The Heir (Fall of the Swords Book 3) (24 page)

“It should have concealed itself, Lord.” He had felt the circuits straining to keep themselves invisible from Snarling Jaguar's talent.

“It did conceal itself, Lord. I only guessed.”

“Oh,” Healing Hand said, relieved. “It lay hidden for scores of years inside an oak tree. No one detected it there. Now only you and, uh, I know the nature of the weapon.”

“In the empty northern lands? Ah, then it
is
the sword forged by Skulking Hawk to Assuaging Comfort's specifications. I'd heard the tale about the Medacor Sword, but didn't think it true.”

Healing Hand nodded, feeling a familial shame, his grandfather having broken the ancient proscriptions against making talismans, as well as the laws in all four Empires. By accepting and wielding this talisman, he was equally guilty of breaking the law.

“Filthy law,” Snarling Jaguar said. “I ought to repeal it. It condemns equally the person who'd use a talisman against his or her Empire, and the person who'd use it toward the betterment. A talisman is as constructive as the mind that wields it. Not to worry, Lord Hand, I've broken the law a few times myself.” The Emperor reached into his sleeve and pulled out the gold pendant that the bear had torn from Guarding Bear's neck.

Healing Hand felt better, but cautioned himself to remain discreet about the Medacor Sword. Furthermore, while the Sword was a useful, invaluable tool, all tools were crutches. He wondered if it would change the neurological structure of his brain, as the Heir and Imperial Swords did to Heirs and Emperors. He hoped his grandfather had constructed the Medacor Sword better than that.

“The siege of Seat, eh?” Snarling Jaguar said. “I understand you met an acquaintance there.”

Healing Hand laughed sardonically. “Lord Emperor, I was two feet from the Bandit, and even
I
thought he was Flaming Arrow!”

“No differences between the two—at all, Lord Hand?”

“None I could see, Lord.” The Wizard-Medacor's brow wrinkled. “His sword!
The
Sword! It had a ruby on the pommel!”

Snarling Jaguar nodded, looking at him.

“I saw it and thought nothing of it! We could have killed him then and solved all our problems! Infinite blast it, why didn't I
see
!”

The Emperor chuckled. “Ah, Lord Hand, be not so sure that you could have killed him, eh? I hear he's a fearsome swordfighter.”

“True, Lord Emperor. With the Sword, he's probably invincible,” Healing Hand said, shaking his head at the lost opportunity, regretting he hadn't ended all strife.

Shrugging, Snarling Jaguar asked, “Do you think Lurking Hawk killed the other boy, Lord Hand?”

“No,” he said, surprised at his own answer.

“Why not?” Snarling Jaguar asked.

“Lord Emperor, I don't know. I know, I just told you that he did. Now I'm telling you he didn't. I don't know why I said that. Have you ever felt one answer to be right, despite all contradictory evidence? What I've never understood is why he left the twins alive at all. Perhaps that's why I doubt that he killed the twin who died.”

Snarling Jaguar nodded. “Trust that feeling, Lord Hand. Somewhere inside, you know it's the right answer, eh? If he didn't kill them, he must have had an alternative far more appealing.”

“Leaving the twins debilitated?” Guarding Bear asked.

Both men jumped, not having noticed his approach.

The General turned his back to everyone in the valley. “No one will see my lips move, this way. We ought to be able to talk without anyone the wiser. The bear's hearing is most acute, Lord Emperor.” The silver chain in his hands, Guarding Bear scratched the animal's back.

“To what end, Lord Bear? Leaving the twins debilitated?”

“An Emperor without an Heir finds a way to sire one, as Flying Arrow did in siring the twins. An Emperor with an Heir—no matter what the Heir's abilities—feels satisfied with that Heir. Had Lurking Hawk killed them, Flying Arrow would have found a way to sire another.”

Healing Hand asked, “You don't think Flying Arrow arranged the death of his son so he'd have only one left, do you?”

