‘Loethar isn’t your primary threat any longer. Right now he’s too injured. And no matter how you like to colour it, he is my prisoner.’
‘Yours?’ Leo said, surprised, unable to mask the scorn in his voice.
Gavriel nodded, irritatingly calm. ‘Elka will do what I say.’
Leo wanted to say something cutting but was all too aware that apart from Gavriel de Vis he had no one. ‘You said Loethar is no longer my biggest threat. So who is?’
‘His half-brother, Stracker.’
‘Stracker doesn’t even know I exist.’
‘That’s a fair point. But he doesn’t need to know you exist to be your problem. As we stand here, Leo, Stracker is, I imagine, laying claim to the empire. And because, according to Steppes law, any man of any tribe can fight for kingship when the king dies, Stracker won’t claim Loethar to be dead. Instead, he’ll say he’s lost or was grabbed by renegades, so he can continue to sit the throne without having to fight for it. As long as Loethar lives, we have time to plan properly. The empire won’t be embroiled in war or a struggle for rulership. We can move around freely. No one outside of this forest knows either of us is alive; neither of us is recognisable either.’
‘All right. But what is your actual plan?’
‘To remain here for the time being. I have no plan. I think we need to take some time to think everything through properly. No rash decisions.’
‘But what about Kilt? I need him.’
‘Faris has kept you safe and alive for a decade without your having to eat him!’
‘And I intend that he will continue to do so.’
Gavriel looked pained. ‘I’m sorry, Leo, but I won’t be a party to such a move.’
‘Your father never refused his king.’
‘My father was never asked to participate in such a debased practice.’
‘You can’t know that.’
‘No, that’s true. But I do know my father …’ Gavriel hesitated but said no more and Leo knew his old friend wanted to add: which is more than you can say about your own.
‘Well, you’ve made your position clear.’
Gavriel’s eyes narrowed. ‘All I’m saying is wait. Don’t do anything rash. I am prepared to agree that if as a last measure all I have standing between you and Loethar’s blade is Kilt Faris, I won’t permit your death.’
Leo felt a thrill of relief. So they weren’t really on opposite sides. Gavriel just needed time to adjust. He could bide his time. Plus they were safer up here in the forests than anywhere else. He was sure Kilt wasn’t coming back to the camp and Loethar wouldn’t dare. ‘All right. We’ll remain here and consider our position.’
Gavriel nodded. ‘Very good, Leo,’ and from the tone of his voice Leo knew his old friend meant it from the heart. ‘I’m starving. Do we have any food in this place?
Elka returned to where she’d left him. ‘No signs of anyone. I think we’ll be all right here for the time being,’ she said, looking up into the tall tree beneath which Loethar was slumped.
‘How are you feeling now?’
‘I might not look it but I feel entirely different.’
She nodded. ‘Recovery is surprisingly fast if we get a rapid enough descent in time. We did the right thing for you. Now I have to think about all your other problems. Did you keep drinking?’
He nodded. ‘Lucky we found that mountain stream. My nephew would have given me nothing.’
‘Neither would your aegis, remember. Leonel was simply following orders.’
‘Orders.’ Loethar grimaced. ‘He’s a king apparently. He’s Valisar. He should be giving orders, not taking them.’
She sighed. ‘Frankly, I’m tired of the Valisars.’
‘They’re so unnecessary now, aren’t they?’ he asked in an ironic tone.
She joined in, smiling. ‘Too pre-empire for my taste!’
Loethar gave a big belly laugh. ‘I’m glad I’m with you, Elka, and not that sour de Vis. He doesn’t deserve you.’
‘Gavriel’s a good man. Worth far more than you credit him. The very fact that he’s not hunting you down — and believe me, he is now a frighteningly good tracker — means that he’s somehow controlling Leo’s desire to bond you.’
The emperor’s face grew serious. ‘Why would he do that, do you think? He hates me, wants to kill me.’
Elka sat down beside him and took a swig from the water sack. ‘With good reason. But you’ve seen for yourself that he’s not nearly so one-eyed as Leo clearly is. Your nephew …’ She shook her head. ‘I still can hardly believe you’re doing this to each other. You are family.’
‘I learned the hard way that the Valisar family is one-eyed, particularly if you’re the one on the throne,’ he said, bitterness lacing his tone.
She nodded. ‘Anyway, I suspect your nephew is being driven by a different hunger. He wants revenge and he’s also got the Valisars’ problem of believing nothing and no one matters but them. You laid waste to the royals of the Set. Don’t blame Leo for wanting to punish you. But I think Gavriel sees beyond his own youthful craving to make you pay for the savage, cowardly death that you gave his father. Gavriel’s older, wiser, and doesn’t have the all too proud, too self-absorbed, too-royal Valisar blood pounding through his veins. And he can see that times have changed — that there’s peace and prosperity now.’
‘So now I have to rely on my enemy?’
She laughed. ‘Yes, Loethar. I think you do. And until I hear from him you remain my prisoner.’
‘If I give you my word that I will not harm you and won’t try to escape, will you agree to unbind me so I don’t feel like an animal? Perhaps I can actually be of some help.’
She considered this, staring at him. He returned the gaze steadily. Finally, Elka nodded. ‘Gavriel will kill me but I’m going to trust you, Loethar. I do believe you are a man of your word.’
‘Indeed. I am Valisar, after all.’
She snorted with derision. ‘That has no effect on me.’
‘Then I give you my promise as a man who owes you the debt of his life.’
‘Now that means something to me.’ Producing a blade from the sheath at her hip, she cut his bonds. ‘Are you ready to travel? We might as well keep moving while you have some strength.’
‘I’ll move until I drop. Where are we going?’
‘Home. I can keep you safe in the mountains.’
‘Indulge me, Elka.’
‘You have a better plan,’ she said. ‘Yes, of course you do.’
He shrugged, though it obviously hurt him to do so. ‘Will you hear it before you dismiss it? I will not risk your life, that I promise. And we will go to the mountains directly after.’
She stared at him for a few moments, weighing him up. ‘Tell me on our way to Francham. Wherever we’re going we’ll need horses and medicine. Let’s go.’
Roddy clung to Ravan gleefully, his breath whipped away by the speed at which they were running. They were already approaching the forest and he knew they would be into the trees