"Kurrekai, keep him away from me!" He looked hurt. She choked back a sob.
"Wait a few moments longer, my lord," Lady Kurrekai said quietly.
"When she is fully awake the serpent will calm itself. Then you may come to her."
Shupansea lay back, breathing deeply. It had been a dream. Of course it had been a dream. Tovek's bones were dust in the earth of the Glorious Home, and she was safe in Sanctuary.
"And this was not the first nightmare?" the prince was saying now.
"There was only one yesterday," said Kurrekai, "but this is the third tonight, and it is not yet dawn. She will not let me try to drug her, but she must sleep. Perhaps she will listen to you."
The Beysa pushed herself upright against her cushions with a sigh.
"Shu-sea, love, what were you dreaming of?" The prince settled himself carefully on the foot of her bed and took her outstretched hand.
"A man who betrayed me before I ever laid eyes on you!"
"The traitor Tovek ..." said Kurrekai bitterly.
"Holy Mother Bey," whispered the Beysa, "did you see him too?" Aroused by her emotion, the beynit lifted its head, then settled between her full breasts again.
"And before that it was two of those Stepsons," said the lady-in-waiting implacably, "marching bold as brass down the hall! The guard saw them too, but he thought it was his own nightmare!"
"Lock the snake up and sleep with me!" cried the prince. Both women stared at him. "I know you don't like to leave it, but you have to rest'"
"Kadakithis, I could kill you ..." Shupansea said slowly. "Even without the beynit. My blood is poison, Ki-thus! Oh! If you were Beysib you would understand!" They gazed at each other across a chasm of race and culture that mocked their clasped hands.
"I understand that I love you," he said finally. "And I am still prince in Sanctuary. If you cannot rest, then no man of learning in this town is going to sleep either until you are free!"
"Another week and I should be able to get rooms of my own," said Cappen Varra, handing his empty plate to Gilla for a second helping of pie. "Playing during the intermissions at Feltheryn's theater may not be exactly what I would have chosen, but the work is regular'"
"You're welcome to stay on here," said Gilla.
"Well, I need more privacy to practice, you know-I don't like to think I'm disturbing you!" Cappen's glance caught Lab's in warning, then flicked away again.
"But who could mind listening to your music?" Gilla exclaimed.
Lalo suppressed a smile. He suspected that it was not the practice of music that the minstrel had in mind. Feltheryn had hired a new actress for their latest production, and Cappen was already courting her.
Replete, they were all pushing their plates aside when there was a knock on the door.
"Open up! Lord Torchholder's orders-open up in rhere!"
Latilla, too young to remember the times when a knock on the door was a signal to hide, was already scampering to obey. Lalo opened his mouth to call her back, then shut it again. If they were Torchholder's men he had nothing to fear. Did he? He fought back memories of the night when Coricidius the Vizier had sent the Hell-Hounds to pluck Lalo from his bed. Surely the priest who had been the closest thing he ever had to a patron could mean no harm to him.
"What does Lord Torchholder want with me at this hour?" he asked as the guardsmen pushed into the room.
"Didn't say. You're to come with us, bring your drawing things."
"He can't be wanting Lalo to draw a picture for him at this hour!" exclaimed Gilla. The man shrugged.
"Got my orders. That's all I know."
It had to be more than artwork, thought Lalo, gathering up his things. Suddenly he remembered his conversation with the priest the previous morning. Darios was watching him, a little pale, biting his lip as if he wanted to speak but was not sure-
"I want to bring my apprentice with me too-" Lalo turned, satchel in hand, and Darios stood up eagerly.
"Got no orders-" the guard began.
"Oh, what does it matter!" exclaimed one of the other men. "He said to get the limner quickly. Can't hurt to take two!"
They moved quickly through the streets of the city. Even in the Maze folk got out of the way of a well-armed troop who seemed to know their business. Lalo had never gone across town so fast. But it was only as the guards conducted him up the broad staircase towards the royal suites instead of downward to the Hall of Justice lockup that he realized how great his fear had been.
The air in the upper corridor was heavy with the scent of incense and expensive perfume. Embroidered hangings glowed on the walls and Lalo blinked, seeing with doubled vision the flicker of lamplight on figured tapestries and the glimmering afterimages of richly robed courtiers and armored men.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, opened them abruptly as he heard a low laugh and saw before him the agile form, the sardonic grin, and the gleaming knife of the assassin Zanderei.
"Watch out!" He stopped short and the guard behind him bumped into him, swearing. "He's got a knife!"
"Who? Where?" Swords flared from their sheaths and Lalo was thrust hard against the wall. "You fools, jumping at shadows! There's nobody here!"
Lalo blinked. There was no one now, but he had seen something, or why should he suddenly think of a man who had been dead for years?
"They're all jumping at shadows here, if you ask me," muttered one of the men as they started forward again.
Darios pressed close to him, twitching like a nervous horse. "I thought I saw my old master," he whispered. "But maybe it's the incense-Lalo, somebody has been doing exorcisms here!"
Why? wondered Lalo, unless ... Before he could follow that thought to its conclusion the gilded doors at the end of the hall were pushed open and they were thrust into the presence of the prince and the Beysa and their attendants. Lord Torchholder was brooding like a thundercloud by the window. As they entered he turned. A gesture sent the soldiers away-
"You told me that you cured the bad dreams of the girls at the Aphrodisia House with your drawings," the priest said abruptly. "I want you to do it again!"
"'For you?" He stared around him. Molin Torchholder simply looked angry, but the Beysa appeared haggard, and even the prince was pale.
"For everybody-" said Prince Kadakithis. "It started with the Beysa's nightmares, but everybody's seeing things now. Damn place is haunted! Can't go on like this, you know."
Lalo nodded. Zanderei was his own personal nightmare, but the potential number of specters who might haunt a prince boggled the imagination, especially in Sanctuary. But it was one thing to see, and to alter, the simple secrets of girls in a house of joy. The hidden fears of princes might recall deeds that for the safety of the city must not be changed! And even if that could be accomplished, how could they allow the man who had seen all their sins to live?
And it might not work anyway. He had not painted living nightmares, but memories.
"Are the dreams all that is wrong?" he asked carefully, playing for time.
"No!" exclaimed the Beysa. She toyed nervously with the silver ball on the table. "There's a feeling of pervading dread! Even waking, I see shadows ..."
Lalo shivered. Even as she spoke he could feel it, and knew that this was something worse than his own fear. He felt Darios trembling beside him. He had to do something to distract them-he remembered what Cappen Varra had said about the power of people's minds.