He shook his head. “She’s well-provided for, and nothing will bring her child back. I accept your punishment, but I’m unable to carry it out at the moment, as you know.”
“Yes, I know, and you are not held liable for that inability. However, it stands until such time as you choose to return to serve it. Jik, Meri, you have been accused of aiding and abetting deliberate and unlawful killing. That accusation is not proven. But you are judged guilty of aiding and abetting unlawful killing by reason of your inadequate control of your son, and for that, you are severely censured. Since no compensation is demanded, that issue is closed. No one is now to carry forward grudges, blame or accusations, nor to seek further retribution over this—this matter is now over. I have spoken. General, you have our thanks for agreeing to this proceeding. We are all aware this was entirely voluntary on your part.”
“You have...my thanks...madam. I....” His voice faded as he swayed a little and turned pale again.
Alarmed, Kei stood and put his arm around Arman’s shoulders to help him sit up. “Please, end this, Seya,” he begged. “He’s had enough.”
“Yes, agreed. Felik, Rei, make sure he’s cared for until he’s fit to leave.”
Felik signalled and men came over to help carry Arman back to Rei’s house. Tiko grabbed Kei’s arm. “What in hells is wrong with him?”
“Just strain and lack of sleep, I think. Just keep everyone away—they’ve had their pound of beans from him,” Kei said bitterly.
And please, let this be an end to this, finally.
~~~~~~~~
Arman didn’t remember much about being brought back to the house, as he’d suddenly felt so dizzy it was all he could do not to pass out. He found himself being lowered onto a bed, and Kei’s worried face hovering over him. He grabbed at the front of Kei’s shirt. “We...have to leave now?”
Kei held his hand and crouched down. “Not yet,” he said soothingly, his hand on Arman’s forehead. “I just want you to rest for a while, and not worry about anything.”
“I...need....” Actually, he didn’t know what he needed, but his body seemed to. Kei’s face blinked out.
When he woke, Kei and Tiko were having a low-voiced, urgent sounding conversation on the other side of the room. “...speed things up,” he heard Tiko say.
“Kei?”
Kei left Tiko standing there and came back to Arman’s side. “How do you feel?”
His head was pounding and he still felt sick. “Not...great.... How long did I sleep?”
“Not that long. Now, don’t try to move—you’re not going anywhere today.”
Arman still wanted to sit. With an exasperated look, Kei found him a couple of pillows to prop him up, then fetched him some water which he insisted Arman drank before he would let him speak. Arman obeyed with an ill grace and handed the mug back to him. “I don’t understand. Aren’t you in a hurry to get to Darshek?”
Tiko came away from where he was leaning against the windowsill. “More than ever, general. Kei says you’re ready to cooperate with the Rulers. What are your conditions for that cooperation?”
“All our soldiers returned to Kuprij.”
Tiko grunted. “We don’t want them anyway, so that’s no hardship.”
“I still want to minimise loss of life—the problem however, isn’t that. I haven’t been able to think of any plan that would actually work, however many deaths there were—because your people will die.”
“But if the Rulers were able to provide answers to that, you’ll assist us? Betray the Prij?”
Arman’s gut turned over at the phrase, but he still nodded. “To the limited extent of helping right the wrong of the hostage situation. If the intention of the Rulers is to overrun Kuprij, then I won’t lift a finger to help. Does that satisfy you?”
Tiko nodded. “That’s fair. I’ll tell them that now, see what they say to it.”
“Wait...how can you do that when we’re hundreds of miles from Darshek?”
That only earned him a smug grin. “Never mind about that, general. Now, Kei’s had a word with the healer here and they both think two days’ rest here would do you more good than a week on the road, so you’ll be staying here. However, I’m going to send your men on—they can make better progress if we don’t have to take your condition into account. They could be in Darshek nearly a week sooner if the wagons travel as fast as they’re able to. I don’t need your permission—but I’d like your consent anyway, since they’re your men.”
