Raven's Strike (Raven #2)(124)

"You are my tie to life and without you I will cease to exist, my vengeance unsatisfied."

"Bringing Tier and the Ravens here might save my life," he suggested.

"Not directly," answered the Memory. "If I could feel sorrow or regret, it would be for this. However, I will come with you and save you if it is possible for me to do so."

"Better than nothing," said Phoran. He put a hand on the rail that edged the stairway winding around the tower. "Let's go."

The tower was fifty or sixty feet tall, and when he was halfway up he slowed to a walk. He wanted to be rested when he reached the top. The Memory had not followed him up, but he trusted it would keep its word to help and give him another weapon against the Shadowed.

Near the top of the stairs, he slowed further, his sword in hand. Not that he expected his sword would do him much good against a wizard who could freeze him with a word, but the familiar grip felt reassuring.

He stopped before the guardroom came into view and crouched, listening. From where he stood, Phoran could see out over the city to the river they'd crossed to enter Colossae's valley.

"Have some tea, child, you'll feel better."

"No, thank you," said Rinnie in a polite but extremely firm voice.

Willon laughed. Phoran closed his eyes against that laughter because it reminded him of the affection he'd always had for the old man who came to Taela two or three times a year to visit Master Emtarig, for the man who always took time to share a story or two, who always had some exotic sweet for a lonely boy emperor. It had been Willon who had made his uncle's funeral bearable for Phoran. He'd taken Phoran's hand and said quietly, "Your uncle loved you, boy, for all that he wasn't the sort of man to say so. He told me he thought you would be a great emperor."

All the while it was Willon's machinations that had caused Phoran's uncle's death - and Phoran's father's death, a man Phoran vaguely remembered as the smell of horse and fresh air, and as the feel of strong arms hoisting him onto a shoulder. There was a portrait of Phoran's father hanging in the art gallery in the palace, but the painting was of a stranger with Phoran's nose and fine, midbrown hair.

"My father will see you dead," Rinnie said. It wasn't the most wise thing she could have said, Phoran thought.

"You've said that before, and it becomes tedious. The fact of the matter is that Tier is a Bard. He is a fine Bard. Over the years I've heard many Bards sing, and none was as good as your father." Willon's voice lowered and became cruel. "But a Bard is no match for me. He can't sing me to death, Rinnie. He can't touch me. And as long as I have you, neither can your mother or the Raven."

"People worry about my mother," said Rinnie, sounding far more adult than a child of ten should be able to. "And they should worry. My mother says people underestimate my father. They see the entertainer, the singer, the cheerful, easy-tempered man; and they don't realize that all of that hides something different. When my mother was a girl her whole clan died except for her and her brother. Then her brother died, too. She told me that after all of that, the only safety that she could find was in my father's arms. Remember, remember that the Raven ran to my father for safety."

The wind had picked up, Phoran noticed, as it blew chill and strong on the back of his neck.

"I remember," said Willon, dismissively. "I was there, and I remember a woman little more than a child who looked to an adult man to take care of her. A Bard is a record keeper, child. His duty in the clan is to keep their secrets and to remind them of what they once were. Tier is a Bard."

"My father is a Bard," agreed Rinnie softly. "But he is not only a Bard."

There was the sound of flesh on flesh that brought Phoran to his feet and moving.

"Do not play games with me child," said Willon. "Sit and be quiet."

Phoran moved as quietly as he could, and he was rewarded by the sight of Willon's back not four feet from him. Rinnie was on the ground, her face already bruising from her treatment at Ielian's hands. Blood dripped from what looked, to Phoran's barroom-brawl-educated eye as a fresh split in her lip.

But Willon turned before Phoran could attack, and he smiled. "I thought it was about time for you to arrive. Tell me, where is my Ielian?"

If a lie would have won them anything, Phoran would have lied. "Dead," he said.

Willon's face hardened. "Pity. He was useful to me."

"How did you hide him from Jes and Lehr?" Phoran asked. "They can feel the taint of shadow." Keep him talking, Phoran thought, let Rinnie gather her storm. He didn't look at Rinnie again after that first, anxious glance. He wanted to keep Willon's attention on him.

"He wasn't tainted," said Willon. "I did not have to do anything to make him mine. He was one of those who is drawn to the power of the Stalker, the power of destruction. I have others, but he was a promising boy, deserving of the rewards I cannot give him now."

Phoran snorted and walked toward the open half to look over the thigh-high stone wall that was all that stood between him and the bottom of the cliffs. "He was no proper servant for a man like me or even like you. He didn't obey orders - he killed the dog and Rufort. If he hadn't done that, likely I wouldn't have been able to break your illusion."