Dreams of Fire and Gods 2: Fire (16 page)

He did his best to push the thought out of his head and climbed out of bed.

“Jekh,” Sael said, as the valet set the comb down on the table, “could you see if there’s something of mine that Koreh can wear? I don’t think the Taaweh robe is such a good idea in front of my father.”

Koreh would have found that annoying, since he couldn’t care less about what the
vek
thought, but when both Sael and the valet turned to look at him, Sael seemed to notice for the first time that Koreh was naked—in front of Jekh. He glanced from Koreh to Jekh and back again and his face suddenly turned bright red. Jekh seemed not to notice, but Koreh found it amusing.

“Master Koreh appears to be close to your size, Your Lordship. I’m sure most of your clothes will fit him.”

“Nothing elaborate,” Sael said. “But something appropriate for breakfast.” He stood up. “Help me dress first. Father must be throwing a fit.”

Jekh returned to the wardrobe, glancing over his shoulder at Koreh. “Would Sir like a robe?” he asked.

It took Koreh a moment to realize the valet was referring to
him
. “Oh. Am I supposed to?”

“Please!” Sael said, finally acknowledging his embarrassment with a small laugh. “I apologize for this situation, Jekh. It must be very embarrassing.”

Jekh held up a robe and Koreh slipped his arms into it. “Not at all, Your Lordship,” Jekh said, as he cinched the robe at Koreh’s waist. “I really wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s quite all right.”

Koreh wasn’t certain what exactly was inappropriate about the situation or whether he’d done anything wrong, but he sat down on the end of the bed and waited while Jekh helped Sael dress.

Chapter 10

 

S
AEL
knew he had only himself to blame for this morning’s… awkwardness. His valet had probably been embarrassed enough at finding Sael and Koreh in bed together. But for Koreh to then start wandering around the room naked in front of Jekh! Of course, Koreh knew nothing about dealing with servants. No doubt he assumed there was no difference between Jekh seeing
him
naked and Jekh seeing Sael naked, though it was in fact enormously different. Jekh was Sael’s valet and paid to be so. Koreh walking around like that in front of Jekh… well, it had seemed so
sexual
!

I should have insisted that Jekh bring us both robes before either of us got out of bed
, Sael thought. Next time he would.

“What happened to that cranky old man?” Koreh asked as they were walking downstairs.

Sael had to think for a moment to recall who might fit that description. “Which ‘cranky old man’?” he finally asked when he drew a blank.

“The one who kept walking in on us in the morning the last time I was here.”

Sael laughed. “Oh. You mean Diven? He’s around the castle somewhere. Why?”

Koreh seemed to be mulling something over. “I thought he was your… dresser.”

“My valet? No. He’s the head butler. He was just watching out for me for a short time when I arrived. But he has plenty of other duties to attend to.” Sael stopped walking and looked Koreh directly in the eye. “Why are you asking about him?”

Koreh glanced quickly at the two guards trailing behind them, as if he didn’t want to speak in their presence, so Sael motioned for them to hold their position while he took Koreh’s arm and pulled him a little farther down the corridor.

“What’s this about?”

Koreh looked uncomfortable. “Nothing. I was just wondering why you had a new guy dressing you.”

“I needed a full-time valet. That’s why.”

Koreh was closed off in that way Sael hated—the same way he was once closed off when he came back from loading carts all day in the courtyard. It meant he was angry about something but he didn’t want to come out and say it.

“What’s the matter?” Sael asked him.

 

“Nothing. Jekh seems… fine. Competent.”

Suddenly Sael understood. Koreh was feeling the same thing Sael had felt when he saw Koreh standing naked in front of Jekh—jealousy. He knew it probably wasn’t wise, but he couldn’t resist a slight smile. “He’s goodlooking, isn’t he?”

“I suppose.”

 

“And he sees me naked pretty much every day.”

Koreh didn’t respond to that, but his mouth was closed so tightly that his lips were almost white.

“He’s just my valet, Koreh,” Sael said reasonably. “He doesn’t sleep with me; he doesn’t touch me when I’m bathing. He’s just a servant.”

Koreh looked as though he wanted to say something, but he glanced at the guards standing nearby and pulled away from Sael. “Fine.”

He walked away down the hall, Sael sighing and following after him. Sael had been trying to tell Koreh he understood what was bothering him and it wasn’t really anything to worry about, but he’d apparently done it all wrong. So he nodded toward the guards to tell them to follow, and they all went downstairs in silence.

They found the
vek
and the others seated in the dining room, being served an enormous breakfast of
kikid
eggs, ham, bacon, and various fruits and breads.

The moment Sael walked into the room, his father saw him and said loudly, “I see the
dekan
has managed to avoid assassination for a few more hours. Wonderful!” He made no note of Koreh’s presence at all.

Sael grimaced at him. “I’m fine, thank you, Father.”

“General,” Worlen said to General Meik, as Sael took the seat reserved for him near his father, “would you please explain what happened when you went to check on the prisoner this morning.”

There really wasn’t much to explain. Meik and one of his men had gone to give the prisoner some food and water after leaving him in decidedly uncomfortable conditions the night before. They also had a bucket for him, if he’d managed to make it through the night without relieving himself in the corner. They’d peered into the cell and he was nowhere to be seen. So of course they assumed he was hiding near the door. They entered cautiously, prepared to attack if the prisoner attempted to escape. But he was gone. Not a trace of him remained.

