Is that one of the mysteries we might solve in hunting down the last of the savages? Why did they imprison so many of our people and treat them so abominably?
Beyau looked grim, dark scowl gilded by the sun on the far horizon. ‘Those who were held captive by the savages mostly just come back to die, my lord, if they come back at all.’
Dying of despair as much as the injuries they suffered being starved and beaten and worked till they dropped.
‘Whereas you came back to take up your father’s role.’
Kheda paused to look the thickset man in the eye. ‘Don’t think I don’t appreciate that.’
‘We’ll be ready for them if they ever come again.’ Beyau looked away, out over the southern waters, sword hand straying to the crescent dagger at his belt.
‘We will,’ Kheda assured him.
As long as you keep Dev happy, and keep his true nature a secret, so you can meet sorcerous fire with sorcerous fire. Can you really afford to send him away once he’s satisfied his curiosity about the savages? But what will these people think if they ever uncover such a deception?
Kheda gestured towards one of the islands on the outer edge of the reef where long huts surrounded a pounded expanse of sandy soil. ‘I take it you’re drilling the swordsmen yourself?’
Beyau looked uncertain. ‘I know it’s not my place—’
‘We’re none of us in the places we held before the invaders came,’ Kheda said unguardedly. ‘Your father may have been the residence steward but you were rising fast in the ranks of the guard—Itrac told me as much. There’s no one better to train them, is there? Tell me honestly,’ he commanded, seeing the man’s reluctance.
The steward squared his impressively muscled shoulders. ‘Jevin just isn’t used to assuming command, my lord, and some of the older ones aren’t inclined to take orders from a lad as young as him. I thought it best to step in till you returned.’
‘Good. Then you can continue taking charge until you find someone fit to be raised to captain. Dev’s less experience of command than Jevin,’ Kheda said bluntly, ‘and there’s nothing a barbarian can teach an Archipelagan about swordplay’
No, my lord.’ Beyau’s voice was neutral but a grin plucked at the corners of his generous mouth. ‘Mind you,’ Kheda said thoughtfully, Rekha Daish’s body slave, Andit, he’s both experienced and old enough to command respect among your would-be warriors. Your younger boys could learn some useful tricks from him, if you invite him to share in the daily training sessions while he’s here. I take it Jevin has extended the usual courtesies to him?’
‘I wouldn’t know, my lord,’ said Beyau stolidly, but I was thinking I might breakfast with him and Andit tomorrow.’
So Jevin still needs a hint or two. Let’s hope Andit will know how to give a few tactful suggestions to a lad thrust into precedence over a residence guard with no elder body slave’s example to follow. That wouldn’t compromise his loyalty to Rekha Daish.
They walked across the islet to the next bridge in thoughtful silence.
‘Where are we dining tonight?’ Kheda asked as they crossed the gently flexing planks. ‘And who is dining with us, besides Rekha Daish?’
‘A banquet is to be served in my lady Itrac Chazen’s great hall.’ Beyau didn’t hide his unease. ‘With all the shipmasters invited.’ He waved a hand at the various galleys and triremes safely anchored around the reefs.
‘Whose idea was that?’ Kheda frowned as they reached a sandy nub of reef where walkways branched off in several directions across the corals.
‘I believe it was Rekha Daish’s suggestion,’ Beyau answered neutrally. ‘My lady Itrac agreed it would be a splendid way to celebrate the turn of the year.’
‘Then you must have a great deal to organise. Don’t let me keep you. Unless there’s anything else?’ No, my lord.’ Beyau bowed low.
Kheda dismissed him with a nod and walked on alone.
So Rekha has some plan to show all the shipmasters—
what? That she and I still share the familiarity of husband and wife? That I still find her desirable? That Itrac has none of Rekha’s poise or her daunting experience in the complexities of trade? Itrac must want to make a fight of it, though, otherwise she’d have come up with some reason for the three of us to dine alone. Or would she have thought of that in time? I don’t think I need any omens to tell me this isn’t going to be a relaxing meal.
Seeing Chazen islanders on all sides as well as servants and slaves, Kheda went on his way with a calculatedly carefree expression, acknowledging dutiful obeisance with a smile. By the time he reached the wide island where the first wife of Chazen always dwelt, his face felt tense and his shoulders stiff under the heavy weight of the unspoken expectation he saw on every face.
The central pavilion was huge, a hollow square offering luxurious accommodation for the extended household customary for every noblewoman of an Archipelagan domain. Wings on either side would house her faithful retainers and those craftsmen she summoned from time to time to consult on the domain’s wealth and prospects. Lesser quarters for her countless servants and slaves were tucked discreetly away at the rear.
Kheda went up the broad, shallow steps and pushed open the wide double doors to enter the spacious hall that occupied one whole side of the building. The floor was tiled in soft green and the lofty walls were decorated with hangings of translucent silk painted with seascapes in countless shades of blue. There was room for Itrac to meet with every diver and polisher whose pearls and turtleshell she would trade for the good of the domain.
Two servants were unrolling a thick carpet of mottled-blue silk with white and silver fish darting through a pattern of green seaweed and a border of multicoloured squid. They froze at Kheda’s entrance, along with a waiting crowd of household slaves, their aims full of sapphire cushions. Outdoor servants in undyed cotton appeared at a side door carrying long, low tables and an indignant exclamation died away to nothing as whoever had uttered it realised that the warlord was among them.
‘Don’t let me inten-upt you.’ Waving away dutiful bows, Kheda walked across the hall and out through the tall doors on the far side into the enclosed garden beyond. It was hot and still, the mingled perfumes of vizail, jessamine and white basket flowers heavy in the air. Grey and scarlet shadow-finches were clustered in a corner of their aviary at the heart of the garden and barely chirruped as Kheda passed. Three different gaudy glory-birds in a spinefruit tree watched him without stining a feather.
Kheda walked slowly towards the steps leading to the central entrance to the fourth side of the pavilion’s hollow heart. Doors on either side stood closed and barred. The apartments for those children of the domain grown to an age of discretion and ready to learn all their complex duties from their first mother stood in echoing emptiness.
Even if Itrac invited me to her bed tonight and my seed took root, it would be many years before I had a son grown into his strength or a daughter grown to the wisdom needed to rule in her own right. I had sons and daughters in Daish and I loved them more than I thought possible. Could I ever love children born here in the same way?
Would Rekha come here as a Chazen wife? Janne would have no right to stop her bringing her younger children, the ones below the age of reason—Vida, little Mie and Noi.
You could see your daughters taught all they would need to know to rule Chazen. Vida could be promised to some lesser son of Ritsem or Redigal and the other two married to the heirs of those domains. Ritsem Caid and Redigal Coron were always your friends. Chazen would be more secure in its alliances than it has been for generations. Wouldn’t that be doing your duty by these people?