[Queen of Orcs 03] - Royal Destiny (25 page)

Dar returned to her hanmuthi, which was abuzz. The arrival of the two matriarchs seemed good news, and everyone had tried to learn as much as they could about it. It had not been easy, for the new visitors were sequestered with the other matriarchs. Nagtha-yat had spoken to Muth-yat, who had informed him that Muth-pah and Muth-goth were too exhausted to see Dar before the council met. Nir-yat had found out that Deen-yat had been called to the hanmuthi. The healer had remained there, leaving only briefly to procure some herbs. Nir-yat had questioned her when she did, but Deen-yat had been closemouthed, as was her custom concerning patients. Zna-yat had located the sons who journeyed with the matriarchs and spoken to them. “Three among them are candidates for your mintaris—Treen-pah, Ven-goth, and Auk-goth—so their duty is to you. Do you wish to speak with them?”

“Hai,” said Dar. “I’ll go now to Great Chamber. Send Treen-pah to me first.”

Soon afterward, Dar greeted the Pah clan son. They recognized each other immediately, and Treen-pah was so astounded that he almost forgot to bow after Dar blessed him. Then, when he did bow, his head nearly touched the floor.

“I remember you, Treen-pah,” said Dar. “You were with those sons who captured me and my companions.”

“Forgive me, Muth Mauk. I was only obeying our law.”

“You behaved properly. I was still washavoki then, for I had yet to be reborn.”

“Until I arrived here, I didn’t know rebirth still happened. And I had no idea it was you who had been reborn,” said Treen-pah. “This journey has brought many surprises. None of my clan has stood before queen since Tarathank fell.”

“That’s because your clan was lost,” said Dar. “It’s lost no more. I’m queen Velasa-pah foretold.”

“If I had wisdom, I might have known that, for everything changed after you came our way.”

“Have you improved your hall?”

“Hai. We’re adding more hanmuthis so sons and mothers can eat together. And because sons no longer patrol mountains, I think more children will soon arrive.”

“Such news gladdens my chest,” said Dar. “But, tell me—why did Muth-pah journey here?”

“She had vision. That’s all I know. We’ve been traveling ever since, except for brief rest at Goth clan hall. We traveled thirty days through deep snow, encountering many storms. Then six days ago, Muth-goth had vision. Since then, we’ve traveled night and day, seldom resting.”

“How have matriarchs fared?” asked Dar.

“Our matriarch is much worn by her journey, but Muth-goth is worse. Everyone fears she’s dying.”

“She has healer now. Her vision has saved her.”

“Perhaps, Muth Mauk, but Muth-goth said her vision was meant to save you.”

Six days ago, I met Muth-smat and Muth-zut
, thought Dar.
That vision was no coincidence! But if the poison had been ready this morning…
Dar’s hair rose at the thought.

After Dar sent Treen-pah for some well-deserved rest, she saw Ven-goth and Auk-goth. Auk-goth she knew, for he had guided Dar and her companions part of their way homeward. Exceptionally large and strong, he appeared little wearied by his difficult journey. After Dar blessed him, she grinned. “My old sapaha has returned.”

“Hai, Muth Mauk. Yet if you bite my neck, it will be you who’ll guide me.”

Dar had never met Ven-goth, but she knew of him. After she blessed him, she asked, “Were you not Fre-pah’s velazul?”

“Hai, Muth Mauk, until my muthuri withheld her blessing.”

“She wanted to keep you close, and Pah clan hall was far from hers.”

“That was her reason.”

“Yet my hanmuthi is farther still, and if I bite your neck, it will become your home.”

“Muth-goth told me that, but I was willing to come.”

“Becoming mintari doesn’t mean you can’t be blessed. Do you think Fre-pah would be willing to live in this hall?”

Ven-goth’s face lit up, and he was unable to control his grin. “Hai, hai, Muth Mauk! She would be most pleased.”

Dar smiled. “It’s rare to hear son speak for mother.”

