Benne had been looking at the little flute. Now the man lifted his gaze to Taudde’s face and stared at him, motionless.
“What I ask in return,” Taudde told him, “is that you place service to me above any other loyalty you may owe elsewhere, until we depart Lirionne. I cannot guarantee I will be able to restore your voice. But I swear to you, if you pledge me what I ask, I will try.”
It took Benne a long moment to extract a paper from the packet, and when he did at last, his hand was shaking so that he tore it. When he wrote, he tore the paper again with the point of the quill pen.
The note read simply, For that chance, I will do anything.
Taudde shook his head immediately. “In Kalches, we hold that it’s perilous to make so broad a promise to anyone, and ill done to accept it. Make a narrower pledge, man. I ask only for your service and loyalty while I am in Lirionne. Can you promise that, above any other loyalty you may owe elsewhere?”
Benne gave Taudde a long, unreadable look. Then he took another paper out, this time more carefully. He wrote for a moment, hesitated, then added a few more words. When he offered this paper to Taudde, his expression was once more restrained, his mouth set and steady, his eyes unrevealing. But his hand still trembled, just perceptibly.
I owe no loyalty to anyone in Lonne. As Lord Miennes has died, I owe no service anywhere. I wish nothing but to accept what you offer, my lord. If you can restore my speech, my loyalty is yours, and I am glad to offer it. But I would ask, if my lord will permit me, what is your purpose in Lonne?
Taudde read this and nodded. This was much better, implying as it did a limit to the pledge Benne was willing to make. He said, truthfully, because it would be an ill thing to bind falsehood into an oath of loyalty and fidelity, “I am neither a spy nor a saboteur nor an assassin—I have no leave to be here at all, from my own people. I came to Lonne to strive to understand the sea, nothing more. Kalches has no coast, and I… there is a deep magic in the sea, especially perceptible near Lonne, that I desire to understand.” Though desire seemed a weak term to describe the heart-deep compulsion that had driven him to this coast. But he knew no words to describe the goad that his dreams of sea magic had become. “Now that my nationality has become known, I intend to leave Lirionne as soon as I may. But Mage Ankennes blocks me. Would you then be willing to stand out of the way as I move against Ankennes?”
Benne’s face hardened. This, he did not need to think about: He nodded sharply at once.
“You dislike the mage?”
Another nod, as decisive as the first.
“Why?”
But this seemed difficult to explain. Benne started to write, paused, crumpled up the paper and began again, but with no better result.
“Never mind.” Satisfied that the other man would not warn or assist Ankennes, even if he knew of Taudde’s move and found the chance, Taudde dismissed the question. “That will do.”
Benne made a gesture of acceptance and followed it with a deep bow: the bow of a man offering fealty, his palms flat on the rocks and his face touching the damp stone.
“Well,” said Taudde, moved even though he had expected the man to accept his proposal. “I will be glad of your service. As it happens, you may be of use to me at once. There is a woman, a servant in Cloisonné House. She has, I believe, evidence that links me to Miennes’s death. I believe she has taken it to the Laodd—she may have done so as early as this past dawn. Perhaps she might go to Prince Tepres, perhaps to someone else. You will understand that I wish to intercept her before she can make this evidence known to anyone there. Can you assist me in this, Benne?” Laid out like that, it scarcely seemed likely that anyone could help.
But the big man looked thoughtful. He wrote quickly.
Taudde read, This woman is not a keiso, but House staff? I know where in the Laodd she will wait. Taudde finished reading and looked up, cautiously hopeful. “This seems promising.”
Benne nodded, and got to his feet. He nodded toward the Laodd and looked at Taudde, clearly meaning That way.
If there was anywhere Taudde less wished to find himself than the Dragon’s fortress, he could not immediately think of it. He made himself nod in return and lift a hand for Benne to precede him.
CHAPTER 12
Nemienne, returning to the Lane of Shadows from Cloisonné House rather later than she had hoped to, laid her hand on the door of Mage Ankennes’s house and then touched the head of the cat statue by the door. Of course, the door didn’t open. After several minutes, Nemienne gritted her teeth and rapped hard on the oak panels in the center of the door.
A moment later the lock clicked, and Ankennes swung the door open. His eyebrows rose as he looked down at her. Nemienne tried to look as though she was perfectly at ease, but didn’t think she managed it very well.