‘You killed Skorvis, though. We heard about that.’
‘A trifling thing, really. Skorvis always thought too much of himself. Don’t worry about Rolga, Varl. It’s Carlion I worry about. Vicvar too, maybe.’
Varl grunted at the news. ‘Manjek hasn’t come back from Carlion yet. You have heard nothing from him? Or from Lord Gondoir?’
‘Just hearsay on the road,’ Onikil replied, trying to hide his pleasure. Besides Varl himself, Lord Manjek was his biggest competitor for the queen’s attention. And Manjek being stuck in Carlion made Onikil shine. ‘It is nothing we cannot handle. The queen moves too quickly, that’s all.’
‘Have I not been saying so? I tell her every day, Onikil.’
‘She still waits to move on Koth?’
‘She’ll have it no other way,’ said Varl. ‘She obsesses over it, and about Thorin Glass.’ For a moment jealousy flashed in his eyes. ‘This vendetta of hers — bad business.’
Onikil nodded. ‘Good that she waits, though. I had half expected you all to be gone by the time I got here.’
Varl’s red face broke into a smile. ‘We would have left a note for you, precious fellow. Odd that you should bring it up, though.’
‘What?’
‘Koth,’ said Varl. ‘The queen has some plans. And she’s glad to know you’re back. She wants to see you straight away.’
‘Does she?’ said Onikil pettily. ‘Then where is she?’
Varl made a mocking pout. ‘Oh, we should have had trumpets for you, is that it? Poor Onikil.’
Feeling his face turning red, Onikil said, ‘Just tell me where she is.’
‘Come along, then,’ said Varl, and led the way through the courtyard.
Jazana Carr was not far. Because it was People’s Day, Varl explained, she was on the other side of the courtyard in the castle’s main mess hall. The mess was across from the kitchens, the two separated by a covered walkway of old bricks meant to keep the kitchens from setting the rest of the castle on fire. Onikil didn’t eat in the mess with the mercenaries, so he had yet to be delighted by its greasy smells. As he stepped in from the walkway, he paused at the threshold to the mess, shocked to see it full of children. Runny-nosed brats with grubby faces filled the space, at least a hundred of them, sitting on the floors or stuffed two or three to a chair, all quietly enraptured by the voice of the woman across the room. There sat Jazana Carr with one of the children on her lap, a tiny girl who seemed uncomfortable with all the attention. In the queen’s hands rested a book, very old and overly large. Onikil’s mouth dropped open at the astonishing sight.
‘Is she reading them. . stories?’
Varl didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to either. It was plain that the queen was reading to the children, and the animation in her eyes and voice told Onikil the rest. As she read, Jazana Carr swung her free hand in dramatic gestures, describing a storm and a witch riding through the clouds. The description of the witch made the children grimace and moan, but the Diamond Queen was quick to correct them.
‘No, no, it’s a good witch!’ she insisted. ‘Don’t believe everything your parents tell you, for Fate’s sake.’
Count Onikil stared in disbelief. Jazana Carr caught his eye, but only for a moment before quickly going back to reading. Onikil looked around, wondering what was happening. The queen, it seemed, had turned Ravel’s castle into a nursery.
‘Varl, what’s-’
‘Shh,’ Varl insisted. ‘Lower your voice. She’s almost done.’
‘Almost done? What is all this?’
‘People’s Day,’ said Varl, in a way that meant he didn’t fully approve. ‘Jazana brings the children in from the countryside and reads to them while their families get food and supplies. She does it every week now.’
Onikil’s shock turned into a sly smile. ‘Ah, she’s a clever one. She knows how to make them love her.’
Rodrik Varl said nothing for a time. Then he shrugged. ‘Maybe.’
‘Why does she want to see me?’ probed Onikil. ‘You can tell her yourself about Rolga, or I’ll see her later. I’m tired and it can probably wait.’
‘Stay,’ said Varl. ‘She’ll be done soon.’
Being surrounded by children made Onikil shudder. He was a very neat man and unaccustomed to the dirt children seemed to manufacture. While he waited for the queen to finish he slipped back on his leather riding gloves.
People’s Day, brooded Onikil. Absurd.
He wondered — as he often did — if Jazana Carr really knew what she was doing. Norvor was falling to pieces without her, and here she was in Liiria, reading to a bunch of brats. She was, certainly, not the best strategist Onikil had ever seen. Yet it was her peculiar glamour — like a magic charm — that kept her on top.
Onikil waited, trying to be patient, while Jazana Carr finished reading to the brood. Eventually their parents shuffled into the room, their arms full of the good things the queen had provided, bowing to her when she finished the story and praising her to the heavens. Onikil and Varl kept their distance while others from her mercenary army herded the children and parents out of the room. Jazana beamed and waved as they departed, feeding off their adoration and inviting them all back next week. The absurd gesture made Onikil wince, but he tried to smile when — at last — the queen acknowledged him.
‘Count Onikil,’ she said in her purring voice. ‘Rodrik told me you had returned.’
Onikil wanted to say that he had actually returned some time ago and had been rudely kept waiting, but he held that comment and said instead, ‘Yes, my lady.’
Jazana Carr put her hand out for him. He took it, kissed it, and gave a little bow. Her skin was silky smooth on his pampered lips, tasting faintly of jasmine. No wonder Varl craved her so badly, he thought.
‘Always good to see you, dear Queen,’ he said. ‘Though this is not the setting I expected.’
‘Did you see the children, Count Onikil? Did you see how enraptured they were? They love me.’ The queen’s face glowed. ‘And did you notice the city? There are merchants back in the shops, people on the streets.’
‘Yes,’ said Onikil. ‘You are right to be proud, my lady.’
‘Onikil brings good news from Rolga, Jazana,’ Rodrik Varl piped. ‘Skorvis is dead, just as we heard. The city is ours again.’
Onikil added quickly, ‘I left a hundred men behind and bolstered the garrison. There won’t be trouble there again, my Queen.’
‘That’s what you said when we left Norvor,’ said the queen sourly. ‘I’m counting on you, Onikil. Don’t disappoint me. We have much to do.’ She turned and left the mess hall, entering the covered walkway. The courtyard was filled with happy peasants being herded out of the castle. Jazana Carr paused. ‘Ah, you smell that?’
Onikil wrinkled his nose. ‘Yes. They’re atrocious, aren’t they?’
‘Not the people, you idiot. Springtime! You can smell it in the air. Winter’s almost over. You know what that means, don’t you, Count?’
Onikil glanced at Varl, who nodded seriously.
‘Yes, I suppose I do,’ the count sighed. ‘But my lady, please think a moment. Are you sure we are ready?’
‘We are more than ready.’ Jazana’s tone cut like ice. ‘For two months — no, closer to three — the men of Koth have been preparing. But so have we. It is time, Onikil.’ She looked at Rodrik Varl. ‘And I already have counsellors to talk me out of it. I do not need another.’
With a deferential smile Onikil said, ‘Wise counsel is always worth the inconvenience, my lady. Would you rather be told lies?’
‘You told me all is well in Rolga. That is enough to know.’ The queen gestured to the courtyard full of men. ‘Look — all these men have come to fight, yet they lie about getting fat because we have not named an enemy for them. And while we wait the men of Koth build more and more defences and call other armies to their aid. I have waited long enough, Onikil.’
The count looked with concern at Varl. ‘What other armies?’
The bodyguard shrugged. ‘Rumours mostly. Nothing too troubling.’