The Saints Of The Sword (Tyrants & Kings) Read online

  It was a poorly veiled threat, and it stunned Biagio. He got to his feet.

  ‘You will fight me, then?’ he asked, struggling to control his resentment. ‘You’ll join in the chorus for my head? Why don’t you just sail your navy to Talistan, Danar? Join with the rest of my enemies?’

  ‘Your promise,’ Nicabar insisted. ‘All I want is for you to make good on it.’

  ‘I can’t, you fool!’ roared Biagio. ‘I am Emperor of Nar! I have more important things than your petty revenge.’ He stalked around the room like a tiger, enraged and frustrated at Nicabar’s stupidity. ‘God help me, I can’t make war with Liss. I can’t even win back my homeland, because Nar needs me. We’ll have war if we don’t stop Talistan, Danar. Worldwide war. And if you’re off battling Liss, who will be here to stand against them?’

  The admiral merely shrugged. ‘Give me the fuel,’ he said calmly, ‘and I won’t oppose you. I will fight my own war and win back Crote for you. That I promise. Just give me the fuel.’

  ‘And if I don’t?’

  ‘Then I will take the navy away from you, Renato. I will fight the Lissens without cannons and you will be weaker than you are now, with no navy.’ The admiral grinned. ‘And no army.’

  Checkmate, thought Biagio blackly. He turned slowly toward the window, stalling as he groped through the political maze. Nicabar was right. He had no army. The legionnaires wouldn’t follow him because he’d murdered their general. He was emperor in name only because he had the threat of Nicabar’s fleet behind him. Without that, his hold on the throne might crumble in a day.

  Yet Nicabar had forced his hand, forgetting that the emperor was the Roshann and the Roshann was everywhere. Biagio had made a life out of contingencies. The emperor sighed. He had loved Nicabar like a brother once.

  ‘That’s final, is it?’ he asked over his shoulder. He saw Nicabar nod in the window’s reflection.

  ‘It is. Just keep your promise, and you’ll have no trouble from me. Order the war labs to release the fuel.’

  ‘I’m not wrong about Talistan, Danar. Gayle is planning something.’

  ‘The fuel, Renato.’

  ‘Very well,’ agreed the emperor. ‘I will speak to Bovadin about it. He’ll order the war labs to provide your flame cannon fuel. You will have it by tomorrow.’

  ‘Then that’s when we’ll set sail,’ Nicabar said, springing from his chair.

  ‘But you’re not going to Crote, are you?’ said Biagio. ‘You’re planning to attack Liss.’

  Nicabar blanched. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘Oh, please, Danar. I still have some sources.’ Biagio rubbed his hands together. ‘Well, that does sound promising. Liss itself! My, you are confident, eh?’

  ‘I can beat them this time, Renato,’ rumbled Nicabar. ‘Once I’ve gathered the intelligence I need, find a weak spot to attack . . .’

  ‘Yes, yes, I’m sure you’re right, Danar. Good luck to you, then. But keep in touch, all right?’

  ‘Don’t be sarcastic, Renato. I am right this time. I will beat them.’

  You’ve been saying that for years, you fool, thought Biagio.

  ‘Of course you’ll beat them,’ he said. ‘I wish you all the luck in the world. And you wish me luck, don’t you, Danar? I mean, when Talistan rolls its horsemen into the Black City and all the nations of Nar clamor for my skin, I will have your best wishes, won’t I?’

  The two men shared a charged glance, then Admiral Nicabar backed away, shaking his head. Biagio thought of stopping his comrade before he left, but it was too late and Biagio wasn’t in the mood to apologize. Nicabar left the door open as he exited the parlor and stormed off down the hall, his two sailors falling in step behind him. Quick-thinking Malthrak shut the door again, guessing correctly that his master wanted to be alone.

