‘You haven’t forgotten how to do things for yourself, then?’ Risala was amused. ‘With all these slaves and lackeys running around after you again? I take it they’re all still as desperate to serve your every whim?’
‘Desperate to prove to themselves that things are back to normal. I do wonder if Chazen Saril ever lifted a finger for himself,’ said Kheda wryly as he led the way through the open archway to the half-moon hall beyond. ‘We of
Daish used to do the little things for ourselves when it was just us, when there was no one else to be impressed by the devotion of our servants keeping us in indolence. My father wouldn’t have it any other way.
He set the shell-shaped lamp on one of the several tables lining the long room. The warm golden glow reflected back from brass discs of all sizes hung on the walls, each engraved with curving lines like the patterns of tiles on the observatory floor and overlaid with a second disc pierced to the likeness of a net of burnished metal.
‘The ordinary islanders of Chazen were impressed to see you making shift for yourself when need be on your voyage,’ Risala said without preamble. ‘They like that idea much better than having you take them away from rebuilding their homes and re-establishing their vegetable gardens and sailer plots just to dance attendance on you when you visit their villages.’
Kheda was relieved. ‘How many days behind us were you?’
Risala swatted with a bony hand at an importunate insect humming around her head. ‘Five or six, depending on the winds and tides.’
‘Your arrival didn’t cause comment?’ Kheda moved to the unshuttered window and looked out towards the north, now hidden in the night. He pulled the fine cotton curtains closed to baffle the winged night-biters. ‘I didn’t see many boats on the waters as we travelled.’
‘There still aren’t that many people moving around the domain.’ Risala shrugged. ‘But most villages were happy enough to see a poet as they turned their thoughts to the new-year stars.’ She twisted a heavy silver ring set with an uncut emerald around on one finger. ‘And everyone knows poets are mad, so no one really asked why I was sailing alone.’
‘What did you say to those who did?’ Kheda asked.
‘That my brother who had shared the boat with me had drowned when we fled the wild men through a rainy season storm,’ Risala explained, ‘which generally set people off on their own tales of last year’s deaths and disasters.’
‘Are they still burdened by the past?’ Kheda lifted a hand to one of the larger star circles hanging on the wall by the window. The paths of every constellation were incised on the brass plate, heavenly jewels inlaid on the net, measuring bar precisely aligned across it. ‘I read the local omens for the new year wherever we stopped. The portents were positive as far as they went. Were the islanders inclined to take my word on that?’
‘I came across quite a few who’d won wagers with their neighbours over signs that said you were right. There were a few muttering about you not being born to the domain.’ Risala perched on the table by the lamp, bare feet swinging idly. ‘They wondered how you could hope to draw together the threads of the past hereabouts and see how the future would be woven. Don’t let that keep you awake at night. They were generally the ones complaining that you weren’t travelling in the style befitting a warlord and they mostly got short shrift from everyone else.’
She rubbed a hand through her tousled hair and yawned. ‘You wouldn’t have made any friends parading around in silks and jewels. Seeing the domain’s prosperity reflected in their warlord’s finery is all very well in times of peace and plenty, but not when half the islanders have to go naked if they want to launder their one pair of trousers. Most are quite content that you showed your commitment to the domain by driving out the invaders and then by claiming the lordship and manying Itrac when Chazen Saril died. They know full well they’d have been meat for the bone hawks if the domain had ended up without a warlord and Ritsem, Redigal and Ulla had joined battle over it.’
‘If they hadn’t been too afraid of the magic loose down here.’ Kheda moved closer. ‘They’re content not knowing exactly how I drove out the invaders?’ he asked with low intensity. ‘There aren’t too many wondering just how I managed to defeat the wild magic?’
‘There are enough survivors who were held captive in that final encampment and saw the savage mages fighting among themselves.’ Risala glanced involuntarily towards the archway and the darkness outside the hall. ‘Everyone I spoke to is happy enough to believe that a battle for overall power broke out among the strongest invaders and their wizards. No one but the three of us need ever know that it was Dev who started the slaughter with his enchanter’s illusions.’ She managed a crooked smile. ‘I found Bukai’s song cycle very popular, especially when I gave them the poet’s vision of the Winged Snake and the Sea Serpent eating each other’s tails. Everyone agreed the moral of that was more than proven: magic twists men’s natures and sweeps them to disaster like serpents mad with heat frenzy.’
‘Just as long as it doesn’t sweep Dev to disaster while he’s still masquerading as my body slave.’ Kheda pulled a stool out from beneath the table and sat down with a sigh.
‘Indeed,’ Risala agreed dryly, looking down at him. ‘I take it he’s still itching to go and see if there are any wizardly secrets to be learned from the last remnants hiding out in the western isles? The anchorage is full of the news that you’re going to lead a campaign against them instead of waiting for thirst and disease to make an end of them.’
‘It’s time to do it, now that I’ve acquitted my responsibilities in surveying the domain before the new year. There are portents saying as much wherever I look’ Kheda nodded, fingering a crystal inkwell with a silver lid. ‘What were the augurs around the islands saying? Do I need to fear travelling soothsayers muttering dire predictions of disaster under my rule?’
No,’ said Risala slowly. Not that they’re seeing a bright new future of peace and plenty, either. Most are talking about uncertainty, in the future and in the omens, and are sticking to strictly limited and local forecasts.’
‘Which is as good as I can hope for.’ Kheda nodded. ‘What else did you manage to do for me? We really need some means of getting reliable news from the domain, and fast, without having to rely on Dev snooping with his bowls of scrying spells.’
‘I’ve found us eyes and ears on all the big islands and in nearly all the coastal villages, and most are well placed to hear news from inland and from the lesser isles.’ Risala swung her legs, leaning forward with her hands on the edge of the table. ‘We’ve agreed a few basic ciphers and there should be enough boats doing the rounds to carry routine reports soon enough. Though the key men and women need courier doves, for the news we need fast.’ She looked at Kheda, black brows rising to be lost in her ragged hair. ‘I’ll ask Itrac for all she can spare.’ Kheda pushed the inkwell away. ‘I’m grateful for your help, as always. Now you’ve done this . . .’ He hesitated. ‘Don’t forget you’re free to sail north, to go back home, whenever you like. You were Shek Kul’s poet and emissary before you were mine. If you want to return to your own domain to make a new start with the new year, to tell Shek Kul how he helped me find the means to save Chazen—’
‘I think the last thing he’ll want to hear is that his suspicions were right and Dev did prove to be a spying barbarian mage,’ said Risala with a shudder. No, I’ll wait.
When Shek Kul sent me his token, he ordered me to do all I could to make these southern islands safe from the evils of magic. I don’t think we’ve achieved that yet.’ She twisted her heavy silver ring with its uncut emerald.
‘Do you think your lord would understand that we had no choice but to use Dev’s powers as the lesser evil?’ Kheda rubbed a hand over his beard, staring unseeing at the far wall with its array of star circles. ‘He gave us the blend of herbs to dull a mage’s powers.’ Risala laid a hand over Kheda’s where it rested on the table.