Lynn Flewelling - The Bone Doll's Twin

All the same, Niryn had given him the name of the queen Brother had chosen—the very one King Pelis had murdered.

Tobin went to stand in front of the second queen of Skala and placed his right hand on the stone sword she held. “Hello, Grandmother Tamír.”

The sun came out the next day and Porion ordered them back to outdoor practice.

Tobin hardly noticed the renewed ache in his side as they ran to the Temple, wondering instead how Ki had fared. His heart swelled with relief when Ki emerged, hungry but unbowed. Mago looked the worse for wear of the two, and Ki confided later that he’d stared at the other squire for hours in the dead of night without speaking, just to put the wind up Mago’s ass. Apparently it had worked.

The priests had put a salve on Ki’s stripes and he joined in at practice without complaint. He joked with his friends among the squires, ignored his enemies, and served at table that night. Tobin decided that everything was settled for the best until bedtime came and Ki pulled back the curtains on the alcove bed.

“You’re sleeping there again?”

Ki eased himself down on the edge of the narrow bed and laced his fingers together in his lap. Tobin could tell by the way Ki held himself that he was in more pain than he’d let on. “Baldus?”

The page rose up on his pallet. “Yes, Prince Tobin?”

“Go to the kitchens and see if the cook can make a sleeping draught for Sir Ki.”

Baldus scampered out. Tobin barred the door after him and went back to Ki. “What’s all this about?”

He shrugged. “I hear that most of the other squires do and—well—You know, people look at us strange enough as it is. I just thought that maybe we ought to do a few things the Ero way.”

“Korin likes how we do things our own way. He told me so. He was proud of you yesterday.”

“Was he? Well, Korin isn’t everybody. And I’m not a prince.”

“You’re angry with me.”

“With you? Never. But—”

For the first time since the trouble began, Ki’s brave front crumbled. Tobin saw past it to the tired, beaten-down country boy slumped before him, shoulders held awkwardly to ease the pain.

Tobin sat down beside him and inspected the back of Ki’s shirt. It was stained with spots of blood.

“You’re bleeding. That’ll stick by morning if you leave it. Here, you better let me help.”

He coaxed Ki out of the shirt and threw it aside on the bed. The ache in his side was worse tonight, but he ignored it. It was Ki who needed tending now, not him.

The welts had changed from red to purple and black, and the scabs pulled and bled when Ki moved. Tobin swallowed hard, thinking of all the times he’d kept Nari from taking a switch to Ki. Now he’d done this.

“I don’t like it here,” he said at last.

Ki nodded and a tear dripped off the end of his nose to land on the back of Tobin’s hand.

“I wish we could have just gone with Father. Or that the Companions could ride out tomorrow and go find the king. Mostly, I wish I was grown and had my lands, so I could make you a lord. I promise I will, Ki. No one is going to call you a grass knight again after that.”

Ki let out a hiccuping laugh and painfully lifted an arm around Tobin’s shoulders. “I don’t—”

A loud crash came from the direction of the dressing room, startling them both. Tobin jumped to his feet and Ki flinched back, grabbing for his discarded shirt.

Korin and half a dozen of the older Companions and squires came staggering in by way of the hidden panel.

“Cousin, we’ve come to issue an invitation!” Korin cried, and Tobin guessed that he’d been drinking steadily since they’d parted after supper. Urmanis and Zusthra were flushed and grinning, too. Orneus had his arms around Lynx and was nuzzling his ear. Caliel looked a bit clearer but Korin’s squire, Tanil, was the only sober one. He gave Tobin a bow, looking embarrassed.

“We’re off to the city to play and we’ve come to invite you,” Korin went on, staggering into the middle of the room. “And more especially, the inestimable Ki. Get your clothes on, boy, and I’ll buy you a whore to take your mind off your back.”

Garol staggered sideways from the group and vomited loudly as the others berated him.

“Ah, Urmanis, looks like you two are next for the temple steps,” Korin said, shaking his head. “Your squire’s dishonored you all over my poor cousin’s floor. Now, what was I saying—? Oh, yes. Whores. You’re old enough, aren’t you, Ki? I’ve seen you eyeing the girls! By the Flame, you’re the best of this rotten lot. We’ll get drunk and kick that pimple Mago out of bed. Alben, too, the bugger!”

“No, Cousin. Ki’s tired.” Tobin stood between the prince and his friend, wondering what he was going to do if Korin decided to force them to go. This was the drunkest he’d seen Korin since the night they’d arrived.

Fortunately Tanil was his ally tonight. “They’re too young for your revels, your highness. Besides, Ki’s so sore a whore would be wasted on him. Let’s get ourselves out before Master Porion catches you and sends you back to bed.”

“Damnation, we don’t want that! Everyone be quiet , for hell’s sake!” Korin roared. “Come, coz. Give us a kiss for luck. You, too, imeshamable Kirothius. Good night! Good night!”

Korin wouldn’t be satisfied until everyone had kissed Tobin and Ki on both cheeks and been kissed for luck in return, but at last they stumbled out the way they’d come.

As soon as Tobin was sure they were gone he dragged the heaviest chair in the room into the dressing room and braced it against the panel, then called Brother and set him to watch.

He returned to the bedchamber to find Ki washing his face at the basin. He’d let Baldus and Molay in, and they were grumbling to each other as they cleared away Garol’s sour vomit.

“It’s never like this when the king’s at home,” Molay muttered. “When Korin was younger Porion could keep him in line, but now—! I’ll burn some incense to cut the stink. Baldus, go and fetch some spiced wine for the prince.”

“No, no wine,” Tobin said wearily.

When the servants had finished, Tobin sent them away for the night, then pulled Ki back to the large bed. “You saw what comes of doing things the Ero way. Go to sleep.”

With a sigh, Ki gave in and sprawled on his belly at the far edge of the bed.

Tobin lay back against the bolsters and tried to ignore the smell still noticeable through the roiling clouds of incense. “What was Ornews doing to poor Lynx?”

Ki snorted into his pillow. “What did you do yesterday while I was flattening my knees with Mago?”

Tobin thought back over the long grey day. “Nothing, really. But I met Niryn at the tombs last night.”

“Fox Beard? What did he want?”

“He said I’m the next heir after Korin until he gets an heir of his own.”

Ki turned to regard him thoughtfully. “I guess you are, at that. The way Korin was staggering tonight, you might just get your chance, too.”

“Don’t joke!” Tobin warned. “If the Harriers heard you even joking, I think maybe they’d come for you. Niryn scares me. Every time he’s near me I feel like he’s looking for something, like he thinks I’m hiding something.”

“He looks at everyone that way,” Ki mumbled, slipping fast toward sleep. “All those white wizards do. I wouldn’t dare get around any of them. But what have we got to worry about? No one is more loyal than we….” He trailed off into a soft snore.

Tobin lay awake for a long time, remembering the strange feeling he’d had around the wizard, and the secret enemies the man had spoken of. No traitor had better approach him; as little as he might care for the red-bearded wizard, he’d keep his promise to him if any man asked him to betray the rightful ruler of Skala.