“Captain Tarja Tenragan,” the old woman said, as if she expected him.
“How do you know who I am?” The tent was gloomy and he had to squint to make her out.
“You are the demon child’s appointed lover. Kalianah has made it so. She told me about you.”
Tarja was still atheist enough not to want to know what she meant. “I seek Dacendaran.”
“The God of Thieves? An odd companion for a man like you.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“The gods are everywhere, Captain.”
“I was hoping you could be a bit more specific.”
The old woman smiled revealing toothless pink gums. “Dacendaran said you were unusual for a Defender. I see what he means.”
“I need to speak with him,” Tarja insisted.
“The gods listen to all our prayers, Captain.”
“I don’t want to pray to him, dammit, I need to ask him something!”
“Well, there’s no need to yell, Tarja. I’m not deaf.” He spun around to find the God of Thieves standing behind him. The boy looked unchanged from the last time he had seen him in Testra, but that was hardly surprising. Dace pushed past him and knelt down beside the old woman. “Is he bullying you, Draginya? Shall I turn him into something with six legs that likes to live under a rock?”
“He is young, Divine One, and at the mercy of Kalianah’s geas.”
Dace stood up and turned to Tarja. “Well, it seems you get to stay in one piece. What did you want?”
“Where’s R’shiel?”
“At the Citadel, I suppose,” Dace shrugged.
“Something’s happened to her.”
“I’d know if she were dead. You humans worry far too much.”
Tarja glared at the boy. “Jenga has been ordered to surrender.”
That news gave the god pause. His grin faded. “That’s probably not a good sign.”
“Dace, the only way that order could have been issued is if R’shiel failed. Something has happened to her.”
“Well, if it has, it’s her own fault. I offered to go with them, but did they want my help? No. They wanted to do it all on their own. The Harshini are like that you know. They always think —”
“Dace!”
“What? Oh, I’m sorry. What did you want me to do?”
“Find out... what happened... to R’shiel,” Tarja explained very slowly and carefully.
“Oh. I suppose that’s not a bad idea. If something’s happened to her, we’ll have to start this whole demon child thing all over again. Now that would be a bore.”
“How long will it take?”
Dace shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Tarja clenched his fists at his side, rather than grab Dace around the throat and shake him soundly, which was what he really wanted to do. “When will you leave?”
“You are so impatient.”
“She could be in danger, Dace.”
“She might just be sunning herself beside a pool somewhere, too,” the god retorted. “On the other hand, it is winter and R’shiel never was the sort to relax, although it wouldn’t do her any harm... Oh, stop looking at me like that! I’ll go and see what’s happening, but I won’t cross Zegarnald if he’s got a hand in this. He’s as strong as he’s ever been with this war going on.”
“You do whatever you have to, Divine One,” Tarja agreed.
Dace grinned. “Divine One? Does this mean you’re finally coming to believe in us, Tarja?”
“I believe in you Dace, I just don’t happen to want to worship you.”
“Ah, well,” the god sighed. “Just so long as you never tell Kalianah you love her.”
“That’s not very likely.”
“Glad to hear it. Will you see that Draginya gets away safely?”
Tarja nodded. The boy turned to the old woman and kissed her cheek. “See, Tarja will take care of you. I’d better go see what’s happened to the demon child.”
Dace vanished without warning, leaving Tarja frowning and old Draginya smiling toothlessly.
Chapter 53
Mikel was chattering away to Dace about the eggs they had stolen when he suddenly realised that his friend was no longer with him. He looked around the crowded camp, puzzled. Dace was nowhere to be seen.
Mikel sighed, used to Dace’s odd disappearances by now. He did that sort of thing a lot. One minute he was there and the next he was gone. Still, it wasn’t that important. Mikel knew the way to the old herb woman’s place where the eggs were safely nestled in an old shawl in the corner of her tent. He was far more interested in them, anyway. The chicks should hatch any day now and he was as excited as any expectant father.
He turned into the street beside Will Barley’s tavern tent and stopped dead as a familiar figure emerged from the old woman’s tent. Mikel bit back a startled cry and slipped back between the tavern tent and the tent beside it. What was Tarja doing in the old woman’s tent? Had he discovered the eggs?
Even Mikel knew that stealing a clutch of swallow’s eggs would not warrant the attention of a Defender. Perhaps he was sickening for something and had gone to see Draginya for a cure? Then something truly dreadful occurred to him. Perhaps Tarja had discovered that Mikel spent most of his afternoons with Dace and had come looking for him. The only reason Tarja would seek him out was to punish him, Mikel was certain. What would he do? Would Jaymes lose a finger because of his brother’s folly? That he had disowned his brother as a traitor was momentarily forgotten.
He waited anxiously, filled with trepidation as Tarja moved off between the tents. When he was sure the Defender would not turn back, he hurried to the old woman’s tent and slipped inside.
“Did he hurt you?” Mikel demanded as soon as the flap closed behind him.
Draginya sat in her chair by the smoking brazier from where she hardly ever seemed to move; at least in Mikel’s company.
“Did who hurt me, child?” She sounded surprised by his question.
“Tarja.”
Her face creased into a wrinkled frown. “You speak with too much hatred for a child.”
“That’s because he’s a monster!”
“Your ignorance blinds you, boy. Tarja is the appointed lover of the demon child. He is destined for great things.”
Mikel stared at her. “Says who?”
“The gods, of course. Hasn’t your god explained these things?”
“The Overlord doesn’t speak to the likes of me. He only speaks to the priests and stuff.”
Draginya nodded sadly. “That is a great shame.”
“Anyway,” Mikel added, rather put out by the old woman’s pitying tone. “Tarja’s a Medalonian. That makes him an atheist. Even if I believed what you say about the other gods, he wouldn’t.”
“Tarja knows the gods exist, Mikel. He simply choses not to worship them. The Primal gods like to have believers, but they don’t need them. You honoured Dacendaran when you stole those eggs. Whether you believe in him or not doesn’t enter into it.”
“We never stole anything!”
“You removed those eggs from their rightful owner without permission. That defines theft, don’t you think?”
“But we wanted to save the chicks,” he protested.
“If you kill one man to save another, it is still killing, Mikel. Good intentions don’t alter the nature of an event.”
“Then I betrayed the Overlord,” he concluded, sinking down to the floor beside Draginya’s stool. “I’m doomed.”