‘No. Our Malaunje women approached you and you did our brotherhood a service. If anything, you’ve won stature for your brotherhood.’ Norsasno nodded. ‘Hakonnyn said you did what only high-ranking initiates could do.’
‘Then why did they beat Ardonyx and take him?’ Ionnyn countered.
‘Io is right,’ Haromyr said. ‘We need to defend Ardonyx.’
Norsasno caught Tobazim’s eye. ‘It doesn’t add up.’
Tobazim’s body tensed and his gift surfaced in anticipation of trouble. ‘They’re in the captain’s cabin?’ He refused to call it the all-father’s cabin. It should have been Ardonyx’s.
‘You want me to come with you, to put forward our brotherhood’s position?’ Norsasno asked.
Tobazim was surprised by the offer. ‘No, it’s all right. Kyredeon wouldn’t take kindly to having another brotherhood interfere. No offence meant.’
‘None taken.’
‘Do you want me to gather the sailors?’ Ionnyn asked.
‘You want me to get the others?’ Haromyr offered.
There were at least a dozen, maybe twenty young adepts and initiates who would spring to his call, but Tobazim didn’t want them risking their lives over this. It shouldn’t get that far.
Athlyn looked frightened but determined. The young initiate had shared the same choice-mother as Tobazim and Learon, and was the last link to his old choice-brother. Too many people’s lives depended on Tobazim for him to make rash decisions. He gestured to Haromyr, Eryx and Athlyn. ‘Return to the cabin. Go back to your post, Ionnyn.’
The big adept did not look happy.
‘What if you need us?’
‘If I need you, it’s already too late.’
As Tobazim climbed the steps to the rear deck, he wondered if he’d done the right thing. The low sun threw long shadows across the deck. Nearly sunset.
Was he walking to his death?
He hoped he could talk his way out of this, because he wasn’t strong enough to challenge Kyredeon.
As he approached the door of the captain’s cabin, Tobazim sensed gift aggression. His own gift surged, sending waves of prickling awareness across his skin.
He knocked. For a moment no one answered, then the door swung open and Ceyne stood there. His expression held warning.
‘You were right, all-father.’ The saw-bones sounded like a gift-tutor chiding a student. Tobazim suspected he was trying to defuse the situation. ‘It’s the other half of that pair of trouble-makers.’
‘Saves me sending for him,’ Kyredeon said, sounding too affable for Tobazim’s peace of mind. He gestured. ‘Come in.’
Tobazim took in the scene. Ardonyx knelt on the floor. Kyredeon and his inner circle stood over him. Graelen was amongst their number; it was clear where his allegiances lay.
Unless he, like Ceyne, was an unwilling witness. But Ceyne had admitted he’d once stood back and let his apprentice go to his death, rather than risk his own life.
Tobazim crossed the chamber and sank to his knees, performing the correct obeisance. When Ardonyx cast him a swift look of warning, he caught sight of his brother’s bleeding nose. His gut tightened and his gift readiness rose another notch.
Their all-father leant against the desk and folded his arms. ‘Not only am I stuck housing half of Tamaron’s brotherhood, but now I hear you two have performed a gift-benediction on one of All-father Tamaron’s Malaunje. The female in question acknowledged your stature and thanked me.’ Kyredeon’s voice was heavy with sarcasm. ‘A gift-benediction, no less?’
‘We had no choice,’ Tobazim said. He went to lift his hands in the gesture of supplication, but Oriemn stepped behind him, pinning his arms. Tobazim repressed a surge of anger, fighting to keep his voice neutral. ‘Brigands had raped Imokara. The sooner the gift-benediction was carried out, the more chance she had of birthing a Malaunje baby. Ardonyx was injured, so I –’
‘It was only by combining our skills that we were able to perform the benediction, all-father,’ Ardonyx said. ‘As it was, we struggled.’
Tobazim glanced his way, for it had not been a struggle. They had gift-worked perfectly together, understanding each other intuitively. His gift surged and he sensed the stresses in the confrontation. Ardonyx was lying to make them seem less capable.
‘And you completed the gift-benediction without breaching the woman’s defences? That requires great skill indeed. Next you’ll be telling me you’ve both mastered gift-tutoring,’ Kyredeon mocked. ‘All-father Tamaron will arrive any day now and, when he does, he could take offence. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t hand the pair of you over to his hand-of-force?’
Tobazim could come up with a dozen reasons, but if Kyredeon was being reasonable, he would have been congratulating them for making All-father Tamaron beholden to him.
