darkened blade_ A fallen blade novel - Kelly McCullough Page 0,40
till now. Why don’t you and Kelos give Jax and her students a full rundown of the layout of the temple precinct and the situation within.”
Chomarr nodded and began to speak.
There, sent Triss. Very leaderly. Was that so hard?
Yes. Leaderly? Are you sure you speak human?
It’s a perfectly good word.
It’s really not, I admonished.
Hush, you should be listening to this.
I heard it all before, back in Tavan.
Triss made the mental equivalent of a snort. You weren’t listening that time either. Not really. I can tell when you’re not paying attention by the way your daydreams start to leak.
Fine. I’ll listen.
I believe you.
I tried to force myself to it, but I kept thinking back to that little room in Tien. It was a hellhole and I was drinking myself to death, but there was something terribly seductive about the idea of going back to not owing anything to anybody beyond Triss and my bar bill.
I may have agreed to try to deal with the Son of Heaven, and he certainly deserved it, but I couldn’t stop worrying about what the aftermath was going to look like. The responsibility might ultimately belong to the Son of Heaven, but, if I succeeded, it was going to be me who killed off an entire ruling class. There was a potential there for death and destruction across the eleven kingdoms on a scale that hadn’t been seen since the mage wars had devoured the western lands more than two thousand years ago. Then, the survivors had moved into what was now the eleven kingdoms, variously conquering, assimilating with, or being massacred by the people of the-East-that-was.
You’re not listening.
And so it went.
* * *
It was sometime after noon when a gentle tap came at my door.
“Yes?” I mumbled from under my pillow.
The door creaked open, so I flipped the pillow aside. It was Altia, who had been Faran’s closest friend back before the fall of the temple. She was compact and muscular with a round face and golden brown skin that marked her out as Kvani—Dvali if I was remembering right. Her familiar, Olthiss, took the shape of a Kvani-style manticore—a bat-winged horse with saberlike teeth and a scorpion’s tail. But, for the moment, he remained hidden in her shadow.
“They’re serving breakfast in the great hall, Master Aral, if you would like to come down.” She had a deep, rough voice and a warm smile. “Otherwise I can bring a tray up for you.”
I blinked. “A tray would be lovely. Did Jax send you? Or Kelos?”
Altia laughed merrily. “No. I overheard the servants arguing about who they ought to send to”—and here her voice shifted higher and took on a sharp worried undertone as she quoted—“‘wake up the First Blade.’ I could tell that the thought of bothering the Kingslayer made them all very nervous, so I offered to come in their stead.”
“That was kind,” I replied. “Even among Blades in training there aren’t many who would think of the servants’ feelings and choose to take on a duty that they might feel was beneath them.”
“Beneath me?” She shook her head. “Hardly that. I was raised to become a Blade, but I was born in Dval. You are First Blade, and that makes you my clan chief. I owe you my sword and my service. Bringing breakfast to the head of my new clan family and my khan is no burden. Now, let me get to it while the food is still fresh.”
“All right. Thank you, Altia.”
“Back as quickly as I can.” She grinned and was gone a moment later.
I see why she is Jax’s favorite, sent Triss. She’s very sweet.
She is that, which explains some of why Faran and she no longer get along. Faran’s life since the fall has left her hard where Altia had things gentler. She and Faran are of an age, but if I didn’t know that I’d give them a ten year difference.
I flopped back down amongst the pillows and tried to convince myself that crawling out of the truly marvelous featherbed was a good idea. I had been assigned the best of the castle’s guest rooms. Somehow, leaving it didn’t seem like a step in the right direction. Probably because I knew what the rest of my day looked like. . . .
Triss, tell me I don’t have another fucking meeting to go to this afternoon.
You want me to lie to you?
Yes, if you want me to get out of bed. I flipped the covers down to my waist.