“Lord Maintainer,” said Tharius Don with an ironic bow. “I saw my Deputy Enforcer waiting upon you and came to inquire if I might be of assistance.”
Shavian Bossit poured another cup, seething inside. He had not wanted Tharius Don this morning. Lately he had not wanted Tharius Don at all. The man had a chilling way with him. Like the knife cut of cold conscience. “The Lord Propagator of the Faith, Tharius Don,” he said, making introductions. “The Uplifted One, Talker of Sixth Degree Sliffisunda of the Talons. I have apologized to the Uplifted One for the absence of other members of the council.” Of the seven, four were present. A quorum, he thought. Though he would have traded Tharius Don’s presence in a moment for that of the Ambassador to the Thraish, Ezasper Jorn.
He turned back to the table, making a wry mouth at the Dame Marshal and commenting, sotto voce, “Ezasper Jorn should be conducting this little exercise as Ambassador to the Thraish, but both he and Koma Nepor are off somewhere. The Protector, of course, would be of no help.” He shrugged, taking more tea for himself. “I know I am discourteous. This Uplifted One has set my teeth on edge.”
“I assume you have reason for discourtesy?” She turned toward the Talker, millstone jaws loud in the quiet room. Only the Talker heard it. The others were too long accustomed to the sound to be aware of it.
“Indeed,” he murmured, loud enough for the other humans to hear. “This Talker and two of his subordinates, also Talkers, went to the Tower at Bans and abducted the Superior and one of her senior Awakeners. They went with him under threat of great harm to all those within the Tower. His reason for doing so is that he believes them to be part of the Riverman heresy.”
“He need not have troubled,” said Tharius Don, his gray brows pulling together over black, suddenly angry eyes, in a face become as suddenly and unnaturally pale. The pallor had struck him at the mention of the Superior of Baris, and it did not leave him now. The bones of his striking face stood out in relief as he sucked in his cheeks, biting back a set of too revealing words to replace them with, “We would have fetched them here had he but sent word.”
“Ah, but it was not his intention to fetch them here at all. He sought to take them to the Talons.”
“The Talons! Human prisoners?” Bormas Tyle slid the knife in and out of its sheath, cutting his words as he cut his hair, short and soft as velvet. The hair grew upon his forehead and down his neck onto the bulging muscles of shoulder and back, joining the velvet beard that half hid his mouth, making his head appear upholstered except for his cold serpent’s eyes. “By what right? The treaty forbids this.”
“Indeed.” Shavian smiled his three-cornered smile at them all and then at the Talker once more. “So I have said. To which the Talker replies that the treaty does not apply in this case, though he will not say why.”
There was a silence that began as mere hesitation, becoming tumescent with something more ominous than that, a brooding expectancy broken only by the hiss of the Deputy Enforcer’s knife and the grinding of the Dame Marshal’s teeth. These hostile sounds pervaded the room, sliding in it like serpents.
The silence was broken by Tharius Don. Such tension could breed nothing good, and in the absence of the Ambassador to the Thraish, someone had to take the responsibility of ending it. He moved with practiced ease, crossing the room and bowing the Talker to precede him into the corridor. “I am sure the Uplifted One would like to sit down. Perhaps he would honor us by joining his subordinates and having a cup of tea. I will prepare for him below, and we will beg his return when we have finished our discussion.”
The Lord Maintainer sighed. For a moment there, he had felt something almost wonderful within, like lust, or youth, or rage. The possibility of hot conflict, maybe some blood spilled? His hands trembled. Whose blood? Most likely his own. “By all means, Tharius.” He sighed. “By all means. Uplifted One? Will you go with the Lord Propagator? We will meet again a little later, when we have considered this matter.”