“Fre-pah’s chest and mine are one, Muth Mauk. Ask anyone.”

“Then I’ll speak of this to Muth-pah and Muth-goth. But remember, I have yet to bite your neck.”

Ven-goth bowed low. “I hope you will, Muth Mauk, for I would be honored to serve one so wise.”

After speaking with the Goth clan candidates, Dar headed for her hanmuthi. The evening’s meal would be her first in thirty-three days that wasn’t a feast, and Dar looked forward to a quiet dinner. It had been a tumultuous day, and the entire hall was affected. As Dar passed through its corridors, she sensed the tenseness in the air. Every son and mother appeared to know something momentous was in the offing.
There are few secrets here
, Dar thought, suddenly realizing that she must tell Yev-yat not to reveal her latest vision. Before Muth-pah and Muth-goth arrived, Dar had felt the clan should be aware of its danger, but circumstances seemed to be changing.
There’ll be panic if everyone knows what I’ve seen.

As a new member of the municipal guard, Sevren got undesirable duties. Night watch was one of them, for the plague of thieves had turned evenings dangerous. Midway through his third straight night of patrolling Taiben’s dark streets, Sevren heard a low voice. “Psst! Guardsman!”

Sevren drew his sword, then looked about. He was in a poor section of town, where all the windows were shuttered tight. His watchman’s torch cast the only light. Beyond its pale circle lay only shadows and vague, inky shapes. “Who calls me?”

“I do,” replied the voice.

Sevren looked in its direction and saw a shadow move at the base of a wall. Wrapped in layers of rags, the man looked like a lump of refuse. Sevren advanced toward him.

“I mean ye no harm,” said the man, “and could give none even if I meant it. I’m blind and crippled.”

“Then how did you know I was a guardsman?”

“Yer walk. A gait speaks tales if ye have ears fer it. I’ve heared yers three nights runnin’. I know ye walk yer rounds sober but not timid. It’s a proper gait, and I judge ye a proper man. Not the kind to shake a beggar for his alms.”

“A flattering description, but I have na coin for you.”

“No guardsman ever does, but I have something for ye.”

“What?”

“A warning. The Taker roams about this night.”

Sevren thought the beggar must be mad, but he humored him. “What’s the Taker? And what does it take?”

“Folks’ spirits. It makes them thieves. And worse.”

“Is it man, woman, or beast?”

“Two men, carryin’ a third by the sounds of it.”

“So why haven’t you been taken?” asked Sevren in a joking tone.

“Ye walk by thrice each night. Have ye ever seen me? Nay, I’m not worth takin’. But it took a guardsman where ye’re standin’ now, just six nights ago. Took a woman afore that.”

“How?”

“Magic, I suppose. A voice speaks and people change. Their steps lose that spark, like somethin’s missin’. I’d say it was their spirit.”

Sevren’s tone turned less frivolous. “How do you know they steal?”

“They all have the same step, the ones that go by night. They go by day, too, but mostly by night. I’ve heared them doin’ thin’s. Robbin’. Killin’. Grabbin’ folk. They’re men. They’re women. Young. Old. But they all walk without that spark.”

“This sounds like sorcery.”

“What does a beggar know of that? But I heared the Taker goin’ up this lane just a bit afore ye come along. So take care, guardsman, or ye’ll be took.”

“Thank you for your warning,” said Sevren. “I’ll sharpen my eyes and my ears also.” Then he sheathed his sword and continued on his rounds.

Sevren’s first thought was to dismiss the beggar’s claims as delusions. Sorcerers were powerful men, the counselors of kings and nobles. None had cause to slink about procuring sneak thieves and thugs. Yet the beggar’s earnestness made his warning hard to ignore, and Sevren went only a little way before he extinguished his torch. When he resumed advancing in the dark, he did so with a light tread and an alert ear. Farther up the street, Sevren heard a noise. He froze and listened. He thought he heard a pair of men walking, their shuffling tread made heavy by a burden they shared.

