Dave Duncan – The Living God – A Handful of Men. Book 4

Hodwhine opened his mouth to protest and then closed it again. Whether he was concerned about the accusation or his lawn remained unclear.

“It had to be the messenger at West Pass. Target did not go through Pinebridge.”

“What do you want?” the tribune said uneasily. “Seventy lashes.”

“Flog him to death, you mean. Bad for morale.”

Hardgraa stopped beside Hodwhine’s chair and looked down at him with all the contempt he had been hiding hitherto. “I am not playing games, sir. The imperor is not playing games, sir. But some of his legionaries are,.sir. I want them to know that this is not a game! Sir.”

Hodwhine pouted. “We’ll bring him in, then, and do it here in Gaaze. Full muster of the legion, as far as we can. Proclamation?”

“Just general, dereliction of duty. No need to mention Ylo by name—they’ll find out.” Hardgraa realized he had dug his nails into his palms. “If the target’s heading into the eastern foothills, we’ll need at least two more cohorts. We must continue to downplay the child, sir. But as you have so astutely guessed, the child is the key.”

“Gods!” the tribune said.

The idiot did not know the half of it. Sick at heart, Hardgraa resumed his pacing. Whatever his moral shortcomings, even Ylo would not mock the Gods with bigamy. That marriage ceremony buried the last shreds of doubt. The tale he had told at Yewdark must be true—Shandie really was dead. So the infant was the rightful impress of Pandemia, and Hardgraa would stop at nothing to get her back.

3

“Tell me more about Keef,” Kadie said.

She was sitting outside the cottage with Thaile. They had just finished eating and started telling stories. They both enjoyed stories. It was Kadie’s second evening in Thume—a soft, warm evening with pink clouds. The air was drowsy with the scent of trees and flowers, and the clearing so full of peace that she could almost see it.

“There isn’t much more to tell,” Thaile said nibbling a strawberry. ”It was a thousand years ago, remember. She was certainly a pixie, and the first Keeper. She overthrew Ulien’quith and founded the College.”

“Killed him?”

“Probably.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” Thaile’s golden eyes twinkled. “Nastily, I hope.”

Kadie frowned True stories were always full of annoying gaps like that. ”But if he was such a powerful warlock and had an army of sorcerers . . . like Zinixo?”

“Very much like Zinixo.”

“Then how did Keef manage to kill him?”

Thaile hesitated. She glanced in disapproval at the dirty dishes on the table between them, and they all vanished “Keef was what your father was once.”

“And what the Keeper now is? So she can kill Zinixo?”

“She says she can’t.” The sorceress smiled oddly. “You know, Kadie, you are almost the only non-sorcerer in the whole world who knows that five words make a demigod! I couldn’t tell you if you didn’t, because it hurts me to talk about such things to a mundane.”

“My mother told me.”

“Yes. If she could then it was only because she isn’t a sorceress anymore! I’m sure the Keeper could defeat Zinixo if they had a straight-up fight, just the two of them, but he is the Almighty and has his Covin to aid him.”

Kadie wondered if she was being too nosy. She did not want to hurt her rescuer and friend, but it was an important subject “Don’t talk about it anymore if you don’t want to.”

“I’ll tell you if it hurts.” Thaile sighed. “Won’t tell you, I mean!”

She was very pretty, with her golden eyes and curly brown hair. Kadie had decided she approved of pointed ears. Standard ears were a ludicrous shape, when you thought about it Were all pixies as trim and graceful? One day she would like to meet more of them—but not yet No, definitely not yet. For the present, a quiet life at Thaile’s cottage was what she wanted, what she needed. Eat and sleep and exchange stories.

“Well, the Keeper has an army, too. Scores of sorcerers in the College, you said.”

Thaile shrugged “We are not bound by the same sort of loyalty spell, although of course we are all loyal and we would fight to the death. There just aren’t enough of us. The usurper’s been gathering votaries for twenty years, all over Pandemia. The Keeper says if he ever finds out about us there will be a battle and we shall lose.”

