Amiit led Otah up the stairs and into a bright, simple room with a table, a few rough wooden chairs, an unlit lantern and a wide, low cabinet. Roast chicken, fresh cheese, and apples just on the edge of ripeness had been laid out for them. Sharpened by Otah’s hunger and relief and wonder, the smell of them was wonderful. Amiit gestured toward the table, then opened the cabinet and took out two earthenware mugs and flasks of wine and water. Otah took a leg from the chicken and bit into it - the flesh tasted of tarragon and black pepper. He closed his eyes and grinned. Nothing had ever in his life tasted so good.
Amiit chuckled.
‘You’ve grown thinner, old friend,’ Amiit said as he poured himself wine and Otah a mixture of wine and water. ‘You’d think accommodations in Machi would be better.’
‘What’s going on, Amiit-cha?’ Otah asked, taking the proffered drink. ‘Last I heard, I was going to be either executed as a criminal or honorably killed in the succession. This . . .’ he gestured at the room with his mug, ‘this wasn’t suggested as an option.’
‘It wasn’t approved by the Khaiem, that’s truth,’ Amiit said. He sat across from Otah and picked up one of the apples, turning it over slowly as he spoke, inspecting it for worm holes. ‘The fact is, I only know half of what’s going on in Machi, if that. After our last talk - when you were first coming up here - I thought it might be best to put some plans in motion. In case an opportunity arose, you understand. It would be very convenient for House Siyanti if one of their junior couriers became the Khai Machi. It didn’t seem likely at the time. But . . .’
He shrugged and bit into the apple. Otah finished the chicken and took one of the fruits himself. Even watered, the wine was nearly too strong to drink.
‘We put out men and women to listen,’ Amiit went on. ‘To gather what information we could find. We weren’t looking for anything in particular, you understand. Just an opportunity.’
‘You were looking to sell information of me to the Khai in return for a foothold in Machi,’ Otah said.
‘Only as a last resort,’ Amiit agreed. ‘It’s business. You understand.’
‘But they found me instead,’ Otah said. The apple was sweet and chalky and just slightly bitter. Amiit pushed a platter of cheese toward him.
‘That looked bleak. It’s truth. And that you’d been in our pay seemed to seal it. House Siyanti wasn’t going to be welcome, whichever of your brothers took the title.’
‘And taking me out of their tower was intended to win back their favor?’
Amiit’s expression clouded. He shook his head.
‘That wasn’t our plan. Someone hired a mercenary company to take you from the city to a low town and hold you there. We don’t know who it was; they only met with the captain, and he’s not on our side. But I’m fairly certain it wasn’t your brother or your father.’
‘But you got word of it?’
‘I had word of it. Mercenaries . . . well, they aren’t always the most reliable of companions. Sinja-cha knew I was in the city, and would be interested in your situation. He was ready to make a break with his old cohort for other reasons, and offered me the opportunity to . . . what? Outbid his captain for his services in the matter?’
‘Sinja-cha is the commander?’
‘Yes. Or, was. He’s in my employ now. With luck, his old captain thinks him dead along with you and the other armsmen involved.’
‘And what will you do now? Ransom me back to the Khai?’
‘No,’ Amiit said. ‘I’ve already made a bargain that won’t allow that. Besides, I really did enjoy working with you. And . . . and you may yet be in a position to help me more as an ally than a commodity, ne?’
‘It’s a bad bet,’ Otah said and smiled.
Amiit grinned again.
‘Ah, but the stakes are high. Would you rather just have water? I wasn’t thinking.’
‘No, I’ll keep this.’
‘Whatever you like. So. Yes, something’s happening in Machi. I expect they’re out scouring the world for you even now. And in a day, perhaps two, they’ll find you floating down the river or caught on a sandbar.’
‘And then?’
‘I don’t know,’ Amiit said. ‘And then we’ll know what’s happened in the meantime. Things are moving quickly, and there’s more going on than I can fathom. For instance, I don’t know what the Galts have to do with it.’
