Varna Ch. 11

- "I ... I didn't know that." said Bathene.

- "But you know why: Aludar was pushing me towards Benaz Corig. He wanted me tied to his faction. I understand his motives, but his methods were ... disrespectful. And to be yoked to Benaz Corig for the rest of our lives?"

Bathene and Benaz had grown up together, but my cousin knew better than anyone how difficult her friend could be.

"It made me wonder," I said, "how Aludar would treat me if I did join him. Would I be a valued associate, or a subordinate? And there was also the question of ... our mother. You must have known that he was her favourite, whereas I ..."

Bathene had the grace to blush. Knowing my mother, she wouldn't have kept her criticisms of me to herself. She never had.

"There was something else that concerned me. Sirma. Sanatha and I wrote to Aludar, asking where he wanted me to bring his daughter, since he'd left her behind when he fled Elmina. He told me ... well, I'm guessing that you have some idea what he said."

Bathene nodded. She looked close to tears.

- "I asked about her, Tauma. I did. But your mother said that Sirma would be an embarrassment. And Aludar said ... he said that she'd be safer with you." She brushed away a tear. "I should have insisted. That's my fault, too."

- "You wouldn't have won against my mother, cousin. And there's one more thing you should know. The elves wouldn't have come with me, if I'd joined Aludar. Nor the fey. And Durgat wouldn't have come as Chief of the Red Knees. It would have been San and me, with perhaps 100 men. Maybe 200, if Dergun and the eastern lords had come to join us. Would that have been enough?"

Sanatha finally spoke. "We would have been fooled by Yavantay's treachery, too."

I wondered about that. I would have taken Urbo's misgivings more seriously. But Aludar - and Mother, especially - wouldn't have listened. Nor could Glasha have followed Yavantay by time-walk, since she didn't know him at all.

Sanatha now stepped closer, and put her arm around Bathene's shoulder.

"But we need you, now, if we're to rebuild Whydah."

It was a nice touch; this would allow Bathene to be the bigger person. Even if she still believed that we could have saved Aludar, her family, and her friends, she could rise to the occasion and help us, while also helping her friends. I hoped that she would.

I hadn't been completely honest with her. I didn't tell Bathene that her husband had never protected me from Merik and Nathal ... or that I wasn't sure that Aludar would have made a good Duke. I sincerely wished that he was still alive - just not as ruler of Varna.

Our next interview was easier, since it didn't require any sincerity at all.

- "I'm sorry about your father, and your husband." I said, to Talanassa Albo. She was walking with a limp, because she'd been struck in the hip by an arrow.

- "Thank you, Lord." she said.

- "I'm sure you can understand that ... for the time being, I would prefer that you remain in Whydah, as our guest."

- "I have no intention of raising men against you. This war should never have happened in the first place. But I understand that I need to remain a prisoner."

- "There are men who would seek to use you, and your status." I said. "I won't insult you by suggesting that I am doing this solely for your own protection. But if you will give me your word not to leave, I can grant you the freedom of the city. If I can end this war, then we can discuss the future."

- "I don't hate you, Lord. I don't wish you ill. I have only regrets, now. I will stay in Whydah."

- "Thank you, Talanassa."

I had not been looking forward to my last interview of the day.

She looked so tiny, so fragile. She kept her chin down, and looked up at me from under her eyebrows.

- "I'm sorry, Lord." said Seyamka.

She'd been captured in my brother's camp, almost out of her mind with grief after Nathal's death. My former servant, my almost friend, who had connived at my death. Glasha time-walked, far into the past, to confirm what we already suspected.

When Seyamka handed me that towel, she knew that she was sending me to my death. Glasha followed her, in time-walk, as Seyamka ran to tell Nathal that I was on my way to the bath house. Gedere was there as well.

- "I'll handle it." said the poet. "My men are ready."

Seyamka stayed behind, to have sex with Nathal while his men set out to murder me in the bathing pool.

Glasha had been extremely fond of Seyamka - just as I was. Her betrayal had hurt us both. I couldn't condemn her, though, without being absolutely certain. Glasha had spent considerable energy going back in time to make certain.

- "Why?" I asked.

Seyamka tried, but she couldn't look me in the eye.

- "I loved him." she said.

- "Enough to commit murder?"

- "Glasha would do anything for you - just as I would have for him."

That was it. Seyamka had seen Glasha and me, together. She wanted something like that. Unfortunately, she'd set her sights on Nathal. She lost her moral compass, and decided that murder for the sake of love was somehow acceptable. Perhaps she even thought that it proved her devotion.

