Emperor Mage (11 page)

"Big
mistake?" There was sympathy in his voice. "They got me with a barbed
arrow. I escaped, but almost lost the arm. Anyway, ever since I could take on a
creatures mind or shape, I can't eat game of any kind. I eat fish, and domestic
meat like beef and chicken, but then, I never wanted to be a fish, and I close
out the thoughts of barnyard animals. I'm sorry. I used to hunt and eat game
with the best of them, but not anymore."

The
prince looked thoughtful "So there are drawbacks to your power.'*

"There's
drawbacks to any power, Your Highness,"

Musicians
had entered the room as they talked. Now, in the cleared space before the main
board, acrobats started a whirling, athletic dance. Kaddar was feeding bits of
smoked eel to Kitten, leaving the girl free to admire the performance. When it
was over, she remarked that she'd never thought two-leg-gers had that much bend
in them, which made her companion laugh.

The
acrobats were replaced by a number of unusually small black men and women and
their animal companions. One old man held the leashes for a pair of tall,
rangy, spotted cats. Twin girls carried an assortment of monkeys, while dogs of
varying sizes and colors followed the entire company. The minute they saw
Daine, all of the animals broke from their handlers to go to her. Quickly the
girl stood and walked around to the front of the table, knowing that they would
knock the table over to say hello if she didn't. Zek squeaked in fear and
burrowed under Kaddar s drape as one of the cats rose on his hind legs to plant
his forepaws on the girl s shoulders.

Daine
petted her new friend. "Hello—you're a beauty, aren't you?" Silently
she asked, How do they treat you, these trainers of yours? Do they hurt you to
teach you things? In Tortall she'd found that many animal trainers used pain to
make lessons stick.

The
animals gathered around were quick to reassure her. Our two-leggers are wise,
the cheetah male who had laid his paws on her shoulders said. They speak almost
as clearly as other beast-People do. They never hurt us.

Daine
saw why as the trainers, none of them taller than her earlobe, came to her
behind their animals. Flashes of copper fire—wild magic—sparked in their eyes
and around their hands as they chattered in wordlike sounds. One woman coaxed
the cheetah back from Daine, but the monkey^ and dogs crowded into his place.

"They
are Banjiku tribesmen, from Zallara in the south." Emperor Ozorne had left
his dais and come over to the group. "They are saying that they think you are
a god."

Someone
laughed. Daine turned red. "Please excuse me, but I'm no such thing."

"You
are god," said the oldest man in heavily

accented
Common. "I am Tano, the cat-man. The cats come to me, also to my wife. We
have cat-children." Daine realized his face was tattooed with feline
whiskers and ears. "Cholombi is dog-man." The man thus named raised
his hands to show dog-pad tattoos on his palms. "Twins are
monkey-girls." The young women with monkeylike tattoos bowed and grinned
at Daine. "See? We all one-kind beast If you are not god, then you
god-child. Yes? Which god?"

Her
blush worsened, and Daine knelt to bury her face in the female cheetah s fur.
The cat chirped.

"I
don't know who my da is." She wouldn't have minded telling these nice humans
in private but doing so in front of the emperor hurt. "My ma died before
she could tell me."

The
Banjiku chattered briefly.

"They
think it's too bad you don't know your father." Numair had also come over.
"They wish they knew his name. They would sacrifice to him and ask him to
visit their daughters as he did your mother."

Daine
was about to protest that she was not the child of a god when she remembered
visions she'd had since her mothers death, of her ma doing everyday tasks in a
forest cottage. All included a horned man with hints of green in his darkly
tanned skin. Could it be...?

Ozorne
  
watched
  
Daine
  
and
  
Numair,
  
face unreadable as he waved a jeweled fan idly. "The Banjiku skill
with animals is legendary," he remarked. "It was through their
legends that your teacher came to believe in the existence of wild magic. It
seems he was right—in this case, at least. And now, if they would be so kind as
to do the work for which they have been summoned?"

The
Banjiku bowed to Daine, and moved into place for their performance. She
returned to her seat and watched the entire thing without seeing it. Surely it
wasn't possible that her da, unknown for all these years, was a god! And yet—Ma
had always told her that she'd been conceived in the forest on Beltane, and
that her father was a stranger.

Applause
brought her back to her surroundings. The Banjiku and their animals had
performed beautifully and were leaving the room. Daine nodded when the cat man
winked at her. They would see each other again.

The
banquet over, the emperor's guests returned to the reception area. Musicians
played in a corner while slaves offered pastries and drinks to everyone, Daine
was talking about the habits of griffins with Numair and Lindhall when a slave
approached, pushing a wheeled cart. Perched on its surface was Rikash. Jokhun
had left during the banquet, but evidently his vassal had other plans.

"Go
away," he ordered the slave, then nodded to Numair and Daine.

Zek, on
Daine's shoulder, craned forward to stare at the immortal, holding a tiny paw
over his nose.

Rikash
grimaced at him. "Still consorting with tree rats, I see."

Daine
smiled. Rikash s last encounter with her had involved a squirrel named Flicker.
"Now you know what disease the Dunlath animals had,"

"Was
that you, shape-changed?" he asked.

