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Xan thanks the Mother of Men for this good fortune.
He barely thinks about what he is doing for a moment, acting with pure fighter’s instinct as he grabs Jemel from behind and puts a blade to his neck.
Jemel jerks in his arms, trying to get away. He shouts something in Artemian, then twists enough to see Xan’s face, “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?” He sounds indignant at first, but then his tone changes. “Oh. Are you… ? Is this because you saw me without my veil?”
It takes Xan a moment to understand. “What? I did not look upon you.” Does Jemel think him crazed with desire? “No,” he says again, so forceful he spits the word in Jemel’s face. “You’re going to help me find my way to my sister’s cell.”
Jemel turns, still in Xan’s arms in the alcove. They are pressed, chest to chest. Xan’s blade is still at Jemel’s throat. “Don’t be so fucking stupid,” Jemel snaps, heedless of the fact he is being held at knifepoint. “I told you, not yet. We need the right time in the guards rotation. You’ll never manage something like this tonight. The whole palace is on alert, the weather, the riots, the ascension. Let me go and take a walk to calm yourself. Then come to my chambers and we can discuss whatever problem you have.”
Part of Xan knows this is wise, even senses that Jemel is trying to help, but there is no time for it. He cannot wait longer. He needs to get Trysta out and then… He can’t even think that far. But if he had her and went back to the Mother of Men, then he could figure out what to do with Atticul’s new offer. “Let you go? So you can run to your Azurian brethren and tell them what I am plotting, I think not.”
Jemel wriggles harder, but he cannot pull away from Xan. “Why would I do that? In any case, I am leaving, leaving the Rose Palace. I have other business I must attend to. Far more important matters.”
“You are leaving? Then you planned to betray me and not keep our bargain to go when you claimed the time is right.”
Jemel swallows. “I did not know until today that I had to leave. I am sorry about your sister. I have another mission.”
“You can attend to it when my sister is freed,” Xan snarls back. “You want to leave? Good. We will all leave together. Now, show me the nearest of your hidden doors into the dungeons.”
Jemel makes a snorting of derision behind his veil. “It will not be possible.”
Xan swallows. Could this be true? That there is really no way to get into the dungeons and save Trysta, because, if it is, he would have to…
He pushes that thought away. His voice cracks as he says, “Please.”
Jemel looks at him. This close, Xan can see a little of his eyes beneath the veil. He remembers those eyes, burning silver fire.
“Very well,” Jemel says. “If you are so intensely upset. There is a way. It is dangerous. You will have to use that sword. But it can be done. It has been done before and though they think that route closed, it may be possible..”
Xan nods. “Thank you.”
“And please, put that knife away and calm yourself.”
Xan puts his blade back in his belt and takes a breath.
“Thank you,” says Jemel. “This way.”
Xan walks beside Jemel as he is led through more of the maze of corridors, with no clue, where they are or how he would get back to any place he recognises. His senses are blazing.
They move in silence through passageways for a long time. It must be evening in the palace, by now.
Jemel says nothing and eventually, Xan is calm enough to ask, “How is your wound?”
“Well enough,” Jemel says, clearly still fizzing anger. A pause before he says, “I told the physician a lie as you suggested. He asked about the leaf poultice you used. He said he might try honeywort himself.”
“It is good for such wounds. It thickens the blood and makes it slow.”
“Yes.” Jemel’s voice softens a little. “You saved my life.”
“I did.”
“And as you did so, you could have simply asked me to help you. And I would have done, in respect of that. There is no need to threaten me with blades.”
Xan gives Jemel a sidelong glance. “So? Because even with the blade you told me I was being a fool and refused until I begged.”
“You are being a fool. We will likely die and your great skills with wounds will be wasted,” Jemel says as they arrive at another small barred gate. “This route is rarely guarded. It is the entranceway the men who work in the dungeons use.” As Jemel speaks he produces his ring of iron keys. Does he have a key to every door in the palace? “We will likely encounter them and they will challenge us. You will have to kill them.”
Xan barely listens, only registering that he may have to fight. He will fight to free Trysta if he must. He wants to.
