‘He wasn’t wrong.’ The mage unsheathed his swords, passing his second blade to Kheda.
Daish Reik often said there’s vital truth in chance-heard words. Could he have foreseen something in my future to make him suspect that I might need such skills?
Dev began hacking at the tree. Light as it was, the sappy, fibrous wood caught at the steel. ‘Careful,’ warned Kheda. ‘You don’t want to break the sword.’
Dev freed the blade, considered his next move and then renewed his assault. ‘So he had you making rafts?’
‘More than once.’ Kheda used Dev’s second blade to cut down wrist-thick rustlenut shoots.
‘Mind your back.’ Dev pushed at the tandra sapling and it toppled over, the last fingers of wood linking the trunk to the ragged stump snapping with a sharp crack.
‘Another handful of those and we’ll have enough for a raft.’ Kheda stuck Dev’s sword in the ground and drew his dagger to strip the bark from the rustlenut wand.
‘What happened to your brothers?’ Dev asked bluntly as he threw down a second sapling to crush more burgeoning tandra shoots.
‘I thought you knew enough Aldabreshin etiquette to avoid such questions.’ Kheda concentrated on carving a deep notch into both ends of the rustlenut wood.
‘It’s just you and me here now.’ Dev was unrepentant. ‘So were you Daish Reik’s firstborn or just the eldest left alive because you were chosen to become the acknowledged heir? I know you people beat the odds by manying off inconvenient elder daughters barely out of their leading strings to change their names, and sons that don’t measure up vanish, never to be mentioned again.’
‘I was Daish Reik’s eldest child.’ Kheda slowly peeled a second length of rustlenut with his dagger tip. ‘Thus his heir without any need for such subterfuge.’
Dev paused to wipe sweat from his forehead and cocked an inquisitive brow. ‘But you said you had brothers. Most warlords make sure they have a few spares, in case one of your noxious Aldabreshin fevers gets the first one. What happened to them?’
‘That’s none of your concern.’ Kheda stripped bark with a rasp of his blade.
Daish Reik taught us all to meet every challenge one step at a time as well. Right from the days when he had us building rafts to see if any of us were fated to drown, relieving him of the decisions that are a warlord’s heaviest burden and gravest responsibility.
‘And you call us barbarians.’ Dev grunted as he chopped at the next tree, ripping out chunks of fibrous wood. ‘What are you going to do with any surplus sons Itrac presents you with?’
Kheda finished notching the second rustlenut wand and tossed it aside. ‘That’s between me and her.’
‘What is?’ Risala asked, her scratched hands full of coiled vine, her face curious.
Dev chuckled and concentrated on bringing the next tandra sapling down.
‘Something that doesn’t concern Dev,’ Kheda said shortly. He took up the mage’s second sword again and began slashing the twigs and leaves from the tandra logs.
Risala studied him for a moment before sitting to twist deft double cords from the wiry vine.
‘I wouldn’t be doing my duty as your faithful slave if I didn’t remind you of your duty to get a son or two on Itrac,’ Dev said piously as he joined Kheda in crudely shaping the logs. ‘I’ve heard at least one lot of gossip saying you went looking for a zamorin slave so as not to be outclassed, since Janne Daish plainly cut off your stones and locked them in her jewel case before sending you into exile in Chazen.’
‘And you didn’t care to give them the lie by letting them know you’re no such thing?’ demanded Kheda, stung.
‘I couldn’t find any gourds that weren’t worn-eaten,’ Risala announced into the tense silence, winding her vine cord into hanks. ‘We’ll have to land as we go to find water.’
‘So where are we building this raft? Here or closer to the water?’ Kheda gathered up the sticks he’d been working on.
‘Here’s as good as anywhere.’ Risala stood up and looked at him expectantly.
Kheda searched her face.
No sign of your true feelings. Is that for my benefit or Dev’s?
‘Let’s get the base lined up.’ He bent to drag the tandra logs close together. ‘Dev, you take that side.’ Once the tandra logs were pressed close together, Kheda slid a rustlenut wand under one mismatched end of the putative raft and laid a second across the top. He pressed the notched, springy wood together and nodded at Dev. ‘Keep those ends together. Risala, lash them as best you can.’
The tandra logs shifted and squeaked as Risala secured the rustlenut struts mercilessly tight with the vine cord.
‘I can’t hold it much longer,’ Dev warned, his bare shoulders bulging with effort as he pressed down on the wood.
Risala didn’t waste any time winding cord around the notches Kheda had cut to secure the lashing on the other side of the raft. Now for the other end,’ she nodded.
Not bad,’ Dev allowed grudgingly a few moments later as they all straightened up. ‘How do we steer it? And we’ll need paddles.’
‘Pass me that cord.’ Kheda stretched out a hand to Risala. ‘Dev, cut a notch in between the first two logs on either side, at this end.’ As the wizard set to with his dagger, Kheda lashed a pair of rustlenut stakes into a sturdy cross. ‘We tie this fore and aft to keep it upright and make a sweep to go in the crook,’ he explained as he fixed its two feet at the end of the raft. ‘And yes, Dev, we need a couple of paddles.’
‘I’m getting some water before I do anything else.’ Dev stumped off along the cliff edge towards the meagre spring, peeling the remaining shreds of leatherspear from his chest and tossing them aside. ‘What were you talking about?’ Risala asked quietly, coming to stand close to Kheda.
He caught her around the waist, bending to kiss her swiftly. Her lips were dry, the skin around them paradoxically damp. She smelled of fresh sweat and old leaves. ‘He wanted to know what became of my younger brothers when my father died and I declared myself warlord in his place.’
‘Do you want to tell me?’ Risala asked with studied neutrality.
‘I want no secrets between us.’ Kheda held her close and looked into her eyes. ‘Daish Reik’s deathbed decree offered them the choice of a quick, painless death or castration and passing into my hands as zamorin slaves. All but two chose the latter and went to serve Daish unnoticed as spies in other warlord’s households.’
‘A better Fate than living zamorin, blinded and imprisoned like Chazen Saril’s brothers.’ Risala shivered despite the heat. ‘Does Itrac know this?’
No,’ said Kheda with belated realisation. ‘We’ve never discussed it. But she must know I agreed with Janne, Rekha and Sain that they could all keep one son, and send any others to be raised far away. I wanted Sirket to have brothers to stand at his back but not close enough in age to sharpen their daggers to stick in it.’
‘You should talk to Itrac about it,’ Risala said, blue eyes serious.
Dev was coming back and she made to move away, but Kheda held on to her. ‘If we come through this to a future where you might give me children, their lives will be wholly in your hands,’ he assured her. She twisted free of his embrace. ‘Let’s get a drink and make those paddles.’
After Kheda had taken his turn at the trickle of tepid water, they fashioned three crude oars in stolid silence.
Kheda picked up one end of the raft. ‘We should be able to get into the sea down there without breaking our necks.’