“Absolutely,” Guarding Bear replied immediately. “All Emperors, with perhaps the exception of the Lord Jaguar's father, know the dangers of having more than one worthy Heir.”

Snarling Jaguar chuckled. “Having two eligible sons caused considerable difficulties for my father, yes. Especially because the first son didn't have an aptitude for the duties required of him. The second son took to them like a fish to water. I agree, Lord Bear, that leaving the twins alive but debilitated does seem the more prudent course for Lurking Hawk, but also seems inadequate vengeance for Flying Arrow's annihilation of the Northern Empire.”

Guarding Bear nodded. “Well, here comes my daughter, poor child.”

* * *

Wishing for more time to speak with the wily General, Snarling Jaguar looked toward the north. That fallacy, the bad assumption Healing Hand had mentioned, had felt close to the surface of consciousness, the Medacor's last question having stirred something deep inside his mind. Committing the question to memory and regretting he couldn't discuss this further with Guarding Bear, Snarling Jaguar turned to greet the approaching woman. “Lady Matriarch,” the Emperor said.

“Lord Emperor,” she said, bowing deeply. “Lord Hand, Lord Father.”

“Lady Water,” Healing Hand said, returning her nod.

Guarding Bear farted, and the bear copied him.

An idea came to Snarling Jaguar: “I wonder, Lady, if you might allow the Lord Bear to accompany me south. Perhaps a return to places familiar might bring him out of this insanity of his, eh? That way, my trainers can finish with the animal.”

She shrugged. “I don't know, Lord Emperor. Father,” she said loudly, trying to get his attention, “do you want to go with the Lord Emperor Jaguar?”

“Jaguar, Jaguar, Jaguar,” the imbecilic General said.

“All right, Father,” she said, frowning. “Follow this man. Do as he tells you.”

Guarding Bear nodded vigorously.

Sadness upon her face, she said, “Quite a pleasure to meet you, Lord Emperor Jaguar. May the peace of the Infinite be upon you, but not for a while, eh Lord?”

The sixty-seven year old smiled, liking the young woman greatly. “Thank you for your blessing, Lady Matriarch Water. Infinite be with you as well.” Snarling Jaguar bowed to her as an equal, honoring her, then nodded to Healing Hand. Snarling Jaguar walked away, Guarding Bear and the animal following him.

Twenty minutes later as Emperor and entourage crossed the border, the retired General hadn't stopped bobbing his head.

I
knew intuitively that the time to speak of the Sword hadn't arrived. Whatever higher being or universal force or spiritual power contrived to twist the bow and send an arrow into my conversation with the Bandit to stop me from revealing the nature of his weapon would've most certainly applied more drastic means if I'd have insisted on telling the young man immediately. Not superstitious, I still felt a shadow lift from my soul when I decided to hold my tongue.—
Personal Accounts of Events before the Fall
, by Keeping Track.

* * *

The mood was jubilant, the assassination attempt common knowledge.

Like prisoners granted a reprieve, the bandits played all the day long. Of the bandit nobles invited from other bands, only Leaping Elk had come. He too was reluctant to join the frolicking bandits. His sword loose in his hands, guards at his back, he wandered among the revelers, frowning.

Earlier, Leaping Elk and Seeking Sword had talked after pulling against each other on the archery range.

“Why so dour, Lord Elk?”

“It trick be, Sword Lord. Bandit vigil relax, die when Heir not expect return,” Leaping Elk said, his eyes shifting from object to object as if expecting attack from each. Then his gaze alighted on the Sword at the Bandit's hip. He opened his mouth to speak.

Just then an arrow bounced harmlessly off Seeking Sword's ceremonial helmet. The two men looked whence it had come. A warrior ran up from the range and knelt before the Bandit. “Forgive me, Lord Sword, the bow twisted in my hands.” He held up a bow that looked like a noodle and was little more useful. Seeking Sword laughed and waved it away.

Leaping Elk had shivered with foreboding, his latent prescience stirring.

