Kei's Gift (28 page)

Kei found himself being scrutinised closely, and forced himself not to twitch. At last, Karus sighed and rang the little bell he had on the table. “How badly are you injured, young man?”

“My lord?”

“Call me Karus, dear boy, I’m no one’s lord or master or ‘Sei’. You’re hurt, are you not?”

“Yes...Karus. Bruising, nothing more.”

“Hmmm. How did you come by an injury so severe that Arman is happy for you to sit in his presence, and forbid you to stand at his departure as is only expected of a servant?”

“I....” Kei really didn’t know how to deal with this. If he lied, and Arman had already told him the truth, Karus would think him sly. If he told the truth, Arman would have every right to be angry that matters concerning his household were being spread about. “Forgive me, Karus, it’s a private matter which Sei Arman will explain if he wishes to.”

Karus grunted, and then was forced to cough painfully. “Discreet and polite. You must be an excellent physician.”

“I’m a beginner only, my lord...Karus, I mean.”

“And modest too,” Karus noted dryly. “A paragon, indeed. Do you have any faults?”

“I’m told I’m impertinent. Does that count?”

Karus laughed but then had to cough again. “Damn cold, makes me feel twice my age. Ah, Jena, are you pleased at my little surprise?”

“Yes, Karus, thank you.” She smiled with obvious affection at her master.
She’s been lucky,
Kei thought, with only a trace of jealousy. “Do you want a pot of pijo, or some tea?”

“The tea again, I think, but inside, in the library. Send Matez to wheel my chair in, and you take young Kei to the kitchen and find out what he wants to drink. I shan’t be in any hurry for the tea, if you two want to catch up. And then Kei and I have our little task to do for Arman.”

“Thank you, Karus,” she said, and Kei echoed the sentiment. “Come on, I’ll make you something hot to drink.”

She held his wrist as they walked. “
Gods, you’re moving like a cripple—what’s happened?”

“Show you in the kitchen, but don’t say a thing to Karus, all right?”

“You’re worrying me, but I’m so glad to see you.”

“Same here.”

“I know,”
she said with a grin, tapping her forehead. “
I nearly fainted when Arman turned up here the day after I arrived. I had no idea you were with him. Has it been very bad?”

“I’ve not been as fortunate as you, let’s put it like that.”
They had arrived at the kitchens, which, like the rest of the house, were smaller than those of Arman’s home. “How many staff does Karus have?” Unlike Arman’s kitchens which were never empty of people, he and Jena were the only people there.

She drew boiling water from the supply on the stove into a teapot and added a handful of uyris flowers from a container near the sink. “Apart from me, there’s Cook, and Siza, her assistant—they’re both out at the market—and Matez, who’s the footman and the gardener and general help.”

“Gods, Arman has four times as many, and a wife as well.”

“I’ve heard about her,” Jena said dryly. “Now show me what you’ve been hiding.”

“Are you sure we won’t be interrupted?”

“Kei, have you injured your penis or something?” she asked impatiently. “You’re making me very worried.”

“You’ll need to help me with my shirt.” He sensed her anxiety—it wasn’t going to improve.

He was right, of course. She gasped as he turned around. “Oh...gods.”

“Is it very bad?”

“You should be in bed with chuo sap dressings on it, and you damn well know it. Who did this? The golden general? I’ll kill him!”

Kei grabbed her wrist. “
Don’t say that even in jest. You could end up getting yourself and the rest of your villagers killed. It wasn’t Arman—it was his damn steward. Arman didn’t know—he was furious when he found out. That’s why I’m here—to keep me out of the little bastard’s way.”

“Was it by his wife’s orders? Karus doesn’t come right out and say it, but I know he thinks she’s a bitch—and Arman is here almost every night.”

Kei hadn’t known this was where Arman spent his time. “
He thinks she’s behind some of it, at least. She definitely knows it’s happening. I’ve hardly seen her, don’t think much of what I do. They’re not love’s young dream, but she’s expecting.”

“Only takes one lucky fuck for that to happen, as you know.”

“Jena! Anyway, I don’t think it’s infected, but I can’t see it. Tell me honestly how bad it is, and then you better get that tea to Karus.”

She skimmed her hands gently over his back, which still made him flinch. “It must really hurt.”

“It was worse two days ago. Will I live?”

“Probably, unless the bastard who did this has another go. You don’t have to exert yourself while this heals? Tell me he’s not that callous.”

“No, he’s not. He’s not anything like as bad as we thought.”

She gave him a sceptical look. “We’re talking about the ‘golden general’? The one who killed the boy in Ai-Darbin?”

Kei tugged his shirt down and retied the side sashes. “Yes, that’s the one. The bomb the boy threw killed a civilian, a personal servant of Arman’s. More than a servant—his closest friend, I think. He was mad with grief at the time. He’s still in a lot of pain. It’s not an excuse...but I can understand the reaction. He’s not an evil man. He doesn’t like us, but he doesn’t want us mistreated either. Dead, yes, beaten, no.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Now I’m even more worried about you.”

“What’s the point? It’s not like I have a choice where I’m placed. Have you seen any of the others?”

“Yes, a few are around this area. I’ve talked to Gonji and Myri once, at the market—they’re all right, or they were. You?”

Kei sat down—he felt a little shaky again. “This is the first time I’ve been out of Arman’s house since the last time I saw you.” He pulled her close and hugged her. “Gods, Jena, I’ve been so worried and frightened. After what happened to me, I thought the same thing might be happening to everyone else.”

“I can’t swear it isn’t, but I’ve no proof it is. At least it’s stopped for you.” She pulled back. “It has, hasn’t it?”

“I think so. Arman’s pretty angry with his steward.”

“So he should be. A man like that belongs in a prison cell or...or....”

