The Peasant (21 page)

She reassured him with a smile, relieved she could dissemble her shock into the conversation.

“Let that be an example of what not to do, then,” Snarling Jaguar admonished. “Of course, to learn truly, a person needs exemplary models as well.”

“I agree, Lord Emperor,” Bubbling Water said. “I'll find him good examples, and not worry about the others. Despicable acts aren't uncommon.”

“Not uncommon enough, Lady Water. Are you hungry, Hand? My son, take Hand to the scullery and find him food. Have something sent here for the Lady Water and me also.”

“Yes, Father.” Bowing, Stalking Jaguar stood. “I'll wager we can find a ton of pastries and sweetmeats, Hand.”

The boy looked at the Matriarch, who nodded. Smiling, Healing Hand bowed and rose to follow the Heir. Watching them go, she felt sad that a boy so young had to mature so fast. Like him, she'd had little time to be just a child.

Bubbling Water turned her head to find Snarling Jaguar staring at her. He'd shed his Imperial skin. He was, after all, a man her own age.

T
he veil of time shrouds the legend of the Medacor Sword. Somewhere in the Northern Empire during Lofty Lion's reign, the Eastern Imperial Medacor and the Northern Sorcerer forged a talisman. They decided to install the circuits into a sword—probably as a perverse joke, since a medacor has little use for the taking of life. As the two men completed the talisman, the Emperor Lofty Lion struck, blasting the place apart with the Imperial Sword, killing the Medacor and Sorcerer. Everyone thought the blast had destroyed the Medacor Sword, since no one found it in the wreckage.—
Legends Before the Fall
, by Grim Teller.

* * *

“May I partake of thy bubbling water, beautiful lady?” Snarling Jaguar asked, grinning.

Returning his smile, she knew she would, desiring him. The price for her wasn't as great as for him, she only a Matriarch, he an Emperor. “Yes,” she said simply. Bubbling Water was past the age at which she'd have wanted him to persuade her. Not that she disliked romance, merely that the time they spent romancing they might spend in better ways, such as discussing affairs of state. Of course, we
do
have to discuss our affair of state, she thought.

“Have you no desire for the chase?” he asked.

“Are you one to whom the chase is more pleasure than the capture?”

Snarling Jaguar laughed, then grew suddenly sober. “What disturbed you so much when you told Healing Hand that he might become a Wizard?”

His question dampened the fire in her loins. A part of her welcomed this, another protested it. Ah, well, she thought, we'll get to that when the time is right. “Does that cushion have room for me?” Smiling, Snarling Jaguar moved aside. Joining him, Bubbling Water snuggled into his embrace.

“Did you ever meet Easing Comfort, son of the Imperial Medacor Assuaging Comfort?” she asked. “I thought not. Assuaging Comfort and his assistant, Soothing Spirit, went north and met with the Northern Sorcerer Skulking Hawk. They built a talisman to aid the Wizard-Medacor in his profession. At the moment they finished the talisman, Lofty Lion blasted the place apart with the Imperial Sword, killing them both. Soothing Spirit was far enough away that he survived with only bad scars. Since Assuaging Comfort didn't tell him why they were there, Smoking Arrow exonerated him. The Medacor Apprentice Easing Comfort, his father's successor, avoided the executioner's blade somehow. Smoking Arrow denied him the position of Imperial Medacor because of his father's criminal behavior. He became a Tiger Patriarchy retainer—the wrong choice, as we now know. Anyway, Easing Comfort's also a Wizard-medacor, like his father. He has blond hair and blue eyes and large hands, like my young charge Healing Hand.”

Snarling Jaguar nodded, but said nothing.

“Healing Hand also bears his matronym, not his patronym. The father doesn't live with the mother. The maternal link is so strong I doubt Healing Hand even knows his father.”

“You don't know the father's name, then?”

Bubbling Water shook her head.

“You think Easing Comfort's the father?”

She nodded. “Yes—and that bothers me.”

“That would bother me as well, but not for the reasons you might think. I don't believe that a father passes defects onto the son. What worries me about Healing Hand's paternity is how he'll react when he learns his father's identity. Does the father have contact with the family? Are there siblings?”

“Yes, a sister, an infant sister.”

Snarling Jaguar nodded. “The same father?”

“I don't know. Since Healing Hand's only seven, I'd say yes.” The two of them exchanged a glance. “If he hasn't become bitter, like so many expatriates, Easing Comfort won't harm him. I pray he hasn't abandoned his gentle ways. Infinite knows what a disillusioned expatriate Wizard-medacor would do to his own son.” Frowning, Bubbling Water looked at him. “Something baffles me, Lord. A few days before the negotiations, I envisioned Healing Hand would become the Imperial Medacor—and serve my son the Lord Emperor.”

“You must be wrong, especially with the Succession Assured, eh?”