In the corner of Tobazim’s eye, sunlight glinted on Kyredeon’s sculpture of the Celestial City. During the last season before their exile, the all-father and his voice-of-reason had combined their skills and gifts to create this tribute. Made of blown glass and wrought silver, it stood waist-high and was a work of art. Farodytor was the silversmith, Kyredeon the glassblower.
To Tobazim, this sculpture of the Celestial City represented the true ideals of the brotherhood. To protect in honour.
‘Your presumption deserves punishment,’ Kyredeon said. ‘Oriemn –’
‘We invoke the sacred vow,’ Tobazim announced.
‘What?’ Kyredeon straightened up.
‘We took a vow to protect Malaunje,
all
Malaunje,’ Tobazim rushed on. ‘Imokara came to us for help. We had no choice.’
‘That vow is sacred to all T’En,’ Ardonyx said, picking up his line of argument. Tobazim sensed a little push of power, but wasn’t sure where it had come from. ‘It is why the Malaunje serve us, because we offer protection. We could not dishonour our vow.’
‘They speak truly,’ Gift-tutor Deimosh said. Ceyne nodded agreement.
The others kept their silence, watching the all-father to see how he would react. Kyredeon looked like he had bitten into an apple and found a worm. His eyes narrowed.
Before he could speak, someone knocked on the door.
‘Come in,’ Kyredeon called.
The Malaunje servant entered, dropped to both knees and delivered the message. ‘Causare Imoshen has called an all-council on her ship.’
Kyredeon dismissed the messenger with a wave of his hand.
‘You can count yourselves lucky,’ he said. ‘But this is not the end of it. Get out.’
Tobazim came to his feet, dizzy with relief. In the hall, Tobazim’s knees wavered. Ardonyx slung an arm around his shoulders and led him up onto the high rear-deck, where they could speak privately. A Malaunje sailor was at the wheel. He looked relieved to see Ardonyx.
‘What just happened?’ Tobazim whispered.
‘I think Kyredeon expected you to panic, but you kept your head.’
‘I’d rather have a martial gift than a cool head.’
‘A cool head may prove more useful, in the long run.’
‘I should go back to the cabin and make sure Haromyr doesn’t do something stupid.’
Ardonyx nodded.
Tobazim rubbed his face. He felt detached and slightly drunk. ‘From the way Kyredeon reacted, you’d think we’d formed the deep-bonding with a T’En woman and betrayed all our brotherhood secrets to her!’
Ardonyx looked grim, and Tobazim left him.
Chapter Eight
‘P
UT THE BRAZIER
here,’ Imoshen told the burly Malaunje, who manoeuvred it into place. She stepped back, closer to Egrayne. ‘We’ll hold the all-council on deck, under the moons and the stars.’
‘It’s not like we have much choice,’ Egrayne muttered. The harbour-master had not been pleased with Baron Nitzane’s authority to give them safe harbour, and they were confined to their ships.
Imoshen grinned. ‘My flagship, my rules.’
‘It won’t help you if the brotherhoods declare they have no confidence in you and force another causare election. Even with Chariode’s loss, the all-fathers still outnumber the sisterhoods, eight to six. You can’t win if they unite against us.’
‘What are the chances of that?’ Imoshen asked. But they both knew it had happened before. When All-father Rohaayel was about to be executed for breaking the covenant, the all-fathers had sent their hands-of-force to avenge his death.
And Imoshen had defeated them.
‘You never told me how you killed all those gift-warriors,’ Egrayne said. ‘Without training on the higher plane it should have been impossible. Your gift is the ability to read people, it’s not a martial gift.’
‘No one has ever asked me how I did it. Why not?’
‘We were shocked to learn the all-fathers had sent their hands-of-force. Had it been one or more of the all-mothers conducting Rohaayel’s execution and not you, they would have been killed. We could have had a brotherhood uprising on our hands. Instead, we discovered we had the most powerful sister since –’
‘I’m not powerful,’ Imoshen said. ‘When the gift-warriors struck, Rohaayel was as surprised as me. He protected me, killing four of them.’
‘But... but his gift was crippled by the loss of his shield-brother.’
