3
Inos came along the Way in the evening sunshine. A whiff of sea tang and a muted rumble of surf told her she was approaching the Rap Place. As she emerged from the trees she was greatly relieved to see Rap himself stretched out on one of the ugly purple lounges. He sprang up to greet her and they hugged.
Funny,” she murmured into his neck. “I think I missed this more than anything just being held.”
He grunted. “Well, it’s a start. Sit down and let me make you a drink.”
She sank down wearily, wondering if she was too old for all this wild adventuring or just unaccustomed to the Thumian climate. “Something stunning.”
“Elvish brandy?” He gave her a crystal beaker the size of a small bucket. She needed both hands to hold it.
“You were always generous,” she muttered. “I said stun, not kill.” It was cool and delicious and not elvish brandy.
Rap perched on the edge of the chair beside her and smiled happily.
“Kadie?” she said.
He glanced at the cottage. “Stretched out cold on our bed. I don’t think she slept all night.”
“Not much, anyway.” Inos took another draft and eyed him over the rim. “I wish I understood why you can’t heal her!” He shrugged. ”I can heal bodies. Souls belong to the Gods.”
“You cured me!”
He turned his face away as if to study the trees. “Not really,” he muttered.
“Rap!”
“Well . . . I did hurry your own healing along a little. You’re a strong, mature woman. You knew that what Azak wanted was to hurt and humiliate you, so you fought back against that. To recover was to defeat him, right? I just helped. Kadie’s problem is much worse, much deeper. What would you have me do—take away her memories? People are made of their memories, darling. Personalities are. I mean, I daren’t meddle in that. I might turn her into a mushroom.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “Besides, she’s right, to be worried about her friend, isn’t she?”
Inos made a noncommittal noise. Friendship was one thing, obsession another. She laid the drink on the table beside her so she was free to squeeze Rap’s arm. ”I’m sure you’re doing all you can, love.”
“How’s the impress?”
“Better. She’s a strong woman.” For a twenty-year-old who had been through several consecutive hells, the girl was a marvel.
Rap nodded, staring at nothing.
Inos said, “Prin and Baze are sweet.”
“Yes.”
“Rap? Is she pregnant?” He nodded again.
Inos took another drink and thought yet again about Shandie. Having now met Eshiala, she could understand his infatuation. The impress’ beauty was every bit as incredible as he had claimed, but he had never been a sensitive or understanding husband. How would he react to her now that she carried another man’s child?
“I suppose that’s a fairly small problem really, isn’t it?” she said. “With the world at stake, what’s one more little bastard? Even an Imperial bastard. Minor problem.”
So was Kadie. Tomorrow was Longday. None of them mattered compared to that, not Eshiala or Kadie or Rap or Inos. “How’s your day been?”
Rap shrugged. “Frustrating. The Way won’t always do what I want it to. I can’t reach any of the archons’ Places I know of. I can’t find any trace of the Chapel, and I think Kadie tried for the Thaile Place a hundred times. Mostly I’ve been following her around in circles, keeping an eye on her.”
“Any news of the Covin?”
He sighed. “The djinn army’s back where it was four days ago. If it advances tomorrow, it’ll enter Thume before midday.”
“How’s Azak?”
“Don’t know.”
“His sorcerers may have cured him?”
“If they weren’t frightened of the Covin, they might. Or Zinixo may have done so. Or he may have died. I have no idea.”
“We should have killed. the bastard,” Inos muttered, “when we had the chance. Him and his whole murdering horde.” She saw Rap wince. Why? What did he know about Azak that he wasn’t saying? “Dragons?”
He brightened. “That’s interesting! Apparently they’re restless, but not going anywhere. They rise, circle, then return to their nests.”
“So why is that interesting?”
“Because either something is troubling them, or the dwarf suspects something.”
“He always suspects something! Such as?”
“I think,” Rap said, “that some of the anthropophagi must be still at large. Zinixo’s frightened to raise the dragons in case he triggers a trap or something. Or else the worms themselves sense the trap—they’re not entirely mundane, remember.” He ran fingers through his hair again. ”All right! I’m clutching at straws. It just seems indecisive, see?”
Zinixo was notoriously indecisive, but let the man dream. And how had he learned all this if he hadn’t been able to reach the archons?
“What else did the new Keeper tell you?”
Rap shot her an admiring glance. “She was here. Not twenty minutes ago. Briefly.”
“How is she?”
“Can’t tell with demigods.”
“Did Kadie know?”
“Kadie was asleep.”
Mm. “Is Thaile going to be more cooperative than her predecessor?”
“She will be, I think. If the Covin has noticed Thume, then she has no choice.”
“So what else did she say?”
“Not a great deal.”
“Darling, after all these years you think I don’t know when you’re being evasive?”
He chuckled. He swung his feet up, stretched out beside her on the pallet, and proceeded to kiss her at length and with great attention to detail. Inos began to appreciate that the Thumian climate might have certain advantages after all. It was several more minutes before he gave her a chance to speak.
“That was wonderful,” she said breathlessly. “And I shall cooperate fully at the first suitable opportunity. But we were talking business. No!” She pushed his busy hands away from her buttons. “Rap, I mean it!”
“Later!”
“Now! What were you not telling me?”
“The new Keeper has appointed a replacement archon.”
Inos studied his face for a moment, as it was all she could see-he was almost on top of her already. “I thought archons were exceptionally potent sorcerers?”
“She says she wants experience and counsel.”
Idiot! “You accepted?”
“You think I had any choice?”
“Yes.”
“I accepted.”
She could tell nothing from his smile. So he was worried sick and using sorcery not to show it.
This was Midsummer Eve. There might be no more chances.
“I’ve never had an archon make love to me before,” she said. ”Can you make sure we won’t be interrupted?”
Rap said, “Yes,” huskily.
Inos reached for his buttons.