came to the natural end of a long life.” Savi straightened. “Savara was elected in her place.”

Lorkin nodded again, not sure if it was polite to express pleasure at the news of a new queen when the old one had so recently died. The spy had told him in a matter-of-fact way that suggested she didn’t expect him to comment. He was glad to hear Savara had been chosen as the new queen. Not just because she had helped him many times and was Tyvara’s superior, but because she was smart, open-minded and fair.

The spy turned to face the main door to the room. The reason for her distractedness came a moment later when Dannyl and another slave stepped into the room.

Dannyl looked at the man on the floor who, despite being awake and staring at them all, wasn’t moving, then at Savi and Lorkin.

“What happened?” he asked.

Lorkin shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure.” He turned to Savi.

“There have been some additions and removals of slaves here lately that were suspicious,” she told them. “This one,” she pointed to the man on the floor, “is no slave. He is a magician of low status. He was offered land and Ashaki status if he posed as a slave and helped abduct Lorkin.”

“Abduct him?” Dannyl repeated. “Again?”

Her eyes warmed with amusement. “Not by us. He received the offer through a friend. He believes it came from the king, though he has no proof of that.”

“Of course not.” Dannyl looked around the room, his gaze settling on the slave who had brought him to the room. “Is she...?”

“Trustworthy? Yes,” the Traitor replied.

“Good.” Dannyl looked at the younger woman. “Could you wake Ambassador Tayend and bring him here?”

The slave nodded and hurried away. She had not thrown herself to the floor, or even bowed, Lorkin realised. Dannyl was too lost in thought to notice. He walked over to the man and stared down at him. “Not restrained,” he murmured.

“I have taken his strength,” Savi replied. “Would you like me to kill him?”

“No. Not yet, anyway. We should not discuss anything within his hearing or sight, though.”

The woman shrugged. A dome of white light covered the man’s face. “He won’t hear or see you. I am Savi, by the way.”

“Thank you for intervening, Savi,” Dannyl said. “So he thinks the king is behind this?”

She nodded. “Amakira probably intended to blame Lorkin’s abduction on Traitors.”

“After which he’d read Lorkin’s mind—”

“Attempt to,” the spy corrected.

“—torture the information out of him, and then kill him and make it look like the Traitors did it.”

Lorkin felt a chill run down his spine. Images of the tortured slave flashed through his memory. I’m not sure I could endure as long as she did.

A movement in the doorway caught everyone’s attention. Tayend entered, the young slave woman following. He took in the prone man, Savi, Lorkin and Dannyl, then listened silently as all that had been discussed was repeated to him.

“What matters now is what the king will do when he realises his plan has failed,” he said. “We have no proof he arranged this. To suggest it would be an insult. He may also decide he must remove Lorkin from the Guild House for his own protection.” He looked at Lorkin. “Somewhere nobody will find him.”

Lorkin winced. “Can we pretend nothing happened?”

Dannyl and Tayend exchanged looks.

“We could,” Tayend said, “if it weren’t for this man. We can’t kill him. He’s meant to be the king’s property.”

Dannyl narrowed his eyes at the prone man. “Well, if we’re all pretending that he’s just a slave... we could say that we caught him using magic, and demand he be removed. We’d have to wait until he regained his strength, or they’ll have to wonder how any of us managed to strip him of power.”

“We can’t send him away. He knows Savi is a Traitor,” Lorkin protested. “If he tells the king that, she’ll be in danger.”

Dannyl looked at Savi. “Can you leave?”

She shook her head. “This House is being watched closely, day and night. Food and supplies are brought here. The slaves who attempted to go out for other items have been stopped.” She looked down at the spy. “The king may still use his presence here as reason to remove Lorkin to somewhere safer. I suspect there are other slaves here who may be Amakira’s spies, too.”

They exchanged silent, worried looks. Dannyl sighed and looked at Lorkin.

“We have got to get you out of Sachaka.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Tayend murmured. He looked at Savi. “I suppose this restriction of slave movement means your people can’t arrange that?”

“If we could have, we’d have done it already.”

Dannyl shook his head. “I wish I’d known about this. I don’t expect to know everything, but the more I do the easier it is to make decisions.”

“To tell you would reveal who I was,” Savi pointed out.

Dannyl turned to the Traitor woman. “Well, you have now and that could be to our advantage. Could you read the minds of all the slaves here? Find out which are Amakira’s spies – and if any are magicians?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes,” she said, but with reluctance.

Lorkin frowned. But that would reveal who she was to all the slaves. Yet how else do we find out which slaves are spies or potential abductors? A chill ran down his spine as another option came to him.

She was not the only person in the Guild House who could read minds.

But if he revealed that he could, he would reveal much, much more. I’m going to have to eventually, and I’m not letting another woman be tortured and killed because of me.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

Dannyl and Tayend turned to stare at him.

“You know how to...?” Tayend’s eyebrows shot upward. “Oh!”

Lorkin saw Dannyl frown and braced himself for the man’s disapproval, but the man only shook his head.

“Don’t jump to conclusions, Tayend,” he said. “Sonea learned to read minds before she learned black magic.”

Tayend looked relieved. “Really? I thought reading the mind of an unwilling person was something only the black magicians could do.”

Dannyl’s lips pressed into a grim smile. “We let people believe that. Like black magic, it’s a skill that would be too easily abused.”

Tayend turned to regard Lorkin, his gaze sharp and thoughtful. He’s wondering what else I’ve learned. Should I tell them the truth now? It might be seen as suspicious if I conceal it too long.

“Another piece of information you didn’t tell me so I can’t reveal it if I’m interrogated?” Dannyl asked.

Lorkin nodded. He’s right. I can’t tell him yet.

“Well...” Dannyl turned to Savi. “I’ll block all of the House’s exits to make sure nobody attempts to leave. In the meantime, rouse the head slave and send him to the Master’s Room, where Lorkin will order him to bring all of