Part 28 (1/2)
”I'm here, aren't I, Vahineh?” Mari wondered for a moment how it would feel to be possessed of so many lives with their experiences, both fair and foul, all at once. ”It is Vahineh I'm speaking with?”
”I'm Vahineh.” The girl nodded, expression bland, intonation that of a confused young woman. ”And so much more. The voices in my head...the memories, visions of so many things, like too many quick fish in a churning pond-”
”Vahineh, you need to remember who you are and why you're here.” Mari knew she needed to give Vahineh some way to cling to her own ident.i.ty, lest she be lost in the fragmented limbo of the long line of personalities that now lingered in her newly extended memories. So far as Mari was aware, Vahineh had never been given the training to compartmentalize her mind, the way an Awakened rahn needed to control the influx of images and voices in her head. The princess needed to be brought wholly to the here and now. Otherwise she could lose herself to the personalities of her Ancestors, all crammed into her head. ”Why were you here, Vahineh?”
”To have my vengeance...” The voice seemed more its usual timbre.
”No. That's Vashne talking. Why are you here, Vahineh?”
”Armal...helped kill my mother, then hunted me down and kept me prisoner-”
”Armal is dead. Remember! What else?”
”Thufan killed my wife.”
Mari slapped Vahineh on the cheek. ”No! Thufan killed your mother, not your wife. Focus on what you have seen with your own eyes, Vahineh. Your mother. It was your mother Thufan killed! You were going to make him suffer, remember?”
”Yes! Make the hook-handed villain suffer. Tell him Corajidin had his son a.s.sa.s.sinated! The ruined old man will weep...yet more must pay.”
”No, Vahineh. You must rest and leave thoughts of vengeance behind.”
The princess closed her eyes and drifted away into an uneasy sleep, her eyelids flickering with the sights only her eyes could see.
”You should have no problems leaving the villa, provided she doesn't cause a stir,” Mari said to Qamran once Vahineh had settled.
”She wants to stay.”
”I really don't care,” Mari said as she headed toward the door. ”You both have to leave here as soon as you can. Vahineh needs help.”
”Where are you going?”
”I need to tell Femensetri and the others what's happened here. If Vahineh has been Awakened, we have to a.s.sume the worst.” Her mouth was dry, making it hard to say what she feared. ”I think Indris and the others have failed.”
Mari was no longer there when Vahineh awoke.
”Where is she?” Vahineh snapped at Qamran.
”Gone to meet the others, to tell them of your Awakening. I must get you to safety, Your Majesty.”
”Why would I leave, when I'm here in the serpent's nest?”
”I was told you need help.”
”And I'm telling you we stay.”
”As you wish, Your Majesty. What do you propose?”
”Can you find Corajidin's quarters?” Vahineh's smile was older and colder than belonged on any young woman's lips.
”Yes.”
”Then take me.”
It was almost an hour later when Qamran gestured for Vahi to wait, his signal barely visible in the gloom. The dust made Vahi's skin itch. Qamran quietly popped open the portal, then slid into the room beyond, his sword drawn. All was quiet. The curtains had been closed to keep the brightness of the day from the room, though pools of light billowed across the floor under the hems of curtains plucked by the breeze.
It was the work of moments to confirm Yasha was seated at a large table, upon which rested untidy hillocks of books and scrolls.
Vahi glared at the reflection of the beautiful woman in the mirror opposite where Yasha sat. Part of her quailed at what she was going to do. Her palms were moist, and her pulse thundered in her ears. Vahi had never taken a life before. She stared at the woman, almost perfect in form and feature, oddly innocent in repose at her desk.
The newly Awakened rahn of the Great House of Sela.s.sin drew her sword.
Light blossomed in the room as the breeze gusted through the curtains, more strongly than before. Yasha frowned prettily, a pampered queen protesting the very workings of the world. She looked up.
Vahi's and Yasha's eyes met. The Erebus rahn yelled for her guards.
Qamran ran to secure the doors to the chamber as Vahi dashed forward, hoping to catch Yasha by surprise. Her beautiful features contorting in a snarl, Yasha drew a long pin from her hair. Hurled it with deadly accuracy. The pin struck Vahi at the base of her throat.
The pain was staggering. Vahi stumbled, her momentum carrying her forward. Yasha's fist struck Vahi in the stomach. Vahi plucked the long pin from her throat. Felt the blood ooze down her chest. Yasha rained down blows on Vahi's face and shoulders, her hands like hammers.
Consciousness threatened to abandon Vahi. Stunned, she let Sadra's teachings take over. Her body reacted mechanically, yet react it did. Soon she found she was blocking Yasha's a.s.sault. With her composure returned, Vahi wounded the lovely queen with dozens of cuts, until finally Yasha stood swaying, breath rasping, her translucent robe and dark complexion rent.
Vahineh raised her sword.
”This isn't the end of it, you shoe-faced cow,” Yasha muttered.
Vahi cut her throat. Yasha fell to her knees, blood flowing through her clutching fingers to stain the mosaic floor and rugs at her knees.
Vahi turned her back, then walked to the secret door. She called to Qamran, who joined her within moments, the sound of blows loud against the doors he had barred, and the two of them quickly closed the secret door behind them.
She smiled. There was still a little time to find Thufan and tell him what had happened to his son.
Mari and the others had agreed to meet at the townhouse Ariskander had lived in prior to the Battle of Amber Lake. The house was located on a quiet street in the Golden Four, four large blocks of expensive townhouses and villas near the base of Zephyr Hill. Barely any noise filtered through the windows. The air was almost scent-free, other than the old, faint tang of lotus incense that had seeped over the years into paint, fabric, and wood.
”Mari, it was unwise to leave Vahineh in her current state.” Ziaire crossed her legs, adjusted the folds of her kilt. Her sandals were crusted with pearls. ”She's the Rahn-Sela.s.sin now and a valuable ally!”
”Where's Vahineh now?” Femensetri picked at the ink that crusted her fingernails. She flicked tiny crescent moons of hardened shadow onto the otherwise clean floor.
”Resting, protected by the Feya.s.sin,” Qamran replied.
”You say Corajidin plans to return this evening?” Kembe rumbled, a veritable mountain of muscle and fur. ”A short time to prepare.”
”The Nasarat Phoenix Army left for Narsis this morning,” Rosha added. ”Along with the sayfs of all the families allied to my House. There are still two hundred veterans of my Whitehorse Cataphracts here, as well as the remaining hundred of the Lion Guard sworn to defend the blood royal. It'll have to be enough.”
”Na.r.s.eh's been spoken to.” Femensetri rose from her chair in a creak of old leather. She poured herself a cup of tea from a silver urn, did not bother to ask the others if they wanted anything. The Scholar Marshal leaned against the wall, tea cradled in her long-fingered hands. ”The Knight-Marshal has been informed of our intent to exercise a Jahirojin against the Great House of Erebus. Na.r.s.eh doesn't like it but will abide provided we follow all the forms. She won't interfere.”
”I've a contingent of my warriors, marshaled from the Rmarq.” Siamak shrugged his wide shoulders in a ripple of bra.s.sy scale-mail. ”They're not many, given how much territory they patrol. Still, they're deadly fighters and were loyal to Far-ad-din's vision for Amnon. They've no love for the Asrahn-Elect.”
”I also have my children from the Taumarq,” Kembe rumbled. ”Of course I cannot act in an official capacity, though as nahdi in the employ of the Great House of Nasarat...”
”Stormbringer?” Rosha turned her gaze upon the black-ca.s.socked scholar.