“I may misunderstand the visions, Lord, but my prescience hasn't
ever
been wrong. Even so, I don't know how both could be accurate.”

“Prophecy is a gift of the Infinite and inscrutable to mere humans, eh? Don't let it trouble you, Lady; you'll see resolution.”

Someone scratched at a tapestry to their immediate right. A tray slid underneath; food had arrived. Pulling the tray toward them, Snarling Jaguar lifted the lid. “Ah, Infinite bless that boy—my favorite!” On a plate was a pile of meat and cheese cubes, beside it two goblets of sheep's milk.

“I'll gain twenty pounds if I eat that,” Bubbling Water muttered.

Snarling Jaguar looked offended. “A little weight will do you good, woman!”

“You just want to fatten me up—as you do all your concubines.”

“Eh? Who's your spy? I'll have to have everyone examined again, and then I'll only catch the spy you wanted me to catch.”

“Of course,” she said slyly, picking up what looked like a frog leg. “Sparkling Stream's chosen the Lord Stalking Jaguar. How valuable is a concubine for the Lord Heir?”

Snarling Jaguar nibbled on a piece of cheese. “Shall we negotiate the length of her service?”

“That would be one item on our agenda, yes.” She smiled seductively.

He laughed aloud. “What other items might we have, eh?”

“You summoned
me
, Lord, enticing me with a proposition for
my
ears only.” The Eastern word “proposition” implied mutually consensual sex, but not the Southern word, which Bubbling Water had used.

“Well, I suppose I'll proposition you then,” Snarling Jaguar said, using the Eastern word. “Later, though. I think Flying Arrow will decide he wants the Traitress. While she's in my possession, he won't do anything. Once I give her to you, he'll renege on his bargain.”

“Forgive me, Lord, your concern's unwarranted.”

“I disagree, Lady. The Lord General asked you to acquire the Traitress, didn't he? Did he give a reason?”

“ 'Make sure she's safe,' was all he said. At the time, I was less concerned with his reasons and more concerned for his safety.”

“As I suspected. Other than his interest in his brother's widow, Guarding Bear has very good reason for wanting the Traitress. Reasons similar to mine that wholly justify my concern. Still, I am curious to know the details of this feud between Scowling Tiger and Guarding Bear.”

Bubbling Water frowned. “It's a long story, Lord, and I'm not likely to give an unbiased account.” She smiled when he gestured her to continue nonetheless, then sighed, reluctant. Infinite grant me peace, she thought.

“Guarding Bear was sixteen when he and Brazen Bear incited the Caven Hills to rebel. Scowling Tiger, Prefect of the region, sent a battalion of Arrow soldiers to quell the uprising, putting his younger brother Howling Tiger in command. The rebels annihilated the battalion, and Guarding Bear assumed unofficial control of the region. A year later Smoking Arrow appointed Guarding Bear as civil administrator and forced Scowling Tiger to give up the Caven Hills.

“Not long afterward, I heard a rumor that Melding Mind, the Sorcerer's son, was treating Scowling Tiger for impotence. The Tiger Patriarchy wasn't likely to suffer badly, being one of the largest, but the impotence shamed Scowling Tiger.”

“Terrible for a man to be impotent,” Snarling Jaguar said. “Worse to be sterile. Thank the Infinite, I'm neither. Speaking of sterility…”

“Terrible,” she said when he didn't continue. “Especially for a man of eminent position. When a man cannot procreate, all in his service suffer. What about sterility?”

Snarling Jaguar laughed. “I shouldn't have to remind you, Lady Water. Your Lord Emperor shoots pointless arrows, eh?” She looked at him blankly; he looked at the tent ceiling. “So how did he impregnate his consort if he's shooting imaginary arrows?”

“I don't know.” Bubbling Water shrugged.

“Don't you care?”

She thought a moment, then shook her head. “No.”

Snarling Jaguar laughed again, shaking his head. “Explain that to me.”

“Why?
You
know the reason—you said it yourself, eh? 'A Succession Assured brings peace to the Empire.' We both know the strife of interregnums. No one wants the Empire to plunge into civil war between Flying Arrow's death and the next Emperor's accession.”

“I don't believe this. Even
you
, the Peasant Upstart Usurper's mate, don't care how Flying Arrow impregnated his consort. Incredible.”

Shrugging, Bubbling Water continued as if uninterrupted. “Anyway, Guarding Bear and I mated, and Flying Arrow was born. Scowling Tiger became Commanding General when Towering Oak retired. Smoking Arrow began to decline with senility. As he declined, the Imperial Ruling Council assumed more authority—as it should.

“Scowling Tiger's disposition is important to understand. About a year before the insurrection, he inherited two prefectures and a large Patriarchy. All who knew his father held him in high esteem. Stretching Tiger was as much or more to the Empire as Guarding Bear is now—wealthy, influential and ancient of lineage. The Tiger Patriarchy would've claimed the throne if Smoking Arrow hadn't perpetuated his line. The son's ambition, however, was far greater than his father's, and his ability far less.”