“The bolts were intact,” Meik said, shaking his head in bewilderment, “and neither of the guards on shift heard a sound all night long. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“We have soldiers searching every corner of the keep,” Worlen said, “but of course they’ve uncovered nothing. The young man is
samöt
, after all.”

“Koreh managed to find him last night,” Sael said.

Suddenly all eyes turned to Koreh. He’d been forced to take one of the empty seats at the end of the table, and Sael was ashamed to realize he hadn’t even noticed this when he sat down beside his father. Now Koreh looked decidedly uncomfortable to be the center of attention.

“I, uh….” Koreh cleared his throat. “I can see into shadows. It’s something I’ve learned from the Taaweh. That’s how I found him.”

“What do you mean, you can see into shadows?” Worlen asked irritably.

“Anywhere that shadows exist, I can see. Not all at once, of course. I have to focus. But I started searching last night in Sael’s room and expanded out from there until I found him in the room on the floor above.”

For once Worlen didn’t correct Koreh’s failure to use their titles. He looked at the young man closely and asked, “You can see anywhere, then?”

“Anywhere there are shadows, Your Grace.”

 

“So where is the assassin now?”

Koreh looked distressed. He glanced at Sael and then back to the
vek
before replying, “I can’t find him anywhere in the keep, Your Grace. I’ve searched it as thoroughly as I can.”

Worlen sat back in his chair slowly. “More Taaweh magic?”

 

“I don’t know.”

“Why would the Taaweh send Koreh to stop him,” Sael asked, “just to help him escape later?”

His father tapped his fingers on the heavy oak tabletop as he contemplated this. “We know they have a use for you. Perhaps they also have a use for him.”

B
Y LATE
afternoon, Koreh found himself wishing the Taaweh would call for him. What he really wanted, of course, was to be alone with Sael, but the
vek
and Sael’s duties were making that impossible. Instead Koreh spent the day being treated respectfully by the servants, who knew he was Sael’s lover, and disrespectfully by the
vek
and his cronies, who probably wished he would go away. But Sael insisted upon keeping him close. Koreh suspected Sael was publicly asserting the legitimacy of their relationship in the court of Harleh, which was the main reason he put up with it. Anything to make the
vek
squirm.

Master Geilin and Sael’s lovely sister-in-law, Tanum, smiled at him occasionally, but even they were too busy to talk with him. And most of the interminable meetings were incredibly dull, broken only by the midday meal. Koreh was occasionally asked to provide information about the Taaweh, and he agreed to petition the Iinu Shaa for protection on behalf of the city of Worlen at the first opportunity. But for the most part, the day passed in painful tedium.

In the evening, just after the bells had rung in
Nemom
—which, Koreh observed, neither Sael nor Geilin bothered to perform rituals for—a messenger came running into the throne room, reporting that a carriage from Worlen had entered the outer gate and would be arriving in the courtyard within moments.

“Now what?” the
vek
snarled as he followed the messenger downstairs.

Sael and Master Geilin trailed after him, along with the
vek
’s chief mage, Snidmot, so Koreh decided to follow them, hoping it would provide an interesting distraction. Nobody stopped him.

The carriage had arrived by the time they reached the lower level, and the servants had shown the passengers into the entry hall. The head butler, Diven, could be overheard issuing orders to the hall servants for someone to notify the Master of the Barracks that beds would be needed for the soldiers, and likewise for a messenger to be sent to notify Harleh’s
caedan makek
that a priest was among the passengers. But the moment Diven noticed the
vek
and Sael approaching, he snapped to attention and shouted, “His Grace, the Vek of Worlen, and His Lordship, the Dekan of Harleh!”

All activity and conversation immediately ceased as all those present bowed, the servants clearing out of the center of the room before doing so.

“Good evening, Captain,” Worlen addressed one of the passengers. Koreh knew little enough about military rank, but he assumed the
vek
had singled him out as the highest-ranking officer among them. Worlen also acknowledged one of the other passengers. “Father Kaüsim.”

The Captain spoke first. “Good evening, Your Grace. I’m afraid we bring dire news.”

“Of what?”

The captain glanced over at Father Kaüsim, who was dressed in the kneelength gold skirt of the
caedan
. He was elderly and stooped, leaning heavily upon a cane with a brass head. Though he no doubt had the golden Eye of Atnu tattooed on his chest, he was too thin and spindly to display it as he would have done in his youth. He now wore a simple linen tunic and had a wool cloak thrown over his shoulders for warmth.

“Your Grace,” the withered old
caedan
said nervously, “something happened in Worlen during the
Cabbon
service. Something… unimaginable.”

Worlen was already beginning to show signs of impatience. “Yes, yes. What was it?”

“The Worlen Temple, Your Grace. It’s been destroyed.”

Sael felt a chill go through him at the old priest's words. But his father seemed less shocked than resigned, as if he'd been expecting something like this.

“Tell me what happened,” the
vek
said. “All of it.”

 

Chapter 11

 

A
GE
was beginning to tell on Father Kaüsim. His arthritic joints prevented him from getting around without the use of a cane, and even then he couldn’t walk very far. Father Tönz, the
caedan makek
of Worlen, was kind enough to allow the old man to remain seated during most services. But once in a while he requested that Father Kaüsim take a place upon the raised pulpit in the courtyard outside the temple. The temple wasn’t large enough to contain more than the wealthiest families in Worlen, so the less fortunate of the faithful gathered in the courtyard. They couldn’t hear the service out there, but young temple novitiates walked through the crowd, cleansing them with incense and chanting, and after the end of the service, all those present would be blessed.