Steven Erikson - Forge of Darkness

There was a long moment of silence, and then Sukul tilted her head. ‘Orfantal, you have much to learn. But for this night, I will take advantage of your innocence. Together, we shall leave the bitterness of our elders in their restless hands. Your kind words have touched me. Should the need arise in your life for an ally, you may call upon Sukul Ankhadu.’

‘When I am a great warrior,’ Orfantal replied, ‘I shall welcome you to my side.’

She laughed at his reply and then gestured towards the nearest cookfire. ‘Join me then, Orfantal, and we shall eat like soldiers upon the march, and woe to the enemy awaiting us.’

Her laughter had made him uncertain, but the invitation was like a spark to dry tinder, as if she had unerringly set fire to his imagined future, and would readily take her place in it. He looked upon her most carefully now, imagining her visage — older, stronger — wrought in bold thread. A face to one side of the hero’s face; a companion of years, loyal and sure, and as they strode past Haral and Gripp Orfantal felt that face, smiling and flushed, sink into his soul.

They would indeed be great friends, he decided. And somewhere still ahead, hazy and vague but dark with promise, awaited their betrayer.

They left the two of them to their own fire, and at first this had perturbed Orfantal. He was used to Gripp’s company and thought of the old man as a wise uncle, or a castellan. But this was a matter of blood and purity, and although the Ankhadu line was lesser, still it measured far above that of Haral, Gripp and the others.

There was nothing in what Orfantal had seen while in the company of these guards and traders to make clear this distinction in class. Roughness of manner did not suffice, as it was, in Orfantal’s mind, the way of the road for all travellers; and even Haral’s brutal treatment of Narad befitted the man’s insubordination.

But when Sukul seated herself — on a saddle-like stool brought out from the Hold’s wagon — opposite him, and servants arrived bearing pewter plates on which steaming food was heaped, along with tankards of watered wine — in place of the ale being offered the others of the caravan — Orfantal was startled to realize that he had grown so accustomed to his companions on this journey that he had begun to see himself as no different from them, an orphan in their company, well liked by all and, indeed, one of them.

The sudden deference was unwanted, a reminder of all the rules of behaviour that made no sense; and watching how Sukul responded to it with such natural ease, all of his grandmother’s impatient lessons returned home, unwelcome as a switch to his back.

‘Orfantal,’ said Sukul as she picked at her meal, ‘tell me about yourself. But first, to save you time, this is what I know. Kin to Nerys Drukorlat, widow of the wars — she has a daughter, does she not? Once a hostage to House Purake. But of her family beyond her own estate, I have heard little. Indeed, it was my belief that the bloodline was almost extinct, like an ancient, once proud tree, with but a single branch left bearing leaves. You must have come far, then, from some half-forgotten brood at the very edge of Kurald Galain.’

Orfantal had been well versed in the tale he was to tell. But Sukul would be his companion, and as such there would be truth between them. ‘Nerys Drukorlat is my grandmother in truth,’ he said to her. ‘My mother is Sandalath Drukorlat, who now dwells in Dracons as a hostage. My father died in the wars, at a great battle where he saved the lives of many famous highborn.’

The girl paused in her eating and regarded him steadily. ‘Surely,’ she said after a moment, her voice low, ‘Nerys had for you a different story to tell.’

‘Yes. But it made no sense. I don’t know why I am supposed to pretend that I had a different mother and father. My mother is very kind to me and tells me many stories about my father. Theirs was a love only death could silence.’

‘With whom will you be hostage, Orfantal?’

‘To the Citadel itself, and the line of the sons and daughters of Mother Dark.’

She set her plate down, most of her supper untouched, and then reached for her wine. ‘And all arrangements have been made for this? I am surprised — would Mother Dark now claim for her closest followers — her sons and daughters — the unity and honour of a Greater House? What will the highborn make of that, I wonder? Bloodlines shall be crossed, and all for a cult of worship.’

Her words confused him. It was clear now that she was much older than him. ‘I think, yes, it is all arranged.’

Her eyes flicked back to him, as intent as ever. She drank down half her tankard and held it out to be refilled. ‘Orfantal, are we in truth now friends?’

He nodded.

‘Then listen well to my advice. In a few days you will arrive in Kharkanas, and be delivered into the keeping of those who dwell in the Citadel. There will be teachers, and you will feel plucked one way and then another, and even those into whose care you have been given, well, they will be busy with their own tasks and interests. It may be, Orfantal, that you will find life lonely.’

He stared at her. Would they not all gather to welcome him, as they had his mother? What of Anomander Rake? And Andarist and Silchas Ruin?

‘Seek out Lady Hish Tulla — she is there now. Before you leave tomorrow morning, I will send a servant down with a message that I will write to her, which you must carry upon your person, and then give into her hand.’

‘Very well. But you are not a hostage. You are a guest — why are you a guest in Tulla Hold?’

Sukul made a sour face. ‘My sister has a reputation in court, and our mother saw me upon the same wayward path. She endeavoured to prevent that. There was an old friendship, forged on the field of battle… well, my mother made a request and Lady Hish accepted. I am in her charge, being educated above my station, and under the protection of Hish Tulla — who herself has known the wayward life, only to have stepped back from its sordid path.’ She drank more wine and then smiled. ‘Oh dear, how I have confused you. Heed only this, then: blood is not the only loyalty in the world. Two spirits, matched of vision, can reach across any divide. Remember that, Orfantal, for on this night such a friendship has begun, between us.’

‘This,’ said Orfantal, ‘has been a wonderful night.’

‘Hish Tulla seeks to forge the same friendship, the same loyalty, between the highborn and the officers of Urusander’s Legion. By this means she seeks peace in Kurald Galain. But I tell you this: many officers, like my own sister, have no interest in peace.’

Orfantal nodded. ‘They have fought in wars,’ he said.

‘They sting to slights, both real and imagined.’

‘Will you visit me in Kharkanas, Sukul Ankhadu?’

She drained her wine. ‘If I am to stand at the side of a great warrior, why, I am sure we shall meet again, Orfantal. Now, finish your wine — you sip like a bird, when you should be filling your belly.’

‘I wish,’ said Orfantal, ‘that I had a sister. And that she was you.’

‘Better we be friends than siblings, Orfantal, as perhaps you shall one day discover. Upon friends you can rely, but the same cannot always be said for siblings. Oh, and one more thing.’

‘Yes?’

‘That tale your grandmother would have you tell? Make it a truth in your mind — forget all you have told me this night. No one else must hear the truth as I have. Promise me this, Orfantal.’

‘I promise.’

‘The older you get,’ she said, in a tone that made her seem eye to eye with his grandmother, ‘the more you discover the truth about the past. You can empty it. You can fill it anew. You can create whatever truth you choose. We live long, Orfantal — much longer than the Jheleck, or the Dog-Runners. Live long enough and you will find yourself in the company of other liars, other inventors, and all that they make of their youth shines so bright as to blind the eye. Listen to their tales, and know them for the liars they are — no different from you. No different from any of us.’