“Lady Water, I find your willful blindness exasperating. First you say you don't care how Flying Arrow impregnated his consort, then you say your mate will probably be the next Emperor if Flying Arrow fails to sire a child. How, by the Infinite, do you reconcile those two incongruous facts?”

“Do you want to hear this story or not?” Bubbling Water asked, indignant.

“Yes, Lady, I want to hear this story.” Snarling Jaguar sighed.

“Hush, then. In the face of those expectations, Guarding Bear stole one of Scowling Tiger's prefectures, killed his brother and ground his face into his own mess in several matters. To salt the wound, my sister Steaming Water betrothed me to Scowling Tiger (without asking me), got pregnant and turned the Matriarchy over to me. I refused to mate that fur-licking alley cat, of course, and she miscarried. Not long afterward, she conceived again. Guarding Bear and I announced our betrothal the next spring, and Steaming Water gave birth to Flying Arrow, assuring the Succession. Each of these events humiliated Scowling Tiger even further. What really emasculated him was that he couldn't get an erection any longer, and he blamed
everything
on Guarding Bear.

“I've saved the straw that broke the servant's back for last. Shortly after Smoking Arrow granted Guarding Bear hereditary rights to the Caven Hills, Fleeting Snow emerged as the most beautiful woman in the Empire, despite her humble birth. All the unmated males lusted for and courted her, Scowling Tiger among them. She
was
the only woman who aroused his member from its slumber. After two years of a tumultuous courtship, Fleeting Snow said she'd mate Scowling Tiger.

“Then she met Brazen Bear. Like many of us, she loved his gentle demeanor, so at odds with his brother's rough manner. Truly, the two brothers were little different. Guarding Bear had to look strong and invulnerable. Other Prefects soon consume one perceived as weak, eh?

“Fleeting Snow's change of heart enraged Scowling Tiger. A pity Brazen Bear mated her; he might be alive if he hadn't. As Smoking Arrow waned, growing more and more senile, the Imperial Ruling Council waxed. With its increasing regulation of Imperial affairs, Scowling Tiger, by then President of the Imperial Ruling Council, gathered more power. In his rage he acted in ways that no loyal citizen would consider.

“Scowling Tiger invented a plot to assassinate Smoking Arrow, implicating Brazen Bear as the assassin and as the leader of the Broken Arrows. In Brazen Bear's home, Imperial troops found hundreds of Broken Arrow banners. His conviction and sentencing on charges of treason soon followed. Guarding Bear had to denounce his own brother and take a leave of absence from the Ruling Council.”

Bubbling Water breathed deeply three times and focused on the electrical torchlight reflecting off a goblet rim. “The dilemma between his love for Brazen Bear and the need to sacrifice his brother tore Guarding Bear apart.

“I considered dissolving my mateship to him, so terrible was his rage. The moment the executioner's blade fell, Guarding Bear died inside. He was a scabbard without a sword, a quiver without an arrow. Those were such terrible times for us all.

“After Brazen Bear died, Scowling Tiger ordered a stay of execution for Fleeting Snow. Like a thief, he removed her from the dungeons of Emparia Castle. Giving the flimsy excuse that her safety concerned him, he took her to his home in Crag. Not a year later, the Lord Emperor Smoking Arrow died. In the confusion, what Scowling Tiger had done wasn't important.

“At Flying Arrow's coronation, not a single fellow Emperor appeared. The insult was intolerable to the Emperor-elect and the Empire itself. Lofty Lion persuaded you and the newly-invested Soaring Condor to decline the invitations. Even though he was only fourteen years old, Flying Arrow declared war on the Northern Empire. He took the position of Commanding General from Scowling Tiger and gave it to Guarding Bear. Whether simply better for the task, a ploy to rid the Council of Guarding Bear, or a way to pull another of Scowling Tiger's claws, I don't know. The appointment was crucial to my mate's recovery. Without a war to fight, he might not have survived his grief for Brazen Bear.”

“Guarding Bear should have refused to war on the Northern Empire,” Snarling Jaguar said.

“Eh? Why do you say that?” Bubbling Water asked.

“Flying Arrow might not be Emperor now, eh? The Eastern citizens knew he was petulant and cruel. Without mine and my fellow Emperors' sanction, Flying Arrow might not have succeeded his father without Guarding Bear's support.”

“Flying Arrow would've just asked Scowling Tiger to lead the Eastern Armed Forces.”

“Perhaps, Lady, perhaps not. Scowling Tiger might have also refused to attack the Northern Empire. The result would've been a struggle for the throne.” Snarling Jaguar smiled. “I think that
that
was Guarding Bear's only defeat, and the worst blunder of his career.”