James Galloway - The Tower of Sorcery

Allia gave the Wikuni a compassionate look, and Tarrin took her hand in his paw. "It must have been awful," he said quietly.

"Yes, well, one learns how to stay alive," she said with a sniffle. "I spent my childhood learning how to convice people that my idea of a serious decision was whether to wear a silk gown or a satin one. Sometimes people found out, and then I'd have to have them killed. That happened quite a bit as I was starting out, and still learning." Tarrin shuddered at the calm, matter-of-factness in her voice. But he realized that he was probably no better. He too would kill without mercy to protect himself. "I've made it this far," she said with a wan smile. "I've just got to live long enough, which isn't very easy. Unfortunately, my game against my sisters has convinced most of the nobles that I'll be an absolute disaster as a Queen, so they've decided that Jenawalani, the next oldest, is a much better choice for the Diamond Throne. When I'm not disrupting the scheming of my sisters, I'm dodging the assassins hired by the nobles. After I take the throne, I can have my sisters exiled, so they'd have a great deal of trouble getting me killed. I won't like being Queen much, but it's the throne or the grave. And I'm not too happy about either choice."

"Why not leave?" Allia asked.

She laughed. "I have, several times. It looked like it was just an immature fit over not getting my way, but each of them were serious attempts. You have no idea how far my father's arm can reach. If I want to get away, I have to literally convince him that I'm dead. But that's another matter," she said crisply, getting control of herself again. "We have more important matters to handle here than my sordid past. The problem is, we can't tackle them right at the moment."

"I take it you want time to think about it?" Tarrin asked.

She nodded. "This is pretty complex, and besides, I haven't really had time to settle in yet. I need to identify the agents that both the Tower and my father have watching me, so I'll know who to misdirect when the time comes to start getting serious. That, and the Brat Princess can be very useful in gathering information. You wouldn't believe how talkative some people can get when they think that you have no idea what they're talking about." She chuckled to herself, then cleared her throat. "We'll just have to wait for a while, until we've had time to come up with some ideas about how to go about this, and I've managed to gather up some information. In the meantime, we go on as if this conversation never happened," she told them. "That means that once we leave here, I'll be the Brat Princess again."

"I understand," Allia said. "I'll do my best not to kill you."

Keritanima laughed. "I appreciate that," she drawled. "You can hit, just be gentle."

"I can knock you down without so much as mussing your fur, shaida ," Allia smiled.

Keritanima all but glowed. "And may I call you shaida ?" she asked in a strangely formal, tentative voice. As if she was afraid of the answer.

"I would be honored," Allia returned, standing up and putting her hand on Keritanima's cheek. Keritanima gave her a shy smile, then blinked. "Uh, I have to go. They'll be looking for me soon, and I can only say I was lost in the gardens for so long before it becomes illogical."

"Alright," Tarrin said, standing up. "How will we tell you-"

"I'm a fast learner," she said. "Isn't that such a lovely statue?" she asked, staring at it again. "And look, roses. They're so thick and well tended. By the way, I'm pretty sure that they'll be following me, watching me, writing down everything I say, and probably inspecting my dirty shifts. I think you two should expect the same kind of treatment, so be very careful. The only reason I've gone against my every instinct about speaking frankly in an open area is because the place seems to be very well hidden, and it's too soon for them to really set up their eavesdropping network."

"It is," Tarrin agreed.

"This is the only place where we can talk freely," Allia added.

"Good. Now, just for my own sanity, please keep my indignities to a relatively low level," she grinned. "The Brat Princess is afraid of Tarrin, and of you, but that makes her angry, so she'll overcome it eventually and start in on you. You'll have to chastise me occasionally, but please keep it to a level where they don't have to call in a healer. What Tarrin did to me keeps him off of my list for almost a good month," she grinned.

"What did you do to her?" Allia asked.

"I didn't tell you?" She shook her head. "Huh. I threw her into the bathing pool."

"So? That doesn't seem so frightening."

"He threw me into the hot end," she shuddered. "And threatened to kill me if I bothered him again."

Allia laughed. "Yes, I can see how that would be memorable. That water gets hot towards the far end."

"I think it boiled some of the fur off my tail," she said absently, bringing her tail around and stroking the fur meticulously. "Anyway, let's concentrate on ideas about how to solve these problems. And I think we should start making plans for leaving."

"Why?"

"A wise person always plans for the worst," she told them. "If the answers we get upset us that much, or we find out that they just wanted us to sacrifice us on some altar or something, we may decide that we like it better somewhere else. One thing that we should keep in mind is that, when we leave, the Tower will come after us. So we should learn everything we can about Sorcery. It may be useful."

"So, you're saying that for now, we should concentrate on Sorcery."

"More or less," she agreed. "We still have the problems to solve, though, so keep part of your mind on that problem. I have to go," she said quickly. "They'll be looking for me, and probably for you two as well. Give me about ten minutes, then you may want to drift out yourselves. I think we can set up another meeting relatively easily," she smiled.

He nodded. "Be careful, shaida ," Allia told her.

"I'm always careful," she said quickly, then she flashed Allia and Tarrin that toothy grin. "Can I leave on my own, or do you want to boot me over the top this time?" she asked Tarrin.

Tarrin laughed. "I think you can find the way out," he told her.

"I'm so glad," she grinned, then she turned and threaded her way through the choking branches. Tarrin noticed that she did so without so much as shivering the leaves.

"An interesting woman," Allia said after she was gone. "She has a great deal of anger, and pain."

"I can imagine, growing up being afraid of your own sisters," he sighed. "I couldn't imagine Jenna trying to kill me."

"She's strong, though," Allia said, tapping her cheek with a long, delicate finger. "And full of surprises. She had me totally fooled."

"Yes, but I think she fools everyone, deshida . She had me fooled, until she slipped up."

"I think we're lucky that she trusts us with her secret, and that she agrees about what you had to say."

"I'm sorry I didn't discuss it with you first, my sister-"

"You didn't have time, my brother," she cut him off, putting her hand on his arm. "I realized that this is what you wanted to talk to me about. Well, you did so, with Keritanima here too."

Tarrin chuckled. "She certainly took us in hand," he said ruefully. "I almost feel used."

Allia laughed. "She was just taking command of a situation she could easily understand," she told him. "That, and no matter what she says, she is a Princess. Even the intelligent Keritanima is used to being obeyed. We may have to break her of that."

"Now that, I'll pay to see," Tarrin grinned at Allia.

"You may be doing the breaking," she pointed out.

"Then it won't cost me that much," he said. They waited in silence for a few moments. "Go ahead and drift out, my sister. I'm going to sneak out the other way."