The Garden Of Stones Part 5

"I'd rather discuss that in private, Asrahn, if you don't mind."

"This is not the time to be coy, Indris."

"As you like, though the fewer ears that hear this, the better. My comrades and I were brought here to help Far-ad-din discover who'd been trafficking in proscribed relics from the Rmarq," Indris admitted. "Far-ad-din had already arrested some of the key merchants dealing the relics and was about to arrest the suppliers, though we wanted to know more about what they were doing. He was obeying the law as the Teshri set it down: to actively traffic in proscribed relics is a capital offense. Far-ad-din was protecting your interests, Asrahn, not flouting them."

"Far-ad-din hinted to me something of the kind, though I was surprised he never told me more," Ariskander mused. "I suspect some of his communications were intercepted, to prevent too many questions being asked. Far-ad-din was afraid of what others might unearth out there, as well as what the monsters of the wetlands might do with what they could lay their hands on."

"With good reason." Indris nodded. "He was also concerned with the consequences of what might happen to him if the criminals thought they'd been found."

"I take it you're aware of what lives in the wetlands?" Daniush asked.

"Some of it, yes. I don't think anybody knows everything there is to know about the Rmarq."

"It seems to be as dangerous as people say."

"Part of that is our fault," Indris said. "After the Haiyt Empire of the Time Masters ended, the Seethe settled in the Rmarq and made some of their largest Torque Mills there. When the first Mahj of the Awakened Empire sank the center of Seethe civilization beneath the Marble Sea, the Torque Mills weren't all destroyed. They went on working with n.o.body to monitor them."

"What happened?" Hamejin's eyes were wide with curiosity.

"Reedwives, malegangers, dholes, and their ilk were created over the centuries. The Rmarq, once a pinnacle of civilization, became one of the most dangerous places on a."

"What about wyverns?" Daniush sounded so much like his father it took Mari a moment to realize where the question had come from. "Or b.u.t.terfly-drakes? Or those little wolf-bear creatures I see people keeping as pets?

"They're natural." Indris smiled. "The animal you're referring to is known as a marsh devil. They don't make great pets. Even generations out of the wild they're about one missed meal from turning feral."

"What are the Fenlings?" Vahineh asked, her long face solemn. Belam was right, Mari thought. The princess did look a little like a shoe. "Why are they so much of a problem?"

Mari edged closer. Erebus Prefecture was almost free from the presence of such monsters. Indris took a worn journal from his satchel. He flicked through the pages until he found what he sought. The scholar handed the journal to Vahineh, who showed it to her brothers.

"Those are my notes and drawings concerning the Fenlings. The Fenlings were made in the Torque Mills, after the Avn, the Tau-se, and others. The last great living sculpture of the Seethe. The Sq Scholars have no knowledge of why they were made, only the certainty the Fenlings should've been destroyed." Mari felt a slight sense of apprehension even thinking about them. "From what we understand, the Fenlings were a mix of the Avn and giant, tool-using rats. Totally amoral. They're indiscriminate in what they kill. They'll drag their enemies from the battlefield to be eaten, often alive. They eat their own. They reproduce prodigiously. They're disease carriers, though they don't suffer from what they infect others with. They don't make anything of their own, rather, they steal what they need and change it as best they can for their own uses. They have shamans, more akin to witches than they are to scholars. Their arcanum is wild, unfettered, rather than disciplined. The concepts of honor, love, or affection seem alien to them, though there's much we don't know or understand. Had the Fenlings better organization, the Sq have little doubt the rat-folk would make a formidable army."

"Are there many Fenlings?" Vahineh asked gingerly.

"More than us." Indris shrugged. "They've a superst.i.tious dread of the Seethe. I think the only reason they've been contained so long is because of Far-ad-din and his Flying Hunt."

"Flying Hunt?" Vahineh looked up from Indris's book.

"Seethe wyvern-riders," Indris offered. "They'd fly out into the Rmarq and take retribution on any Fenling tribe that raided any of Far-ad-din's va.s.sals. Sayf-Siamak of the Family Bey, along with his marsh warriors, was equally as...convincing."

"Indris?" Hamejin blurted. "Is that weapon you carry the one they call Changeling? And your pistol? I've never seen one fired."

Mari looked at the prince with some surprise, as did his father and siblings. Hamejin was in his midtwenties, yet he was acting like a boy in the presence of the renowned scholar and adventurer. Mari turned her gaze upon the weapon sheathed across Indris's back. There had been stories of Indris and Changeling. Until she had seen what he was capable of on Amber Lake, she had dismissed them as fancy. No longer.

