“Why did you come here?” Kleitus asked, lifting long-fingered, delicate hands and folding back the cowl so that his face was visible.
“Your soldiers brought me,” Haplo replied.
The dynast smiled faintly, clasped his hands behind his back and began to walk about the cell. He made one complete turn— which didn’t take long, the cell being extremely cramped—paused, and stared at Haplo.
“We meant, why did you come through Death’s Gate to this world?”
The question took Haplo by surprise. He’d expected “Where is Death’s Gate?” or perhaps “How did you get through it?” but not “why.” The truth, or at least part of the truth, was necessary in answering. And they’d probably find it out anyway, because every word Haplo spoke seemed to create clouds of images in the brains of these Sartan.
“My Lord sent me, Your Majesty,” Haplo replied.
Kleitus’s eyes widened. Perhaps he’d caught a glimpse of the Lord of the Nexus from Haplo’s mind. Just as well. He’d know the lord, then, when they met.
“What for? Why did your lord send you?”
“To look around, see how things were going.”
“You’ve been to the other worlds?”
Haplo wasn’t able to keep the images of Arianus and Pryan from flitting across his memory, and from his mind they were certain to enter Kleitus’s.
“Yes, Sire.”
‘And what is it like on these other worlds?”
“Wars. Chaos. Turmoil. About what you could expect with the mensch in control.”
“The mensch in control.” Kleitus smiled again, this time politely, as if Haplo had made a bad joke. “Implying, of course, that we here on Abarrach, with our wars and turmoil, are no better than mensch.” He tilted his head, stared down at Haplo from between half-closed eyelids. “Pons told us that you don’t approve of the Sartan on Abarrach. What was it you said, ‘We don’t kill our own kind.’ ”
The dynast’s gaze shifted, moved to the body of the prince lying on the stone in the cell opposite. He glanced back at Haplo, who didn’t have time to rearrange the sardonic sneer on his lips.
Kleitus paled, frowned. “You, the ancient enemy, scion of a race of cruel and barbarous people, whose greed and ambition led to the destruction of our world, you dare pass judgment on us! Yes, you see we know about you. We’ve studied, found reference to you—to your people, rather—in the ancient texts.”
Haplo said nothing, waited.
The dynast raised an eyebrow. “Tell us again, why have you come to our world?”
“I’ll tell you again.” The Patryn was growing impatient, decided to get to the point. “My Lord sent me. If you want to ask him why he sent me, you can do that yourself. I’ll take you to him. I was going to propose just such a journey anyway.”
“Indeed? You’d take me through Death’s Gate with you?”
“Not only that, Your Majesty, I’ll show you how to get through it, how to get back. I’ll introduce you to My Lord, show you around my world—”
‘And what do you want in return? We don’t suppose, from what we’ve read of your people, that you will perform these services for us out of the goodness of your heart.”
“In return,” Haplo said quietly, “you will teach my people the art of necromancy.”
“Ah.” Kleitus’s gaze went to the runes tattooed on the back of Haplo’s hand. “The one magical skill you do not possess. Well, well. We will consider the idea. We could not, of course, leave when the peace of our city is threatened. You would have to wait until this matter between our people and those of the Kairn Telest is settled.”
Haplo shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m in no hurry.” Kill off more of your people, he suggested silently. The fewer of you Sartan left alive to interfere with My Lord’s plans the better.
Kleitus’s eyes narrowed and Haplo thought for a moment he had gone too far. He wasn’t used to having his mind probed. That fool Alfred had always been far too absorbed with his own worries to try to worm into Haplo’s. I’ll have to watch myself, the Patryn counseled.
“In the interim,” the dynast said slowly, “we hope you won’t mind being our guest. We regret the accommodations aren’t more comfortable. We would offer you a room in the palace, but that would occasion gossip and explanations. Far better if we keep you here, safe and quiet.”