Page 33 of Queen Demon
Kai had suspected it was something like that. He mulled over how to be comforting, and had no real idea what to say. Dahinwas probably right, and there was no argument to make. He said, “In the Saredi, if you ask too many questions, they just make you go to the elders and learn things.”
Dahin’s brows quirked. That was clearly not the response he had expected. After a moment, he asked, “What things?”
“History, medicine, how to read the stars, how to tell stories, how the world works.” Kai shrugged. “All the important things. Do you want to help me do the laundry?”
Dahin considered, biting his lip in thought. He stood up. “Sure.”
They finished the washing and Kai took a quick bath and washed his hair, and persuaded Dahin to also take a bath, something he thought Tahren would probably be thankful for. That was about the time the arguing started in the caravanserai.
Four
Kai woke with Dahin leaning over him, saying, “Did you mean what you said?”
“Probably.” Kai pushed Dahin back so he could sit up. He had slept on a couch in a back room of the Cloisters suite. The dim sliver of light falling through the open shutters told him it was barely dawn and he felt like he could sink back into the cotton-stuffed mattress and not move for the rest of the day. This relatively new body had its own quirks, and it obviously liked sleeping in beds more than on the rotting planks of a ghost canal boat. He yawned, “What?”
Kneeling on the bed beside him, Dahin’s eyes were bloodshot and his clothes disheveled and his hair undone, the dampness in the air making it hang lank around his head like a depressed willow tree. “When you said the next time I want to do something stupidly dangerous to come and get you and you would help and wouldn’t ask any questions. I’m paraphrasing.”
Oh no,Kai thought. He rubbed his face, trying to rally himself for what was apparently going to be a very busy day. “Yes, I meant it.”
Dahin took a sharp breath. “I need to go to Belith. You need to go with me. You need to convince Tahren and Ziede to go too.” He grimaced, shook his head a little. “We could use more help from Avagantrum, but there’s no time.”
Kai stared at Dahin, who stared back expectantly. Kai did have questions, so many questions, but he had promised, and Dahin looked genuinely… Not frightened, exactly. It took a lotto frighten Dahin. Urgent was the word. He looked urgent, and desperate.
“Right.” Kai swung his legs off the couch. After the confrontation with Bashat, he had just wanted to retire from the world. He had thrown off his coat and slept in his shift, leaving a lamp lit in the outer chamber in case Dahin came in. From his bloodshot eyes, he wondered if Dahin had stayed up all night reading Bashasa’s notes, if that was why they had to go to Belith so urgently.Or that council meeting in the Assembly,Kai remembered suddenly.Idiot, you should have gone with him.
His heart pearl told him that Ziede was in bed curled around Tahren, still asleep but not deeply, the approach of dawn drawing her out of her dreams. He broke into her consciousness rudely, saying,Ziede, we have to leave for Belith now. It’s urgent.
Ziede snapped awake.Kai. What? Why?He felt her sit up and shake Tahren.What’s happened?
I promised Dahin if he asked I would go with him and not ask questions. He says we all need to go to Belith now.
I knew you’d regret that.Ziede’s tone was resigned.Hold on, let me tell Tahren.After a moment, she reported,Tahren says that was a stupid thing to do, Kai.
She did not say it was stupid.
No, she said it was ill-advised, but that’s what she meant.Kai felt Ziede’s sigh in his bones.Is there time to dress and eat first or will we have to run out the door barefoot in underclothes?
“Ziede says they’ll go with us,” Kai told Dahin. “They want to know if they can dress and eat first.”
Dahin bounced off the couch like a weight had been lifted off him. “If they hurry!”
Dahin had set the ascension raft down on the roof of the Cloisters, on the open stone platform that had once been the floor of a grand Temple Halls for Hierarch worship, so it was easy to loadit. Kai had been able to slow him down enough to not only let everyone eat but to pack clothes and food. Dahin insisted that there was no time to wait for the markets to open, so they had to pack from what was left in the chests, with no chance to search out more nondescript travel clothing. Though they would be flying in an ascension raft, so realistically that squashed any hope of traveling discreetly.
They had no idea how far south they would be going, so Ziede unearthed a stash of brocaded coats with padding and warm linings and some Lesser Blessed garments that had been left behind when some of Tahren’s distant family had decided to leave the Blessed Lands. The Lesser Blessed weren’t as impervious to cold as the Immortal Blessed, so while the coats looked like thick well-woven linen, they were just as warm as heavy Enalin wool.
Tenes had approached Kai and asked to accompany them.Are you sure?he replied.We’ll be crossing through Palm. That would take you much nearer to where your family might be.
I want to help you, then look for them. Dahin’s task seems urgent,she said.After it is done, I’ll leave to look for my family.
Kai couldn’t argue with that. And they were the only familiar thing in her world at the moment; maybe she needed more time before striking out alone. He said,Your help is invaluable.
They were taking Sanja with them too, because Kai wasn’t happy leaving her anywhere unless it was at Avagantrum with Tanis and the others. Ramad could be here within the next day or so if he hurried, and Ramad knew Sanja could be used as a lever against Kai. She was safer with them, no matter where they were going or why.
As the raft lifted off, some Cloister Witches came out to wave. Kai hadn’t told them where they were going, just in case anyone had reason to ask.
Now they had been in the air long enough for the sky to go from gray dawn to cloud-streaked blue, and they had left Benais-arik’s farmlands behind for rolling plains. Dahin’s manic airhad simmered down into a controlled calm, and the raft wasn’t fighting the wind today so the steering seemed much easier. He had even laughed a few times and pointed out some old battle sites to Sanja and Tenes.
Kai, lounging on the raft’s bench, nodded to Ziede. He had promised not to ask questions, but she hadn’t. She said, “Dahin, what should we be prepared for in Belith?”