“No, go ahead—even if they’re prisoners, it will be easier on them. Kei—you won’t travel with them?”
Kei shook his head. “No, I’m not really needed. They’ll stop at the villages en route, and be checked over, but I wouldn’t expect any problems at this stage. You’re by far the worst case, and you remain my primary concern.”
“Until Albon, you mean.”
Kei bit his lip. “Yes, I suppose. It depends on various things.”
Like what?
But Arman knew better to ask here and now.
Tiko clapped his hands and rubbed them together, looking a lot more cheerful than Arman could remember him appearing. “Right, I’ll give the orders for their departure. We’ve got the stores loaded, and there’s no reason to delay. General, do you want to speak to them again?”
“Do they want to speak to
me
?” He hadn’t missed the looks on his men’s faces during the court, or been confused as to why they were so angry.
“I think...maybe it’s best for your peace of mind if they don’t,” Tiko said with a surprising amount of kindness in his tone. “You’ll see them again in Darshek.”
“General Jozo can take charge of them...or.... Ah.” Tiko’s expression said it all. So poor Jozo was dead. He hadn’t asked because he didn’t think they’d tell him, but he’d suspected as much from the way all their hopes seemed to be pinned on him. Not that Jozo would have made any concessions. He’d have slit his own throat before doing so, and was probably even now watching from the heavens and wishing Arman would do the same.
Sorry old friend. This has to be this way.
“I’m sorry, general,” Tiko said gently. “But they’ll be well treated, I assure you. We haven’t saved their lives only to lose them through neglect or cruelty later.”
“I’m sure,” Arman agreed. “Wish them good luck.”
“I will. I’ll be back later. I think Kei would appreciate you not trying to do too much today.”
Kei scowled at Tiko’s back as he departed. “Damn soldiers—damn soldiers with paternal delusions. But he’s right—I do want you to take it easy, Arman. Felik thinks the jolting and the position really isn’t helping you heal—so we’re going to see what we can do to improve that for you.”
Kei went to take the pillows away, but Arman wouldn’t let him. “No, damn it. Not until someone explains how Tiko can get orders from his masters so far away soon enough to make a difference.”
Kei brushed back a loose lock of hair from Arman’s face, but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “At some point, you’ll know too much about our defences for us to let you leave, not at least without being completely assured you won’t betray that knowledge. I’m trying to give you the choice to be able to leave even if you don’t help us. Do you understand?”
“I think so...but if you have some kind of secret weaponry, it could make all the difference to the success of the plans you want me to make.”
Kei sighed and leaned his elbow on the bed. “I know. It comes down to mutual trust, and I don’t expect you to trust the Rulers any more than they can trust you, not until you meet. So we’re going to try and speed up that day, but it has to happen in a manner that doesn’t injure you or cripple you.”
“You’re not going back to Ai-Albon yet, are you?” He found Kei’s hand and squeezed it. “You’re not ready?”
Kei nodded, and now looked at Arman with sorrowful eyes. “ I just can’t face it. Being here, feeling the villagers, knowing their reactions to what I’ve seen, done and experienced will be similar.... Once the hostage situation is solved, tempers will be less fraught, and perhaps with some distance...but not now.” He laughed wryly, but there was no humour in it. “You know, Jik wanted to kill me today. Kill you too, with his bare hands—all because you killed their boy. But he can’t imagine how you might have felt exactly the same way because their son killed Loke.”
Arman squeezed Kei’s fingers again. “Jik hasn’t had you to help him.”
“Jik wouldn’t listen even if he did. There was some trouble while you were unconscious—he turned up here with a knife and now he’s being sat on somewhere at the other end of the village. Hasn’t he learned anything from today?” Kei’s eyes flashed with indignant anger. “Revenge doesn’t take away the pain.”
“No,” Arman said regretfully. “It doesn’t. But I can understand his reaction.”
“So can I. But he’s still wrong.”
