Law of the Broken Earth (16 page)

Mienthe was grateful that at least the queen’s ladies weren’t present. She knew she would become tongue-tied and clumsy in that graceful company. The ladies would
exclaim in horror and assure Mienthe that she’d been foolish and she wouldn’t know how to answer. Maybe the queen had guessed that and sent them away to allow Mienthe to speak freely—though it was hard to imagine Niethe understanding the shyness that afflicted Mienthe in that company.

“How did you come to lose that spy, and how did you get him back?” the queen asked in a kind tone. “You’ve taught Linularinum to be a little more respectful, perhaps. Iaor will be glad of that, at least! But how ever did they get, ah, Tan out of this house in the first place?”

That was as good a starting place as any, though Mienthe had to admit she had no idea. Captain Geroen entered the small breakfast room while she was saying so, but before she had to try to explain her strange but definite knowledge of Tan’s position. This was good, because she didn’t know how to explain that, either.

Geroen had cleaned up and no doubt snatched a bite to eat in the kitchens, but he looked tired. Though he didn’t exactly droop where he stood, he somehow gave the impression he would have liked to. He gave a little dip of his head and said, “First off, Your Majesty, my lady—Iriene sends down word that our Tan will get back on his feet again soon enough, though he’ll likely walk with a cane for a day or two. She says she thinks lately her own strength hasn’t been just everything it should be, but the knee’s not as bad as it could have been and she thinks he’ll recover completely.”

Mienthe only just kept from clapping her hands like a child. “Wonderful!”

Geroen’s mouth crooked. He gave Mienthe the merest shiver of a wink. “Eh, and the esteemed Iriene said quite
a bit more about the stupidity of putting a man with that kind of injury up on horseback, and it was a wonder he didn’t fall off and break his other leg, or his neck, which she said would have saved her a lot of bother and we might keep that close in mind next time.”

Mienthe hid a smile behind her hand. She hadn’t realized Geroen knew Iriene, but even the acerbic healer would surely not say that to someone she didn’t know at all.

Geroen had turned back to address the queen. “It was magecraft, Your Majesty. We know that right enough. Some Linularinan mage got their agents into the great house and stole the wits right out of my men’s heads and wrapped Tan up in some kind of magecrafting so’s he couldn’t even yell out a warning and took him off. Only the lady, she knew all about it. I guess she’s maybe going to develop mage-skill herself.”

“Is she?” Niethe said, as astonished as if the captain had suggested Mienthe might change into a crow and fly away. She gazed at Mienthe with fascination, as though wondering whether she might suddenly turn the plates into crumbling loam or the polished glassware into budding flowers.

Mienthe blushed and said hastily, “I’m sure I’m not! We’ve never once had a mage in our family. Hardly any of my cousins are even gifted! I don’t see how I
could
be a—a mage. I don’t know anything about mages or mageworking or—or
anything
. I just knew… I knew what had happened, more or less, when I went back into Tan’s room. I don’t know. I just…”

“Well, Mienthe, ordinarily people
don’t
just know such things,” Niethe said reasonably.

“She told me she knew exactly where Tan was, direction and distance, and she made me believe it,” Geroen said. “Nobody else did, or could, or I thought so, though I admit I maybe should have let that spy go before risking Lady Mienthe in Linularinum.”

The royal captain snorted under his breath.

Geroen flushed slightly, but kept his eyes on the queen. “Well, but at first we thought maybe we could get him back without even crossing the river, and well, anyway, granting I never thought for a moment her lord cousin would approve, when that hope failed I thought we might risk a brief little excursion into Linularinum to get him out.” Geroen paused again.

Captain Temnan drew breath to speak, but Mienthe leaped in before he could. “That was
my
doing, really.” And then she went on, in her firmest tone, telling the rest of it so Geroen wouldn’t try to take all the responsibility back on himself, as he clearly felt he ought to do. She explained how they’d crossed the river and found Tan. Geroen filled in some things she hadn’t noticed about the barn and the people they’d surprised there, and the way Tan had been all chained up. Mienthe hadn’t noticed the part about the slip-chain around his neck. She bit her lip and tried hard not to think about that, or about what might have happened if they’d been captured by the sort of people who would do things like that.

Temnan didn’t look surprised by any of these details, but Niethe sat back in her chair, looking rather grim and ill. Mienthe thought the queen’s imagination had taken much the same direction as hers on that topic.

To distract them both from any such ideas, she quickly picked up the story again. She explained about the strange
things they’d found in the barn, the book and the other things. “I looked at the book; I’ve looked all through it, but every page is blank,” she explained. “There are inks in six different colors, and nine kinds of quills, but they all look perfectly ordinary to me.”

The queen nodded. “Well,
that
was well done, bringing all those things away with you.” Her tone implied that it might be the only thing they’d done of which she wholeheartedly approved, though she didn’t actually say so. “I’m very certain the mages in Tiearanan will be most interested in those items.”

“But what do you suppose the Linularinan agents meant to do?”

Niethe lifted her hands in a pretty shrug and raised her eyebrows at Temnan.

The captain of the royal guard tilted his head. “One would hardly care to guess. Geroen, have one of your men fetch from her rooms the items Lady Mienthe described and bring them here.”

Geroen’s face, Mienthe thought, was really a good one for a guard captain: heavy-boned, rather coarse, and unusually hard to read. He was probably good at pian stones; nobody would be able to tell from his expression what stones he had in reserve. But she could see he didn’t like to be commanded by Temnan, royal guard captain or not. She said hastily, “If you would be so good, Geroen.”

