Canavan Trudi - The Traitor Queen

Dannyl looked at Savi. “Can you leave?”

She shook her head. “This House is being watched closely, day and night. Food and supplies are brought here. The slaves who attempted to go out for other items have been stopped.” She looked down at the spy. “The king may still use his presence here as reason to remove Lorkin to somewhere safer. I suspect there are other slaves here who may be Amakira’s spies, too.”

They exchanged silent, worried looks. Dannyl sighed and looked at Lorkin.

“We have got to get you out of Sachaka.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Tayend murmured. He looked at Savi. “I suppose this restriction of slave movement means your people can’t arrange that?”

“If we could have, we’d have done it already.”

Dannyl shook his head. “I wish I’d known about this. I don’t expect to know everything, but the more I do the easier it is to make decisions.”

“To tell you would reveal who I was,” Savi pointed out.

Dannyl turned to the Traitor woman. “Well, you have now and that could be to our advantage. Could you read the minds of all the slaves here? Find out which are Amakira’s spies — and if any are magicians?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes,” she said, but with reluctance.

Lorkin frowned. But that would reveal who she was to all the slaves. Yet how else do we find out which slaves are spies or potential abductors? A chill ran down his spine as another option came to him.

She was not the only person in the Guild House who could read minds.

But if he revealed that he could, he would reveal much, much more. I’m going to have to eventually, and I’m not letting another woman be tortured and killed because of me.

“I’ll do it,” he said.

Dannyl and Tayend turned to stare at him.

“You know how to…?” Tayend’s eyebrows shot upward. “Oh!”

Lorkin saw Dannyl frown and braced himself for the man’s disapproval, but the man only shook his head.

“Don’t jump to conclusions, Tayend,” he said. “Sonea learned to read minds before she learned black magic.”

Tayend looked relieved. “Really? I thought reading the mind of an unwilling person was something only the black magicians could do.”

Dannyl’s lips pressed into a grim smile. “We let people believe that. Like black magic, it’s a skill that would be too easily abused.”

Tayend turned to regard Lorkin, his gaze sharp and thoughtful. He’s wondering what else I’ve learned. Should I tell them the truth now? It might be seen as suspicious if I conceal it too long.

“Another piece of information you didn’t tell me so I can’t reveal it if I’m interrogated?” Dannyl asked.

Lorkin nodded. He’s right. I can’t tell him yet.

“Well…” Dannyl turned to Savi. “I’ll block all of the House’s exits to make sure nobody attempts to leave. In the meantime, rouse the head slave and send him to the Master’s Room, where Lorkin will order him to bring all of the slaves to them to have their minds read.” He looked at the failed abductor. “We should lock him up somewhere out of sight, too.” He sighed. “This barely qualifies for the term ‘plan’, but it’ll gain us some time to think of a better one.”

“I’m a bit… new at this,” Lorkin said, his expression apologetic as Dannyl sat beside him. “It may take a while.” Dannyl shrugged. “Don’t hurry it. I have plenty to think about. Like a way to get you out of this mess.”

“Let’s hope we have time enough for both tasks.” Lorkin called one of the slaves over. The man threw himself to the floor. Lorkin instructed the slave to kneel before him, then placed his hands on either side of the man’s head and closed his eyes.

Dannyl examined the rest of the waiting slaves. Aside from a few eyebrows rising in surprise, they showed no expression that might indicate which were the king’s spies. He looked across at Tayend, sitting on the other side of Lorkin. The Elyne met Dannyl’s eyes and nodded, perhaps indicating that he was keeping an eye on the slaves, too.

The Traitor woman, Savi, had assured him other Traitor spies would be among the slaves and would help should a fake slave react to imminent discovery by attacking them. It would be better if they were not forced to reveal their identities, however. As for the failed abductor, he had been locked in a stone-walled storeroom under the kitchen, watched over by Savi and Merria.

So. Time to get thinking, Dannyl told himself. If the king did arrange this, then he will know his plan has failed when his abductor doesn’t turn up with Lorkin. He may already know it’s failed, if the man was supposed to deliver Lorkin by now. So what will he do?

He can’t do anything unless we reveal something happened, unless he had another spy in place ready to slip away and call for “help”. So what if he did? If we claim Lorkin read the abductor’s mind and found out the truth, the king will insist on taking the man away to check. The man will suffer some kind of accident so when Amakira claims the man was tricked into thinking he worked for the king, nobody will be able to prove otherwise. He’ll then use the attempted abduction as an excuse to take Lorkin away.

If we pretend nothing happened, the king will know we’re lying. The abductor can prove otherwise. Dannyl did not want to kill the man. Not just because he’d rather not have to murder anybody, but if evidence was found that a Kyralian had killed a Sachakan — especially a free Sachakan — it would weaken the already shaky peace between their countries. And I’d end up in the palace prison for having destroyed the king’s property.

What else could he do with the man? Smuggle him away? With the House being watched so closely that even a Traitor didn’t think she could sneak out, he doubted they’d succeed. If we kill him we’ll have to destroy the body completely or make sure someone else is blamed. I’m not sure how to do the former, but it has to be less risky than the latter. He shook his head. I can’t believe I’m contemplating this.

A faint hammering noise brought his attention back to his surroundings. Lorkin had sent the first slave away to the other side of the room. He looked at Dannyl.

“I think someone’s knocking on the front door.”

With all slaves in the Master’s Room, there was nobody outside to greet anyone. “Well, that didn’t take long.” Dannyl muttered.

“It’s not too late for social visits,” Tayend pointed out. “According to Sachakan customs.”

Dannyl sighed and stood up. “I’ll go see who it is.”

Lorkin didn’t look reassured. “Should I… clear the room?”

“Yes, but…” Where to put the slaves?

“Take them to my rooms,” Tayend offered. “You can continue the mind-reading there.”

Dannyl looked at the lone slave who had been read. “Is he trustworthy?”

Lorkin shrugged. “He’s not a spy, if that’s what you mean.”

“Good enough,” Dannyl beckoned to the man, who hurried forward and threw himself on the floor. “Wait until everyone but me has left the room, then go bring our visitor here,” Dannyl ordered.

Within a surprisingly short time, Dannyl found himself alone in the Master’s Room. He drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly and braced himself for a troupe of Sachakan magicians to emerge from the corridor. Only one set of footsteps reached his ears, though, then a lone man appeared and hesitated at the threshold of the room.

“Achati!” The name leapt out of Dannyl’s mouth. “Ashaki Achati,” he quickly added, as proper formality dictated.

Achati’s forehead was deeply wrinkled. He searched Dannyl’s face as he hurried forward. He looks anxious, Dannyl thought. He’s actually wringing his hands.