advice and buy me pretty gifts. I was quite fond of them. They were all
polite and intelligent, and they’always smelled clean. I can’t abide smelly
men.’ She gave Kring a meaningful look. ‘I bathe,’ he protested.
‘Now and then,’ she added a bit critically. ‘You ride horses a great deal,
Kring, and horses have a peculiar odour. We’ll talk about regular bathing
after I’ve put my brand on you.’ She laughed. ‘I wouldn’t want to frighten
you until I’m sure of you.’ Her smile was genuinely affectionate. Sparhawk
realised that what she was telling them was a part of the Rite of Passage,
and that she would very likely never be this open again. Her tyPically Atan
defences had all been lowered for this one night. He felt profoundly
honoured to have been invited to be present. She sighed then, and her face
grew sad. ‘Gelan had one very special friend whom he loved very much – a
pretty Young fellow named Majen. I didn’t like Majen. He used to take
advantage of Gelan, and he’d deliberately say and do things to hurt him. He
was frivolous and selfish and very, very vain about his appearance. He was
also unfaithful, and that’s contemptible. In time he grew tired of Gelan
and fell in love with another meaningless pretty-boy. I probably should
have killed them both as soon as I found out about it. I’ve always
regretted the fact that I didn’t. Gelan had foolishly given Majen the use
of a rather splendid house on the outskirts of Verel and had told him that
he’d made provisions in his will so that Majen would own the house if
anything ever happened to him. Majen and his new friend wanted that house,
and they plotted against Gelan. They lured him to the house one night and
insisted that he come to them alone. When he got there, they killed him and
dropped his body in the river. I cried for days after it happened, because
I was really very fond of Gelan. One of his other friends told me what had
really happened, but I didn’t say anything or do anything right away. I
wanted the two of them to feel safe and to think that they’d got away with
the murder. Gelan’s sister inherited me – along with all his other
property. She was a nice enough lady, but awfully religious. She didn’t
really know how to deal with the fact that she owned me. She said she
wanted to be my friend, but I advised her to sell me instead. I told her
that I’d found out who had murdered Gelan and that I was going to kill
them. I said that I thought it would probably be better if I belonged to
somebody who was leaving Verel in order to avoid all the tedious business
about unexplained bodies and the like. I thought she’d be tiresome about
it, but she took it rather well. She was really quite fond of her brother,
and she approved of what I was planning. She sold me to an Elenian merchant
who was going to sail to Vardenais and told him that she’d deliver me to
him on the morning of his departure. She’d made him a very good price, so
he didn’t argue with her. ‘Anyway, on the night before my new owner was
planning to sail, I dressed myself as a boy and went to the house where
Majen and the other one were living. I waited until Majen left the house
and went to the door and knocked. Majen’s new friend came to the door, and
I told him that I loved him. I’d lived with Gelan for six years, so I knew
exactly how to ‘behave to make the pretty fool believe me. He grew excited
when I told him that, and he kissed me several times.’ She sneered with the
profoundest contempt. ‘Some people simply cannot be faithful. Anyway, after
he began to get very, very excited with the kissing, he started exploring.
He discovered some things that surprised him very much. He was even more
surprised when I sliced him across the belly just above his hips.’
‘I like this part,’ Talen said, his eyes very bright. ‘You would,’ Mirtai
told him. ‘You never like a story unless there’s a lot of blood in it.
Anyway, after I sliced the pretty boy open, all sorts of things fell out.
He stumbled back into a chair and tried to stuff ‘them back in again..
People’s insides are very slippery, though, and he was having a great deal
of trouble.’ Ehlana made a choking sound. ‘Didn’t you know’ about insides?’
Mirtai asked her. ‘Get Sparhawk to tell you about it sometime. He’s
probably seen lots of insides. I left the young man sitting there and hid
behind a door. Majen came home a while later, and he was dreadfully upset
about his friend’s ‘ condition.’
‘I can imagine,’ Talen laughed. ‘He was even more upset, though, when I
reached around from behind him and opened him up in exactly the same way.’
‘Those are not fatal injuries, Atana,’ Engessa said critically. ‘I didn’t
intend for them to be, Father-Atan,’ she replied. ‘I wasn’t done with the
two of them yet. I told them who I was and that what I’d just done to them
was a farewell gift from Gelan. That was about the best part of the whole
evening. I put Majen in a chair facing the chair of his friend so that they
could watch each other die. Then I stuck my hands into them and jerked out
several yards of those slippery things I told you about.’
‘And then you just left them there?’ Talen asked eagerly. She nodded.
‘Yes, but I set fire to the house first. Neither Majen or his friend
managed to get enough of themselves put back inside to be able to escape.
They screamed a great deal, though.’
‘Good God!’ Emban choked. ‘A fitting revenge, Atana,’ Engessa said to her.
‘We will describe it to the children in the training-camps to provide them
with an example of suitable behaviour.’ Mirtai bowed her head to him, then
looked up. ‘Well, Bevier?’ she said. He struggled with it. ‘Your owner’s
sins were his own. That’s a matter between him and God. What you did was
the proper act of a friend.’ I find no sin in what you did.’
‘i’m so glad,’ she murmured. Bevier laughed a bit sheepishly. ‘That was a
bit pompous, wasn’t it?’
‘That’s all right, Bevier,’ she assured him. ‘I love you anyway – although
you should keep in mind the fact that I have a history of loving some very
strange people.’
‘Well said,’ Ulath approved. Danae returned with a cup of water and
offered it to Mirtai. ‘Did you finish telling them the things you didn’t
want me to hear about?’ she asked. ‘I think I covered most of it. Thank you
for being so understanding – and for the water.’ Nothing rattled Mirtai.
Ehlana, however, blushed furiously. ‘It’s getting late,’ Mirtai told them,
‘so I’ll keep this short. The Elenian merchant who owned me took me to
Vardenais and sold me to Platime. I pretended not to speak Elenic, and
Platime misjudged my age because I was very tall. Platime’s quite shrewd in
some ways and ignorant in others. He simply couldn’t understand the fact
that an Atan woman can’t be forced, and he tried to put me to work in one
of his brothels. He took my daggers away from me, but I still had my spoon.
I didn’t kill too many of the men who approached me, but I did hurt them
all quite seriously. Word got around, and the business in that brothel fell
off. Platime took me out of there, but he didn’t really know what to do
with me. I wouldn’t beg and I wouldn’t steal, and he was really very
disappointed when he found out that I’d only kill people for personal
reasons. I won’t be a paid assassin. Then the situation came up in the
palace, and he gave me to Ehlana – probably with a great sigh of relief.’
She frowned and looked at Engessa. ‘That was the first time I’d ever been
given away instead of sold, Father-Atan. Did Platime insult me? Should I
‘go back to Cimmura and kill him?’ Engessa considered it. ‘I don’t think
so, my daughter. It was a special case. You might even look upon it as a
compliment. ‘ Mirtai smiled. ‘i’m glad of that, Father-Atan. I sort of like
Platime. He’s very funny sometimes.’
‘And how do you feel about Ehlana-Queen?’
‘I love her. She’s ignorant, and she can’t speak a proper language, but
most of the time she does what I tell her to do. She’s pretty, and she
smells nice and she’s very kind to me. She’s the best owner I’ve ever had.
Yes. I love her.’ Ehlana gave a low cry and threw her arms around the