'I don't know,' Kheda said helplessly. 'All I can tell you is they are dead, the men who planned this, who led these invaders.'
'The wizards?' Janne looked sharply at him.
Kheda nodded firmly. 'All dead.'
I certainly wasn't going to object to Dev making sure of that with his scrying.
Janne said nothing, concentrating on her cooking shellfish.
Feeling increasingly unsure of himself, Kheda looked around the empty shore. 'How goes the campaign to retake the Chazen domain?'
'Well enough.' Janne set down her stick and shifted her position slightly. 'The hardest task is making sure every island is truly clear of these savages. Bands here and there still make night raids on villages that we had thought safe, though without their magic to back them, our swordsmen kill them quickly enough.'
'Our losses?' Kheda swallowed painful apprehension. 'And of our allies of Redigal and Ritsem?'
'Not insupportable,' Janne answered distantly.
'What of Chazen Saril?' Kheda tried to moderate his anger but his words rang harsh along the shore.
Janne rose to her feet and dusted sand from her rump. 'Ask him yourself.'
'What?' Kheda was entirely confused.
'Chazen Saril,' Janne called out commandingly. 'Come here.'
'Daish Kheda.' Chazen Saril sidled around the tower of silence with a nervous smile. 'I never thought I'd see you again.'
'I thought I'd see you and your ships in the vanguard of any assault to reclaim your domain.' Kheda saw no reason for restraint. 'Why are your ships still huddled around the Serpents' Teeth while others sail to shed their blood for your benefit? What are you thinking of?'
'My children, my Sekni, my Olkai.' Chazen Saril had lost considerable weight and his skin hung in loose jowls. Apprehensive, his eyes were dark in bruised hollows. 'That's who I think of. That's who I see when the dawn mocks my restlessness or when dreams tear apart whatever sleep exhaustion forces on me. I see them dying. I see the fire and lightning defiling them. I see savage wizards laughing over their dead bodies and planning the enslavement of my people. That's all I think of, Kheda.'
'You have much to grieve over, truly.' Kheda hardened his heart against the desperate appeal in the man's words. 'But you have to set that aside and look to your duty to your people!'
'How?' Saril asked in genuine bemusement. 'How can I look them in the eye and claim their fealty, when they've suffered so much, when I could do nothing to save them? I cannot face them—'
'Who will lead them if you don't?' Kheda interrupted, enraged.
'Ritsem ships are bringing their swords to clear out the savages, Redigal too, and Daish. All of you have more claim than me on these people's gratitude now.' Tears spilled helplessly from Chazen Saril's eyes. 'I've no way to repay any of you for coming to our aid. You may as well hold whatever you can salvage from the ruin of my islands.'
Kheda gaped at him. 'That's it? You're throwing up your hands and abandoning your people? Where do you intend to go?'
'We can stay in the islands around the Serpents' Teeth, can't we?' Saril took a pace forward, outstretched hands beseeching. 'We'd be no threat, not to you, not to anyone. We can be useful to you, join with your domain, share our skills with yours.'
'Share your skills? I see you're sharing our silks.' Kheda mocked Saril's embroidered blue tunic and trousers with a furious hand. 'Your grief isn't so crippling that you can't come here all dressed up with your beard neatly oiled and plaited, while your people die naked and alone. Get yourself some plain cottons, get your hands dirty with the earth of your domain. Lead your people in planting their crops, rebuilding their houses.'
'So the savages have something new to burn and despoil, when they come again?' Saril began shaking. 'I can't do it, Kheda, I can't. I can't go back to spend my life watching the southern seas for the first sign of magic coming to tear my life apart again.' He was sobbing now, nose running, cringing where he stood. 'I cannot face the skies, for fear of the judgement I might read there. I cannot look to the least omen or portent for fear of seeing some new disaster threatening us all. How am I to lead my people again?'
This is the man I feared was plotting to take over my domain.
Kheda stared at him helplessly.
'Chazen Saril, I need more dune grass.' Janne had been plaiting little mats from the coarse yellowy stems.
The two men looked wide-eyed at her for a moment, then Saril scrubbed at his face with a sleeve. 'Of course, my lady.' Stumbling, he hurried away towards the ridge behind the tower.
Kheda watched him go, incredulity warring with fury. 'What does he think his people will do, without him to guide them? What does he think the other domains will do if they see Chazen islands left for anyone to claim them? Fear of magic might have Saril pissing himself but Redigal and Ritsem will be thinking of the turtle shell and the pearls, now they've seen the wizards are gone. I don't imagine Ulla Safar will want to be left out and won't Aedis and Sarem have a claim on reparations for whatever ships and men they've sent against the savages? They have sent help, haven't they?'
As Kheda turned to demand Janne's confirmation, he saw Chazen Saril had returned clutching a handful of grass, shrunken and fearful, tears still rolling slowly down his face to lose themselves in his beard.
'We can at least eat together.' Janne deftly raked aside the embers from the white mussels and scooped up a couple on to a mat of grass. 'Careful, they'll be hot.' She handed the mat to Kheda. He took it and sat down, glowering at the wretched Chazen lord.
Janne handed Saril some of the shellfish. 'Let's see what counsel a full stomach can bring us.'
'Do you have some water?' asked Kheda curtly.
Janne handed him a finely wrought brass bottle. He drank and they ate in heavy, uncomfortable silence.
Saril was the first to speak. 'Janne Daish,' he began. He stopped and looked unsure.
'What?' Kheda demanded.
Saril grimaced, puzzled. He got awkwardly to his feet, one hand pressed to his belly. 'Forgive me,' he gasped, staggering away to vomit copiously.
Nauseated, Kheda threw away his remaining mussels. 'What—'
'Leave him,' Janne commanded instantly.
'What?' Kheda gaped at her before looking at Saril, who had fallen to his knees, racked with uncontrollable spasms.
'I said, leave him,' Janne repeated icily. She prised apart the last of her own mussels and ate the yellowy flesh within.
'He's ill,' retorted Kheda. 'Have you—'
'He's useless,' snapped Janne with startling viciousness. 'His cowardice forfeits his every claim on the Chazen people's loyalty and the domain's wealth. He's shirked every responsibility and proved himself entirely unfit to rule. There isn't a warlord in the southern reaches who would deny it.'
'He's choking!' Kheda got to his feet.
'Sit down!' Janne stood and barred his way, face implacable. 'His death will only be an omen to confirm what everyone has been thinking; that his blood is of no more use to the domain.'
'And what happens then?' Kheda gaped at her. 'We stand by while Redigal, Ulla and Ritsem start a war for the Chazen islands, along with whoever else feels inclined to join in? Or are you thinking we claim them for Daish and beggar ourselves rebuilding what the invaders destroyed? Janne, he can't breathe!'
'Daish will not take on so much as a finger length of Chazen territory.' Janne ignored Chazen Saril's weakening struggles behind her. 'The whole domain has been tainted with magic. We're not going to tolerate Chazen people in our islands and whatever corruption clings to them for a day longer than we have to either. They go home, rebuild or die, that's up to them.'