An hour later, Leaping Elk walked toward the center of the festivities, where a raised circular wooden platform stood, upon which priests of the Infinite would later mate Seeking Sword and Purring Tiger. As Leaping Elk made his way through the loose throng, it parted for him, the two warriors a pace apart and a pace behind him, his sword in hand.

Ahead, beneath a shady alder gathered a small dense crowd.

Curious, yet too cautious to lower his shields or step into the crowd, Leaping Elk waited on its fringe. A laugh rippled through the crowd, followed by whispers and glances in his direction.

First one bandit, then another stepped back. A path cleared.

Standing on toes in utmost readiness, Leaping Elk waited, not knowing what to expect.

A last bandit stepped away, revealing Purring Tiger.

Leaping Elk froze, bedazzled by the sight of her.

Remembering the stringy-haired girl wearing warrior's leathers, her stride truculent and her carriage insolent, her expression scorn and her eyes filled with ice, Leaping Elk struggled to grasp that the girl he had known was the woman before him now.

Her hair falling around her shoulders like midnight waterfall, her face full of joy and happy mischief, her eyes so warm his manhood stirred, her posture proud but without aggression, her robes matching her hair so well he could hardly tell where one ended and the other began, Purring Tiger bowed formally, correctly.

He recovered himself in time to return the bow to the right depth. Then to honor her and her day of joining, he bowed further and held it.

“Infinite be with you, Lord Leaping Elk,” she said. “You're very kind with your extravagant obeisance. Thank you for honoring us with your attendance.” Then she grinned. “When I'm speaking with you, I'd like not to yell.”

Signaling his guards to hold their positions, Leaping Elk stepped forward, his sword still loose, his gaze on hers. “You thank for invite, Tiger Purring Lady. Infinite with you be,” he replied, having never heard her speak so pleasantly. “This humble bandit you joy wish, Tiger Lady. Happy time long, eh?”

“Thank you for your blessing, Lord Elk. I appreciate your caring.”

He stopped at five paces, seeing her nervous guards and knowing she didn't have a weapon, which the ceremony proscribed. “Be this … uh, good time politic talk, Tiger Lady?”

“Not the most opportune moment, Lord Elk, no.” The joy left her voice.

“Humble bandit forgive suggest, Tiger Lady, humble bandit not bother. Sword Lord handsome look, eh? You lady lucky be, eh?”

“Yes, thank you, Lord Elk. I feel happier now than I ever have.”

Wanting to retreat and hoping he had observed the amenities, Leaping Elk said, “Cere …uh, ritual well go hope, Tiger Lady. Please excuse, Lady, sword contest soon be, eh? Watch want.” He began to bow.

“Look at me, Lord Elk.”

The half-veiled command in her voice stopped him. His senses screamed that she was more dangerous than he had ever known or heard her to be.

She turned her head a few degrees, examining his face. “I want ten paces around me cleared,” she ordered softly, imperatively. She pointed not a pace from her own seat. “A cushion for the Lord Elk, there.”

While the guards moved people away, not once did she avert her gaze. Nor did he. When the guards had erected a respectful barrier of ten paces between her and the crowd, she gestured him to take a seat.

He bowed deeply and stepped forward. A guard stopped him.

“Forgive me, Lord Elk, your sword,” a guard said, a hand extended.

Without comment, he shook his head and stepped backward.

“Apologize to the Lord Elk, immediately,” Purring Tiger ordered.

The guard did so, then to her, bowing numerous times.

Waving it off, Leaping Elk stepped forward and took the cushion, his sword in his hands. The guard had been perfectly correct to have asked.

“Unseemly you without weapon be, while humble bandit sword have, eh? Humble bandit sword here put.” Leaping Elk placed the sheathed weapon between them, the edge toward himself, and smiled.

She nodded and smiled as well, the compromise acceptable to her nervous guards. “What troubles you, Lord Elk?” she asked. Her expression was cold but her voice was full of compassion, pitched low to keep others from overhearing.

