Page 105
Yaelin nods.
That could provide them with a huge amount of power. It could be enough to change the outcome of the coming battle.
Damon shakes his head again. “There are other things we have. The Plumian legion. Jemel, can we trust Xan?”
Jemel looks at Damon in surprise. “I,” he says, “I don’t know. We will know when we see the Plumians turn for us. Atticul has offered him Pluma. It would be hard for him to refuse that.”
“He would be a fool to side with Atticul. If he betrays us a demon will rise and swallow the world,” Perl says.
“I suppose the question,” Jemel says in his soft, low voice, “is does Xan trust us?”
Lukas says, “He will. And the Plumians will start a tide, the Imperial Army will follow their lead and half of that army will turn for you.” He is looking at Damon.
“We cannot be sure that they will,” Damon says. Perl thinks it is the first time Damon has voiced a doubt about this.
“Why not?” says Trysta. “You are the One Man Army. The greatest General that army ever had. Of course they will turn to fight for you.”
“That army was there in Jur-Mattan,” Damon says, “When Atticul gave Lyr to me and revealed what I was.” His voice sounds a little unsteady as he says it. Perl has never heard Damon speak this way.
The group gathered around the table go quiet. It is a moment before anyone speaks. And the voice belongs to Lukas. “You think they will not follow you because you are sly?”
Damon looks at Lukas, unspeaking, his reply in his eyes.
Inez moves from her position behind the others. She seems to glide through them like a ship cutting through water. She stops before Damon, sinks to her knees and takes both his hands. His hands are so much bigger and darker than hers, slender and pale. She looks up into Damon’s eyes and says, “Damon, believe me. They will. If I, the wife you set aside for your sly lover, can come to see the greatness in you, they will. You have become a finer man with Lyr at your side. They call for you in the streets of Attar. Emperor Damon.”
Damon has tears in his eyes as he raises Inez to her feet and says, “My Lady. You are my honour.”
He steps back. Lyr moves and takes Inez in an embrace.
“But if we can have more magic from Lyr,” Kerik says, “It would be welcome. For the first assault.”
Lyr looks at Damon. He places a hand on his arm. “I would be willing to do it.”
Damon nods, slowly. “It is your own choice.”
Lyr says to Tobi, “Tell her I will do it. And if you could come too. To help us to communicate for this.”
“Of course,” Tobi says, linking arms with Lyr as he speaks with Yaelin and the three of them leave the hall.
Beside Perl, Kerik nudges him. “Let us to bed, faerie,” he says in a tone that is low, but not low enough. “It will be my last chance to bed you if Atticul should triumph tomorrow.”
Perl turns to him. “How can you speak that way?” he says, amused and horrified.
Kerik leans in and speaks in Perl’s ear. “Because it is the truth. Come to bed, faerie. Let me command you to kneel so I can take your burden and empty your mind.”
Perl feels a shiver. He cannot disobey commands from Kerik. But in truth, he does not want to. He swallows. “Very well, Master.”
Kerik grins. “That’s better thrall. Let me stop you thinking awhile.”
Perl turns to Damon who is still looking towards the door Lyr left through. “I will take my leave. We should all sleep if we can.”
Damon nods a dismissal. Perl moves away with Kerik, as they reach the doorway of the Sacred Hall, they find Inez is before them. Her face is pale and she speaks in a fast whisper. “Will you succeed? Will you really turn the army and capture Atticul?”
“You are the one who declared it unquestionable,” Kerik says.
“I believe that his men will not reject him because they know him to be a luxorite. What I do not know is whether such a thing is possible at all.”
“I don’t know either,” says Kerik. “I have never served in the Imperial Army. But Trysta has and she believes it. And Lukas knows about treachery.”