Indris reached up to rest the fingertips of one hand on Changeling's hilt. Mari heard a gentle murmur, almost a purr, come from the weapon. Her black kirion-star steel-scabbard was mottled with an oily sheen, red or blue depending on the angle of the light. She resembled an amenesqa, slightly more than a meter in length, with a long hilt that could be used either one or two handed. From her pommel to the tip of her blade she had a gently recurved shape, like an elongated, flattened s. The hilt was scaled, leading to an ornate Dragon's-head pommel with amber eyes facing out along the line of the hilt. The Dragon's head made the already serpentine weapon look even more dangerous. Her eyes dropped to the storm-pistol in its tooled leather holster. It was a rare and expensive relic of the Awakened Empire, suited to a scholar's hand or a collector's shelf. The weapons were notoriously hard to maintain, with the techniques known only to a few.

Indris politely took his journal from Vahineh's hands. "I'm certain the Asrahn has more pressing questions for me."

"Indeed he does." Vashne's voice was tinged with impatience. "Was there a reason you made me send my Feya.s.sin to bring you here?"

"Displays of control can be quite tedious." If Indris was surprised at the suddenness of the Asrahn's question, Mari could not see it. "Was there a reason you bothered to send them?"

"How dare you? I gave you your life!" Vashne's voice cracked across the room. His three children, as well as Nehrun, paled. Ariskander pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. Indris raised his eyebrows, clearly unimpressed with the outburst. "I am the Asrahn, and I deserve your respect."

"And I'm a scholar, Asrahn. My life was neither yours to give nor to take. I do respect you and am grateful for your mercy, though need I remind you I bow before none except the Sq Masters or the Mahj in Mediin?"

Before she knew what she had done, Mari found herself halfway to where Indris stood. How dare he? Her hand had curled into a fist. Strength flowed from ankles, through calves, thighs, hips, and torso, into her arms, and- Indris's left eye burned. From light brown to red, to yellow-flecked orange as if the eye were filled with flame. A circle of characters in an unknown language, limned in fire, flared around his pupil for a moment. Light haloed him, a mother-of-pearl s.h.i.+ne that plunged the rest of him into silhouette. Fear lanced her. Made her pause for the slightest moment. A heartbeat. Then she continued forward, gratified to see Indris's eyes widen ever so slightly in surprise.

"Fall back!" Knight-Colonel Chelapa cracked in her parade-ground voice. Mari stopped where she was, balanced on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet, a coiled spring. "Return to your position, Feya.s.sin! Now!"

Mari bowed to her Asrahn, then to her commanding officer before she retreated to her post. Her mouth was dry. Not because of the fear. Fear was healthy, natural, something to be embraced so it could be accepted rather than ruin her. Her surprise came from the sense of outrage she had felt at Indris's dismissal of the Asrahn. It was the same instinct that had seen her defend the Asrahn at the Battle of Amber Lake. It was a Feya.s.sin's instinct, rather than a conspirator's.

Vashne eyed Mari with irritation, though it was Ariskander he spoke to. "You should know one of your Lion Guard was found in the city this afternoon."

"What did it say?" Nehrun choked out too quickly.

"Knight-Colonel Ekko was badly wounded." Mari's voice echoed from behind her war-mask.

Ariskander closed his eyes. "I take it Far-ad-din was not with him? Will Ekko survive his wounds?"

"No, he was alone. I believe he'll recover," Mari added. "Were he an Avn, or a Human, I'd have my doubts. But a Tau-se?" She shrugged. Mari had seen Tau-se soldiers fight on with the most horrific of wounds, then walk from battle as if being pierced by four or five arrows was the most common thing in the world. "Ekko was determined to reach here with news. He's asked to speak with you or Indris." Though not Nehrun, she thought to herself.

"I'll speak with it. But how can it be trusted?" Nehrun said incredulously. "We've no idea what happened out there, or why it returned without completing its mission!"

"The Tau-se don't lie." Indris snorted. "It's not in them. Ekko will have a good reason why he returned without Far-ad-din."

"If Ekko has news"-Vashne was intent-"I would hear it."

"Our efforts here aren't a total loss, Vashne." Ariskander smiled. He talked briefly about the relief efforts he had brokered with local businesses and those of the upper castes who remained, Seethe, Avn, and Human. The people appeared to be content to wait-satisfied Vashne, through Ariskander, was a man of his word. "That said, there are other issues we need to deal with. Each day we're getting reports of faction fighting between the Great Houses and Hundred Families. We need to start sending people home, Vashne, before they take their personal wars to the streets and innocents get hurt."