He too spoke in a low voice. “Before trouble say, Tiger Lady, how pretty look you want tell, how proud Sword Lord look, how grateful humble bandit be.”

“Thank you, Lord Elk.” She nodded, then raised her eyebrows.

Leaping Elk saw the silent inquiry, and sighed. “Tiger Lady, Heir determine be. Emperor dead be, Heir still head take. Stag Bucking Lord and me, we feud many year ago stop. He not forget, Stag bandit not forget. When Heir Stag Bucking Lord head take, old feud new like. No Bandit Council to settle. Bandit Stag fourteen thousand? My bandit five hundred. Yes?”

“I understand about the feud, Lord Elk. We all know the Lord Bucking Stag is the Heir's next target.”

“Yes, Tiger Lady. Emperor perhaps die. Heir return castle re
por
ted.”

“You think the Heir's on his way to assassinate Bucking Stag
now
?”

“Possible, Tiger Lady. Stag Bucking camp closer my cave than humble bandit fortress be. Stag Bucking Lord die and his bandit for humble bandit come. Humble bandit without help escape doubt, eh?”

“After the Heir takes Bucking Stag's head, his bandits will besiege your cave? The distance from your cave to the fortress is too great to provide you any measure of safety? You must be too old for this, Lord Elk,” she said, genuine caring in her voice. “Why don't you go home?”

He looked in her eyes and found caring there too. “Because you not yet ceremony hold,” he protested. Why is she thinking the festivities might be too much for a man of my age? he wondered. Then he understood. “To
bro
ther, you mean. Humble bandit too long bandit be, Tiger Lady, cave home to me now.”

“Wouldn't you like to retire, Lord Elk? Find a place where you can just be yourself, no one to command, no responsibilities?”

“Wishes fishes be, we all nets cast, eh Tiger Lady?” Leaping Elk replied, shrugging. “No, humble bandit south not again go. Humble bandit not welcome in Empire be. Here home be. Humble bandit here in north die, Lady. But, Tiger Lady, father Tiger Lord once me tell, you help need, you ask. Well, Tiger Lady, humble bandit help ask.”

“What is it you want, Lord Elk, exactly?” she asked, the warmth leaving her voice.

“Safe place for band, Tiger Lady,” he replied immediately.

“Sanctuary for the whole band? When did my father promise you help, eh?”

“Sixteen year, after Empire fortress raid.”

“Who'd know the extent of my father's debt to you, Lord Elk?”

“Comfort Easing Medacor Lord.”

She looked toward a guard. “Fetch the Lord Comfort.” She returned her attention to the Southerner bandit. “It's not that I doubt your word, Lord Elk. I'll happily give you sanctuary. The extent of my father's debt merely determines if I do the same for your bandits. Certain people I'll take regardless of the debt: Your mate the Lady Elk, Slithering Snake, Lumbering Elephant, your children. The rest I don't know and can't appraise. When do you need sanctuary, Lord Elk?”

“Much grateful, Tiger Lady, you thank. Mate consult need, eh? Elk Lady caves run, when better than humble bandit know.”

“Of course, Lord Elk. How
is
your mate the Lady Fawning Elk? I feel disappointed she's not with you. Is she sick or something?”

“Elk Lady not well, yes,” he replied, not wanting to reveal the real reason his mate had declined to come.

“Sorry to hear that, Lord Elk. I hope she's better soon. Please convey to her my blessing, eh? When I decide how many members of your band I'll induct, I'll send word of my decision with our mutual friend the Lord Snake. After you join the Tiger Raiders, Lord Elk, I'll want your messages to your brother the Lord Emperor Jaguar to stop.”

Her words were icicles in his bowels. Involuntarily, he looked around for the tiger, from whom he gleaned most of his information.

“The animal is doing reconnaissance up north, Lord Elk,” she said.

Leaping Elk knew he had squandered the opportunity to deny that the tiger was his spy, guessing that she had only been speculating. The fate of Empires might depend on my continuing to transmit the tiger's information! Leaping Elk thought. “Jaguar Emperor Lord humble bandit many truth tell, ear and eye many place have, Tiger Lady.”

