“It has to be you, old friend,” the prince said. “Only you have the necessary experience and instinct to pull this off convincingly. The Soldarans must believe the ruse and follow you into the valley. Otherwise, our entire plan will fail.”
Sen took a gulp of wine, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and glanced at his son. “We’ll make sure the Soldarans run straight into our trap like rabbits to the snare.”
Sadaiyo Sakehera’s eyes gleamed and a tiny smile curled his lips.
“Our scouts have started for the ridges, Highness,” Mai Nohe reported. “They should all be in position by midnight.”
If the Soldaran generals were canny, and Raidan had no doubt they were, he knew they had sent their own scouts to reconnoiter the ridges as well.
“For our plan to remain viable, the Soldaran scouts will have to be allowed to report back that there’s only a small garrison here to defend the valley,” Raidan said.
“Every one of our scouts is mage-trained in detection and memory alteration,” Sen responded. “All the humans will remember seeing is a whole lot of dark and a few torches on the castle walls.”
“Mai, I believe you have a report on the state of the provisions,” Raidan prompted as he refilled his wine goblet.
“Yes, Highness,” Mai Nohe replied. He wiped his hands on his breeches then pulled a scroll from the leather satchel at his feet. Unrolling the paper, he scanned it for a heartbeat, then cleared his throat and spoke. “We have enough grain, meat, and…”
“Father, a human scout’s been captured!”
Everyone turned to look at Raidu as he burst into the tent, flushed and out of breath.
At the same moment, a commotion erupted outside. Someone cried, “Make way for the lady!” and a female voice, calm and perfectly audible above the racket, commanded, “I am here to see Prince Raidan. Let me pass.”
Raidan found himself on his feet with no memory of having left his chair.
Goddess’ tits, what’s she doing here?
The tent flap lifted and the King’s Companion swept in, trailing an agitated clot of guards and fellow mages in her wake. “My lord Prince,” she murmured and sank into a deep bow.
“Lady Sonoe…I confess, I’m surprised to see you,” Raidan responded. “Why have you left my brother’s side?”
Something feels wrong here , Raidan thought. He took a step forward and offered a hand to assist the sorceress as she rose to her feet. As his fingers closed about hers, a wave of vertigo struck him. He staggered a little, then shook his head like a man ridding himself of the last vestiges of a dream.
“Is something wrong, Raidan?” Sen inquired.
“No, no. I’m fine,” Raidan replied. Perplexed by what he had just experienced but having no ready explanation, he dismissed it from his mind. He stared into Sonoe’s face, and saw written there the very thing he feared most to hear.
“My brother is dead,” he murmured.
Sonoe’s eyes shone like luminous disks of jade in her pale, heart-shaped face. Something flickered within their depths, a glow the prince had never seen before.
Her chin lifted before she spoke to confirm what Raidan had already stated. “Yes,” she whispered.
Even though he knew it might happen and he believed himself prepared, the reality of Keizo’s death still struck Raidan like an axe blow. For a few terrible moments, he couldn’t breathe.
“The One have mercy on us.” Sen murmured, then asked, “What of my daughter-in-law?”
Sonoe turned her unsettling gaze on the Lord of Kerala. “She is devastated,” the mage replied. “She has sunk into a despair so deep, I fear she may never emerge.”
Raidan’s lips twisted into a frown. “Jelena is strong. She knows what’s at stake. She will recover.” He framed his words as a statement, for to do otherwise would be to admit his uncertainty.
“Highness, I have ridden practically without pause to reach you. May I sit?” Sonoe asked.
“Yes, of course.” He gestured for one of the servants to bring a stool, and the sorceress sank onto it with a grateful sigh. Her fellow mages remained standing in the background, their faces masks of consternation and worry. Even the dour old man whom Raidan had presumed to be their leader remained on his feet, as if he had already ceded his authority to the Companion.
Sonoe’s next words confirmed her new office. “I’m here to take command of the mages, your Highness,” she stated. “I can’t help the king…I mean, I can’t help Keizo any longer, but as a First Mage of the Kan Onji, I’m the most powerful practitioner in Alasiri after your wife. The princess herself ordered me to come.”
“Father,” Raidu interrupted. He stood at the tent flap, holding it open with one hand. “The scouts have brought the human. They’re outside with him now.”
“Have him brought in,” Raidan ordered. “Sonoe, we must talk, but I need to question this human.”
Too much is happening at once , Raidan thought. He felt oddly unbalanced, as if some unseen force sucked at him, draining him of vitality.
“Yes, my lord Prince,” Sonoe answered, inclining her head in submission. Raidan stared for a few heartbeats at the Companion, trying to fathom why she seemed different , somehow, then ascribed it to grief and fatigue, both his own and hers. He turned his attention to the commotion at the pavilion entrance.
Two scouts pushed their way through the flap, dragging a struggling figure between them. They hauled their captive to the center of the room and shoved him hard, sending him sprawling to the mats. Both scouts bowed, then readied themselves to pounce should the human try to make an escape.
“Your Highness, we captured this human on the east ridge,” one of the scouts stated.
“Stand up,” Raidan ordered in Soldaran. The man, who’d been crouching on the floor, unmoving, looked up sharply. His thin, ugly face bore a look of such astonishment that Raidan had to laugh. “I said, stand up,” he repeated, “or is my Soldaran so bad that you do not understand?”
The man unfolded his lanky frame and stood, though his shoulders remained stooped, as if he expected a killing blow to fall at any moment. “I understan’ ye well enough, tink,” the man muttered. His brown eyes burned with sullen defiance. It was difficult to tell his age; humans did not weather the passage of time very well, but Raidan thought he might be just past his youth.
“I am a merciful man,” Raidan said. “Tell me what I need to know and I will spare your life.”
The human sniffed, then with cool deliberateness, spat on Raidan’s boot.
Everyone in the room froze.
Like a hound unleashed, Raidu sprang to attack. He felled the captive with a brutal punch to the man’s face, then began kicking him in the ribs. The prince’s guards, after a moment’s hesitation, joined in. The sound of their boots made a meaty, thudding accompaniment to the man’s screams. Raidan heard the unmistakable wet crunch of breaking bone.
“What are you doing!” Sen Sakehera shouted.
“ Stop this at once!” Raidanroared. The guards fell back immediately, but Raidu, face alight with savage glee, aimed a final kick at the human’s head. The man convulsed, then lay still, blood and vomit leaking from his nose and mouth. Raidu spat in his face, then backed off.
Raidan stared at the broken, bleeding human, too consumed with rage to speak. Everyone in the tent shrank back against the walls except Sen, Raidu and Sonoe. Sen clutched the sides of his head and uttered a string of curses. Raidu insolently held his ground while Sonoe crouched and carefully laid a hand on the human’s forehead. She remained thus for many heartbeats, a living statue, eyes closed.