Page 42

J ai waited, his Great Council assembled before him. Every household had a representative here, filling the tent. Even outside, hundreds gathered, their ears pressed to the canvas. He felt like a doll, upon that throne. Feng and Harleen asked Teji’s old servants to his tent, and they had worked through the night. So much had they hated the old khan, they had refused payment.

Now Jai was as primped and gaudy as a pleasure garden’s peacock, down to the royal blues that draped him, and the whorls of red henna upon his face and hands. It all felt ostentatious, a puppet show of grandeur, but it was a show he had to perform nonetheless.

Before him, the assembled council watched in expectant silence. Old and young, men and women, each member was a leader in their own right, representatives of the diverse banners under Jai’s rule. In this way, every family had a voice, and Jai could address all his people from the confines of his tent. Their eyes weighed heavy on him, gazes filled with expectation.

Few among them knew more than what they had heard. Rumours abounded, and Harleen had given him an overview from what her people had told her.

They had done all he’d asked, and they’d seen the profit in it. There had been anger, even calls to usurp him, when the Valor had arrived. But now, after Teji’s defeat, and having celebrated with some of these so-called Tainted, who had saved them from a bitter civil war, the tide was turning.

True, there were some discontents, but Jai knew they would come around. They’d have to. Now he had to focus on the task at hand. It was a risk to do this so publicly. Indeed, Feng had hoped to keep this quiet. But Jai knew that this was the only place that he could speak with the Valor without weapons drawn on either side.

And then they came. Sindri and Zayn, walking in together, most of the Valor along with them. Zayn walked with confidence and an unmistakable air of authority, all eyes on him as he ducked into the tent.

Sindri, on the other hand, moved with quiet determination, her eyes meeting Jai’s in a silent promise, almost apologetic in their bearing. They made their way to the front of the council, the sea of representatives parting to allow them passage.

‘Sindri and Zayn of the Valor,’ Feng said, his voice resonating throughout the tent. ‘You stand before the Kidaran Great Council. You have asked for this audience. It is so granted.’

Zayn did not stand on ceremony, ignoring Feng and speaking directly to Jai.

‘We had an agreement that once Teji was no longer a danger, I could leave, and take any who would follow me, without blood, or flesh, or gold as payment.’

Jai steepled his fingers, and nodded.

‘I did.’

‘Teji is vanquished,’ Zayn said. ‘So I take my leave.’

He began to turn his back, to gasps from the watching Kidara. Turning your back upon a khan was an insult, let alone in the Great Council.

‘Stop,’ Jai snapped, before the insult was complete. ‘That is for me to decide.’

Jai saw the man’s jaw flexing as he turned back, a finger in the air.

‘Will you deny it?’ Zayn growled.

‘Watch your tone,’ Jai said. ‘I am your khan until I release you. If you will hold me to your terms, then I will hold you to mine.’

Zayn let his finger fall, and crossed his arms.

‘Teji may rise again,’ Jai said. ‘He has the gold, and the people. Why, there is nothing stopping him from hiring five hundred mercenaries and returning here. Or buying as many khiroi from some gold-hungry tribe, and mounting another attack.’

There was murmuring from the onlookers, and Jai cursed his loose tongue. He did not want to sow fear, but he had to speak the truth.

‘That is your doing,’ Zayn snarled back. ‘You had him in your grasp, yet you chose to let him go. All to keep me in bondage.’

Jai could practically feel the spittle against his face as Zayn sprayed the final words, but he held his nerve. The man had worked himself into a rage, and Jai intended to use it.

‘Oh yes,’ Jai said, letting the sarcasm drip from his words. ‘When I was winning us an army’s worth of khiroi and blades and the return of half my nobles, without a drop of blood spilled, I was really thinking about keeping you , Zayn. You think much of yourself.’

‘Bastard!’ Zayn snarled. ‘Half-blooded, riteless cur.’

Jai’s guards stepped forward, hands upon their blades, but Jai held up a hand.

‘Did you swear loyalty to me?’ Jai said, addressing not just Zayn, but his men behind him. ‘Or do you not keep your oaths?’

Zayn looked around him, breathing deeply, and realising he had stepped too far. Had Teji been khan, Jai was sure Zayn would have been cut down where he stood. As it was, the Valor’s fingers strayed to their empty scabbards.

‘I did,’ Zayn allowed. ‘And I expect you to keep yours.’

‘The Tejinder threat is in hand,’ Jai said. ‘Even if he returned, we have more than enough khiroi, blades and fighting men to defeat him.’

‘So you admit it!’ Zayn said, triumphant.

‘I do,’ Jai said. ‘But I have a question.’

‘Ask it,’ Zayn said.

‘It is not to you, but to the people of the Valor.’

Jai almost stood, but held himself back. The throne was a powerful symbol and he would use it to its full effect.

