Harry Turtledove - The Thousand Cities

Ceremony nonetheless had to be observed. Abivard offered his cheek for the eunuch to kiss: Yeliif had influence but, because of his mutilation, not rank. Then Abivard stepped aside, saying, «Enter. Use these my rooms as your own while you are here.»

«You are gracious,» Yeliif said without sardonic overtones but also without warmth. «I have the honor to bring you a message from Sharbaraz King of Kings, may his years be many and his realm increase.»

«I am always glad to bask in the wisdom of the King of Kings,» Abivard answered. «What clever thought would he impart to me today?»

«The same thought he imparted to me not long ago,» Yeliif said; by his expression, he would sooner not have had that thought, whatever it was, thus imparted.

«Enlighten me, then, by all means,» Abivard said. He glanced over to Roshnani, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor by a window, quietly embroidering. Had she raised an eyebrow, he would have know he'd sounded sarcastic. Since she didn't, he supposed he'd gotten by with that.

«Very well,» the beautiful eunuch said. «Sharbaraz King of Kings, may his days be long and his realm increase, bade me tell you-and incidentally bade me bear in mind myself-that he requires Tzikas' service in the enterprise he has planned for the next campaigning season and that he forbids you either to harm Tzikas' person or to seek the Videssian's condemnation for any of the malfeasances he either has committed or may commit in future.»

«Of course I obey the King of Kings,» Abivard replied. Better than he deserves, too. «But Tzikas' obedience in such matters must be questionable at best. If he attacks me, am I to ignore it?»

«If he attacks you, his head shall answer for it,» Yeliif said. «So the King of Kings has ordered. So shall it be.»

«So shall it be,» Abivard echoed. If Sharbaraz really meant that-more to the point, if Sharbaraz convinced Tzikas he really meant that-all would be well. If not, the Videssian was already trying to find a way out of the order. Abivard would have bet on the latter.

«The King of Kings is most determined in this matter,» the eunuch said, perhaps thinking along with him, «and has made his determination perfectly clear to Tzikas.»

«Tzikas listens to Tzikas, no one else.» Abivard held up his hand before Yeliif could reply. «Never mind. He hasn't managed to kill me yet, no matter how often he's betrayed me. I expect I can survive him a while longer. What seems to matter here, though, is why Sharbaraz is insisting we both stay alive and don't try to do each other in. You've said you know.»

«I do,» Yeliif agreed. «And as I have also said before, it is not my place to enlighten you as to the intentions of the King of Kings. He shall do that himself when he judges the time ripe. Since I have delivered his message and been assured you understand it, I shall take my leave.» He did exactly that, sliding away as gracefully as an eel.

Abivard closed the door after him and turned to Roshnani. «So much for Dhegmussa,» he said with a shrug.

«Yeliif was right: the idea was worth trying,» she answered. They both paused in some surprise at the idea of admitting that the beautiful eunuch had been right about anything. Roshnani went on: «I wonder as much as you do about what's important enough to be worth keeping Tzikas alive. I can't think of anything that important.»

«This side of taking Videssos the city, neither can I,» Abivard said.

«If you couldn't take Videssos the city, Sharbaraz has to be mad to think Tzikas will be able to do it,» Roshnani said indignantly. Abivard pointed to the walls of their suite and then to the ceiling. He didn't know if Sharbaraz had placed listeners by the suite, but the King of Kings surely had done that the past two winters, so taking chances was foolish. Roshnani nodded, following what he'd meant. She went on, «The Videssians hate Tzikas, too, though, so I don't see how he'd be a help in taking their capital.»

«Neither do I,» Abivard said. Even if Sharbaraz wouldn't listen to Dhegmussa, his spies were going to get an earful of what Abivard thought of the renegade. Sooner or later, he kept telling himself, some dirt would have to stick to Tzikas. «They'd sooner kill him than me. I'm just an enemy, while he's a traitor.»

«A traitor to them, a traitor to us, a traitor to them again,» Roshnani said, getting into the spirit of the game. «I wonder when he'll betray us again.»

«First chance he gets, or I miss my bet,» Abivard answered. «Or maybe not-who knows? Maybe he'll wait till he can do us the most harm instead.»

They spent the next little while contentedly running down Tzikas. If the listeners in the walls were paying any attention, they could have brought Sharbaraz enough dirt for him to order Tzikas executed five or six times over. After a while, though, Abivard gave up. No matter what the listeners told Sharbaraz, he wasn't going to send Tzikas to the chopping block. He already had all the dirt he needed to order Tzikas executed. The trouble was, the King of Kings wanted the renegade alive so he could figure in his scheme, whatever it was.

Abivard sat down beside Roshnani and slipped an arm around her. He liked that for its own sake. It also gave him the chance to put his head close to hers and whisper, «Whatever plan Sharbaraz has, if it's for taking Videssos the city, it won't work. He can't make ships sprout from thin air, and he can't make Makuraners into sailors, either.»

«You don't need to tell me that,» she answered, also whispering. «Do you think you were the only one who looked out over the Cattle Crossing from Across at the city-» She dropped into Videssian for those words; to the imperials, their capital was the city, incomparably grander than all others."-on the far side?"

«I never caught you doing that,» he said.

She smiled. «Women do all sorts of things their husbands don't catch them doing. Maybe it comes from having spent so much time in the women's quarters-they're as much for breeding secrets as for breeding babies.»

«You've been out of the women's quarters since not long after we wed,» he said. «You needn't blame that for being sneaky.»

«I didn't intend 'blaming' it on anything,» Roshnani answered. «I'm proud of it. It's saved us a good deal of trouble over the years.»

«That's true.» Abivard lowered his voice even further. «If it weren't for you, Sharbaraz wouldn't be King of Kings now. He never would have thought of taking refuge in Videssos for himself-his pride ran too deep for that, even so long ago.»

«I know.» Roshnani let out a small, almost silent sigh. «Did I save us trouble there or cost us trouble?» The listeners, if there were any, could not have heard her; Abivard scarcely heard her himself, and his ear was close to her mouth. And having heard her, he had no idea what the answer to her question was. Time would tell, he supposed.

Sharbaraz King of Kings had enjoined Abivard from trying to dispose of Tzikas. From what Yeliif had said, Sharbaraz had also enjoined Tzikas from trying to get rid of him. He wouldn't have given a counterfeit copper for the strength of that last prohibition, though.

After that one near disaster at the feast the palace servitors did their best to ensure that Abivard and Tzikas did not come close to occupying the same space at the same time. Insofar as that meant keeping them far apart at ceremonial meals, the servitors' diligence was rewarded. But Abivard was free to roam the corridors of the palace. And so, however regrettable Abivard found the prospect, was Tzikas.

They bumped into each other three or four days after Yeliif had delivered the message from Sharbaraz ordering Abivard not to run down the Videssian renegade. Message or not, that was almost literally what happened. Abivard was hurrying down a passageway not far from his suite of rooms when Tzikas crossed his path. He stopped in a hurry. «I'm sor-» Tzikas began, and then recognized him. «You!»