“That’s part of my role, yes, although in truth, I haven’t had to push very hard. Harel wants this war, or at least he thinks he does. That’s something you should always remember about the Eandi. Given the opportunity to destroy themselves, they will usually take it. We need only be patient and await a time when we can use their foolishness to our advantage.”
“It sounds as though the movement can’t fail,” Kayiv said, a familiar note of defiance in his tone. It almost seemed that the man couldn’t speak without challenging someone to a fight. “All the work’s been done already. Why would you need us?”
“Our work won’t be done for many years. Surely you must understand that. The Eandi may be fools but they’re not cowards, and they don’t take defeat lightly. We need to know which Qirsi will support us when the time comes, and we need to know that we can count on those Qirsi when the Eandi realize their error and turn their weapons on us.” He paused, smiling at both of them. “And of course, when victory is ours, we’ll need those young Qirsi nobles of whom I spoke just a moment ago.”
Bells began to toll in Curtell city and all of them paused. Midday. The emperor would be expecting him shortly, and he still had to attend to the treasury accounting.
“I’m afraid I need your answer now,” Dusaan said. “I’ve told you what the movement can offer you, and I’ve told you as well what will happen to you both should you refuse us. Now the two of you must decide.”
Kayiv opened his hands. “You haven’t given us much of a choice, High Chancellor. Riches and power on the one hand, or death on the other. Do you really expect us to say no?”
“Of course not. But I do expect you to follow all of my instructions. The first time one of you defies me in any way, either by refusing a command, or by doing or saying anything that endangers the movement, I’ll kill you both. I won’t have you joining our cause merely to acquire wealth or ensure your survival. We’re offering you and every Qirsi in the land a wondrous future, but you’ll have to earn your right to see that future, just as you’ll have to earn your gold. Do you understand?”
Nitara nodded. “Yes.” She actually smiled, though the color had fled her cheeks again. “I’ve hoped for this for some time now. Truly I have. I just never imagined that my path to the movement was so close at hand.”
“I know that you’ll serve us well.” He turned his gaze to Kayiv. “And you, Minister? Are you ready to serve the Weaver as well?”
The young man looked away, his mouth twisting sourly.
Nitara, slipped from her chair and knelt before him, taking both his hands in hers and looking up into his bright eyes. “We’ve spoken of this. We’ve dreamed of it. Why do you fight it now?”
Kayiv gave a small shake of his head. “I don’t know,” he said quietly.
“He fights it because he dislikes me,” Dusaan said, knowing as he spoke the words that it was true. “Isn’t that right, Minister?”
The man faced him, though reluctantly. “I don’t know you well enough to dislike you, High Chancellor. But I can’t say that I trust you, at least not enough to place our lives in your hands.”
“I’m afraid you’re too late, Kayiv. Your lives are in my hands. You need to make your peace with that. Serve the movement well and I assure you, you have nothing to fear from me.”
Kayiv looked down at Nitara again. After several moments, he nodded, all the time gazing into her eyes. “Very well.”
“Good. Leave me now. I must see the emperor. You’ll receive your gold shortly and we’ll speak again after our daily discussion two days hence.” Dusaan paused briefly, thinking. “Kayiv, during that discussion you’ll say something to Stavel that will anger me, that will force me to ask you to remain here again after the others have gone. I don’t know what we’ll be speaking of, so you’ll have to think of it on your own.” He grinned. “You seem quite adept at saying the inappropriate thing, however. I don’t expect you’ll have much trouble finding the right words.”
That, of all things, brought a smile to the young minister’s lips. “No, I don’t suppose I will.”
The two of them rose and started toward the door.
“Neither of you has asked me how much gold you’ll be receiving,” he said, stopping them once more. “That pleases me.”
Kayiv turned. “I had wondered.”
“I don’t doubt it. It should be approximately one hundred qinde, imperial, of course.”
Kayiv raised an eyebrow at this, but Dusaan merely smiled.
“I’m paid in imperials, as well,” he said, the first direct falsehood he had told them. “If we were to start spending common currency in the markets in Curtell it would draw unwanted attention.”
Actually, Dusaan usually paid those who served him in the common currency used by the other realms. Imperial qinde were held to have less value than the qinde used by the six; his underlings would prefer the common currency. More to the point, he feared that paying imperial qinde to his servants in Sanbira or Aneira or any of the other realms might reveal his identity. Few Qirsi in Braedon had access to so much gold and it wouldn’t take the more clever ones much time to realize that he was the mysterious Weaver who entered their dreams at night. By the same token, he feared that paying the more valuable currency to these two would raise their suspicions. Why would the high chancellor of Braedon have access to so much common currency if he were merely another soldier in the Weaver’s army?
“That’s a good deal of gold,” Kayiv said.
“One hundred is a guess. It may be a bit more, it may be less. Either way, you’re right, it’s more than you make in an entire year. Don’t spend it like a drunken Eandi. You’ll only draw the emperor’s attention.”
“How is it that the Qirsi we now serve have become so wealthy?”
The Weaver gave a thin smile. “You’ll find, Minister, that the movement’s leaders have little tolerance for such questions. The Weaver has resources that you can’t even fathom, and power to match. Leave it at that, and be grateful that he’s asked you to be his ally in this fight.”
Kayiv nodded, and a moment later he and Nitara stepped into the corridor, pulling Dusaan’s door closed behind them.
Dusaan returned to his writing table and pulled the imperial treasury accounting from the shelf beside it. Arranging for the ministers’ gold would be easy. The wages of all the emperor’s ministers and chancellors were paid at the end of the waxing, as were those of his soldiers and laborers. Finding two hundred qinde for these two would be no more difficult than it had been appropriating gold for his other servants.
He had no doubt that Nitara would serve him well, as long as she listened more to him than to her lover. Kayiv, however, was another matter. He possessed three magics, two of which-shaping and language of beasts-were among the more potent Qirsi powers. He had a keen intellect and great confidence in his own abilities, qualities that Dusaan looked for in his most trusted servants. But he was contentious and too quick to question his superiors. Since the young man’s arrival in the palace several years before, Dusaan had attributed his difficult manner to dissatisfaction with Eandi rule in general and Harel’s ineptitude in particular, sentiments the Weaver shared. After this day’s conversation, however, he was forced to wonder if it was something inherent in Kayiv himself.
Dusaan had long been reluctant to turn any of Harel’s Qirsi to his cause, fearing that working so closely with those who served him might make it impossible to maintain the secrecy on which his very life depended. But in this instance, he drew some comfort from the fact that he would be able to keep watch on Kayiv himself. The man struck him as a most dangerous addition to the movement.
They didn’t dare say a word until they were back in her chamber, and even with her door closed, Nitara was afraid to speak in anything more than a whisper. Despite her fear of what the high chancellor had suddenly become, seemingly before their eyes, she could barely contain the mixture of exhilaration and apprehension that gripped her now. For nearly a year, she and Kayiv had spoken of joining the conspiracy, sharing their dreams of a new Qirsi Supremacy in hushed tones as they lay together in her bed, still breathless, their passion sated. It had never occurred to either of them that others in the palace shared this dream. Certainly they had never guessed that Dusaan might be anything less than completely loyal to the emperor.