Sevren stared up the gloomy street. It appeared as a ribbon of dark gray between the even darker houses. If a dusting of snow hadn’t lightened the frozen slush on the road, Sevren might not have seen the moving shape. He strained to make it out, and it seemed to be two men bearing someone in a litter. Sevren’s skin crawled as it had when he entered the mage’s tower, and that sensation overwhelmed all the arguments of reason. He turned and ran without a moment’s hesitation. Sevren didn’t stop running until he was on the far side of town.

Twenty-nine

Worry made Dar’s sleep fitful, and she was tired and tense as she prepared for the council’s meeting. The session could not begin until Muth la’s Draught was ready, and that didn’t happen until it was approaching noon. As soon as Dar was told that the poison had been made, she went to the Great Chamber and sent word to the matriarchs.

The procession that arrived was much different from the previous day’s. First came Muth-goth, carried by two sons on a stretcher. She breathed in gurgling gasps and was accompanied by Deen-yat, who stayed by the matriarch’s side after the sons departed. Muth-pah entered next. Dressed in an antique manner, she gave the impression of some stern figure stepping out of ancient tales. The other matriarchs followed. They seemed subdued by Muth-pah’s presence.

Dar blessed each matriarch, then said, “Custom permits a healer’s presence if she swears to silence about what she hears. Deen-yat, do you so swear?”

“I do.”

“Good,” said Dar. “Then we must begin anew. Shall I call for stones?”

“There’s no need,” said Muth-yat, “for stones have already spoken. What needs to be called for is Muth la’s Draught.”

“There are two here who haven’t cast their stones,” said Dar.

“Each morning, golden eye rises and new day starts,” replied Muth-yat. “Yet what is past remains unchanged. You can’t alter history to suit your whims.”

“What foolishness!” said Muth-tok. “Let stones decide again.”

“If we allow that,” replied Muth-yat, “stones’ decision would never be final. I say Muth Mauk’s fitness must be tested, for stones have decreed it. She must call for Muth la’s Draught.”

“If she’s forced to drink without calling for stones again,” said Muth-jan, “she mustn’t drink overmuch. We’ll need some Draught for her successor.”

“I, for one, will question that successor’s fitness,” said Muth-tok, staring ominously at Muth-yat, “and I’m not alone. If you become queen, you won’t cast stones. But you’ll receive their judgment.”

Muth-pah also regarded Muth-yat. “Since when did urkzimmuthi learn to talk like you? You use words as daggers. Yet they’re for reasoning, not slaying. This council was incomplete when it consulted stones. Now it’s not.” She bowed to Dar. “Muth Mauk, will you call for stones?”

Dar regarded the matriarchs and sensed the shift in power among them. “Hai,” she said. “Muth-yat, will you open door?”

Muth-yat bowed and meekly complied. Dar called for the stones to be brought. When they arrived, she addressed the council. “Before these stones are cast, I wish to know why Muth-pah and Muth-goth have come, for it wasn’t I who called them.”

“It was Mother of Visions who sent me forth,” said Muth-pah. “I was loath to make that journey, but how could I disobey?”

“None from your clan has come here before,” said Muth-smat. “Has Muth la been silent to you for all those generations?”

“Thwa, but doom was laid upon us to wait and watch. That task is over. Muth Mauk came from west as was foretold.”

“Does that mean world will change?” asked Muth-tok.

“Very like,” said Muth-pah, “in ways we don’t yet know. All I know is this: Muth la sent us this queen. Those who have wisdom know this also.”

Muth-goth struggled to sit upright with Deen-yat’s aid. The aged matriarch spoke in a faint voice between breaths that came with effort. “On journey, I…also had vision…It said hurry…or hope dies.”

“Muth la has spoken to these two mothers,” said Muth-hak. “We should listen also.”

“Muth Mauk,” said Muth-tok, “we’re uncertain where wisdom lies. Should you drink Muth la’s Draught or not? These stones will guide us. Do you wish to speak before they decide?”