wall gave dim illumination, but as Amber looked around, two more lamps sputtered into life, then the fire ignited, apparently of its own volition.
‘Do you often walk into your commanding officer’s room uninvited? ’ asked a deep voice. Amber turned towards it and visibly winced at the jolt of pain from the brutalised muscles in his neck.
‘No, my Lord,’ he replied, shuffling around until he could face Lord Styrax. The huge white-eye wore a black tunic, uniform of the Bloodsworn cavalry, and boots to his knees, but for once the tunic was in disarray, the boots scuffed. He sat in a solid armchair backed up against the wall, supporting his great head in one hand.
‘Yet you do so now.’ Styrax’s voice was as deep as one might expect from a white-eye of his size, but now it was a ragged growl, one Amber had rarely heard. It didn’t bode well, and the major was further discouraged when he saw Kobra, Lord Styrax’s sword, embedded a foot deep into the stone wall. Kobra was a prize plucked from his dead predecessor’s fingers, a powerful artefact, but Amber didn’t think anything but a white-eye’s rage would have the strength to drive it into solid stone.
‘I apologise, my Lord,’ Amber said with a slow bob of the head that was about all he could manage by way of a bow. Beside him Kirl did a better job of offering respect, but all that achieved was to only make Styrax focus on her instead.
‘Why are you being nursed by a Farlan Cardinal Paladin?’ he asked.
‘Ah, Horsemistress Kirl is attached to the Cheme Third, my Lord; she just helped herself to some knight’s baggage.’
He grunted.
‘An . . . an honour to be in your presence, my Lord,’ Kirl managed to say at last, bowing again.
‘I’m sure it is. Tell me, Horsemistress, do you have children of your own? With Major Amber, perhaps?’
Kirl coloured and looked down. ‘No, my Lord.’
Styrax didn’t speak again for a while.
Gods, has Kohrad’s death broken him? Amber felt a chill on the back of his neck. Have we come all this way only to be stopped by this?
‘Why not?’ Styrax asked, all of a sudden. They both blinked. Neither could think of anything helpful to say in response. ‘Well?’ he asked again. ‘Man might not look much, but he’s minor nobility, a hero of the army. You could do worse.’
‘I — I’m sure I could,’ Kirl mumbled.
‘Well then?’
‘He — Ah, he has n-never asked such a thing of me,’ Kirl stammered. The question had thrown her completely, but she dared not look to Amber for help. Lord Styrax stared straight at her, his piercing eyes fierce, his tone threatening.
‘Amber, get her with child. I command it,’ Styrax growled.
The major guessed his lord was making an effort at levity, but everything the white-eye said was laden with anger. Amber was not a man of subtlety, but he knew white-eyes well enough to know that treating the command as a joke would have been foolish.
‘What are you waiting for?’ The hostility in his voice increased a notch and Amber felt Kirl’s supporting hand begin to tremble.
‘I fear I’m in no condition at present, my Lord,’ Amber said at last.
‘You think killing white-eyes is a good-enough excuse?’ Another notch.
Amber fought the urge to take a step back as the air grew close and hot around him.
‘Kirl, could you wait outside?’ he croaked, taking his eyes off Lord Styrax for a moment. She tried to hide her gasp of relief, slipped out from under his arm and offered the Menin lord a hurried bow before backing out.
A few seconds of silence stretched into ten. When Amber could stand it no longer he took one of the biggest risks of his life. ‘My Lord, I cannot begin to imagine your grief. I mourn your Scion also.’ His voice wavered slightly. Men dealt with grief in different ways, but among soldiers great sensitivity was impossible. This was uncharted territory for Amber.
What could he say about Kohrad? ‘He wasn’t as mad as some’ probably wasn’t appropriate, but it was all Amber could think of. The impetuous youth had shown potential, but he had always been a young white-eye for ever in the shadow of one greater than he would ever be.
‘I was proud to have fought alongside him,’ he said at last.
Styrax raised a hand. ‘Spare me the platitudes, I have heard them already.’
Amber swallowed nervously. ‘I apologise, my Lord, I had not intended it to sound that