Chapter Three #2
Indeed, Tas nodded and took his own chair.
He unclasped the furred cloak from around his neck and let it fall to the floor.
He wore a formal tunic of boar skin and pushed up the sleeves over his freckled forearms. The lines on his face seemed to have grown deeper overnight, although Cador knew that wasn’t so.
Cador slid the cup toward him. “You need this more than I do.”
Tas chuckled and drank. “Perhaps. It’s good to have a moment to ourselves, although we should return to the feast soon.” He took another drink, then slumped in the chair. “I wish there was another way.”
“Are you sure there isn’t?” Although it was a little late now that Cador was married to the tiny prince.
“Time is running out. We came in peace. We followed the clerics’ rules and tried to establish trade with the mainland.
With Ebrenn. Subjected ourselves to more sermons on the gods than anyone should have to sit through.
They preach harmony and pious devotion to their gods, but make no mistake, my son.
” Tas clenched his hand into a fist, his voice low.
“It’s control they’re after. If we reveal our weakness, they will exploit it.
Before we know it, they’ll be building their damn temples on Ergh. ”
“Even if we told them the true reason for needing Ebrenn’s resource?”
“They will use it to their advantage! Already some of our people turn back to the gods in despair. We’ve allowed the clerics to visit in the past because they were never a threat to our way of life.
They brought us valuable news of the mainland, and their attempts to convince us to follow their teachings were like flicking away gnats.
But if we allow the clerics to put down roots, they will poison Ergh day by day. ”
Yet doing nothing would lead to Ergh’s demise just as surely. Slowly. Agonizingly. Cador was glad he hadn’t had the rest of the mead as he tasted bile. He couldn’t bear to think of the suffering, locking up that part of his mind and throwing away the key.
For now, he must do his part. As much as he hated this farce of a marriage. As much as he hated that it would all end in war. Ergh’s need was great—its burden unbearable—but the price of war would not be cheap.
Cador ventured, “Perhaps it would be a sacrifice we can accept to have temples on Ergh. If the clerics could convince Ebrenn to trade…”
Tas shook his head. “Now that you’re here on the mainland yourself, surely you see the disdain Ebrenn’s king has for us?
More than disdain. Hatred. Suspicion. Contempt.
We’ve tried to approach him in friendship and establish fair trade.
He’s sneered in response. His stubborn arrogance will be his downfall. ”
Tas had been accused of stubborn arrogance himself from time to time, but Cador quashed that traitorous thought. He couldn’t argue that he wanted to bring Ebrenn’s haughty king down to size. But at what cost? “Surely if we give Ebrenn a better price on fish and boar—”
“They have their own fish. A long coastline and warm, teeming seas. They don’t need our catch.
Or our boar, at least not at what it’s worth.
Even if they did want it, they don’t need it.
There’s a difference. They refuse to trade fairly, and whether it’s stubbornness or hatred for us doesn’t matter. ”
“But if we drop the cost—”
“We starve.” Tas opened his weathered hands, palms up.
“If we lower the price of boar, we must increase hunting. If we kill too many, the boar will disappear. You know how rare the blonek are now. We hunted too many for their pelts. If the boar die out, Ergh will follow. Our waters provide us enough fish for now. Our few crops suffice. It is a balance, and it has already been vitally disrupted.”
The hair on the back of Cador’s neck stood. “But…we have never wanted for food. What I mean is, we’ve never gone hungry.”
“Not yet.”
“Is there nothing else we can barter? We must keep the blonek pelts for ourselves, but what of our wool?”
“They have plenty of their own. Meanwhile, we must restore balance to Ergh.”
Cador shifted on his stone chair uneasily. He tried for a joke. “If you keep talking of balance, I’ll start to think the clerics have gotten under your skin after all.”
Tas barked a laugh. “Throw me to the depths of the Askorn Sea before that happens, I beg. You see how they preach unity and make it sound pretty, but the clerics are not to be underestimated. It’s their power they protect.
They would make slaves of us to get us under their thumb.
The mainland would benefit, of course, but the clerics do nothing without benefiting themselves. ”
Cador exhaled in disgust. Still, the worry nagged. “But if we go to war and lose—”
“We cannot lose.” Tas thumped the table with his fist. “We’ve been patient.
Our strategy must be one for long-term success.
Yet how can we keep waiting at such a cost?
If we admit our need to Ebrenn, the king will only tighten his grip.