  ‘Goddamn it,’ groaned Biagio. He went to the chair that Nicabar had vacated and fell into it, exhausted and angry. All his efforts had been for nothing. Nicabar was obsessed with Liss and would never forsake that struggle. Nicabar didn’t care if Tassis Gayle and his henchman Leth were plotting against the throne, and he didn’t care if tyrants like Angoris murdered people by the thousands. He just wanted Liss. Biagio laughed. Once he himself had bargained away his humanity for power. It was what the drug did to men.

  ‘Malthrak!’ shouted Biagio suddenly. ‘Get in here!’

  Within a moment the parlor door opened and Malthrak stuck his swarthy head inside. ‘My lord?’ he queried. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Find me Captain Kasrin, Malthrak. Find out where he is and bring him.’

  Malthrak looked puzzled. ‘Kasrin?’

  ‘Of the ship Dread Sovereign. He’s in a harbor somewhere north of the city. I want to see him. And I don’t want anyone finding out about it, understand? Secret things, Malthrak.’

  Malthrak grinned. Secret things were what he was best at. ‘I understand, my lord. I’ll find him.’

  ‘Go quickly,’ said Biagio. ‘And shut the door.’

  The little Roshann agent sealed his emperor into the parlor. Outside, Biagio could hear him murmuring to his brother. Malthrak would find Kasrin quickly and bring him to the Black City. And Donhedris had an errand of his own. According to Dakel, Elrad Leth’s ship had been sighted nearing the city.

  The emperor took a deep breath. He thought of Nicabar and all the good times they had enjoyed together. But that was the past. A year ago, when Biagio was still addicted to the drug, killing had been easy for him. He never felt anxious or afraid, and he never felt remorse over any of his orders, no matter how bloody. Withdrawing from the narcotic had changed all that, and sometimes he yearned for the old harshness again.

  ‘Forgive me, my friend,’ he whispered. ‘I will miss you.’

  Two

  Alazrian looked out over Nar City. He was higher up than he had ever been in his life, seemingly higher than birds fly, and he was mesmerized. This was his own balcony, part of his private room, and the Tower of Truth was a dazzling structure. Alazrian had seen it from the hills around the city, twinkling bronze and orange in the sunlight. It had one twisting spire and countless balconies, and it pointed heavenward like a needle, skewering the smoky clouds. To Alazrian, who had never seen a city, it was like something from a dream.

  ‘My God,’ he whispered, smiling to himself. ‘It’s beautiful.’

  The slave who had escorted Alazrian to his room seemed pleased. ‘It is to your liking then, my lord?’

  ‘My liking? Oh, yes.’ Alazrian turned from the stunning view to face the servant. He was a middle-aged man with tired eyes and taut skin who looked as though he had been bringing people up and down the tower’s stairs for decades. ‘It’s incredible,’ Alazrian said. ‘And it’s all mine?’

  ‘Yes, my lord,’ replied the slave. ‘For as long as you stay in the tower. The minister made it very clear. You and your father are to be his guests.’

  Alazrian knew that the ‘minister’ was Dakel himself. Popularly known as the Inquisitor, his real title was Nar’s Minister of Truth. Dakel was master of the tower, one of the city’s highest ranking lords, and the extravagance of his home bespoke his station.

  ‘It’s not what I expected,’ Alazrian confessed. ‘When we were summoned here I thought, well . . .’

  The slave smiled. ‘A lot of people don’t expect the minister’s hospitality. Please be at ease. I am at your command. My name is Rian.’

  ‘And you’ve been assigned to me?’

  ‘You and your father, yes.’

  Alazrian was less pleased to hear that. He didn’t like the idea of sharing the servant with his father, who would no doubt run poor Rian ragged. And his father already had his bodyguard Shinn for company. Shinn went everywhere with Leth. They were like twins, attached at the shoulders and equally hateful.

  ‘Well,’ remarked Alazrian. ‘Thank you very much. I’m overwhelmed.’ He went back to looking out over the city. It was marvelous. He could see the palace across the river Kiel and a hundred littl
e boats navigating the waterway. Far below in the dark streets, beggars moved in shambling mounds mixing with the pretty painted ladies who cruised the avenues to shop and gossip. He had heard a dozen different languages the moment he’d stepped off the ship and onto Nar’s docks and his head was still ringing with the throbbing of the distant incinerators. Alazrian took a deep breath of the metallically charged air.

