'Where's O'eki and the other — what was his name?' he called.
'Master O'eki is a heavier burden, and Siras hasn't as much experience to push his raptor so hard.' She tossed the words over her shoulder and kept walking. He struggled past the sentry, who nodded at him but stayed where he was, waiting for the other reeve. Aui! He had to piss so badly that he staggered a few steps off the path, shook himself free of his trousers, and released.
Afterward, legs steadier, he loped through the forest and caught her up as she and her escort emerged into the clearing with its living shelters and storehouses and a herd of goats ransacking their way along the tree line.
Soldiers came running. Priya, sitting on the porch with the baby in her arms, looked up, then stood, her posture inexpressibly weary. She had cut off all her hair, shorn like a sheep every which way, and by the look on her face as she watched him stumble over the uneven ground toward her, he knew what had happened.
He should have understood. He had met the emperor's brother. He knew what manner of people the Sirniakans were. He knew what the captain's mother was. She had warned him.
'It can't be true,' he said, stubbing his toes as he tried to take the steps in a single leap. 'It can't be true. I could have saved her if I'd agreed to marry her. If I'd taken her away-'
Her voice was as colorless as undyed linen. 'Chief Tuvi wishes to speak to you, Master Keshad.'
He balanced on the porch's edge, heels bouncing over air. 'Does he think I had something to do with it?'
Soldiers had fenced him in while he wasn't looking. These men had been sent to Merciful Valley to protect Mai's life, and they had failed.
'I'll go in,' he said. They had all failed.
Priya nodded. The baby was suckling on a bottle sewn from a sheep's udder, content for the moment, eyes shut.
It was easier to shut your eyes, wasn't it? To pretend you didn't have to look at the horrible truth. He shed his sandals and pushed aside the canvas. The outer chamber was empty, two rolled-up pallets stowed out of the way, but a curtain was tied up to reveal the inner chamber. The canvas wall on the far side had also been tied up to allow in light and air. Miravia was sitting on a pillow beside a man reclining on a pallet, his legs covered by a length of silk and his torso belted into a silk jacket. She bent forward, setting a cup to Chief Tuvi's lips as she smiled and began to speak in response to something he had just evidently said.
She smiled at Tuvi!
Kesh's feet scuffing startled her. She spilled the liquid on Tuvi's chin as she jerked upright, head whipping around to stare. Her lips moved, forming his name. She had hacked off her hair, and what was left spiked in ragged clumps likely a badly mown hayfield. She was more beautiful in her grief than he had ever seen her, sorrow honing her spirit so its beauty stabbed like lightning.
The chief raised himself on an elbow, his gaze an arrow pinning Kesh. 'Here you are,' he said, his voice hoarse with pain. 'Sit if you will, Master Keshad.'
'You don't think I had anything to do with it!'
'To do with what?' asked the chief.
Miravia burst into tears and, sobbing, jumped to her feet and ducked out through the back flat onto the wraparound porch. When Kesh moved to go after her, Tuvi stopped him with a word.
'Sit.'
Kesh sat, missing the pillow.
The chief pulled the silk off his legs. He wore a local kilt, and his skin, in the fading light, was revealed as a mass of welts and blisters.
'Bringing you here, did the reeves speak of what I told them to keep secret?' asked the chief as Kesh tried not to stare.
'No.'
'Did the captain's mother ever speak to you of her plans?'
'I told Captain Anji everything! She offered to give me Miravia if I would take Mai as well. It was cursed obvious she wanted to be rid of Mai. What in the hells happened?'
'Sheyshi was her agent all along.'
'Sheyshi? The slave? But she's… stupid. How could she be-?'
If you shut your eyes, you would not see what walked and talked right in front of you. Was anyone ever really as stupid as Sheyshi had constantly been?
'We saw what we expected to see.' Tuvi grunted and lay back on the heap of pillows. 'If you will, a sip of juice.'
Kesh found the cup Miravia had set down before she had run off. How odd to feel compassion for his rival's pain. The man had never done him any harm, as far as he knew. After swallowing the juice, the chief breathed as his eyes watered.
At last, he sighed. 'We were all taken in. She stabbed Mai by the pool. When Mai fell in, I tried to drag her body out but the pool's sorcery burned me. She sank into the depths.'
'Are you saying you've no body?'
'I lost her. The demons — or maybe the gods of this place — took her.' Tuvi raised a hand, welted with fine red scars, and covered his eyes as he wept.
He wept, as hardened a soldier as he was.
'That old bitch-!' cried Kesh.
'Sheh!' The Hundred word cut like an edged blade. Shame! 'No man speaks so of the var's sister, a princess of the blood.'
'She had Mai killed!'
'So it seems. Nevertheless, if you insult her again, I must kill you for the sake of the captain's honor. I admit, it is not the Qin way to make a stab in the dark, but when her brother condemned her to a life in the Sirniakan palace, it must be expected she would learn to live as the locals do in order to survive. So must we all. Mai's power was considerable. A threat to her, coming to this land as a stranger to a son who did not know her well and who never liked his uncle, her brother. The var is a hard man to please. Sheyshi must have been the princess's agent all along. The princess's relationship with Beje and Cherfa was closer than we ever imagined. They must have been in communication all those
years. It was Beje who helped smuggle the young Anjihosh past the empire's border nineteen years ago. I was part of that effort, you know. I did not suspect Commander Beje might have been her agent still. Or perhaps he knew nothing, and she used Cherfa to place an agent into her son's troop. To protect him. It has only ever been her desire to protect her son.'
Kesh had no answer to this. 'What now, then, Tuvi?'
A soldier hung a lamp from a hook before retreating into the dusk.
'Tell me again, every word the emperor's brother said to you, every word the captain's mother spoke in your hearing.'
So Kesh told his tale again, pausing at intervals to help the chief drink. When partway through it came time for the chief to relieve himself, two soldiers helped him beyond the porch to the pits. He could walk, with assistance, although the effort left him exhausted. Yet afterward, returning to the pallet, he indicated that Kesh must go on. After Kesh had related everything he could recall, the chief wiped his eyes.
'We should have suspected the slave,' he said.
O'eki came in, eyes red from weeping. Priya walked beside him, carrying Atani, and Tuvi smiled as she settled the baby in the chief's embrace, the child so handsome and bright a face that a man might weep to think of what he had lost.
'If only I had agreed, I might have saved her,' muttered Kesh.
Tuvi laughed, the sound raw. 'Hu! You are no match for the captain's mother, Master Keshad. Mai was dead the instant Anjihosh said no to his mother.' He handed the baby back to Priya, who took his look as a command and retreated with O'eki.
'One last thing, Master Keshad,' said the chief, 'and then I must sleep. The sooner I can travel, the sooner I can bring this news to the captain. Let me assure you, in case you do not understand me, that the reeves who fly in and out here obey me. I must inform the captain, none but me. None can know outside us until he knows. I'll kill you if there is any question that you might attempt-'