His prices will soar. And now, the Southern queen’s quarrel with Ebrenn is ready to boil over. It’s the perfect opportunity.”
“Even if innocent people die in a war with Ebrenn? Even if—”
“The war is looming with or without us. With our help, it will be quick. The South will bring the East. Ebrenn will have no choice but to surrender. Then we will possess what we need. We have no quarrel with Ebrenn’s people. We will be fair. We will be just.”
“You make it sound so easy, but we’ve never actually been to war.”
Tas’s nostrils flared. “Nothing about this is easy. Ask your brother how easy these years have been!”
Shame sliced him, as red hot as the brand had been. “Forgive me.”
Tas sighed, giving Cador’s forearm a brief squeeze.
“Of course, my son. And you’re right, Ergh has been able to stay away from Onan for centuries.
We’ve had no wars to wage.” He sat straighter, his voice a growl.
“But we are warriors. Make no mistake. We must fight for our children’s future, even if that means spilling blood in the meantime.
Ebrenn holds the key, and they will never give it freely. ”
It was Cador’s turn to slump. “You truly think war is inevitable?”
“Even if I let the clerics build their temples on Ergh—let them spread their devotion to gods that don’t exist—they will not be able to convince Ebrenn to help us.
The clerics think too fucking highly of themselves.
We’ve seen enough of the West and its king to know it’s useless.
We must act and join forces with the Southern queen.
When I met with her upon our arrival and she suggested this union, I knew it was the moment we’ve waited for.
Which brings us here to your wedding day. ”
“It does.” Cador reached for the cup and drained the dregs.
“My son.” Tas watched him seriously. “Do you regret it already?”
“Of course not.” His branded palm ached, but he ignored it.
“It’s meaningless. I’d rather not be burdened with him until the time comes, but it’s my duty.
” He’d feign displeasure tomorrow as if he didn’t know the plan was to travel to Ergh with his new husband.
It might help Prince Jowan trust him if he believed Cador was as pitifully ignorant as he was.
“He seems a meek sort. I’m sure you’ll barely notice him. It’s only several months until you’re due to return for the Feast of the Blood Moon.”
At least five, but who’s counting.
Cador didn’t voice the sulky thought. “And what do you think the clerics have in mind? It was surely they who initially proposed this union between Ergh and Neuvella.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’ve cooked up something. But they’ve provided us an ideal opportunity to align with the queen. The ideal opportunity to exploit her weakness. We must act.”
“You’re sure the kidnapping won’t be blamed on us?”
“I’m sure. Our spies will pose as Westerners and snatch him on your journey back to the Holy Place for the feast. You’ll be duly outraged as you demand vengeance. In the meantime, I have the opportunity to grow closer with the queen now that our families are bonded. We’ll declare war together.”
“You’re sure the queen will join us?”
“Absolutely. As I said, she’s perched on the blade’s edge. The spies I placed are certain. When she hears the West has kidnapped her favorite son to force her to redraw the border in Ebrenn’s favor, it will be the excuse she’s waited for. And Gwels will follow her—their bond is strong.”
“But what if Ebrenn’s king denies it?”
“Of course he’ll deny it, but by that point, it’ll be too late. When the queen receives her dearest child’s hand severed in a box, she will act.”
Cador remembered Jem’s small hand gripped in his own, their brands fresh and oozing. “I do pity him,” he admitted, glad Bryok wasn’t there to hear.
Tas’s mouth pulled down. “Yes, he’s an innocent in all this.” Waving dismissively, he added, “He won’t be harmed otherwise.”
Having one’s hand chopped off was a damn big exception, but the prince’s fate had been determined. It wasn’t Cador’s doing. It was the cost of war. The cost of ensuring Ergh’s future.
“You’re sure Jowan’s the favorite?” The queen’s other children seemed far more useful than the daydreaming youngest.
“Quite. She’d never admit it, but what parent would?” He smiled wryly, and Cador’s heart skipped.
Tas leaned forward and grasped Cador’s uninjured hand. “You must know you’ve made your father and I proud beyond measure. You always have.” His blue eyes so much like Cador’s shone with tears. “If he were here with us, I know he’d say the same.”
Lungs tight as his heart seemed to triple in size, Cador could only nod. He could almost imagine Father watching them from a place with the gods, even though he’d never believed such fantasies.
Yes, he’d do his duty and mind the little prince until the kidnapping. Father was gone, but he’d make Tas even prouder if it was the last thing he did.
*
Cador belched.