  ‘Is it always like this, Rian?’ he asked.

  ‘Like what, my lord?’

  Alazrian shrugged. ‘I don’t know. So . . . Smelly?’

  The servant laughed. ‘You’ll get used to it, my lord. I can close the balcony doors if you like. If you’ll just step off for a moment . . .’

  ‘Oh, no,’ said Alazrian. ‘No, I want to stay out here. I want to see everything.’

  It was like he was afloat on the wind, and Alazrian suppressed a giddy laugh. It had been a terrible voyage from Talistan with Leth, aboard a merchant ship his father had chartered for the trip. Alazrian had vomited almost daily. But now, in the face of this spellbinding city, it all seemed worth it.

  ‘Rian,’ he asked. ‘Where was the cathedral? Can you show me?’

  Rian hesitated. ‘Master Leth, the cathedral is gone.’

  ‘Yes, I know. I know that your lord Biagio destroyed the cathedral. I just want to know where it stood. My mother loved the cathedral, you see. She’s dead now, and, well . . . Tell me where it was, won’t you?’

  Rian stepped onto the balcony, looked around for a moment, then pointed a finger toward a wide avenue off in the distance.

  ‘There, near High Street,’ he said. ‘The cathedral was by the riverbank.’

  Alazrian nodded, squinting to see. He studied the winding river, but he was far away from the site and could see very little, only an empty space where something colossal should have been.

  ‘Was it very beautiful?’ he asked.

  ‘Young master, it’s not proper for me to discuss these things with you, or to discuss the cathedral. The minister doesn’t care for talk about those days.’

  The days when Herrith ruled Nar, thought Alazrian. Before Biagio stole it from him.

  ‘There’s so much I’d like to know about this place. I have many questions. Perhaps you can help me.’

  ‘I’m here to serve you, my lord. But questions really aren’t my purview.’ The slave smiled, then quickly changed subjects. ‘You must be tired, yes?’

  Now that he thought about it, Alazrian realized he was exhausted. It had been a month since he’d left Aramoor, and the sea journey had soured his stomach and turned his brain to porridge.

  ‘Yes, very tired,’ he admitted.

  ‘I’ve moved your things into the bedchamber,’ said Rian. He pointed toward a white-painted door on the other side of the room. It had a half-moon curve to its top and alabaster carvings along its length. It was beautiful, like everything in Alazrian’s chamber. ‘You can get some rest now if you like. Or I can bring you some food, perhaps?’

  ‘No, nothing yet,’ replied Alazrian. ‘I’ll sleep a bit. But first . . .’ He leaned out over the railing. ‘Let me look at the city.’

  ‘As you say, my lord,’ said Rian, then left the balcony, retreating from the apartment and closing the door behind him. A blast from a far-off smokestack sent up a shuddering flame. The sky glowed a ghostly bronze, and Alazrian watched it in awe as though it were a shooting star to wish upon.

  ‘God in heaven,’ he whispered. ‘What is this place?’

  The Tower of Truth might be a cage for him, but it was gilded with gold and barred with silver, and Alazrian didn’t feel like a prisoner at all. He felt like a prince. More, he loved that he had a room of his own again. He loved being away from his father and feeling like a man. For a moment he forgot his fears of Dakel and the Protectorate. Tomorrow he might face the Inquisitor with his father, but today he was free.

  Tonight, if he could escape his father, he would investigate the city. He didn’t know how long he would be in Nar or when he would have another opportunity to look around, and he had, after all, come here with a mission. He craned his neck over the railing, looking for something, anything, that might be a library or a house of scholars. The Black City had schools, surely. His mother had said so. As his mother had advised, he had even brought money with him.

  ‘Oh, Mother,’ sighed Alazrian. He closed his eyes and summoned a picture of her. She had been beautiful. He supposed it was why Elrad Leth had agreed to marry her – that and her proximity to the king. Now she was gone. Alazrian flexed his hand, remembering his last, astonishing moments with her, and hating himself for letting her die.

