Dragon Bones (Hurog #1)(69)

If he'd met Ward just this week, he might have liked him. Yesterday over dinner, Ward told the story of how he'd escaped Hurog and reduced the whole table to tears of mirth - even Alizon. Lying now in the dimness of the tent, Beckram doubted any of it had been funny at the time. The whole lot of Ward's band looked worse for wear, their clothes not much more than well-mended rags.

"Beckram!" called a familiar voice outside his tent.

"Kirkovenal?" The Direwolf's second son was one of Beckram's few real friends, so he sat up instead of sending him away as he would have anyone else. "Come in."

Kirkovenal stepped into the tent and tied the flap closed behind him. His red hair had been recently shorn in the traditional Oranstonian manner, leaving a pale strip of skin above both ears.

"Someone told me your cousin was here," he said abruptly.

"That's right." Beckram crossed his legs and gestured for Kirkovenal to sit beside him. "And it appears my uncle's death left Ward strangely recovered from his mental affliction."

"What's he doing with Ciernack's Bastilla?"

Beckram snapped his fingers. "That's where I'd seen her before. I don't think I ever knew her name."

"So what's she doing with Ward?"

Beckram frowned at his friend's obvious agitation. "You knew Ward lost Hurog because he tried to stop Garranon from taking back one of Ciernack's slaves."

"Bastilla was that slave?" Kirkovenal sounded dumbfounded, as if it had never occurred to him.

"It's not as if Ciernack has more than ten or twelve," Beckram said. "What's wrong?"

The Oranstonian rubbed his hands over his face. "Did you ever pay attention to what went on in Ciernack's tavern? Did you notice how many of the patrons were Oranstonian?"

Beckram shook his head. "But now that I think on it..."

"I didn't notice either," confessed Kirkovenal. "Not until Garranon cornered me a couple of years ago. He told me that since I was determined to drink myself to death, I might as well make myself useful while I did it. It was he who pulled together what Ciernack's game was."

"Ciernack's working with the Oranstonian rebels?" guessed Beckram.

"No." Kirkovenal's voice was low. "He's working for Vorsag."

"What?" Beckram shook his head to see if that helped connect a wild bunch of useless Oranstonian lordlings with Vorsag.

"Who do the Oranstonian lords hate more than Vorsag?" asked Kirkovenal.

"The Tallven," answered Beckram instantly. "Siphern guard me - Do you mean that we have Oranstonians helping the Vorsag?"

Kirkovenal shook his head. "Not as you mean it, anyway. Think about the men at Ciernack's. They're all like me - orphans of the Rebellion with no power, not even over our own estates. They don't have the ability to help the Vorsag. But some of them might not mind giving information."

"But you were talking about Bastilla."

To Beckram's surprise, Kirkovenal gave him a sick smile. "Yes, I was. Because I was working for Garranon, I paid attention to what went on at Ciernack's. And I noticed a few things. Bastilla is a mage."

Beckram nodded. "That's what Ward says, too."

"Didn't you ever wonder how a mage got to be a slave? I did. And I noticed that Ciernack never gave her an order, never crossed her in any way."

"All right," said Beckram. "I didn't notice her much one way or the other. I'll accept your word that Bastilla was an unusual slave, but I don't see what has you so upset about her being with Ward."

"Do you like your cousin?" he asked.

Beckram laughed shortly. "I was just wondering that myself, but I think the answer might be yes."

"Do you remember Paulon?"

"The lad who was killed by robbers in Shadetown last year? Of course I do."

"About a month before he died, he approached me at my apartments. He was three sheets to the wind, and it was only midmorning. I cleaned him up and found a spare bed for him, but before he passed out, he told me that Bastilla had raped and tortured him." Kirkovenal shut his mouth abruptly and looked away. "I didn't believe him - he was drunk. Who's ever heard of a man being raped by a woman?"

Beckram was so sensitized to guilt that he could read it in someone else at fifty paces. "You think he was killed deliberately? Because he told you that Bastilla had hurt him?"

Kirkovenal smiled tightly, released it, and drew a shaky breath. "I think someone, maybe Paulon himself, told her that he'd talked to me. The last time I went to Ciernack's - "

Abruptly, he surged to his feet, hands clenched at his side. "I haven't told anyone this. I don't know if..." He began pacing back and forth. "Did I ever tell you that your cousin did me a good turn once? I was in Shadetown and ran into a few thugs looking for easy money. One of them knocked me to my knees, and the next thing I know, the whole alley is full of motionless lumps. Your cousin patted me on my head and asked if I'm dead."

Kirkovenal stopped, his back toward Beckram. "I went to Ciernack's shortly after Paulon died. I didn't think there was any connection because I still didn't believe Paulon's story. The next thing I knew...I, she..." Kirkovenal stumbled to a halt. He grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up, turning so his back was to Beckram.