“I was thinking of a rectal application of tirsel leaf, and then hanging him upside down for a week.”

She chuckled. “Oh, now, that’s mean. The tirsel leaf, yes, definitely. But the smell....” She picked up some dark green beans and put them into a grinder. “I’ll make some pijo. If you don’t want it, I’ll drink it or Matez will. I have some chuo sap ointment, if you need it.”

“No, keep it. I have some and used it, but we might need it for something more serious.”

“Kei, you idiot—this
is
serious, and besides, who will need it but you or me?”

He shrugged and then winced at the pain. “It’s the principle of the thing. You never know. Come on, he really needs the tea.”

Karus wasn’t at all put out at the lengthy delay in fetching his refreshment, and he beamed paternally at them as they sat down at his invitation. “Jena, if Cook doesn’t need you, I think you would be able to help us get on faster.”

“Of course. What is it you’re doing?”

“It’s a Darshianese dictionary,” Kei said.

She touched his hand. “
Are you
insane?
They’re the
enemy!”

“Yes, I know. It has no military application, Arman promised. Look, he could ask anyone in south Darshian for this, it’s not a code. It’ll help me learn Prijian and it gets me away from that bastard steward of his. You don’t need to help—you can excuse yourself. He won’t mind.”

She shook off his hand. “Tell me what you want me to do, Karus,” she said sweetly. Kei sighed. His life was so full of compromises.

~~~~~~~~

Mekus was such a
politician
, Arman thought, giving the word the emphasis of a curse. One of the most high-ranking senators, but still a small-minded windbag for all that. He’d known Arman since he was in nappies, of course, and never seemed to be far from mentioning the fact either. His daughter was a close friend of Mayl’s, which didn’t recommend father
or
daughter to Arman, and Mekus’s heir, his son, was an honourless, lazy, whiny brat who expected the world to stop revolving if he stamped his foot, and everyone else to defer to him, even other senators’ sons five years his senior. He needed a good slap and possibly a ten-year stint in the army. Arman was no admirer of the hereditary form of government which meant oldest sons of oldest sons became senators with no other qualification at all. The Prij had had a series of good, strong rulers presiding over weak and talentless senates, and this would do the country no good in the long term. He hoped he was dead or retired before Prijus took his father’s place. He’d never submit to an order from the man. He’d cut his own throat first.

He left with a pounding headache and a letter from Mekus’s daughter to Arman’s wife—he was considered little higher in status than an errand boy in that family’s eyes. He was tempted to tear it up, but that would be petty. Arman liked revenge on a large scale, and this wasn’t worth the price of the argument he would get into if Mayl discovered him shredding notes from dear Meke.

He managed to calm down on the walk from Mekus’s house to Karus’s. He hoped Karus wouldn’t too worn out by having Kei with him—he trusted Kei not to do anything deliberately, but Karus’s enthusiasm all too often exceeded his physical abilities. Arman had been slightly jealous at the warm welcome the young Darshianese had received, but Karus was always polite and kind, and had had fifty years’ experience in greeting new pupils and putting them at their ease. Kei had responded just as Arman had, and dozens of other men beside him. Karus was very, very good at what he did.

He heard gentle laughter even before he knocked at the door, and as he walked through the halls to the library, he heard it again—Karus, and a woman. Jena, he supposed. A happy scene greeted him. Karus had his kezi board out and Kei stared at it with an expression Arman knew all too well. It was the look of a man having been outwitted by a seventy-year-old with an innocent gaze and a mind like a steel trap, with no idea how it had happened.

“Come in, Arman, I’ve been teaching our guests the gentle sport of kezi hunting.”

Arman looked at the board. Yes, a classic set up indeed. “Not fair, Karus. I was playing for two years before you tried that one on me.”

Kei looked up and grinned. “So it’s not that I’m particularly stupid, after all?”

He’d forgotten his ‘my lords’ but Arman overlooked it. “We’re mere neophytes, Kei, and always will be in comparison. Karus was playing kezi in his mother’s womb, and was plotting kezin-ge while he was spitting milk all over her shoulder.”

“A slight exaggeration, dear boy,” Karus said, but with a smug look. “Have you come to stay for supper?”

Arman nearly said yes, but then looked at his servant and his friend. Both were close to exhaustion. “Not tonight, Pei, if you will forgive me. I’ve some reports to write and I need Kei’s assistance.” That got him a sharp glance from the woman, to which he responded with a cool look of his own. Did she think
he
had injured Kei? “We should really be getting back.”

“Yes, my lord,” Kei said, standing by holding onto the desk. He bowed his head. “Thank you, Karus-pei, for your help and the game.”

“It was a delight, Kei-gidu.” The use of the honorific startled Arman. Karus really must be impressed. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

Karus looked at Arman as he spoke. “Yes, if you don’t mind. I take it the dictionary is going well, if you have time to play kezi?”

Karus waved impatiently. “Oh, don’t be a prig, Arman. Work and rest in the proper proportions are fundamental to health and productivity. I taught you that.”

Arman bowed. “Yes, Pei, you did. I meant no criticism.”

“Hmmm. The list goes very well. Jena is helping us too. It might make us all famous one day, what do you think?”

“I think, Pei, you are already famous, and that I really must take my leave. I’ll bring Kei back tomorrow. Goodnight.”

Kei bowed. “Goodnight, Karus, Jena.” The woman showed a little more propriety than she had this morning, Arman was glad to see, and only bowed in response.

Arman led Kei out and their escort joined them. “Are you up to the walk back?”

“Yes, my lord. I rested when Karus did. Uh...I didn’t tell him what happened. He asked but...I thought it was something you might not want bandied about.”

“Quite right, I don’t. Not to protect Mykis, but because gossip could hurt more than him. Karus doesn’t need to know, but I’ll explain if he does.”