“He’s in good company—I imagine the whole village is out for our blood.”
Kei smiled suddenly. “No, you’re wrong about that. Rei actually said he was very grateful you’d come to the court, so they had a chance to know what had happened that day, the real reasons. He even said he was very sorry another child had died. Um....”
“What?”
“Well...Seya asked me to ask you. I know Loke’s not buried here or anything, but they really feel bad he died because of one of their people’s crime, and they can’t even offer compensation to his mother. They want to put a little marker up in the graveyard here, so on the Day of the Ancestors, they remember to thank him too and wish him well in his new life.”
Arman had thought he had no more tears left in him, but he was wrong. His vision blurred up painfully as he said, “That...would please Mari, I think. It would be fitting.”
“It doesn’t offend you, an alien religion honouring your kind?”
Arman made himself smile. “Loke will know what is meant by it—and he'll also know which belief is right by now. So it will cause no offence. I think it’s an honourable thing to do.”
“So do I. I’ll tell her, and I’ll also tell her you’re going to try and have their people sent back.”
“The chances are incredibly slim. Were I to walk in with a thousand men up the Avenue of the Gods, I think it wouldn’t be enough.”
“I know that but I’m still grateful you’re prepared to try.” Kei stood. “Now, rest. I’ll bring you some lunch but you aren’t going to be moving around today at all. Your body needs a break from that. Your mind needs a break too,” he added softly. “Do you feel it was worth it, what happened today?”
“You opposed my wishes. I didn’t want to cause more pain.” Arman was still angry about that, and Kei knew he was. “I was trying to close the wound.”
“If you close a wound over an infection, you end up with gangrene. Better to leave it open a little and let it heal from the base up, than to stitch over at the top and lose a leg later. You made a great impact today—opened people’s eyes up when they were firmly closed before. Don’t regret it, even at the cost of some pain to some people.”
“I’m not at all sure the analogy works,” Arman said dryly. “But it’s done. If I can get the hostages back then I will feel I have atoned a little.”
“As you say. Now, I told you to rest.” He leaned down and whisked away the cushions while supporting Arman’s back, then pressed his head down gently with a hand on his forehead. “You’ve done all you need to for now.”
Yes, for now.
But he still had to save these sixty-nine people he’d wrongfully removed from their homes. That would make facing a little village court look like a walk through a field of flowers.
Kei sat on a stool, watching Arman sleep and taking a guilty pleasure at the warm peace he got from holding his hand. Such a shame it didn’t work both ways, although Arman derived a little comfort from having him near.
He wasn’t sure how he felt now he’d decided to delay a return home. Myka would kill him.
Reji
would kill him. But at the same time, the decision which had been giving him such agony had been made, and there were many definite benefits, at least to Darshian. He felt sure that Arman would be able to solve the hostage situation. He didn’t know how, or whether the Gifted would make a difference—they’d never been used in a war before, or even in serious defence. Most of them were rather odd, independent people, isolated from all but each other by their powers and their infertility. They were honoured and privileged, serving Darshek in many important ways, but they were also feared a little, even by the lesser gifted. The Rulers couldn’t force their cooperation, only ask. A lot might depend on whether they liked Arman or not, as simple as that.
As for Arman himself...Kei sometimes found himself astonished at how thoroughly the man was entwined in his heart, and how deeply it would hurt to say good-bye. It wasn’t even—or mainly—the relief he got from his internal misery, because he was growing used to that. He’d survive in some fashion even without Arman’s help. It was simply that Arman offered him the kind of intellectual stimulation his parents used to give him, with the affection he’d come to expect from Reji, but with a need of his own that Reji didn’t have. Reji was a self-sufficient person, a free spirit, which made him an undemanding and joyful lover. But Arman longed for stability and peace in his home life—how ironic he was married to someone who would forever deny him both. It was also what Kei longed for—a quiet life, pursuing his researches, serving those he loved, and sharing his life with someone who was his and he, theirs.