Keera urges silence on her brother and their friend, then humbly implores, “My lord—” But very quickly, she catches her mistake. “I am sorry — you do not wish that title. Caliphestros — can you not see how much your influence will be needed in the actual building of this new style of kingdom that the proclamation Linnet Niksar has read will bring? Can you not undertake to contribute to it, for our sakes, if not for the people of Broken’s?”
But Caliphestros refuses to speak, even to Visimar, who stands nearby; and Arnem can see that some sort of intervention is required. As he moves his wife and son closer to each other, stepping out from between them as all soldiers present come to rigid attention and salute, he catches sight of Niksar, sitting astride his pure white mount, holding an unrolled piece of parchment as if its announcement was meant to resolve this and all problems, and betraying in his face complete surprise that it has not done so. Rather than approaching the participants in the confrontation at the gate directly, Arnem moves to his aide, his voice deliberately calm and inquisitive.
“Niksar,” he says.
“Yantek!” comes the reply; and the rank suddenly sounds stranger than it ever has, to Arnem’s ears.
“What have you been about, Linnet?” Arnem asks. “It was my understanding that you were attending to errands in the Fourth and then the First Districts.”
“As I did, Yantek,” Niksar explains quickly. “Well, that is, in the First. Your charge that I visit the Fourth District was delayed by the appearance of these—” Niksar indicates the bodies of Baster-kin’s men that litter the ground about them.
“And my children are safe?” Arnem says, wishing to be certain.
“Entirely safe, Yantek,” Niksar replies quickly. “They await outside the walls with a fauste of our men and Radelfer, as you directed. But I have carried out the second of my charges, and upon doing so thought it perhaps best to wait, and bring the children in only when we had resolved this matter of — Lord Caliphestros and his panthers.”
For the first time, Caliphestros turns his head, but only slightly, in Niksar’s direction, as if the remark was no more than what he had expected. “And so now they are dangerous animals to you, Niksar?” he asks, his voice bitter. “When for many days you have traveled with Stasi, and seen that she means no harm to anyone that does not threaten her?”
“But my lord—” Niksar begins to reply.
“I am not anyone’s ‘lord,’” Caliphestros says, not loudly, but with a rage that is unmistakable. “If I have not made that much clear during this campaign, then I have lost far more of the art of communication with my fellow men than I had thought the case.”
“Well—” But the moment is beyond Niksar’s negotiating skills, and he turns again to Arnem. “You see, Yantek, I went, as we had discussed—”
“As you two had discussed,” Caliphestros interrupts, his tone the same. “Apparently. I knew nothing of any such plan, nor did any member of the Bane tribe.”
“It is a minor point, Lord—” Arnem catches himself. “Your pardon — Caliphestros. Our purpose was only to discover the true intentions of the Layzin and the God-King, and to make our future plans accordingly. Was I in the wrong?”
“Since your ‘purpose’ evidently included revealing my presence in the city,” Caliphestros answers, “then I would say yes, you were in the wrong, by not consulting your allies.”
“Perhaps,” Arnem says. “But do you seriously suppose that Baster-kin, having observed our actions outside the walls, had not already made your presence, and that of the Bane, known within the High Temple, and thus to the royal family? And do you doubt that I only wished to explain that your presence was not to be feared?” These questions seem to mitigate Caliphestros’s fury, for an instant, and Arnem pursues the opening: “And, since Niksar evidently brings good news — well, what is the news you bring, Niksar?”
“Read for yourself, Yantek,” Niksar replies, handing the document down to his commander and himself saluting.
“I really do wish you could stop calling me that,” Arnem murmurs. “However, I suppose it is inevitable …”
“According to the God-King,” Niksar says, “it is more than inevitable: it is a heightened necessity, for you are a man of new standing — and power.”
As Arnem quickly reads the proclamation, he can see just how and why its actual wording — founded so basically in the Kafran faith and system of rule — would have inflamed the passions of the participants in the current disagreement when Niksar first read the thing. Such being the case, and not wishing to make matters worse, he simply and quickly summarizes its points: “It declares that Rendulic Baster-kin — the late Rendulic Baster-kin, I might add, Caliphestros—”
“That was his doing, and not ours,” Caliphestros angrily declares, his fears reignited rather than calmed. “My companions and I sought only to escape this damnèd city, that has done each of us such injustice.” He glances at the panthers: Stasi’s daughter paces in growing and dangerous confusion, and is clearly prepared to commit more violence of the variety that was inflicted on Baster-kin and his Guardsmen but moments ago, if such becomes necessary. She is only prevented from doing so by her mother: Stasi seems able to communicate to her offspring that these men — particularly the Bane before them, but the soldiers, as well — are not to be feared or attacked: not yet, at any rate.
“It is true, Sentek Arnem,” Keera declares, using the title that the commander of the Broken army seems, for the moment, to prefer, as a method of appealing to him. Veloc and Heldo-Bah nod in agreement. “We arrived just as the two parties met,” the tracker continues. “Caliphestros, Stasi, and her child were attempting only to leave the city, when Baster-kin goaded the Guardsmen with him — who, we now discover, had murdered the priests dispatched by your own God-King to arrest the Merchant Lord — into another, similarly treacherous attack: a decision that they would have been wise not to have taken, if escape was their goal.”
“Although,” Heldo-Bah says, “had they continued to try to run, and made for the East Gate, they would have encountered us, and met with the same fate — if delivered through slightly different means …”
“You would have done murder within the city walls, Heldo-Bah?” Arnem asks.
And for the first time, the three Bane look at Arnem with expressions in their faces that somewhat resemble Caliphestros’s own. “Murder—Yantek?” Heldo-Bah replies, deliberately provoking Arnem. “Were those not your orders — to hunt down and bring to justice every member of Baster-kin’s Guard that could be found?”
“I make no complaint about the Guardsmen,” Arnem answers. “But I gave no orders as to what was to be done with Baster-kin himself.”
“The chief of the Guard was not to be considered a member of it?” Veloc replies, somewhat astonished. “One who had already ordered the killing of an escort of priests who acted under the direct instruction of your God-King?”
“There is troubling inconsistency in that, Yantek, you must confess,” Keera adds gravely. “And, as I have told you, it was they who, in accordance with the Merchant Lord’s orders, attempted to bring about the completion of the sentence — the unjust sentence, as I have heard you yourself say — that was passed upon Caliphestros, so many years ago. The panthers acted in self-defense, and defense of their benefactor — and by urging them all to stay here, we sought only to make that great man’s wisdom available to you, as you assume your new powers.” Keera’s expression changes from surprise to suspicion. “But perhaps we have misunderstood the matter …”