"My lady.... Kats...."
"No," she said again. "Don't say anything." Gently she touched her lips to his and held him close to her. He wept and trembled, and every tear cleansed both of them, until they were healed and ready to face their future.
There is a message I need you to take to Sonovar. Place it in his hands. Do not harm him or any of those who follow him. That is important. Defend yourself, yes.... but harm none of them.
If he chooses to give a reply, then bring it back to me.
This is the most important thing I have ever asked of anyone, and the hardest. I have faith in you, Lanniel. I know you will not fail me.
It took a great deal to rouse Sonovar from his torpor these days. Takier doubted even the news he was bringing his lord would manage that feat, but he was to be surprised, never a feeling he had welcomed.
And he had been surprised once already this day.
"And what is she?" Sonovar had asked. Takier had insisted on informing his lord personally of this. It was not an honour any had sought to take from him. Few wished to have anything to do with Sonovar recently, save only his loathsome advisor, Forell.
"Has she come here as an emissary? An assassin? A messenger? A threat, what? What is she?"
"She is my daughter," Takier said simply, and a dark light had burned within Sonovar's eyes, the first sense of excitement since the Tak'cha had left.
"Then take me to her."
Lanniel was where she had been left, guarded by five warriors with weapons drawn, ready for the slightest provocative move. She had claimed to have come alone with an important message for Sonovar. Her ship had been searched and it had been confirmed there was no one hiding there, nor were there any suicide devices, either on the ship or on her person. She had surrendered her weapon with no complaint, and demanded to see Sonovar.
Takier pondered this, and was darkly compelled to believe her story was true. She had come here to talk, not to fight. He did not like the thought of that.
She looked up as he and Sonovar entered, and her eyes betrayed no sign of recognition at the sight of her father. He in turn spared her no thought. She had chosen to ignore the orders of her father, her lord and her clan, and had sworn herself to an usurper and a traitor. He had no kinship with her now. She was nothing but an enemy.
But in the part of his soul that spoke not as a warrior or a lord, but as a man, he was proud to see his daughter stand so tall, so ready, so much a warrior in her every essence.
He looked around and saw Tirivail in the far corner, her eyes and bearing troubled. Concern festered within him. She had changed greatly since her return from Anla'Verenn–veni. He did not know the cause of this change within her, or what he could do to soothe her pain. All he could do was speak to her as lord to soldier. He had long ago forgotten how to speak as father to daughter.
Tirivail's eyes were locked onto her sister. Lanniel in turn paid her no heed.
"So," Sonovar said, softly. "We have a guest." His words were flat and harsh. "Why are you here, traitor?"
"I have been sent to deliver a message to you," she said simply. There was no passion in her voice, no hatred, just a simple statement of fact.
"Then give me your words."
"It is for you only," she replied, holding up a data crystal. "This is yours."
One of the guards took it from her and studied it carefully. Takier knew it to be what it seemed. It was not poisoned, nor any form of explosive device or other instrument of assassination. Of course, it might yet contain ways to destroy or wound. Words could do that.
Sonovar took it and held it up to the light, seeing the rays illuminate and scatter across its surfaces. "Ah," he said. "I wonder what proud words Sinoval has for me. Perhaps he wishes to surrender?" Takier half–wondered whether that was a joke. A year ago he would have been sure it was, and would have laughed accordingly. But then Sonovar was a very different person from the one he had been a year ago.
Sonovar turned his gaze back from the crystal to Lanniel. "And is that the extent of your mission?"
"I am to take any reply you may have back to my lord Primarch."
Sonovar smiled. "Ah.... then your mission is indeed finished. I have no words to say to him. None whatsoever, despite what he may choose to say to me, despite whatever lies he chooses to try to feed me. You see, your mission is over.
"Tirivail!"
She stepped forward. "I am at your command, my lord."
"That is your sister, yes?"
"Once, that was correct, my lord. Now she is.... nothing. A traitor, no more."
"I am glad to hear that. As you said, she is a traitor. Kill her."
Takier clenched his hand into a fist, but said nothing. There was nothing to say. He looked directly at Lanniel, and felt her eyes meet his. He hoped she could see his pride. She was not moving, not crying out in fear, not trying to flee or beg for her life. She was going to die as a warrior should. What more could a father ask of his daughter than that she die well?
The five guards stepped aside, ready for Tirivail to move forward. Sonovar looked away, focussing once more on the crystal. Takier did not. He could not have turned from the sight of his children.
Once, he had had three children. Now, he had but one.
Tirivail and Lanniel looked at each other for a long while, and for the first time Lanniel seemed to recognise her sister's presence. Something passed between them in that moment, something indefinable, that not even Takier himself could truly comprehend. He had had a brother, who had died in battle long years before. Since then he had been alone, unable to experience the bond his daughters had shared.
Abruptly Tirivail turned to face Sonovar. She fell to her knees and extended her pike to him. It was ready to be used.
"I cannot obey your command, my lord," she said, her voice strained. "My life is yours. Take it, for my failure."
Sonovar looked at her suddenly, shocked, even stunned. He staggered back, then turned and left, not running, but certainly moving faster than was dignified or appropriate.
All eyes turned to Takier. He looked first at Tirivail. "Rise," he said. "Go to your quarters to await your lord's decision." She bowed once, and then left. "As for.... her.... place her in a cell. See that she is well–guarded, but also that she is well cared for. Remain there until Lord Sonovar or I say something different."
He turned and made to leave, but something, something he could not accurately express, forced him to turn and look at his daughters. "I am proud of you," he said. "Both of you." Then he left.
It was the first time he had ever said those words to either of them, but he had meant them. He had meant them a thousand times over.
Sonovar laid the data crystal down on the table and closed his eyes. He could still hear Sinoval's words echoing around his dead chamber. He could still feel Sinoval's presence in every particle of air, a ghost that would haunt him until he died.
He had nothing to say. It was lies, all of it. Lies! It had to be, had to be.
But what if it were true? What if...? No, it was lies.
He did not know. He did not know.
He turned the merest instant before Forell came into view, bearing as ever his silver tray and golden goblet. Sonovar darted to his advisor's side and scooped up the drink, draining it, heedless of the crimson rivulets that ran down his chin, dripping onto his tunic and to the floor, each one a drop of blood falling from his mouth.
"The elixir is life." The words came to him somehow, from somewhere, from some part of his consciousness. "The elixir is blood. The blood is life."