‘You stand here, today, richer. Every one of you rides a Kidaran khiro, bred from the bloodstocks denied you for centuries.’

He could see nods from the Valor, some grinning at his acknowledgement of their gain. Just as he could sense the anger from the Kidara.

One thing at a time.

‘Your purses are heavy with gold, now that you can trade freely. Do not forget my intervention to make sure you were paid fairly.’

Zayn stared at Jai, his brow furrowed. He could not yet see Jai’s strategy. Good.

‘In one night, you were given everything you ever wanted, and more. Not a drop of Valor blood was spilled. You are now part of a Great Tribe, and none but our enemies will call you Tainted. I ask you... why are you so desperate to leave?’

‘Because we are Valor,’ Zayn snapped. ‘Because we kneel for no man!’

But Jai’s words were having an effect. He could see men and women murmuring. Zayn may kneel for no man, but his soldiers... they had something to consider now.

‘Therein lies the heart of it!’ Jai retorted. ‘Zayn would be khan. His choice is to serve his own ambitions. And you follow, because you know no other way.’

‘Lies,’ Zayn said, fingers curling into fists.

‘You all know me!’ Jai called, above the rising voices. ‘And I know you. Sindri has led you well, but I know you live in fear of tribes that hunt you, like the Keldar. Any day, you might be subsumed by a larger tribe, or sold as fettered to the Phoenix Empire. Tell me that isn’t what you’ve lived with your entire lives?’

None could deny it, and so he pressed.

‘With me, you are the hunters.’

Zayn was turning now, trying to quell the tide of dissent behind him.

‘He is a riteless coward,’ he crowed. ‘Come begging for us to save him, in the dead of night. He shirks the glory of battle.’ He spun back around. ‘Tell us then, my so-called khan. Who shall we hunt?’

It was cleverly done, and Jai cursed beneath his breath, such that Winter, crouched by his side, lay a head upon his lap. But she didn’t know that while this wasn’t exactly how he wanted to announce this, he did have an answer.

All the room looked to him, expectant. Sindri, her gaze fixed upon his own, nodded ever so slightly.

‘The Keldar,’ Jai announced.

Zayn clearly didn’t expect him to have an answer. The rest of the tent clearly didn’t know what to make of it. Jai ploughed on in the wake of the confused silence.

‘They are among the largest tribes of the Tainted, are they not?’ Jai said. ‘Long rivals of the Valor. It was not so long ago that they hunted you. I remember, because I held the line along with you, standing in your front ranks.’

Zayn scoffed. ‘The Valor need not become your servants to defeat the Keldar.’

He thumped his chest, turning to his warriors. ‘We will thrash them ourselves!’ he bellowed.

‘How?’ Jai asked swiftly, curtailing any response from the Valor. ‘What will you become, if you leave with Zayn?’ he gestured beyond to the families crowded there. ‘Twenty, thirty riders? Easy prey for even the smallest of tribes. How many years will it take for you to become the force you once were?’

‘You jest,’ Zayn said, letting out an exaggerated laugh. ‘All of the Valor will come with me.’

‘You seem quite sure of that. And yet you do not speak for them,’ Jai retorted. ‘You are not their khan, nor ever were. Their oaths are to Sindri. Sindri, what say you?’

Sindri now met Jai’s eyes, her gaze almost meek, but what came out of her mouth were words of confidence.

‘I will remain with Jai and the Kidara. I care little for the title of khan. I care only for the betterment of those beneath my banner.’

Zayn turned upon her, his hands clenched. But Sindri stood firm, met his gaze.

‘If you wish to leave, then do so, brother,’ Sindri said, her voice high and clear. ‘Long have you allowed your ambition to cloud the love you hold for our people. For me . So leave. But know I will not come with you. And I will implore my people to follow my example.’

Jai held his breath, as Zayn trembled with rage. Only the gaze of the onlookers seemed to prevent him from striking.

‘Go,’ Jai commanded.

His words seemed to snap Zayn into action.

‘Those who stay are dead to me,’ he growled. ‘Those who follow shall ride to glory.’

It was a weak finish. But as the big man pushed his way through, out of the tent, some twenty men and women followed, even as their comrades pulled on their clothing, imploring they remain.

In the final moments, some ten more followed, regretful, still calling to their friends, their families. Jai’s heart hurt at the sight. But this was not of his making.

Thirty warriors. Fewer than Jai had dared hope. But still more than he could afford.

‘Kneel!’ Feng said, his voice ringing out across the crowded room.

The Valor stared, until Sindri led by example, falling to one knee with her head bowed. In the sight of the Kidara, Feng began to recite the blood oath that would bind Sindri, and the Valor to his cause.

Another bloodless victory.

This one felt much more hollow, though.