Crow looked in her direction and smiled again as the tribunal dismissed Marsham. Her heart leaped in her breast, and the corners of her mouth curled up into a smile. There was something in his look, something about his pleasure, that seemed contagious. It wasn’t a sensation totally foreign to her, for she knew it with Peri; that pride and happiness at the well-being of a friend. And, as with Peri, she wanted to reach a hand out to touch him.
And she wanted more, to have that smile broadened, to have that pleasure increase on his face…
Before she could think further on those lines, Wroxter Dainn, the Oriosan Justice Advocate Supreme, rose and looked to call another witness. Past him, however, against the far wall, a time-faded tapestry began to smoke. A scorch mark darkened it in the center, near the base, and extended up to the height of a man. The smoke thickened, then popped into a flame that exploded upward to engulf the entire tapestry and sent licking tongues up into the cavernous ceiling vaults.
Sparks and glowing embers fell softly as snow amid the throng. There, in the wall, a previously hidden panel opened and a figure stepped forward to be greeted with gasps. He wore a hooded cloak fashioned after the skin of a Grand Temeryx, save that the varicolored plumage consisted not of feathers but a rainbow of flames.
His eyes seemed alive. Mostly blue, they had wisps of white drift through them like thin clouds in a windy sky. In his left hand he raised a white kerchief, at the same time moving his cloak back enough to show the empty scabbard at his left hip. Within the shadow of his mask his mouth opened, revealing white teeth that contrasted sharply with the ebon of his flesh.
“I am Nefrai-kesh. I come beneath a flag of truce. I demand the Oriosan right to speak at the trial of a vassal of mine.”
Augustus had risen from his seat. Linchmere cowered in his, as did most of the spectators. Dainn had recoiled and the queen covered her mouth with her left hand. Crow remained seated, but had outstretched his left hand in Alexia’s direction, to keep her back and safe. She’d also gained her feet, and her hand had fallen to where the hilt of her sword should have been.
The first to act, however, was Will Norrington. He shot to his feet and pointed a wavering finger at the sullanciri. “H-he’s not your vassal, he’s mine.”
Nefrai-kesh’s head came around quickly. The Aurolani general smiled, then he nodded once, solemnly. “Now you are the son I wish I’d had.”
“Maybe if you’d been a better father, he would have been.” Will’s grey eyes tightened beneath the mask and he drew the dagger he’d been allowed to carry. “Where he failed, I won’t.”
The sullanciri opened his arms. “You will come to my embrace. Now, later. The timing does not matter. You are my true heir, and there is much I will give you.”
Crow rose. “Will, stay back.”
“I’m not afraid of him.”
“You should be.” Crow looked at the sullanciri. “And you, baiting children?”
“He wears a mask. He is a man, with a man’s responsibilities and duties. You remember those, don’t you, Tarrant?” Nefrai-kesh stepped to the Throne of Truth. “King Augustus, you will recognize the truce and my right to speak. My heir presumptive has asserted a claim that is invalid, since neither I nor my son is deceased, and the formalities to dispossess us have not been observed.”
Will brandished his dagger. “Don’t listen to him.”
Augustus frowned. “This is a legal proceeding, Lord Norrington. Rules must be observed. I believe you can be seated, Nefrai-kesh, if you will be sworn to tell the truth.”
The young thief snarled. “He works for Chytrine. She made him into a monster! A snake can slither a straight line easier than he’ll tell the truth.”
Linchmere uncoiled timidly. “We have to hear him. It is the Law.”
“Then it’s stupid!” Will reached up, ripped off his own mask, and tossed it into the well of the court before turning and stalking out of the chamber. “When Chytrine comes to kill you, you’ll give her a courtesy mask and say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Rot the lot of you!”
Only the tiny snapping of the flames on the sullanciri’s cloak filled the silence in the wake of Will’s departure. The assembled Oriosans stared at the flaccid mask lying on the floor. Even Crow looked stricken as he slowly sank back into his chair.
Nefrai-kesh raised his right hand. “I swear to tell the whole of the truth, accepting Kedyn’s retribution if I lie.”
Wroxter Dainn, whose florid face streamed with sweat, struggled to compose himself. “You have come to testify about the conduct of Tarrant Hawkins?”
“From afar, yes, I have come.” Nefrai-kesh’s rich voice filled the chamber, but Alexia felt as if she was hearing him with more than her ears. Magick is at work here. Even knowing she was being manipulated, she could not shake the sense that his words were sincere and truthful.
“I led the expedition into Boragul. Once there we did encounter the Empress Chytrine, but none of us knew it at the time. We accepted the hospitality of the urZrethi and only discovered too late that we were in a trap. The woman we had pursued had us at her mercy.”
The sullanciri opened his left hand toward Crow, letting the handkerchief flutter to the ground. “I would first speak in praise of Hawkins. Of all the accusations against him, the most foul are those of cowardice. On the day of our damnation he was the most courageous. He alone fought his way back to our chambers. There he found me, he succored me, and did all he could to safeguard me, as a vassal should. I was sorely wounded—mortally so, save for the intervention of magick. Let no one who hears me ever think he was anything but a hero.
“Once a hero, however, and once a knave. He did commit treason that day. He defied me. Thrice I asked him to do me a service. I demanded it of him as was my right.”
Dainn mopped his brow with a handkerchief. “What was that duty?”
Before the sullanciri could answer, an agonized groan twisted from Crow’s throat. “I could not kill you.”
“Oh, but would that you had, Tarrant.” Nefrai-kesh laid his hand against his breastbone. “Had you done that, I would not be here. Queen Lanivette would not have died by my hand in this very place. Fortress Draconis would not have fallen and the Southlands would not be in jeopardy. You had, in your power, the means to protect your homeland and your friends, but you defied me. You committed treason, against me, against your nation, against the world.”
“You know why I could not.”
The sullanciri slowly shook his head. “The reasoning of a vassal is nothing when it contradicts the order of your lord. So, Augustus, you see what it is? He could have saved you all this, but he did not.”
King Augustus shook his head. “Being dead does not preclude one from joining the ranks of the sullanciri!‘
“True, but everyone on that expedition knew the qualitative difference between those who had become sullanciri pre- and postmortem. He knew.”
Crow looked at his hands. “I didn’t believe you would be so weak.”
“But I told you, Hawkins. I trusted you, and you failed me.” The sullanciri stood. “Despite what my grandson charged, I have spoken the truth, and Hawkins has verified it. I know Oriosan law and custom. You may have many speak for him, and more speak against him, but your duty is clear.”