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her country of Lome to a position of immense wealth and power in Pandahem. She was possessed of
witch-like powers  or so it was said. Why did she tell me this? Was it even true?
 It is true, Dray Prescot.
I sat up.
 No, I cannot read your mind. But I can divine much that is in a man s heart. So I would not attempt to
seduce you, for I know of your passion for Delia, the Princess Majestrix.
 I said nothing.
Then, out of deviltry, I said:  And if that were not so and if you loved the emperor as you claim, would
you try to seduce me?
Frankly, her violet eyes bearing down on me, she said:  Yes. I would. If by doing so I could help the
emperor. Believe me.
I rubbed my chin. I needed a shave. I said:  When we met  when I fell through your palanquin awning,
you did not much like me and, I confess, I did not much care for you. Why do you seek me out to tell me
this? Then, thinking I understood, I added:  I shall not stand in your way. I should be glad if the emperor
wed again and brought forth a whole regiment of princes and princesses 
 It is not that.
 Perhaps, Queen Lush, you had better tell it all to me.
I used the name without thinking  and she amazed me by smiling.  From you, Dray Prescot, that
comes as a declaration of intent.
 There is nothing wrong with the name Queen Lush. Anyway, it suits you. Names are more important on
Kregen than most folk care to admit 
 Yes. Oh, yes!
That surprised me. So, ignoring a sudden wash of unease, I told her to spit it out and have done.
 It is not easy. Promise me you will remember that I truly love the emperor?
 If you like.
 I know you, Dray Prescot, know far more of you than you can possibly dream  so that answer will
suffice. I know of you  She held up her hand to stop me asking her how she thought she knew so
damn much about me, and she rushed on now, in full spate, getting it all out.  The Crimson Bowmen.
Their defeat was horrible. How do you think their enemy from Hamal knew the plans, knew what the
Vallian army would do? How was it that the Hamalese lay in wait and slew and slew? She nodded and I
reached over and gripped her wrist. Her flesh was like ice.  Yes, Dray Prescot, yes! I told them. I, the
Queen of Lome, through my occult arts, I told the Hamalese all the secrets of the emperor s plans, and
the army was destroyed and the blood flowed, and 
I slapped her face.
When she calmed down  but only a little, for the situation was fraught and she was in a sprung-steel
state of nervous excitement and remorse, I told her to tell me the rest.
 The Hamalese conquered Pandahem as you know and Queen Thyllis slew my father. But at the Battle
of Jholaix the Vallians conquered and Pandahem once more threw off the yoke of Hamal. But new
enemies arose. Far more powerful. She wrenched away and stood up. Her long white gown glimmered
in the dim, tapestry-hung room. She began to walk up and down, jerkily, her hands now clasped
together, now raised to heaven, her lovely face passionate with remembered terror, a drugged horror that
turned her violet eyes into shadowed deeps.  I must tell you, for you are the man to support the emperor
now and the southwest will rally to him, and the islands, and we can still win, still win against  She
faltered, and that lissom body drooped.
 Who made you betray the Vallian army?
 I think  I think, Dray Prescot, you know.
She turned away, half-fainting with her emotions; but I made no move to assist her. A shadow moved in
the doorway at my side and I held up my hand to the emperor, a commanding gesture that would
ordinarily have sent him flying into a rage; but he looked long at Queen Lush and listened to her, and the
old devil remained silent, a shadow among shadows of the bedchamber.
Speaking in as soothing a voice as I could manage, I said:  Lome has become rich and splendid since
you took the throne. Is this also the work of he who now owns you?
Her shoulders trembled.  Yes. The whisper barely reached.
 In return for all he has done for Lome, with you as queen, he demanded you come to Vallia, seduce the
emperor, gain his confidence  and then betray him?
 Yes.
The emperor moved and I reached out my hand and grasped his forearm, and gripped enough so that he
understood. Truly, the times had wrought on him. He stood, a bleak dark statue, in the shadows of the
bed at my side, and, together, we listened as Queen Lushfymi of Lome choked out her confession.
Phu-si-Yantong.
She had never met him. But his agents and his own lupal projection had convinced her. The terrors she
felt were reflected palely in her stammering voice. Yantong had moved into Pandahem in the wake of the
dissolution of the Hamalese armies and in his own surreptitious, cunning, devious ways had exerted his
own authority. His puppets now occupied the thrones of the kingdoms of Pandahem.
A fleeting twinge of guilt at thought of Tilda and Pando passed across my mind; but that was of and for
another time. Here and now the dark and treacherous scheme to destroy Vallia was being revealed to us.
 See! cried Queen Lush, her laugh too close to hysteria for my liking. She drew from her sleeve a black
feather.  See! I was prepared to make the emperor a convert to the Great Chyyan; but you, Dray
Prescot, destroyed that scheme. Now my master sends warriors to do his work. She blew the black
feather from her. It gyrated and was lost in the shadows. She laughed again, the hysteria hideously near,
so near as to be madness. Her glimmering form moved in the shaded lamplight of the bedchamber.
Silently, the emperor stood at my side, watching and listening.
Queen Lush drew from the bosom of her dress a dagger, sheathed, ornate, crusted with gems, the style [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]