Stonewiser (19 page)

The man's smile was his only gloating admission.

“A large cut, more generous than the offer you received from the one who came to warn you about me.” Sariah paused. “Or could it be that you favored the mob because the other alliance was too dangerous even for the likes of you? Who was it, Orgos? Was it someone from the Guild?”

“You're clever,” Orgos said. “But that hardly counts for anything with me.”

“This might be a good opportunity for you,” Sariah said. “But it's not a secure venture. After all, they have to take my dead body back to the executioners before they can charge their mob's earnings. Then, they'd have to return to Alabara to bring your share. I hope they come back, because you might have the brawn to control Alabara, but beyond that, no other marcher in the Domain would take up your cause. How will you collect your share then?”

Orgos slammed his fist on the table. “I mind my business well enough. Did I ask for your advice? You're going to the mob.”

On the shelves behind Orgos's chair, standing among the flashy ornaments adorning his quarters—mostly copper and bronze trinkets and the occasional gold-plated forgery—Sariah spied their weapons belts, Kael's purse, and Leandro's game sack. It was a small consolation. At least she knew where the game was. If she could only devise a way of getting out of Orgos's lair alive. She had to think like the Guild wiser she had once been. What could she trade Orgos in exchange for their lives? The blurry outline of a plan began to take shape in her mind.

“I've been thinking.” Sariah strained to make her voice sound calm. “What if my life could profit you greater than my death?”

Orgos flashed a smug smile. “You have nothing of value to me. I don't like stones and I don't care about wising tales. You have no coin. We all know you live on Ars's charity. What could you possibly offer me?”

“You have a problem, a big problem, one you don't know you have. I'm the only one who can help you.”

“Lizard's gills. You're good. I almost believe you.”

“You should, if you want your little kingdom to prosper.”

“It won't do you any good regardless, but spit it out, you little viper.”

“The channel's arch stone, the one that holds the passage to Alabara. When was the last time it was wised?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I'd say about twenty years since the last wising? The lifespan of a good deck, wouldn't you agree?”

Orgos tapped his beefy fingers on the table. “I'm bored.”

“The wising is spent. The stone is weak. You've excavated it to a fragile thinness in your quest for red dye. Soon, it will no longer protect you from the rot flow.”

The man's eyes preyed on her face. “Liar. There's nothing wrong with Alabara's stone.”

“Haven't you noticed the new cracks fracturing the stone midway through the channel? Didn't you have to post a deep dead water warning by the gate where the bottom gave way? What's causing the palisade to tilt at odd angles in several places?”

“Stone cracks and shifts all the time.”

“Not as fast as it's happening here. Not as severely, either. Any day now, the channel bridge will collapse and the ridges will crumble. Alabara comes after that, and with it, the end to your rule. Heed my wiser's sworn warning.”

That caught Orgos's attention. His head snapped up and his eyes were on her again. Sariah withstood his glowering. In reality, Alabara needed an extended visit from a Hall of Masons’ stonewiser. Trained in the geology of sacred stones and experienced with quarries, a wiser from the Hall of Masons would have been much more helpful to Alabara. To be truthful, Sariah didn't know exactly how long Alabara's wising would last. It could be a day, a year, a century, but she could swear with certainty that the wising was weak. Sooner or later, Alabara would fall to the rot.

“Let me guess,” Orgos said. “You can fix the wising?”

“I can. In exchange for a few favors.”

“Wisers always want favors.”

“A deck, a bit of red dye for the road, our possessions returned, safe passage from the mob, our weapons, and our lives. No sense in working for free.”

The man threw his head back and roared a string of booming hacks. “The daring.” More laughter. “I can pay a wiser to come to Alabara. Why grant you all those favors?”

“Wisers aren't so common in the Domain. They're busy and far from here. It would take a lot of persuasion on your part to entice one here. Depending on your methods, you may not get the wiser to do as you wish.”

“Whereas you, coincidence of coincidences, are conveniently here.”

Sariah opted for silence. If she could convince Orgos of the need to wise the stones, she was as good as on her way. With her hands freed and a bit of stone, she could defeat the guards, fetch Delis, rescue Kael from the cell, get the game, meet the others, and get out of Alabara. It was not perfect, but it was a plan.

“It would take a long time for a wiser to come.” Orgos pulled at his beard thoughtfully. “But if what you say is true, and the stones are too weak to hold…”

Sariah held her breath and prayed to Meliahs that Orgos saw the need for her services.

“I tell you what, wiser. You've got yourself a deal. Wise Alabara's stones and you'll get your deck, enough red dye to help finance your wanderings, weapons, possessions, safe passage from the mob, and your life, as you asked. I swear it on my marcher's oath.”

Sariah thanked Meliahs from the bottom of her soul. Then she realized Orgos had omitted something important from her list. “You forget Kael.”

“Forget? No. Him, I'll keep.”

“My offer is all or nothing.”

“Don't be so quick. Consider your options carefully. I get Kael. You get safe passage from the mob. It's a fair trade.”

“Fair? How?”

“Will it change your mind if I told you I don't intend to kill him?”

“Oh? Why do you want him then?”

“The lad has a special place in my heart.”

The air flowed out of Sariah's lungs and didn't return.

“So, have we come to an agreement?”

Why was Orgos willing to negotiate with her when he had what he wanted most anyway? It didn't make sense. It was more like a bribe than a negotiation. He was almost rewarding her to go away and leave Kael behind. Unless Orgos wanted something only his deal with Sariah could achieve. Realization dawned on her. She resisted the terrible notion.

“You understand what I want from you, don't you?” Orgos said. “You are not dumb.”

