The Traitor Queen (The Traitor Spy Trilogy #3)(78)
Achati nodded. “One that did not involve abduction, imprisonment, or worse. I took a risk that he would not keep to his word, however. The king thought it reckless, but was eventually persuaded that it was the best course of action.” He took a few steps closer. “You do understand that anything I do against the king’s wishes would eventually be discovered.”
Dannyl nodded. “Next time you wore his blood ring.”
“Yes. Initiative is a tricky issue for a king. When does it end and disobedience begin? There’s always the danger that knowing what the king needs is interpreted as presuming what the king wants.”
“Did the king get what he wanted?”
Achati’s shoulder’s lifted. “No. He got what he needed. Not everything Lorkin knew, but enough.”
“Lorkin betrayed the Traitors?” Tayend shook his head in disbelief.
“He didn’t think he had, I suspect.” Achati’s smile was thin. “He thought he had tricked us, but he told us a lot more than he realised.”
“What did he say?” Dannyl did not expect the Ashaki to answer. If the information was so important that the king had let Lorkin go …
“He told us where the Traitor home is, just as he said he would.”
Tayend narrowed his eyes. “He said something vague, like ‘in the mountains’?”
“No. He said ‘Sachaka’.”
Achati watched expectantly as Tayend turned to frown at Dannyl. Returning the Elyne’s gaze, Dannyl nodded in understanding.
“He revealed that the Traitors consider the whole country their rightful home,” he explained. “Which means their hope isn’t to remain hidden or become a separate people.” He turned to regard Achati. “Their hope is to, one day, rule Sachaka.”
“Ah,” Tayend said. “But that might not happen for years. And they may not win.”
“They won’t win,” Achati said firmly. “There can’t be as many of them living in the mountains as there are Sachakans in the lowlands. We are, by far, the greater force. Which is why their usual means of meddling in our affairs is through spying and assassination.” His expression became serious. “And that is why we have our own spies everywhere, including the Guild House – though we did not have many here before Lorkin’s abduction because we didn’t think the Traitors would be interested in Kyralians.”
Dannyl frowned at the open admission of spies in the Guild House.
“They are here for your safety,” Achati assured him. “Lorkin was a different matter, of course, but that’s over now. The king does not wish you harm. He does want good relations between the Allied Lands and Sachaka. As do I, since I enjoy your company.” He looked from Dannyl to Tayend, to indicate he included both of them. “I consider you both my friends.”
Tayend looked at Dannyl. His eyebrows rose slightly, then lowered as he smiled. There was a hint of mischief in his gaze. He turned back to Achati.
“Well then,” he said. “Would you like to stay for an evening drink? I don’t know about Dannyl, but I’d like to know more about your plans to thwart a Traitor uprising.”
Surprised, Dannyl could only nod to show he approved of the idea. What was Tayend up to? Was he gathering information, or planning to look for holes in Achati’s story, or test his declaration of friendship?
Though Dannyl knew he ought to do the same, he had to admit his heart was not in it. It was easier when I didn’t need to trust Achati. Though he had to admit it only made Dannyl admire Achati more, knowing that he had deftly steered everyone – Lorkin, Dannyl and Tayend, and the Sachakan king – to a solution that satisfied, if not pleased, them all.
Architecture was a subject that all novices learned, though most only received a basic training. Lilia had always thought it was a grand term for what was mostly a menial task for magicians. Few magicians designed buildings, and since the Ichani Invasion the popularity of buildings that relied on magic to stay up had diminished. Most magicians only used what they learned in architecture classes to safely fix structures or speed the construction of new ones.
Both kinds of work required an understanding of non-magical construction techniques. There was no point lifting wall and roof materials into place only to have them crashing down for lack of basic structural knowledge. A magician might also have to deal with a collapsing building, and need to know how best to support it.
Lilia was willing to bet that it had been a long time since any magician had worked on secret underground rooms. The walls Cery wanted her to strengthen were brick, not stone. Even without a layer of mortar between them, they wouldn’t bind together like stone did. They didn’t have the same property that allowed stone to be suffused with magic, either. Magic slowly leaked out of stone; whereas it dissipated quickly in bricks. Her only choice was to create a barrier at the surface of the bricks to support them.
Drawing magic, she created a dome of force, expanded it until it met the walls, then shaped it to fit the corners. She opened holes for the original door and for the newer hole she’d smashed through to the next room.
“Like the shield blocking the passage, I’ll have to hold this in place constantly,” she said. “It won’t be too hard if I stay close by. It’s strong enough to stop a collapse, but it won’t hold against a magical attack. If there’s pressure on it from above or an attack from below I should sense it.” She sighed and shook her head. “Just as well Kallen’s been teaching me how to draw power, and I haven’t been using it up in fighting practice. This is going to sap some of my strength.”