The Two in Hiding (Night-Threads 2)

Prologue

The kingdom of Rhadaz stretches from the Bay of Holmaddan in the north to the Sea of Rhadaz and along its southern shores; from the Podherian Mountains that block eastward travel in all save the warmest months of summer to the great western ocean. So great is the land between these boundaries that a man ahorse might not cross it, north to south, in fewer than six days. So vast and varied the terrain of Rhadaz that a previous Emperor found it feasible to divide his kingdom into smaller entities and give their ruling into the hands of his nearest friends, thus founding the Nine Households. The Dukes were thereafter responsible directly to the Emperor for maintaining the laws of the Empire and for forwarding taxes and trained armsmen to the capital. And despite the warnings of his nearest advisors, the Emperor was proven to have been right in his choice of friends, rather than relations, as his Dukes: the founders of the Nine Households were extremely loyal to their Emperor, as were their first descendants.

Only once in two hundred years did the Emperor call for the fighting men which were his due: The current Shesseran, known as the Golden, did so when Lasanachi raiders sent their sleek raiding ships against the coastal city of Dro Pent. Shesseran XIV otherwise made few demands on his people or his Dukes, so long as an outward appearance of peace reigned, and so long as taxes were paid. In his youth, he was largely interested in the game preserves of his own Duchy of Andar Perigha and the artists, actors and musicians in the capital port city of Podhru. The improvement of oversea trade attributed to Shesseran was brought about largely to facilitate cultural exchange and arranged by brilliant--and anonymous--men in his advisory cabinet.

Late in life, weak from many illnesses and fearing death, Shesseran lost what little interest he had had in Rhadaz and turned to religion, devoting his time and thought to lengthy festivals and ceremonies designed to appease the various gods and saints.

Shesseran XIV knew of activities within Rhadazi boundaries his grandfather might have taken exception to: the Thukar of the vast desert market Sikkre, who bought and sold goods, information, even people, to the highest bidder; the secret forays by Lasanachi into Holmaddan and Bezjeriad to purchase or sell illicit goods and to buy slaves for their ships; the slow but noticeable increase for the first time in five hundred years of the deadly magic Hell-Light and its once-outlawed wielding Triads; the rather suspicious, fatal accident to Duke Amarni of forested Zelharri and the subsequent marriage of Amarni's brother Jadek to a nine-day widow; the fact that though Jadek's nephew Aletto had come of age three years prior Jadek still held Zelharri as his own.

But Shesseran did nothing. The Thukar, after all, kept peace in Sikkre and sent the largest twice-yearly tax to Podhru--that he kept a variety of sorcerers (some not precisely legal) was unimportant, so long as he kept them private; the Lasanachi likewise kept low profiles and contributed a certain amount of money to the coffers; those Rhadazi they bought were ordinarily poor folk and so of little importance. The Bez merchants did not deal in lethal narcotics. And Jadek's proffered reasons for marrying his brother's widow and holding his nephew's seat were persuasive: Lizelle had the responsibility of raising two small children at the time of Amarni's death. She needed a man to see to the responsibilities of the Zelharri people, the markets and the roads, to deal with military training and collection of taxes. Later, after Aletto's near-fatal bout of marsh-sickness left him badly weakened and permanently crippled in one leg, it seemed only right that Jadek continue to hold the post. And after all, the heir showed little interest in anything but a wine bottle.

And then rumor spread from Duke's Fort that Aletto and his sister had fled Zelharri. Soon after, gossip circulated through the Sikkreni marketplace that the heir had been seen in Sikkre, searching for men once loyal to his father to aid him in a bloodless coup, and such gossip was spiced with curious and tantalizing rumor: It was said that Zelharri sin-Duchess Lialla, a barely competent novice Wielder of Night-Thread Magic despite years of hard study, had a novice of her own--a beautiful young outland woman brought into Rhadaz from another world. This woman was accompanied by an older woman and a boy, also outlanders and kindred; the older woman, some whispered, was a shapeshifter, though it was considered rare and wondrous that an outlander should be able to practice such a skill, with no Rhadazi blood and no training. The Thukar's heir Dahven was said to have helped his friend Aletto and the nera-Duke's companions evade both his father and Jadek, and it had cost him dearly, or so men said. A Sikkreni thief whose father had once served Duke Amarni now traveled with Aletto, his sister and the outlanders, and he carried information that directly implicated Jadek in his own brother's death.