Curse Meliahs and all her boulders. She had been playing Orgos's game all along. If Orgos killed Sariah, if he delivered her to the mob, he would lose whatever advantage he had over Kael. But if Kael thought Sariah would go free, Orgos believed Kael would submit to him. It was a cold, calculated game, and given the present circumstances, it was one Orgos could very well win.

Sariah set out to destroy Orgos's notions right away. “What makes you think Kael will yield to you on my account? I'm nothing but a stonewiser to him.”

“You lie again. You don't do it very well. I've wondered about you. There were rumors, talk he'd fallen prey to your witchcraft, that he'd left Ars for you, that he'd bled on the quartering block and almost died, all for you.”

The pain in her chest kept her silent.

“I wondered what unearthly power could do this to a man like Kael. Is it some sort of stonewiser trick? Is it sorcery? It has to be. Some say he took you by the ways of the blanket. That's where your value to me lies. You see, you'll bring Kael to me in the only way I couldn't have done it on my own—willingly.”

Fifteen

 

S
ARIAH HAD A
vision of Kael's body strung on the quartering block. No. It wasn't going to happen again. She swallowed the fear weakening her throat. When she spoke, her voice was strong, calm and clear. “You give me too much credit, Orgos. But I'm willing to try it your way if you'd like, as long as you stand by your oath to me.”

Surprise flashed in Orgos's eyes. Perhaps he had expected she would argue and plead. Perhaps he thought she would refuse his offer upfront. He had been ready to force her into his game a moment ago. Now he was shocked and not a little bit disconcerted.

“The man has been a good tool to my endeavors,” Sariah said. “But you must understand, nothing can stand in the way of the stone truth.”

“You wily bitch,” Orgos said with a hint of admiration. “What won't you do for your stones?”

Honesty was easy. “There's nothing I wouldn't do for the stones.”

“Is it true then, that he'll do whatever is necessary to save your life?”

It pained her to admit it.

Orgos's blunt features came alive with his emotions. She saw the hunger on his face, immense and insatiable, fixated on the one man his power couldn't grant him. Wistful hope flashed in his eyes as he beheld his fantasies coming true. Then the deep lines on his ruddy face set like dried mud. This was Kael they were talking about. She knew what Orgos was thinking.

“See this?” Orgos yanked a fistful of red hair out of the way to display the side of his head where his ear's intricate canal sunk into his head without the lobe's protection. “I asked for so little then, just a lick of the lobe to warm my loins.”

Sariah had to keep her mouth closed. A tear escaped Orgos's eyes. That Orgos had feelings was discovery enough; that his feelings for Kael were as strong as they seemed was unbelievable. It mattered little to Orgos that Kael had killed his men and burned his quarters. What mattered to him was that Kael had denied him his price and spurned his advances. For that, Kael had to pay him back, and not with his life.

“He won't bend the knee to any man,” Orgos said. “He's too proud to submit.”

It struck Sariah that Orgos knew Kael well, that he had spent many hours thinking about the man he coveted. Orgos's conclusion, right as it might be, could mean only one thing for Kael—immediate death. Sariah couldn't allow that. She loathed the idea of fostering Orgos's fantasies, but she needed time. Could she risk losing Kael in a trade to ensure his life? Did she even have a choice?

“For a man who likes to win his battles, your pessimism is noteworthy,” she said. “It won't be easy, but I can deliver Kael to your bed, of his own accord, as you wish.”

Orgos was on her in two steps. He shook her so hard her eyes rattled in her sockets. “Are you mocking me? Do you think that I'm a smitten weakling who can be led by the nose?”

“No, nay, no. I understand your need. I do.”

“Then explain it to me because I don't.” Orgos released her abruptly.

Sariah tried to find her balance, but the room was still quaking to her shaken senses.

“Well?”

“You want to own him,” she stammered, “of body and mind, of soul and will.”

“Why?”

She had to think straight. She thought of all those years growing up at the keep, forced to please the absolute will of her masters and mistresses. What had they wanted from her? And most importantly, why?

Because power is absolute when you command the object of your darkest desire, she wanted to say. But this wasn't a moment for truth. Instead she said the words that would have pleased her Guild masters and mistresses. “Because you know what's best for him, even if he doesn't know it himself. Because without you, he'll never become what he's meant to be. Because only his complete acceptance of your rule will satisfy the depths of your passions and… his needs.”

She saw hope rekindled in Orgos's eyes, and then she saw it flicker. “You're right, of course you are. But he's rash. He'll make me kill him right away.”

“Not if you do this properly.” Sariah found herself in the appalling position of having to encourage Orgos's perversions. But if Kael was going to survive the day, she didn't see any other choice. “You don't want Kael's death, you want his faithful service, remember? You want his trust. This deal, it has to guarantee his life.”

Orgos smirked. “Do I detect a note of caring in your voice?”

Sariah flashed her coldest smile. “Care isn't the same as convenience. You want Kael alive and docile to serve your purposes. I need him alive for my own protection.”

“How's that?”

“Must I explain everything to you? What happens if I abandon Kael here to die in your hands and go on my merry way? What will his brothers think? What will Ars and the rest of the Domain think? I can't afford for people to think I'm a traitor. I'm not exactly welcomed in the Goodlands. I have to be able to survive in the Domain. Whatever agreement you and I reach today must secure Kael's life, at least until I'm done with my business here.”

“I see.” Orgos leaned back in his chair and fingered the stringy beard on his chin. “You'll tell him. You'll beg him to do this for you.”

The horror glutting at her throat was hard to suppress, but she knew she had to function if she was going to succeed. “You'll need to gain his trust. You'll have to show him some kindness. You'll have to give him some assurances of your good faith. Like allowing me to wise the stones before you require your due. He'll be more accepting of his fate. When he sees I've returned safely, he'll trust you.”

Sariah didn't intend to return safely from her wising. She intended to come back with help, firm escape in progress.