The Power and the Glory

Book 2 Chapter XVI: The Storm Breaks

We all have to meet our match sometime or other. -- Richard Adams, Watership Down

The rain began within a few minutes of the door closing behind them. The board over the window stopped the worst of the rain getting in. But it wasn't completely waterproof. Abi idly watched a few rivulets trickle down the wood to pool on the windowsill. In the background Kitri, Ilaran and Irímé were busy discussing the proper wording and various clauses to put in the contract. Abi listened for a while. Kitri's overly-elaborate magistrate's terminology very quickly became too much for her to understand, so she gave up and tried to find something else to focus on.

Koyuki was still in the kitchen, keeping a close eye on the sweets. If he had been less preoccupied with cookery she would have tried to talk to him. It would be nice to speak Seroyawan again. Assuming he spoke a dialect she understood, that was. Even the version of common Seroyawan spoken in the royal court was more elaborate than the version spoken by people in rural villages.

In his snake form Shizuki curled up in front of the fire and went to sleep. That left Siarvin as the only one of them all who wasn't preoccupied. He still occasionally shot dark looks in Abi's direction. She couldn't for the life of her think what was wrong with him. Surely he didn't object to her attacking Haliran?

She weighed up the pros and cons of speaking to him. On the one hand it might very well lead to an argument. On the other, anything was better than watching the rain slip through the cracks.

"Why do you keep glaring at me?" she asked.

Siarvin blinked slowly. He looked surprisingly like Shizuki in that moment. "You're a necromancer."

Oh no. Yet another person who had a prejudice against necromancy. "None of my creations have hurt anyone."

"Yet," Siarvin said pessimistically. "None of them have hurt anyone yet."

After that there seemed little point in continuing the conversation.

~~~~

The rain had stopped by the time Abi left. She hadn't paid much attention to what was happening on the other side of the room, mainly because she only understood one word in ten, but she was fairly sure the contract was signed. Irímé was already making preliminary travel arrangements. He certainly didn't waste any time. Shizuki had awakened and was happily stamping bits of scrap paper with Kitri's vashad. Siarvin and Kitri herself didn't look very happy about this. Koyuki still hadn't ventured out of the kitchen. Abi was beginning to think he just didn't want to talk to strangers.

Ilaran followed her to the door. "You know the assassins will probably target you next?" he said quietly.

Abi nodded slowly. Assassins weren't unknown in Seroyawa. The emperor alone had escaped eighty different attempts in the time she was fostered there. Some of those attempts had also been aimed at various other members of the royal family, bodyguards, or politicians who happened to be nearby. Not all of them were as lucky as the emperor. 

She knew she had painted a target on her back the minute she'd attacked Haliran. But she also remembered Haliran's attempt to blackmail her. Why would anyone go to the trouble of assassinating her before first making another effort to get her on their side?

She said as much to Ilaran. He didn't look convinced.

"The assassins aren't interested in furthering Haliran's goals. They want to keep themselves from being caught. The best way to do that is to get rid of anyone they know is an enemy."

Abi thought of the corpse in the crypt. "Don't worry. I have a... Well, you could call her a bodyguard."

Ilaran guessed what she was thinking of. "That damn corpse isn't a bodyguard." He hesitated before the word 'damn'. She got the impression he wanted to use a stronger word.