By the Emperor's lights, however, there was peace throughout Rhadaz, and he turned his attention and that of his court and his port city of Podhru to the Blossom-Month Festival: Fifth Month, Sixth Day of the year 789. Emperor Shesseran the Golden, gaunt with fasting and meditation, was at peace with himself and his soul.

In Zelharri, within the walls of Duke's Fort, the aged Wielder Merrida sat in her circular chamber surrounded by silver protective Thread and contemplated what moves she might safely make to aid her novice Lialla and those with her. Not much, she thought gloomily. Jadek had moved his Hell-Light Triad to Duke's Fort and any active use of Thread might well reveal her part in Aletto's escape. She did not particularly care for her own aged hide, but Jadek's Triad could use her to locate Lialla.

She drew Thread nearer, as if to warm herself, and contemplated the three Americani she had pulled from their world into her own. The young virgin Chris and his mother--both useless, probably, unless Aletto found an outlet for his foolish, romantic notions in Robyn. Though admittedly Chris's purity had permitted Thread to choose Jennifer, and to take her. With her music and her level-headed strength, Jennifer could become a better Wielder than Lialla, given the opportunity. One could only hope Lialla was sensible about that, that Lialla would realize Jennifer was useful to Aletto's cause, that she would not actively thwart her new novice. Merrida wondered briefly where they were now; she knew they had escaped Sikkre and were moving toward Bezjeriad, paralleling the south road and sensibly staying off of it. But she didn't truly want to know; such knowledge could be dangerous to her and to them.

In a hidden chamber behind the Duke's hall, Jadek observed three gray men--so still, all of them, they might have been statues. He fought impatience, knowing it interfered with his Triad's work. All the same, that a full Triad could not discover where one crippled, sottish young man and his arrogant, whining sister were! These rumors of outlanders--but, then, they were no longer rumors, were they? For his friend Dahmec of Sikkre sent word: He had seen two obviously outland women with Lialla, when he'd had them taken, but they had vanished from the high tower prison room, leaving behind three crippled guardsmen and a dead sorcerer--a man said to have once been outlander himself. They had also left Sikkre buzzing with wild rumors.

Dahmec lost them, Jadek thought furiously as he watched long and extremely white fingers touch and slowly move in a pattern that set yellowish light to glow dully between six palms. But it didn't matter; what was lost could be again found. And though rumor had it Aletto was on his way to Dro Pent now--rumor substantiated by the Thukar's son, who'd been seen with a Dro Pent-bound Red Hawk caravan that same night--Jadek thought it highly unlikely. Podhru, most likely, or Bez--and he himself opted for Bez, where Aletto might have hopes of adding to his paltry following.

Aletto had to be stopped, quickly; before he could reach the Emperor's ear with his tale of a birthright withheld. Before he could increase his following to the point where Shesseran must listen to him, and perhaps order Jadek to return to his old estates. It is my Duchy; I worked hard to keep it in good shape after Amarni died. I will not hand it over to a sodden, ill-prepared boy! Had Lizelle given him children--but she had not, and he wondered how much of that was the doing of her personal woman, that old hag Merrida. Lizelle had once Wielded herself, of course--before they wed--but she'd put it aside at his orders, or so he had believed. If she had found the nerve to actively thwart him--!

But the Triad was finally moving more quickly; he must make his own contribution to their spell. He drew the knife from his belt, pricked his thumb, and let three drops of blood fall on their joined hands.