That was a subject Kadie would not pursue any further. To the rest of the world Thume was the Accursed Land. The tiny piece of it she had seen so far seemed more blessed than cursed, a secret paradise hidden for a thousand years behind an aversion spell. Zinixo would never think about Thume unless something drew his attention to it very strongly, Thaile had said But Kadie could see now that she was probably going to be a prisoner here for the rest of her life.

Well, it was a wonderful prison. She loved the romantic little cottage in its private glade. It held all sorts of magical wonders, like spigots that put out scalding hot water and lamps that lit when you asked them to. In two days there had been no visitors except squirrels and jays. But never to see her parents again, or Gath, or Eva, or Holi . . .

“Thaile? Is there any way to find out what is going on Outside? My family, I mean?”

The pixie shook her head sadly. “Nobody ever goes Outside. Well, a few do. Sometimes the Keeper will send out appraisers. Spies, I suppose, is what they are. That is rare. And the Keeper herself, of course. That’s her main duty. She can walk the world undetected No one else can.”

Kadie did not like the idea of spies. Skulking around everywhere, being invisible, listening and watching and then reporting back to Thume? Perhaps they even came to Krasnegar sometimes! Who knew what they might not have pried into in the last thousand years?

“So tell me more about Keef. She was a demigod, too. She did not destroy her words?”

“No. Keef killed her—” Thaile stopped and shook her head. She looked appealingly at Kadie, inviting her to finish the sentence.

“Killed?” No! “You don’t mean her husband, er, goodman? Her lover? She killed her lover?”

Thaile nodded again, but she was very tense now, her face pale and screwed up with pain.

“Let’s talk about more cheerful things,” Kadie said quickly. She did not like the way the Keef story was going. “My mother escaped from Thume on a magic carpet.”

Thaile relaxed gratefully. “That was during the reign of the last Keeper. I expect it’s all recorded in the Library somewhere. We can go and look it up sometime, if you want.”

Thaile had mentioned the Library before. It sounded as if there would be all sorts of interesting storybooks there. Kadie wondered if she could borrow some.

“Not now!” she said firmly.

Thaile laughed. “Kadie, you are turning into a real pixie! You just want to stay here, at my Place, hiding out in the forest, never going anywhere—don’t you?”

Kadie nodded guiltily.

“You’ve had a hard time,” Thaile said sympathetically. “You’ll get over it. I expect you’ll become ghastly bored soon.”

That might be true one day, but it wasn’t true yet.

“I don’t mind,” the pixie said. “I’m happy to be back.” She did not look happy, though. “This is my Place and no one will disturb us here. I was just thinking that it might be fun to introduce you to some people and watch their reactions.”

“Your friends?” Kadie asked uneasily.

“I don’t have any real friends. I was a novice until just a few days ago. Now I’m a sorceress, I’ll have to make new friends. How would you like to go to the Meeting Place?”

The answer was “Not at all,” but Kadie felt ashamed of that reaction. She was perfectly safe here—in spite of the nasty experience Mama had gone through when she had visited Thume—because she was the guest of a sorceress. And she couldn’t hide out in the woods forever. That would not be princessy behavior at all.

She nodded nervously. “If you think it will be all right” Thaile smiled a very thin smile. “It should be fun, watching their faces. You’re the first visitor in a thousand years! The language has changed, but I can give you that with sorcery, and most of the people you’ll meet are sorcerers anyway, so they could understand you.”

“Can I wear my sword?”

The pixie laughed aloud., “In Thume? What do you plan to kill, Great Warrior?”

Kadie felt herself flush. Mama had met danger in Thume! Mostly, though, her rapier had been her constant companion for so long that she could not bear the thought of being without it. It had been her sole comfort among the goblins. It was a reminder of Gath, her twin, and Krasnegar. It was the only thing she had that had come from Krasnegar, and it had saved her from the ravens.