Page 31 of Fate of the Argosi

I could practically see him in front of me now, standing in the patch of moonlight slipping through the canopy of trees outside the tower. That frontier hat of his was casting a shadow across a smile that could charm the claws off a squirrel cat.‘If you can’t trust Durral Brown, the Path of the Rambling Thistle, then how’s your arta precis going to pick up what that pretty young Jan’Tep girl’s trying not to tell you?’

‘Since she’s hiding it, isn’t my suspicion entirely justified?’

Durral grinned, wagging a spectral finger in my direction – which was quite a feat for someone who wasn’t there.‘Oh, is that a riddle you got goin’ on, girl? I do enjoy a good riddle. Go on then, riddle me this: why would an Argosi admire someone for keeping a secret from her?’

‘Ferius?’ Arissa asked quietly.

‘Yeah?’

‘You know you’re just standing there staring off into the distance while Chedran and a couple of these Jan’Tep are pretty much just waiting to see who blinks first before they go at each other, right?’

‘Give me a second.’

Why would an Argosi admire someone for keeping secrets from her?

I glowered at my imagined Durral. True to form, he wasn’t there any more. Even my memories of him insist on getting drunk on my moral dilemmas and then sticking me with the bill.

I sighed, letting my arta precis slide down over my gaze like a pair of spectacles that blurred everything but what others were trying to hide from me. My eyes settled on Ala’tris – well, notherprecisely, mostly on her mouth. She was frowning at Chedran, and her lips were pursed like she was trying real hard not to let out something she badly wanted to say.

All right, sister, you’re keeping secrets from us, but that’s okay, because I am presently filled with nothing but admiration for you. See? I’m admiring how you’re standing there like an oh-so-pretty gossamer-gowned statue while my crew and yours are one dirty look away from a good old-fashioned knock-down, drag-out punch-up. I’m positively in awe of the way you keep glancing at Chedran like you could shut him up with a few words, some simple spell that you won’t let pass your lips on account of you’re so nice and decent and you’d never want to hurt a fella’s feelings by righteously knocking him off his high hors—

‘Damn it, Pappy,’ I muttered. ‘You got me again.’

‘Who now?’ Arissa asked.

I strode over to where Chedran was staring down Ala’tris’s coven with his unwavering determination to prove there was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect those twelve Mahdek runaways from a half-dozen scheming Jan’Tep mages.

Well, not quite a half-dozen actually. Five.

‘Go on,’ I told her. ‘Tell him about the sixth mage.’

‘What?’ Arissa asked, eyes darting across the darkened forest.

‘We saw six dead mages in the mind cage,’ I explained, then gestured to the ones surrounding us. ‘Five teenagers and one old man. A lord magus.’ I caught Ala’tris’s gaze again. ‘Tell him about the lord magus.’

Never seen someone look so uncomfortable admitting something most people would’ve already flung in our faces. ‘Ferius, no. It’s not important.’

I chuckled. ‘Actually, I think itisimportant. Once you get to know Chedran better, you’ll find he doesn’t suffer from a lack of pride. A little humility could only improve his disposition.’

‘Stop talking about me as if I’m not here,’ he snarled at me, then turned on Ala’tris. ‘Go ahead, Jan’Tep, make your confession. You’ll find there’s no trap you could set for which I’m not prepared, and I’m eager to settle accounts once and for all.’

Even afterthatungracious invitation, still she began with kindness. ‘You were correct, warrior. Wedidfollow your runaways after they’d fled Jan’Tep territory.’

‘They’reourterritories,’ he countered. ‘You’re an occupier. A genocidal mob slaughtering all who—’

Turns out there’s a limit even to the considerable diplomatic restraint that Ala’tris worked so hard to maintain.‘Occupier?’she repeated, shoving Gab’rel and Ba’dari aside to stand defiantly before Chedran. ‘You believe the Jan’Tep were the first and only conquerors who coveted the oases? Perhaps you should learn your own history.’

‘What new lie is th—’

She stuck a finger right up to his lips. ‘No, you’ve had your say, now you can listen for once, no matter how hard the truth might be to hear. I’ve travelled far and wide in my studies, and seen historical treatises recorded by the first Daroman settlers who crossed the ocean to this continent. Those accounts describe tribes scattered from their lands by foreign mages who predate my people.’

‘The so-called “Darvanil”?’ Chedran sneered. ‘Legends. Folk tales. There’s no evidence they ever existed.’

‘How could there be?’ Sar’ephir asked. ‘You Mahdek drove every nomadic tribe from the oases, slaughtering whole families to ensure only your own shamans and spellshapers would have dominion over the magic contained within.’ The dismissive shrug she gave with her bare bronze shoulders struck me as almost cruel. Personal, somehow. ‘One could argue that we Jan’Tep merely returned the favour.’

Chedran looked fit to be tied – which might well prove necessary if this kept up.

‘Get on with it,’ I told Ala’tris. She shot me a glare that could’ve stopped a rampaging bear in its tracks. I didn’t much care. ‘That wasn’t the truth I meant, and you know it. Tell him what happened after he and the runaways crossed the border. If it makes you feel any better,that’sgonna get under his skin way worse than all this ancient history.’

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