Otah put down his cup. Even under the blanket of whiskers, he could see the half-smile twitch at Amiit’s mouth. The overseer’s eyes sparkled.
‘But perhaps you do?’ Amiit suggested.
‘No, but . . . no. I’ve dealt with something else once. Something happened. The Galts were behind it. What are they doing here? How do they figure in?’
‘They’re making contracts with half the houses in Machi. Large contracts at disadvantageous terms. They’ve been running roughshod over the Westlands so long they’re sure to be good for it - they have almost as much money as the Khaiem. It may just be they’ve a new man acting as the overseer for the Machi contracts, and he’s no good. But I doubt it. I think they’re buying influence.’
‘Influence to do what?’
‘I haven’t the first clue,’ Amiit said. ‘I was hoping you might know.’
Otah shook his head. He took another piece of chicken, but his mind was elsewhere. The Galts in Machi. He tried to make Biitrah’s death, the attack on Maati, and his own improbable freedom into some pattern, but no two things seemed to fit. He drank his wine, feeling the warmth spread through his throat and belly.
‘I need your word on something, Amiit-cha. That if I tell you what I know, you won’t act on it lightly. There are lives at stake.’
‘Galtic lives?’
‘Innocent ones.’
Amiit considered silently. His face was closed. Otah poured more water into his cup. Amiit silently took a pose that accepted the offered terms. Otah looked at his hands, searching for the words he needed to say.
‘Saraykeht. When Seedless acted against Heshai-kvo there, the Galts were involved. They were allied with the andat. I believe they hoped to find the andat willing allies in their own freedom, only Seedless was . . . unreliable. They hurt Heshai badly, even though their plan failed. They aren’t the ones who murdered him, but Heshai-kvo let himself be killed rather than expose them.’
‘Why would he do an idiot thing like that?’
‘He knew what would happen. He knew what the Khai Saraykeht would do.’
Otah felt himself on the edge of confession, but he stopped before admitting that the poet had died at his hands. There was no need, and that, at least, was one secret that he chose to keep to himself. Instead, he looked up and met Amiit’s gaze. When the overseer spoke, his voice was calm, measured, careful.
‘He would have slaughtered Galt,’ Amiit said.
‘Innocent lives.’
‘And some guilty ones.’
‘A few.’
Amiit leaned back in his chair, his fingers steepled before his lips. Otah could almost see the calculations taking place behind those calm, dark eyes.
‘So you think this is about the poets?’
‘It was last time,’ Otah said. ‘Let me send a letter to Maati. Let me warn him—’
‘We can’t. You’re dead, and half the safety we can give you depends on your staying dead until we know more than this. But . . . but I can tell a few well-placed people to be on alert. And give them some idea what to be alert for. Another Saraykeht would be devastating.’ Amiit sighed deeply. ‘And here I thought only the succession, your life, and my house were in play. Poets now, too.’
Amiit’s smile was thoughtful.
‘I’ll give you this. You make the world more interesting, Itani-cha. Or . . .?’
He took a pose that asked for correction.
‘Otah. Much as I’ve fought against it, my name is Otah Machi. We might as well both get used to saying it.’
‘Otah-cha, then,’ Amiit said. He seemed pleased, as if he’d won some small victory.
Voices came up through the window. The commander’s was already familiar even after so short a time. Otah couldn’t make out the words, but he sounded pleased. Another voice answered him that Otah didn’t know, but the woman’s laughter that pealed out after it was familiar as water.
Otah felt the air go thin. He stood and walked slowly to the open shutters. There in the yard behind the farmhouse Sinja and one of the archers were standing beside a lovely woman in loose cotton robes the blue of the sky at twilight. Her fox-thin face was smiling, one eyebrow arched as she said something to the commander, who chuckled in his turn. Her hair was dark and shot with individual strands of white that she had had since birth.
