Page 38 of Queen Demon
Prince-heir Vrim turned to Amabel and Kreat, sitting on a stone bench under the far window. “Vanguarder Amabel, your family has lived in the east for some time, true? Do any of you know how these Witches might react?”
Kreat’s brow furrowed in confusion; she was pretending she couldn’t understand Imperial. Kai didn’t know whether to feel annoyed or envious that he couldn’t pull that trick. Amabel took the question in with a faint frown, then turned to Kai. They said in Saredi, “Fourth Prince, will you translate? I can’t say all this in their language.”
“I will,” Kai said. Amabel had been teaching the other vanguarders Witchspeak and Kai had taught some to his cadre. Bashasa had learned a few basic words, but had very little time to put to doing anything that didn’t directly affect their survival.
Using Witchspeak, Amabel said,These Witches are not like my line or my family. We don’t give each other orders. We respect the experience and wisdom of age and we respect knowledge, we speak and we listen. We do not have leaders. I do not know what the dustwitches will do.
As Kai translated, he could tell the rest of the room was receiving this with some dismay. Hiranan considered it with a worried grimace. She said, “But then who are we taking Prince-heir Bashasa’s offer of alliance to? Can this Doyen even make that decision?”
“Hawkmoth at least seemed to believe that the Doyen can,” Bashasa said. He had been standing back with his neutral listening expression, reading the room. The others who didn’t know him well probably thought he was being persuaded by their objections. Kai knew he was looking for weaknesses and planning his attack. “We have only her word to go on. I understand all theconcerns, but I will proceed as I mean to, and offer the alliance first. The matter of these dustwitches must be settled before the Enalin arrive. We cannot let them distract us from our goals.”
There was uneasy shifting among the vanguarders and soldiers present, and narrowed eyes and opaque glances among the Prince-heirs. No one said,if they arrive, which could be good because no one was thinking it except Kai, or bad because everyone was thinking it so didn’t feel it needed to be said.
Then Lahshar, who had been quiet or at least not openly dismissive up to this point, said, “Rumor says these dustwitch creatures prey on travelers all through this area. The attack on us was not some mistake or act of fear. Sending overtures to them will be a waste of time.”
Bashasa’s face went tight. Yes, Kai thought Lahshar had been holding that in reserve too, ready to deploy it at the most opportune time.
Tahren pushed off the wall and regarded Lahshar steadily. Her expression was still even, but there was a trace of displeasure in the line of her mouth. She said, “Is this fact or story?”
Tahren did not participate much in their councils unless she had a direct question or someone appealed to her for an opinion. Her answers were always sensible and she was respectful to everyone, calm and never hesitating, the same as she was in battle. She had everyone’s attention now.
Lahshar eyed her. Despite the respect for Tahren, many in the army were wary of her as an Immortal Marshall, the way they were wary of Kai and Ziede. But Lahshar was nearly impossible to intimidate. She said, “It is fact. Last night I sent my cadre to ask if any of our recruits had heard of similar attacks in this region. The drovers who joined us from north Seidel speak of it. Go ask them yourself if you don’t believe me.”
Bashasa’s gaze had gone heavy lidded and he was smiling faintly, though he still had too much self-control to lose his temper.
Did he know about that too?Kai wondered. He thought Bashasawould have discussed it with him and Ziede if he had, though he might have only heard it this morning. Knowing what he did of the Arike now, and particularly the few surviving members of the bar Calis family, he felt certain Bashasa had someone in Lahshar’s camp who would pass along this kind of information.
Hiranan turned to Lahshar, frowning. “This should have been shared earlier.”
“I’m sharing it now,” Lahshar told her, unrepentant. “There have been attacks on caravans in the past few years, one of which these drovers saw with their own eyes.” She hadn’t glanced at Bashasa, possibly because she knew what she would see. “There were bodies with mouths full of dirt, choked on dust, like what was done to our vanguarders.”
Ziede met Kai’s gaze with a grimace. Kai was also sure Lahshar was telling the truth about this. He hated it when she was right.
Bashasa relaxed and spread his hands, as if the solution was obvious. He didn’t make the mistake of arguing with Lahshar. He said, “Nevertheless. We are fighting a war, and we need allies. It will certainly be a waste of lives not to make overtures.”
The argument went on, with Prince-heirs Vrim and Asara and some of the shield-bearers bringing up relevant points and Hiranan refusing to give in until she had all her concerns answered. Since Bashasa couldn’t actually answer those concerns, they weren’t getting anywhere. Hiranan was the one he really had to convince. The others trusted his leadership but Hiranan was the oldest here, the most experienced, and she was thoughtful and incisive in her decisions. Even Lahshar would shut up if Hiranan supported the plan.
After a while, Amabel and Kreat slipped out. Kai gave up and went to sit on a bench under the window near the outside doors. The afternoon had turned warmer and the buzz of insects risen as the wind died. He could smell the cookpots from the camp, ready to feed everyone early in case they were attacked again tonight. He didn’t have anything helpful to addto the discussion, and the fact that he half agreed with Lahshar left a bad taste in his mouth.
Kai let his thoughts drift. After a time, the conference broke up and Bashasa sat down beside him, saying, “We are taking a break.” He sounded like this was something they had planned on rather than an emergency measure to keep anyone from starting a fight.
“That’s probably a good idea.” The others had all withdrawn to opposite corners. Ziede and Tahren sat on another bench talking together.
“Our people are very stubborn,” Bashasa added, low-voiced, his gaze moving over the room.
“They are,” Kai agreed. Bashasa could out-stubborn a stone wall himself but he was also lightning quick to adjust his thinking to take account of new facts. That others were unwilling or unable to do this was somewhat baffling to him.
Bashasa glanced down. “Ah! Did someone give you that?”
At some point Kai had taken out a luck token and was absently rolling it between his palms. “Lots of someones.” He dug in his coat pocket and pulled out a small handful. While he and Dahin had been doing the washing this morning, several more tokens had appeared on his folded coat, left there by others going in and out of the bathhouse to fetch water or wash something. Some had been handed to him earlier by soldiers in Bashasa’s cadre, or the outguard, as he walked around camp. “They’re giving them to Ziede and Tahren, and the Witches, too. They’re for luck?”
Bashasa leaned forward, lightly touching Kai’s hand. “Not luck, exactly, though that’s a simple way to say it in Imperial. They’re more like cynosures.” He indicated one, the same design as the first Kai had been given while visiting Amabel near the supply train. Most of the tokens in Kai’s collection were that shape, though there were a few different ones mixed in. “That is for Benais-arik. Each city has a different one. They were signs of affiliation, of a sense of belonging, given to visitors from othercity-states, other places, as a sign of welcome, a remembrance.” He was smiling at the figures, a genuine expression of pleasure.
This explanation was even more puzzling. “Why are they giving them to me? So many, all of a sudden?”
Bashasa lifted his brows, as if it was obvious. “Because they saw you create a pillar of fire to defend our camp. Because they saw you and Ziede plunge into the dark in pursuit of our attackers, to bring back our captured people.” He looked at Kai for a long moment. “Would you speak on my behalf, Fourth Prince?”
Kai snorted. “To who? Nobody in this room who isn’t listening to you is going to listen to me.”