  But she had wanted that. She had wanted to die and leave behind her brutal life. It had been a month now and the pain of her death was as ripe as ever, ripe as the bruises Leth gifted them both with. Alazrian rubbed his cheek. How many times had Leth struck him on the voyage here? A dozen? More? Alazrian had lost count. Hatred swam in him. Tomorrow Elrad Leth would face Dakel, and Alazrian would see his father squirm at last.

  He was just about to retire to the bedchamber when a knock came at the door. Alazrian paused, sure that it was Leth.

  ‘Come in,’ he called.

  But Elrad Leth didn’t appear. Instead, there was a tall man with shining black hair like the mane of a stallion and long dark robes hanging loosely about his body. Even from across the room Alazrian could see the dazzling brilliance of his eyes. The man peeked over the threshold and smiled when he sighted Alazrian.

  ‘Young Alazrian?’ he said musically.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Greetings, young master.’ The man stepped inside and closed the door, and the rings on his fingers sparkled when he stretched out his hands. ‘I’m pleased to meet you. Welcome to my home.’

  Not the emperor, Alazrian realized suddenly. Dakel.

  ‘Minister Dakel,’ he stammered, bowing. ‘This is an honor. I didn’t expect you.’

  ‘Forgive the intrusion, please,’ said Dakel, gliding closer. ‘Most likely my sudden appearance is surprising to you. But I didn’t come to alarm you.’ He gave the boy a disarming grin.

  ‘I’m not alarmed,’ said Alazrian. ‘As I said, it’s an honor.’

  ‘You’re very kind, young Leth,’ said Dakel. ‘And I did so want to meet you before the tribunal tomorrow. The theater isn’t the best place to meet my guests, you understand.’

  Dakel laughed as if he’d made a joke. Alazrian joined in, chuckling nervously.

  ‘You’ve met my father, then?’ Alazrian asked.

  The Inquisitor’s face immediately darkened. ‘Your father? No. That would be improper, I think. And I doubt your father cares to meet me. To be honest, I thought you would be more agreeable to a visit than him. But I hope you will extend my good graces to your father when you see him later. He is my guest. I want you both to feel welcome.’

  ‘Oh, we will,’ said Alazrian. ‘Lord Minister, this apartment is beautiful. Really, I hadn’t expected this kind of treatment. To be honest, it relieves me.’

  ‘Does it?’ Dakel seemed wounded. ‘I’m sorry to hear that. My Protectorate has a very bad reputation. All that we seek is the truth, for the good of the Empire. You have nothing to fear.’ Then he nodded, adding, ‘But you fear for your father, of course.’

  Not really, thought Alazrian. But he said, ‘Of course.’

  ‘It’s an investigation, young Leth, nothing more. Oh, but I talk too much, and you’re tired.’ Dakel reached out and touched Alazrian’s shoulder. Alazrian could feel the chill even through his cloak. The Inquisitor stared at him curiously.

  ‘Minister?’ probed Alazrian. ‘Is something wrong?’

  ‘Forgive me,’ said Dakel. ‘I was lost in thought for a moment. You don’t look very much like your father, do you? I saw him from the tower when you arrived. He’s much darker than you, isn’t he?’

  Alazrian ran his hand through his platinum hair. ‘I’m more like my mother, actually.’

  ‘Oh? I had heard the Lady Calida had ha
ir like a raven.’

  ‘Well, yes.’ Alazrian cleared his throat. ‘I suppose.’

  ‘You’re not big like your father, either. He’s like a tree, that one. But you . . .’ He shrugged. ‘You must be still growing.’

  All the old anxieties came flooding back. What was Dakel doing? Alazrian hurried to change the subject.

  ‘Thank you so much for coming to see me, Lord Minister. Perhaps you can tell me of some interesting things to see while I’m in the city. I had hoped to do some exploring. Maybe this evening.’