almost inquired if he was well but reconsidered. Some egos are easily bruised by the suggestion that they are anything but excellent at all times, and his might be one of those.
“Report, soldier,” he said to the guard, who stiffened at being addressed and barked out a quick summary of my appearance at the gate and what I’d said. While he did that, I called what creatures I could to collect silently inside the room, including the wheelmouth. I told them to keep to the shadows but be ready to move quickly into the light.
“Very well. Thank you. You are dismissed to return to your post.”
The guard saluted and departed, his posture painfully erect, sweeping right past the creatures scrambling through the door, leaving me alone with the viceroy, his chamberlain, the crossbowmen, and an ever-growing collection of many-legged, toothsome allies.
“Tell me, Abhinava, what were you before you were a Beast Caller?” I thought it interesting that he did not ask me to prove my powers. He accepted that I was what I said I was.
“A hunter, sir.”
“You will address him as Viceroy—” Khaghesh snapped, but Lohmet held up a hand to silence him.
“He’s been perfectly polite, Khaghesh.” Turning to me, he said, “ ‘Sir’ will do, but you can call me Melishev if you wish. Let’s not think of titles right now; I find that they slow down conversation. Is it true you discovered the source of the Sixth Kenning south of Khul Bashab?”
“That’s true.” It was now due east of him along the Khek River, but he didn’t need to know that.
“How many others have been blessed with the Sixth Kenning now?”
“Three others.”
“So three others and yourself know where the kenning site is.”
“Correct.”
“Will you tell me where it is?”
“No, sir, begging your pardon.”
I expected him to frown, but instead he grinned at me and rubbed his hands together. “Ah! Now we get to it. You have reasons. Reasons that no doubt have something to do with the behavior of Viceroy Senesh and his cavalry.”
I responded with a curt nod and tensed. Would he try to take me into custody?
“Well, you will find that he and I are very different. He is quick to see enemies in people who would be his friends. I’m glad you came to me. Do please tell me what you want.” He withdrew a journal from a pocket of his tunic below the belt and sat down at a writing desk, flipping it open to a blank page and dipping a quill into ink before looking up at me expectantly. “Please, sit. Khaghesh, bring one of those chairs over for him.” He scratched “Beast Caller” at the top of a page while the chamberlain brought over a chair for me. It was all very strange and solicitous; his polite demeanor contrasted with his sweating, twitching face, and I realized that I was being hunted. These viceroys are predators, each with his own style of hunting, and Viceroy Melishev Lohmet was every bit as dangerous as Viceroy Bhamet Senesh. Perhaps more so. Senesh wielded a heavy club that you saw coming, whereas Lohmet plunged an unseen knife in your back. I checked the position of the crossbowmen again as well as that of Khaghesh. He hovered behind me, and I stared at him until it became uncomfortable and Lohmet noticed.
“Khaghesh, come over here to my side, please. Don’t loom over our guest.”
“Thank you.” My back would be to one wall of crossbowmen, but they couldn’t shoot at me without risk of hitting the viceroy, so I sat. “I first would like to say I appreciate very much your willingness to talk, sir. This is much better than confronting cavalry from Khul Bashab pointing crossbows at me.” He was too sharp to miss the subtext there. The cavalry hadn’t come back. The corners of his mouth played in a half smile. The muscle under his left eye twitched even faster.
“I agree. This is much preferable. Like many young people, you are not fond of authority.”
“No, sir.”
He looked pleased. “So what does the angry young man want? A completely new government? Some kind of endless wrangling in committee like the Raelechs have, yearly elections?”
“Not necessarily. I don’t pretend to have all the answers. And let me assure you I do not want a violent revolution. If I wanted that, I would have done it already. I could take over this city without moving from this chair, which is not a threat, sir, just a statement of fact. But