‘He used the higher plane’s hunger for our power. I’d formed the plane in the shape of my island and he threw himself into the sea, taking them with him. The sea devoured them. I was left trapped on a rock with the waves crashing around us, or so they thought.’ Imoshen shrugged. ‘I knew that every sixth or seven wave was bigger than the rest. I saw it coming and lured them onto a rock that I knew would go under. I let them think they had me. At the last possible moment, I leaped to safety. They were washed to their deaths and the empyrean plane devoured them. I didn’t kill a single one of them. I’m a fraud, Egrayne. All these years, everyone has thought me powerful, but –’
‘Using the danger of the empyrean plane is a legitimate duelling technique.’ She squeezed Imoshen’s hand and let a little of her gift warm her. ‘Considering you had no experience of the higher plane, you –’
‘Oh, but I did.’ Imoshen was tired of lying. ‘I’d been segueing to the higher plane since I was thirteen. I used to have waking nightmares where reality would shift and I could see the empyrean plane superimposed over this one.’
Egrayne pulled away. ‘But only gift-warriors have that ability.’
Imoshen met her eyes. ‘I believe –’
‘They’re here, causare,’ Kiane said. ‘Do you want me to keep the all-fathers down on the mid-deck until the all-mothers have arrived?’
‘No. Send them up. Have the motherless children wait on the lower rear-deck.’
The Malaunje unrolled a circular carpet and hung the last of the lanterns. They’d just finished when the first of the sisterhood leaders arrived with their seconds and Malaunje servants.
Imoshen smiled as Reoden joined her.
‘Are you recovered, Ree?’ Imoshen took the healer’s hands and kissed her cheeks. ‘I’ve hardly seen you since we set sail.’
‘Blame it on seasickness.’
‘You’ve been seasick?’
‘No, but everyone else has.’ Reoden grew serious. ‘I saved Tamaron’s life. He and his brothers – all the children of that family – are mine to protect, Imoshen.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of taking them away from you. But...’ She glanced to the healer. The thought of sending Iraayel to the brotherhood tore the heart right out of her. ‘Four boys, Ree?’
‘Imoshen, Ree.’ The gift-wright, Ceriane, joined them. ‘No more interesting empyrean wounds for me to heal?’
The thin gift-wright had helped save Sorne’s life. Imoshen smiled, then sobered. ‘My gift tells me something is wrong with Kyredeon. Is his power corrupting?’
‘Not that I’ve sensed, but it would not take much to tip him over the edge,’ Ceriane said.
‘What do we do if an all-father’s gift corrupts?’
‘Usually, his brotherhood kills him and a new all-father takes his place.’
‘What’s this about a new all-father?’ Athazi asked. She glanced to the gift-wright. Athazi had always resented the high stature of Ceriane’s gift. Unaware of this, Ardonyx had assigned them to the same five-masted ship. ‘Has the gift-wright heard something we should all know?’
‘No, we were just discussing Kyredeon,’ Imoshen said. ‘Here’s Mel.’
Imoshen’s gift surged as she read Melisarone. The old all-mother carried a bone-deep sadness within her. Leaving the city where she had spent ninety years had torn out her heart. She would not live long in exile.
The sisterhood leaders were missing All-mother Parazime, who had been visiting one of her estates when the king attacked. She had been planning to meet them in Port Mirror-on-Sea, but now she would have to travel further south to join them here. Hers was the smallest of the sisterhoods, and Imoshen had given the remaining sisters shelter on her ship. Parazime’s old historian had come to represent her sisterhood in the leader’s absence. The brotherhoods were also missing one leader. All-father Tamaron had been stranded on one of his estates.
‘Here come the brotherhoods,’ Athazi whispered, her voice an odd mixture of longing and resentment.
As the powerful T’En men approached, the sisterhood leaders edged back and Imoshen realised Kiane had held the men back, to give precedence to the T’En women. The all-fathers would resent this reminder of their subservience.
Despite the cold, the men went bare–chested, to reveal their duelling scars. Their pleated breeches hung low on their hips, held up with jewelled belts. Soft boots and knee-length, sleeveless brocade robes completed their formal costume. Around their necks, they wore their torcs of office, each a work of art inlaid with precious stones, set with their brotherhood symbols. Kyredeon’s symbol was the eye, because the first leader of his brotherhood had been a seer.
‘You can expect a challenge tonight,’ Egrayne warned Imoshen softly. ‘We fled the port with our tail between our legs.’
Imoshen’s gift surged and she read each brotherhood triumvirate as they approached. Kyredeon and his seconds were primed for violence. They radiated anger, which seemed to be directed at the world in general, although its focus narrowed on her when they saw her.
They were followed by Hueryx, who had stood against her for the causareship. He’d been his brotherhood’s historian. It was unusual for an all-father to come from the ranks of the scholars. More commonly the voice-of-reason was a scholar and the all-father and his hand-of-force both had martial gifts, or all three had the martial gifts.