Yet it was not only the factions causing trouble. Roadrangers threatened merchant traffic along the roads near Amnon. There had been encounters with the Fenlings close to the army camps outside the city walls. Personnel and supplies had gone missing. Tales of reedwife sightings had caused a panic among some of the soldiery. There was even report of a maleganger-a marsh-puppeteer-that had scuttled onto the chest of a soldier in an attempt to throttle her in her sleep. Luckily it had been destroyed before it could kill the woman and make her body a vicious puppet whose sole purpose would have been to sow discord. Being so close to the Rmarq had made real some of what had, only weeks ago, been stories for some.

"Let's use the Erebus to cleanse the Rmarq of monsters so close to the city," Nehrun said, eyes narrowed in thought. "You never know, they may find some sign of Far-ad-din we've missed-"

Ariskander shook his head to silence his son. "Corajidin has his own agenda. Who knows what he'll do once he's been given leave to send his people into the wetlands? We'd never know who was accounted for or not."

"But-"

"Nehrun, leave it be!" Ariskander's jaw clenched in irritation. "There's enough for us to do without policing the Erebus. The longer we stay here, the longer our own prefecture is leaderless."

"Would it be easier for you, my friend, if I gave Amnon to Corajidin for the time being?" Vashne asked quietly.

From the corner of her eye, Mari watched Nehrun's reaction. Where he should have been shocked at Vashne's suggestion there was a sly glee in the man's eyes, hastily masked.

"That's the only choice?" Indris asked. "I would've thought almost anybody would've been more suitable to govern Amnon than Corajidin."

"You would question your Asrahn?" Nehrun gasped. "Remember your place-"

"Somebody has to." Indris bowed his head to Vashne. "Can't we give Ariskander more time? My uncle and Far-ad-din have been two of your most loyal supporters for years. They deserve to be trusted."

Vashne gazed speculatively at Indris. "Ariskander, Nehrun...would you please excuse Indris and me?"

Ariskander rested his hand on Indris's shoulder for moment, then strode from the room. Nehrun's expression was dumbfounded. He drew in a breath to speak. Held it for a moment before exhaling slowly. Mari watched as Nehrun moistened his lips, then swallowed nervously. Nehrun gave Indris a murderous glare before he made a deep obeisance to the Asrahn. Turning on his heel in a swirl of silk, Nehrun walked stiff-backed from the chamber.

"You and your cousin still do not get along?" Vashne asked once Nehrun's footsteps had faded to nothing.

"Our relations.h.i.+p is...challenging," Indris said thoughtfully. "But though our opinions differ, we each respect the other."

"Truly?" The Asrahn gestured for Indris to follow him outside to the Fire Garden. The Feya.s.sin took position around Vashne and his children. Mari walked behind Indris, almost close enough to touch him.

Indris nodded and said, "No," his tone dry. "He can't forgive my mother for abandoning her Great House to be a Sq Scholar or that I married Far-ad-din's daughter. I can't tolerate his racism, his pettiness, or his shallowness. I doubt our feelings will change. Ever since he read Corajidin's book, Our Destiny Made Manifest, he's not been the same."

Vashne leaned back on a crystal bench, his face uplifted toward the sun. Mari noted the deep lines in the man's face, carved by years of responsibility. Vashne and her father were so alike in many ways, yet so profoundly different when it came to the exercise of power. Her father saw his Awakening as his ancestral right. In the months she had served Vashne, it seemed the Asrahn was as much in awe of his power as he was frightened by it.

"I have to make a decision," Vashne continued. "Amnon needs a governor before I disband the armies and send them home. It must be somebody I trust, as well as somebody who can keep Amnon under control. I have already had interminable meetings with foreign emissaries, a.s.suring them that an Avn army camped on the sh.o.r.es of the Marble Sea is not a prelude to war."

"I understand." Indris sounded frustrated. "I'm asking you to consider other options. Corajidin is an intelligent man, a capable man, though not necessarily a virtuous one. But please give Ariskander the time he needs. Far-ad-din's out there, somewhere."

"How long? Another week? A month?" Vashne asked frankly. "To what end? Far-ad-din is gone. We need to move forward. Ariskander cannot remain here forever."

"Then appoint somebody else governor. Almost anybody else, save Corajidin or Nehrun."

"You know Ariskander does not intend Nehrun to be his heir?"

"What?" Indris said sharply. Mari froze in place. Her father had dealt with Nehrun in the belief the man was to be the next Rahn-Nasarat. Otherwise, Corajidin would never have given Nehrun the time of day. "Nehrun doesn't know, does he?" Indris breathed.