On the road to Dro Pent, a line of thirty enclosed wagons moved slowly down the last stages of a scrub-forested pass and onto a windy, sandswept road. The banners of the Red Hawk trading clan were prominently displayed, a safety measure since travelers along this road were often set upon by bandits, but no one was fool enough to threaten the major clans.

Gray-green brush dotted the landscape as far as any eye could see; a line of brightness away to the west might have been the sea. Wind bent dry clumps of grass and brought the scent of hot sage. The Holmad River, a broadly shallow flow in the drylands, veered south from the road and now paralleled it. A bright line of trees and willow followed its banks, readily marking its path.

Some leagues behind the Red Hawk wagons--still on the downslope of the western side of the pass--came a lone wagon, an open cart flanked by two mounted men. They made no effort to catch the caravan. But no desert raiders would threaten three Lasanachi seamen.

In the rear of the cart a bound man sat very still, staring blankly at his bare feet and the heavy shackle around one ankle, at the thick chain that ran to a staple fixed just above the cart's axle. He flexed his shoulders once, but before he could ease the growing discomfort in his back and arms, or find a better place to rest wrists chafed by the thick rope that held them behind his back where the knots dug into his spine, one of the horsemen reined back and slapped him.

Dahven somehow kept the cry behind his teeth; he felt enough shame at having been sold by his father so his twin younger brothers could become heirs. He would not show further weakness before these men--until he must. They say no man survives the oars in a Lasanachi ship for two years; my father made a contract for three.

Perhaps he would waken momentarily: in his own bed, badly hung over. If I do, I shall never set foot in a pub again, or drink sweet red. He stretched, but more cautiously this time; the raiders paid him no heed. It helped very little, though, and his fingers had long since gone numb.

His father had sold him; Deehar and Dayher had watched it being done. May they rot before I do. It seemed unlikely; the Lasanachi had an endless supply of men and saw no reason to treat them well. He let his eyes close momentarily, let himself see Jennifer as he had seen her last: that wonderful, thick spill of black hair; large, intelligent blue eyes; long fingers curled around the neck of an a'lud while she sang songs from her world to him. The misery he'd felt at leaving her, the matching misery in her face--No. He dared not think of Jennifer; he could only hope she would never know what had become of him.

On the windswept, barren mesa, not very far away, Jennifer slept with fingers wrapped around the silver protective charm that had been Dahven's parting gift. Lialla moaned; Jadek haunted her dream and again tried to force her betrothal to his horrid cousin Carolan, as he had that last dreadful afternoon. Aletto, who was sleeping with an exhausted Robyn, came partway awake and sat up but Lialla was once more quiet.

Chris perched on a flat rock, saddle pad under him to protect sore muscle and bone, and tried to stay awake until it was time to waken the next watcher, but Edrith came out to spell him long before the hour. Odd, how fast we made friends, Chris thought. Or maybe not. They were nearly the same age and had a surprising number of things in common, given their different backgrounds--Chris an Angeleno high school senior interested in rock music and high-tech sound equipment, role-playing games, maps, history; Edrith the Sikkreni market thief who of course knew nothing of such things but who also liked hearing tales about the past and looking at maps. His mother had bad taste in men, too, but unlike Robyn, Edrith's mother never bothered to keep them from harassing her son.

The south road was long; the ordinary trip could be hard and exhausting, particularly in summer. But they could not use the road: Aletto was too identifiable with his game leg and the scars on his face; the Thukar might have given descriptions of Lialla, Jennifer and Robyn to his men and set them searching the roads; or Jadek's own men might still be looking. Between Sikkre and Bezjeriad the land had broken and folded; high desert and mesas were split by canyons and draws; dry washes cut into open flats. Water was not as scarce as in Dro Pent but could be difficult to locate; food might become a problem if anything slowed them.

And Bezjeriad was only the second leg of a much longer journey. It looked daunting even to Chris and Edrith. Fortunately, neither one could foresee how difficult the journey would become.