There was no point in talking to her any further.

The next afternoon, I was able to get up, so that I could supervise the hanging of a Tir and a Gerdar - an unprecedented event in the history of Varna. There was one King, named Rusle, some 400 years ago, who had hanged a rebellious Tir. When told that no one had ever hanged a Tir before, Rusle was supposed to have said: 'Then get a longer rope'.

Tir Pyera and Gerdar Candre hanged alongside 4 other men who'd been caught in the act of rape or murder. I barely knew either man - though if Nathal had won, Sanatha might have been forced to marry Pyera.

Very few of the spectators understood why there was a seventh person executed alongside them. In deference to Seyamka, and to conceal the fact that I was hanging a tiny woman, I had Seyamka clothed in a burlap sack, with a hood over her head, before she was suspended by the neck, to strangle to death.

I watched her die, lest I grow too comfortable ordering executions.

***

That evening, I had two more interviews which I enjoyed much more. Captain Urbo was the first.

- "I'm told that we captured two of the mercenaries' ships."

- "We did, Lord."

- "Choose the one you prefer, Urbo. It belongs to you and your crew. Sell the second, and divide the proceeds among the captains whose vessels were stolen by the mercenaries."

- "That is very generous, Lord."

- "Not that generous. But I have a favour to ask in return, nonetheless: will you stay in Whydah, and help us restore order? Your support and advice would mean a great deal."

- "Gladly, Lord."

- "One more thing." I said. "Is there any way to find out what's going on in Galtin's Port - that you know of?"

- "Varna has a Consul in Galtin's Port." he said, carefully.

- "We met him, years ago. I wasn't impressed. He was either blissfully unaware of what Yavantay was doing, or he's complicit."

Urbo nodded. "When you say that you want to know what's going on, you mean that you'd like to be informed about what Yavantay or Beksha are up to."

- "Yes."

- "I'll see what I can do."

- "Thank you."

The second interview was equally short.

- "I'm told that you led the attack into the city."

Yazgash merely grunted. "Someone had to."

- "But it was you. There will be money for your fighters, but I want to do something for you."

Yazgash simply shrugged.

"I wouldn't have made it out of Elmina at all if it weren't for you. Tanarive wouldn't have happened without you. Yazgash: I want to make you a Gerdar."

- "WHAT?" I don't she could have been more shocked if I'd stuck a knife in her.

- "I want to make you a Gerdar."

- "I heard you. But that's ... madness."

- "You're not really a mercenary." I said. "You get paid, but I doubt that you'd ever fight against Varna, or against me. That makes you something else: an ally. And allies should be rewarded - don't you think?"

Yazgash licked her lips, carefully avoiding her tusks.

- "Tauma, this is ..."

- "Potentially dangerous? Perhaps. Then should we wait until we've won the war? I could give you Candre's lands, but they're too far north. Khuter's lands are much closer to Elmina - and I do like the idea of having you nearby. Of course, he may still be alive. But if he fights against us again ..."

- "I don't know." said Yazgash. "This may not be wise."

- "Sanatha agrees with me. You deserve this."

We left it at that. To ennoble Yazgash right away might frighten some people, and enrage others. But if we could win ...

My last interview took the form of an intervention - directed at me. I had to face my sister, my lover, and my wife.

- "We're worried about you." said Saska.

- "You're growing hard." said Glasha. "Cold."

- "You haven't mourned at all." said Sanatha.

- "I have mixed feelings about Aludar's passing." I admitted. I loved him, but no longer trusted him. It's a horrible thing, the loss of trust. "And, in case you missed it, I killed Nathal. Me."

- "He sent killers after you." said Glasha. "Nathal deserved to die. But we're not talking about him. Tauma, you haven't mourned for Toran."

My little brother. I'd tried to protect him - which Aludar hadn't done for me. I felt a tightness in my chest, and the tears began to well up. Some people just don't understand it: the pain of childhood and adolescence doesn't always go away with the passage of time. Years later, the hurt is still there, and sometimes the scars never fully heal.

Toran made his choice - a bad one - and it cost him his life. I couldn't make that decision for him - that was what Aludar had tried to do to me. That was what Toran resisted, when he thought I was pushing him. But I should have been more attentive to my little brother. I could have helped him, without dominating him.

The tears came then. Glasha held me on one side, and Saska on the other.

*****