"Ariskander had not made his decision until a few days before the battle." Vashne looked at Indris shrewdly. "He confided in a few people, told us his new choice for heir, and we approved it wholeheartedly."

"Roshana will make a fine rahn," Indris said, distracted. "As would her younger brother, Tajaddin."

"I suppose." Vashne smiled. "None of this brings Far-ad-din back. You were right about his success in keeping the monsters in the Rmarq contained. Far-ad-din had alliances with a few Seethe troupes, who lent their aid. More importantly, Far-ad-din was the only person we had who could help us in our various diplomatic dealings with the Seethe Sky Realms. His absence causes more problems than many realize."

"Then why agree to go to war against him?" Indris asked incredulously.

"It was a calculated risk," Vashne admitted, "which will cost us dearly. You know we never intended to go to war! Why do you think Ariskander was chosen as Arbiter of the Change? It was the only way we could satisfy the upper-caste outrage at Far-ad-din's supposed treason while still keeping control of the outcome. All we needed was the time to show the Teshri Far-ad-din was innocent. I should have known Corajidin would change the rules to suit himself."

The older man leaned back. Ran his hands across his face. Blinked in the bright sunlight for a moment or two. When he spoke, he was addressing empty air as much as Indris. "None of this changes my need to consider disbanding Far-ad-din's Great House in favor of having the Sq Masters Awaken a new rahn. I need somebody with armies to maintain the peace. Far-ad-din left me nothing."

"With respect, you gave him little choice," Indris pointed out. "You had options."

"Not with the Teshri baying for blood. Corajidin wants to keep the armies marshaled here." Vashne scowled. "Why do-"

Mari noted the sorrow on Indris's face as he shook his head. "I'm not here to advise you. I can only a.s.sume you had me brought here because you hoped I'd help you. I've not changed my mind. Amnon is a place I truly don't want to be."

"I understand there are bitter memories for you here. But you were once of great service to the crown, my friend," Vashne mused.

A chill went down Mari's spine. In her entire time with Vashne he had heard the man call people friend on only a score of occasions. The Asrahn used the word sparingly, with meaning. For him to count Indris among such an august number meant the daimahjin had stronger ties than even her father suspected.

"It was my pleasure to serve Shran, for so long as it was my path to do so." Indris stressed the word was. "I was released from public service by the Sq."

"One of a handful ever." Vashne's tone was light. "Being a daimahjin must be a different life compared to being a Sq Knight."

"There's little to be missed about my old life, and my debt to the Order has been paid many times over." Indris locked Vashne's gaze with his own. Mari felt for Indris. In her father she knew how it felt to be in thrall to a master she wanted to escape. The only difference was that Indris had achieved what she had not. Mari was captivated by the movements of his hands. Powerful, tanned, almost hairless, the skin raised by lengths of ropy vein. The pale mottle of calluses. She wanted to hold them, to kiss his palms, to guide them over her body as he explored her, a newly discovered country. When he spoke again, his voice was introspective, almost detached.

"n.o.body really ever stops being a scholar, though now I can choose what causes to fight for rather than ones chosen for me. The Sq taught me about survival. How to face the darkness, even though I could never see in it. They taught me terror, how to deal with it, to use it. They taught me that love is as much a strength as it can be a weakness. About the equilibrium between unconditional love for the ma.s.ses and the unfettered, biased, wholly absorbing love for the individual. That neither yesterday nor tomorrow exist, for everything happens in the now, and that all things share the one moment. Mostly they taught me how the world, in all its wonder, is based upon laws which must be obeyed, though can be bent. That nothing, anywhere, is really impossible if one simply has the will, learning, and the intellect to achieve it."

"Yet after they taught you everything, you still feel as if you owe them, and your people, nothing?" The expression on Vashne's face was etched with disappointment.

"Everything?" Indris mused. "In all the years I was with the Sq, they never taught me how to live. I'm still learning that one myself. What they did teach was to observe and a.s.sess. To decide and act. Nehrun's up to something. I think I'll have my people follow him to find out exactly what that something is."

The Seethe healer smiled at Mari, her eyes the deep indigo-gray of a clear evening, her fine quills the red and gold and yellow of morning. Her nimble fingers plaited the fortune coins back into Ekko's mane, now washed of the blood that had matted it. The Tau-se's cavernous chest rose and fell slowly.