Geroen nodded stiffly and stepped briefly out to give that order.

The queen said thoughtfully, “One ordinarily expects a legist to draw up contracts. I wonder what contract these men had in mind for Tan to write out? Well, and after
that?” She listened intently and quietly, but once Mienthe had finished, she asked, “But
why
did they pursue Tan with such dedication?”

“For personal vengeance?” suggested Temnan.

Mienthe looked doubtfully at Geroen. “Would you say so?”

The captain hesitated, then shook his head. “Lady… no. As you ask me, I’d say no. I haven’t questioned Tan, not seeing as he was in any condition to answer, but that was an interrogation, is what I’d say, not just some Linularinan fool indulging himself in a wild venture to get himself a chance at his personal enemy. Tan did say… Let me see. Something like,
That wasn’t some petty street-thug; that was the Linularinan spymaster
. ‘The’ spymaster, he said, not just ‘a’ spymaster. He called him by name. He said it was Istierinan.”

“I remember that name—” Mienthe began.

One of Geroen’s guardsmen came in before she could finish her thought, bending to murmur to the captain.

“Tan?” asked Mienthe.

“He’s unconscious and expected to remain so for some time,” Geroen reported, dismissing the man with a curt nod. “I’ll give orders for my men to stay on close guard, but I don’t know how those Linularinan agents got through my men the first time.”

“I’ll give my men orders to stand alongside yours,” said Temnan, and added, his tone a trifle supercilious, “if you’ll permit me, Captain Geroen, and if Her Majesty approves. I’ve men from Tiearanan who might notice magework if anyone starts anything of that sort.”

Geroen hesitated for a bare moment, then nodded abruptly.

“To be sure,” agreed Niethe.

Mienthe said, “I’ll go sit with Tan—” but surprised herself with a jaw-cracking yawn before she could finish her sentence. She put her hand over her mouth and blinked suddenly blurry eyes.

“You will not,” the queen said firmly. “I’m sure our guardsmen can keep him safe.
You
will go to bed, Mienthe, and no matter it’s just past breakfast time. Sleep till noon, if you like—or till supper.” She stood up, came around the table, and touched Mienthe’s shoulder. “Rest well, and never fret. Now we’re all alert, I can hardly believe any Linularinan agents will try a second time. Just to be certain, I believe I’ll send a formal courier across the river, inquiring whether Linularinum has deliberately attempted to provoke Feierabiand.
That
should make them pause.”

Mienthe thought it certainly would. She hoped whoever had tried to kidnap Tan found himself in deep water. “Good,” she said, and got stiffly to her feet.

T
an was desperately bored. The servants were fine about fluffing pillows, but not very accommodating when it came to providing books or writing materials or anything else that would give him reason to sit upright. Iriene had plainly given orders, which the servants had proved tiresomely determined to follow, that he was supposed to be lying flat, keeping his leg elevated on pillows, and sleeping. Since he had been sleeping all day, this left Tan bored, nervous, and thoroughly irritated.

He looked up at the sudden murmur outside the chamber. He could distinguish the voices of his guards, of course, but also that of a woman. A servant bringing a book or two after all, he hoped, and moved uncomfortably, wishing he could sit up properly.

But it wasn’t a servant who came in.

“Mienthe!” Tan exclaimed. Then he was immediately embarrassed that he’d been sufficiently startled as to forget his manners—in fact, he was embarrassed he’d been
surprised at all. Surely it was not in the least remarkable that Mienthe would come find him and assure herself he was mending. He said more moderately, “Esteemed lady,” and pushed ineffectually at the bed linens, determined to sit up after all, whether or not Iriene would approve.

Refreshingly, Mienthe did not command him to lie down flat. Evidently she hadn’t been told he was supposed to stay down. She helped him sit instead, arranging the pillows so he could be more comfortable. Then she drew a chair near the bed and perched on its edge, like a bird ready to take flight. “Your knee?” she asked anxiously. “Did the esteemed Iriene mend it? It hadn’t been too badly damaged?”

“I’m told it will heal well, so long as I restrain myself from overusing it now,” Tan assured her. “I have no notion why everyone seems to feel compelled to emphasize that latter clause.”

Mienthe laughed, but her voice was strained, and Tan realized—he should have perceived it at once—that the young woman was not anxious over his well-being, or not
only
anxious over his well-being. Something had frightened her. Something else. He tried to imagine what might have frightened or disturbed Mienthe more than the thought of enemy spies and mages sneaking about her home and kidnapping people. His imagination failed him. “Esteemed lady?” he said cautiously.

“Oh, Mienthe, please!” she told him.

She wasn’t flirting. Tan had nearly reached the conclusion that, impossible as it seemed, Mienthe didn’t know
how
to flirt. She simply preferred informality and, in her straightforward way, said so. Tan smiled. “I suppose the events of last night ought to constitute an introduction.
Not a proper introduction, perhaps, but thorough. So I suppose we might call one another by name, if you like, and then perhaps you might tell me what is troubling you?”

“Oh, well—” Mienthe eyed him cautiously. “Something else has happened. Shall I tell you, or do you need to rest?” She bit her lip. “You probably need to rest.”

Not eager to be left again to lonely boredom, Tan declared, “I have been required to dedicate myself to nothing but rest all the long day. Be so kind as to tell me all.” He lifted an expectant eyebrow at the young woman.

“Well…” Mienthe hesitated, though Tan thought she was merely trying to collect her thoughts rather than hesitating to tell him the news. He wondered what had possibly unnerved her. It was difficult to reconcile the collected young woman of the Linularinan raid with this diffidence. He tried to look encouraging.