The
girl shook her head. "Not then, I had just learned how to put myself
within an animals mind, Flicker and that eagle were helping me."

"Shape-shifting
goes with that skill," die Stormwing lord pointed out, "I would have
thought you would know that by now."

Numair
grinned. "She does."

"How
delightful for us aUf" the immortal said, voice extremely dry. "I
must remember to give Tortall a wide berth."

Idly he
scratched the brass that sheathed the top of the cart under his feet, drawing
squeals from it with his steel ckws. Daine gritted her teeth; Numair winced.

Lindhall
bowed. "If you will excuse me?" He patted the humans on the shoulders
and left.

"We
were having a nice talk before you came," Daine informed Rikash,

"I
am devastated to have ruined your fun." Looking down, he asked in a very
different voice, "Do you hear from Maura of Dunlath?"

"She
writes Daine often," said Numair. "She misses you," Daine told
the Stormwing. "She says her guardian is nice, but he doesn't have your
sense of humor. You could visit her, you know. She'd like that."

Rikash
pried up a bit of the metal he stood on. "I must remain here with King
Jokhun, for now," he replied. "I believe my stay will not endure for
much longer, and then I may be free to pursue my own life. If that is the case,
I would like to see Maura again"

"Oh?"
Numair asked. "It sounds as if you anticipate a momentous event. What is
it?"

Rikash
looked at him sharply, then grinned. "Finish your business here quickly,
mage. Carthaks unhealthy. It will get worse before it gets better." To
Daine he said, "Frankly, I'm surprised to find either of you at this
court. It is wise to make a peace with the man who tried to overthrow your
king?"

"It's
very wise, if the greatest army and navy _are on your enemy's side,"
Numair said dryly.

Daine
toyed with the silver claw at her throat. "Its no different from what you
did, is it?"

Rikash
stamped the pulled-up brass into place. "What is that supposed to
mean?"

"Don't
play innocent." It was such a relief to be able to speak her mind to
someone. Rikash, At least, would never complain of her lack of diplomacy.

"We've
seen the menagerie, Lord. Rikash. They have one of your queens and her consort
here."

Kitten
whistled confirmation, and silenced when the Stormwing glared at her.

"You
are wrong," he said flatly. "There are no queens missing from the
other flocks, and I have no queen in mine. The old one was slain in combat by King
Jokhun, after our custom."

"Then
maybe the prince was mistaken," said Numair with a shrug. "He seemed
convinced that Barzha was a queen,"

Rikashs
steel feathers ruffled, then settled into place with a series of muted clicks.
" What did you say her name was?"

"Barzha,"
Daine replied as she scratched Kitten behind an ear. "Her consort was
named Hebakh. The prince said their being in a cage here was the price of the
alliance with King Jokhun,"

Rikashs
frown deepened. Suddenly he leaped from the cart, wings pumping. Guests
scattered as he flew through the window into the night In his wake, nobles and
skves alike struggled to repair their dignities.

"I
wonder where he was going," murmured Numair. "Is it possible he did
not know of Ozornes special menagerie? And what was that about the health of
Carthak?"

Daine
chewed her lower lip. She had a feeling Rikash meant the same thing die badger
had.

I don't
like all this, Zek told her. Back home, we know the feeling of a coming

storm,
and we hide. This feels like a really bad storm in the air, but it doesn't
smell like water.

What
does it smell like? Daine asked silently as Numair went to find Lindhall.

Zek
thought for a moment or two, tiny nostrils flaring as he took deep breaths of
the air. Fire, he said at last. A storm of fire.

Soon
after that, Daine found the emperor at her elbow. "Veralidaine, good
evening. The birds have been left all day, as you ordered," he said,
offering Kitten one of his rings to play with. "Can they be visited
tomorrow?"

Daine
nodded. Off and on during the day she had called to the aviary with her magic,
touching the minds of the occupants to see how they did. "They'll be up
with the sun if they can see it. I should warn you, they'll be fair hungry.
Figure they'll need at least double, prob'ly triple rations." _

The
emperor smiled. Daine realized that his watchful air vanished only when he
talked about his birds. "They shall have them," he promised.
"You may ask any price of me, any reward."

"I
got the only reward I want—knowing they're better. I'm not always lucky enough
to save animals when they're sick. Sometimes they die, no matter what I do for
them. It happens often enough that I never get tired of making them well
again."

Kitten
offered the ring back to Ozorne with an inquiring whistle. Smiling, he replaced
it on his finger, then vanished. Kitten squawked her irritation.

Daine
sighed, feeling as if she'd been clamped in a vise for hours. She yawned and
stretched. "Let's get some air, Kit"

With a
cheerful whistle, the dragon led the way onto the terrace. Prince Kaddar found
them there, watching the moon rise.

"This
is beautiful," Daine said, waving at the formal garden lying off the
terrace. It was laid out in patterns, with hedges and flowers forming precise,
graceful curves and spirals. "We don't have anything that's this
fine."

"Your
king spends his money on very different things," replied the prince,
watching the silver-gilded pattern. Before she could ask what he meant, he
said, "I have to go, but I wanted to ask, would you like a guided tour in
the morning? I could meet you when your friends leave for the talks. Your Duke
Gareth said it was all right, when my uncle asked him."