Flower and herb beds dotted the sandy ground around the healing arbors. The scents of lavender, rosemary, and jasmine cleansed the brine from the sea breeze. Brightly colored birds warbled on perches, free to come and go as they pleased, while cicadas droned in the distance, far enough away to be almost hypnotic. Water trickled brightly down a cascading fall of crystal slivers into a small pond filled with fat blue-and-green fish. The wind hissing through pine needles sounded like the ocean. Small golden frogs, eyes like s.h.i.+ny jetbeads, sat on plump lily pads. A large river cat, lynx-like and clouded chocolate and gray, lay curled up at the foot of Ekko's bed. Its eyes opened wide as Mari and Indris approached. The animal lifted its nose to sniff Indris's hand, rubbed its face against his palm contentedly.

"Ah...the Feya.s.sin lady who found me and Dragon-Eyed Indris," Ekko rumbled. Mari saw Indris wince at the name. The pupils of the Tau-se's large hazel-gold eyes slid to narrow slits against the brightness of the afternoon. Ekko looked at Mari. "I have yet to thank you for your timely intervention earlier today, dear lady. I might have been further delayed had you not happened by."

"Think nothing of it." Mari smiled. "Seems only fair, after you went to all the effort to come."

Ekko's laugh sounded like a cross between thunder and an avalanche of suede boulders. His eyes narrowed with pain as he tried to sit up. The Seethe healer tutted, helping the lion-man get comfortable.

"You've news of Far-ad-din?" Indris asked politely as he took his seat on a narrow couch by Ekko's bed.

"Sadly, no." Ekko shook his great s.h.a.ggy head. "Though it does not mean I have no tale to tell. Listen, if you would..."

Mari leaned with her back to the wall as Ekko began his tale. She had hoped her commanding officer would ask her to accompany Indris, not the least because she wanted to hear this story. Ekko might know something that could undermine her father's plans. If so, it would be up to Mari to decide whether she was loyal enough to her father's ambition to kill the Tau-se hero. She sincerely hoped it would not come to such a decision, for she did not know whether she had the courage to stay her hand against the risk of her father's retribution.

Ariskander had asked Nehrun to command the search, but the young n.o.bleman had begged off. The Tau-se had been happy enough to oblige, and it had been deep night by the time the Lion Guard had forded the Anqorat and raced into the Rmarq. The tracks left by Far-ad-din's forces had been easy to follow. Yet with each kilometer, those tracks had divided. Then divided again. And again. Until Far-ad-din's two companies had split into dozens of groups. Far-ad-din could be with any of them.

"Which one did you follow?" Indris interrupted.

"The track with the largest number of feet," Ekko replied as if it was entirely obvious. "Far-ad-din would not be without his White Hawks. His personal guard are nigh on fifty in number. He would not split them up, nor would they be willingly separated from their rahn. We suspect he also had a squad or more of the Seethe Shadow Mimes, so we needed to be wary of a.s.sa.s.sins' trickery."

Ekko and his forces had tracked Far-ad-din throughout the night. Sunset came quickly to the marshes. Moonrise was hours away, but the brightness of the night had been enough for the Tau-se. Ekko had sent a squad of five Tau-se to guard the rear, for he had sensed a small number of others following them. Three other squads had ranged about them at point and flanks.

The marshes had remained silent except for the sounds of the pursuers. Hours pa.s.sed at punis.h.i.+ng speed, the Tau-se moving on foot and the Sq Scholar mounted on her armored war hart. From time to time marsh lights had drifted between the reeds. It was almost three hours after moonrise, some six hours after they had crossed the Anqorat, when they found the first sign of a new battlefield.

Ten Seethe troupers, the skin of their faces pierced with cruel-looking darts, lay dead and half-sunken in b.l.o.o.d.y water. They were draped in the soiled hauberks of Far-ad-din's personal guard. More than four times that many Fenling bodies, armored in moldy leather and ransacked steel plating, lay nearby. The rat-men still had their rough spears and ill-kept swords or axes clutched in their hands.

Ekko drew silent. Mari noted the indrawn look in his eyes, though the rest of his face was cast with typical Tau-se impa.s.sivity.

"Have you fought the Fenling, Amonindris?"

"Please, Ekko...just Indris. And yes." Mari thought she detected a shudder run through the man. "I've fought the Fenling."

"They are vile. Worse than cannibals, for they eat anything and anybody. You know they eat their enemies? While they are alive? The night is their province. They eat, drink, breathe, and rut with it. Their nests have hundreds of the Fenling, each male, female, and child willing to fight, for such is the way of the rat-folk. Why, the Seethe-"

"Far-ad-din?" Indris prompted.

Ekko nodded. "Far-ad-din was running fast. We Tau-se knew the Seethe's scent, yet something else stirred in the shadows. It made my fur rise.