He saw the change in Kiyan’s stance when she noticed him - a release and relaxation. She walked away from the two men and toward the open window. Otah’s heart beat fast as if he’d been running. She stopped and put out her hands, palms up and open. It wasn’t a formal pose, and seemed to mean
here I am
and
here you are
and
who would have guessed this
all at once.
‘She came to me not long after you left,’ Amiit said from where he sat. ‘I’m half-partner in her wayhouse down in Udun. We’ve been keeping it a quiet arrangement, though. There’s something to be said for having a whole wayhouse of one’s own without the couriers of other houses knowing it’s yours.’
Otah wanted to look back at the man, but his gaze seemed fastened on Kiyan. He thought he caught a faint blush rising in her cheeks. She shook her head as if clearing away some unwanted thought and walked in toward the house and out of his view. She was smiling, though. Sinja had also caught sight of Otah in the window and took a pose of congratulation.
‘She’s changed her mind, then. About me?’
‘Apparently.’
Otah turned back and leaned against the wall. Its coolness surprised him. After so many days in the cell at the tower’s height, he’d come to think of stone as warm. Amiit poured himself another cup of wine. Otah swallowed to loosen his throat. The question didn’t want to be asked.
‘Why? What changed it?’
‘I have known Kiyan-cha well for almost a quarter of this year. Not even that. You’ve been her lover for what? Three summers? And you want me to explain her mind to you? You’ve become an optimist.’
Otah sat because his knees felt too weak to hold him. Amiit chuckled again and rose.
‘You’ll need rest for a few days. And some food and space enough to move again. We’ll have you strong enough to do whatever it is needs doing, I hope. This place is better watched than it looks. We’ll have warning if anyone comes near. Don’t let any of this trouble you for now; you can trust us to watch over things.’
‘I want to see her,’ Otah said.
‘I know,’ Amiit said, clapping him on the shoulder. ‘And she wants to see you. It’s why I’m leaving. Just remember you haven’t eaten to speak of in days, you’re weak from the cell, you’ve hardly slept, and you were abducted last night. Don’t expect too much from yourself. There really is no hurry.’
Otah blushed now, and Amiit grabbed one last apple and made for the door. Kiyan reached it just as he did, and he stepped back to let her through. He closed the door gently behind him. Otah rose to his feet, suddenly tongue-tied. Kiyan also didn’t speak, but her gaze traveled over him. He could see the distress in it even though she tried to keep it hidden.
‘ ’Tani,’ she said, ‘you . . . you look terrible.’
‘It’s the beard,’ Otah said. ‘I’ll shave it.’
She didn’t take up the humor, only walked across the room and folded him into her arms. The scent of her skin flooded him with a hundred jumbled memories of her. He put his arm around her, embarrassed to notice that his hand was unsteady.
‘I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again,’ he murmured. ‘I never meant to put you at risk.’
‘What did they do to you? Gods, what have they done?’
‘Not so much. They only didn’t feed me well for a time and locked me away. It wasn’t so bad.’
She kissed his cheek and pulled back from him until each could see the other’s face. There were tears in her eyes, but she was angry.
‘They were going to kill you,’ she said.
‘Well, yes. I mean, I thought that was assumed.’
‘I’ll kill them all with my bare hands if you’d like,’ she said with a smile that meant she was only half joking.
‘That might be more than the situation calls for. But . . . why are you here? I thought . . . I thought I was too much a risk to you.’
‘That didn’t change. Other things . . . other things did. Come. Sit with me.’
Kiyan took a bite of the cheese and poured herself water. Her hands were thin and strong and as lovely as a sculpture. Otah rubbed his temples with the palms of his hands, hoping that this was all as real as it seemed, that he wouldn’t wake again in the cell above the city.
‘Sinja-cha told me you wanted to turn back. He said it was because of me. That your being there kept them from searching me out.’
‘Knowing me shouldn’t have that kind of price on it,’ Otah said. ‘It was . . . it was what I could do. That’s all.’