“Eh? So what,” she said bluntly.

“So Emperor Lord you help may. Humble bandit ambassador be, eh? Ambassador, hostage, spy, no different, eh?”

“He hates you and wants you dead!”

“Ah, no, Tiger Lady, hate fake. Brother love, truly, Tiger Lady.”

Purring Tiger frowned. “Who can confirm this?”

“Snake Slithering Lord, Tiger Lady.”

“So you want to maintain contact with your brother, acting as a spy for him but also as a conduit of information to me. Well, Lord Elk, that's quite a proposal. Tell me a secret that might help me.”

“Jaguar Emperor say, you and Water Matriarch Lady sister be.”

“That's a lie!” she snarled, her hand groping for a sword not there. “How dare you impugn my paternity!” she nearly screamed.

Swords sang from scabbards ten paces away, the guards ready to kill.

“Tiger Lady messenger kill because message not like?” Leaping Elk said, staring at the woman fearlessly.

“Should I spare your life so you can tell me
more
lies? Guards, take this man's head!”

“What's the meaning of this!” Easing Comfort pushed past a guard. “Put away your swords!” The medacor looked at Purring Tiger and Leaping Elk. “Lady Tiger, what could the Lord Elk gain by telling you lies? We both know he's an honorable man!” The medacor stepped right up to her, looking down at her as a parent might a misbehaving child. “Your father was a patient man. The Lord Tiger did very little that he regretted later. Ask yourself what
he
would do, Lady Tiger.” He turned and scowled at the guards who hadn't yet sheathed their swords, waiting for Purring Tiger's command to do so.

One guard suddenly bent and vomited. The others acquiesced under Easing Comfort's glare. Leaping Elk knew that the medacor was as capable of making them sick as well.

He turned back to Purring Tiger and bowed. “Forgive me my presumptuous behavior, Lady.”

“I'll accept your apology this time, Lord Comfort,” she said, then turned to Leaping Elk. “I'll consider your proposal, Lord Elk. Thank you, for honoring us with your presence at our ceremony.”

Grateful for the dismissal, Leaping Elk bowed. “You thank, Tiger Lady.” Picking up his sword, he stood and backed away. At ten paces he secured it to his side and bowed again, then strode off, his two guards behind him.

The green of tree and blue of sky looked especially vivid. The smells on the wind and the singing of birds were pleasing to his senses. Leaping Elk realized how close he had come to joining the Infinite. Every deliverance from death seemed to heighten his perceptions.

Wandering without destination, Leaping Elk found himself at the dueling rings, where seven swordfights were underway.

“Lord Elk,” said a bandit whom he didn't know, “would you like to compete? It'd be an honor if you'd disarm me, Lord. I'm Telling Lie.”

“You thank, Lie Telling Lord,” Leaping Elk said, appraising the man's physique as the two of them moved toward an empty ring. Suddenly, a hand on his shoulder spun Leaping Elk around.

Seeking Sword looked at Telling Lie, keeping his hand on the Southerner's shoulder. “I'll have no killing on this day of days, eh?”

Frowning, Telling Lie glanced toward the alder where Purring Tiger was. “What are you talking about, Lord Sword?”

Seeking Sword smiled at the glance. “I'm hereby countermanding your orders, Lord. Enjoy yourself today. The Infinite will take care of tomorrow. Begone!” Not acknowledging the obeisance, the Bandit watched as Telling Lie bowed deeply and moved off.

“Sword Lord, Infinite with you be. Tiger Lady not please be, eh?”

Seeking Sword laughed. “No, she
is
n't, Lord Elk. Personally, I don't mind if you spy; I only want to know the content of what you send south.
She
wants the southward flow of information to stop. She doesn't see any advantage in Snarling Jaguar's knowing the details of her life—as if they interested him at all.” Seeking Sword laughed again. “I'll talk with her later. I won't have her killing the man I consider as much a father as my father.”