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Contents 22 страница

He had not been the human-blooded elf-brat on the street for more than a decade. He was Ser Michel de Chevin.

All that remained of that boy was the lingering fear of being helpless, of hiding in the trash and hoping that the chevaliers didn’t find him on their rough adventures in the alienage, of watching every face in the market to make sure that none of them recognized the boy who had run away.

That, and the anger.

As Gaspard stumbled back, Michel came up with a fierce uppercut that tore Gaspard’s shield out of position, then lashed out with a kick that blasted Gaspard from the bench.

The grand duke landed on his back on the ground and forced himself up, and Michel’s flaming blade bit into his shield as Michel struck. Gaspard cut at Michel’s leg, and Michel blocked it and came down with another overhead blow, this one angled past Gaspard’s shield.

It caught Gaspard on the right shoulder, the one with the pauldron that had already been damaged, and this strike ripped away the rest of it and cut deep just past the collarbone. Gaspard shouted wordlessly and stumbled back, clutching his injured arm.

He was Ser Michel de Chevin, champion of Empress Celene. He breathed the words to himself as he leaped down from the bench and ran at Gaspard, who still staggered back.

He lashed out with his shield, battering Gaspard’s shield out of guard, then thrust.

And Gaspard, not as injured as he seemed, leaped onto the bench and struck down with his shield as he landed, bringing the full weight of an armored chevalier to bear against the striking sword.

He had aimed perfectly at the tiny nick in Michel’s blade, the minute imperfection that could spell the death of even the finest silverite blade.

Caught between the shield and the marble bench, Michel’s blade snapped, metal shrieking as it tore apart.

Gaspard leaped down from the bench, his own blade raised, and Michel stabbed upward with the jagged remains of his broken sword.

He caught the long scratch that had marred Gaspard’s breastplate, and the jagged silverite slid, then caught and ripped through.

Grand Duke Gaspard landed on Michel, and the two fell to the ground together, then rolled apart.

“Oh, Maker, I thought I had you again.” Gaspard gasped the words, looking down at Michel’s sword. Despite the broken blade, Michel had buried it almost to the hilt in Gaspard’s side. “Caught that nick in your sword perfectly. Damned if you weren’t noting my armor last night, just as I watched your sword.”

Michel allowed himself to smile. “As one of the greatest chevaliers once told me, honor does not preclude tactics.”

Gaspard forced a laugh, grimacing at the movement. “Why did you ever listen to that old fool?”

Michel got to his knees, pulled his blade free with an effort that made Gaspard groan, and stood over the grand duke.

He looked at the blade, then tossed it aside and recovered Gaspard’s blade from where it had fallen. The grand duke deserved to die a clean death, and Michel doubted that the jagged remains of his own sword could deliver it.

Gaspard saw what he was doing, and nodded his thanks as Michel approached. With an effort, the grand duke rolled to his hands and knees, and then pushed himself up so that he knelt with his head held high. “Well fought, chevalier.”

“And you, chevalier.” Michel raised the blade.

“Ser Michel!” came a cry from behind him, and Michel turned.

It was Briala.

“I call upon your debt.”

As the dread fear wrapped its cold hands around Michel’s heart, Briala looked at him and nodded.

“Yield.”

* * *

Celene felt the air go still around her as she turned to Briala.

“What are you doing?”

Briala didn’t answer. She stared at Michel, who looked stricken, his flushed face going pale.

“Briala!” Celene grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing the elf to look at her, but it was no better. Briala’s face was devoid of expression. She might as well have been dead. “Why?”

Beside them, as Celene’s moment of victory slid sideways off the path and into the darkness, Felassan began to laugh.

Celene shoved Briala back, shaking her head to clear it. Whatever this was, whatever foolishness had taken her, Celene could deal with it later. She turned to Michel. “Michel, finish this!”

He stared at her, then back at Briala.

“You are my champion.” But even as she said it, she knew it for a lie. If that were still true, he would already have struck. And his eyes would never have strayed to Briala.

“He is a chevalier,” Briala said, and when Celene looked over, she was still looking at Michel. “Death before dishonor.”

Gaspard, still on his knees, looked at Celene, then Briala, before turning back to Michel. “Michel?”

Michel stood stock-still, sword still raised.

“I am Ser Michel de Chevin,” he said, finally. “But I am also the bastard son of an elven mother.”

The sword clattered as it hit the ground. “I yield.”

Universities whose libraries were filled to bursting. Restored roads busy with richly loaded wagons. Elves in the markets, smiling as they served the greatest empire in the world. A cup of hot tea served every morning before sunrise. Small, strong fingers gently peeling the mask from her face.

Two words from her champion dashed a hundred dreams.

Celene spun at Briala, her daggers drawn. Briala stepped away, two steps carrying her out of range. She did not draw her own blades, but she was certainly looking at Celene now, and Celene cursed herself for a fool as she saw the anger in her lover’s eyes.

“Why?” Celene gripped her blades so tightly that her fingers burned.

“Tell me again how you will free my people.”

“I gave you my word!” Celene stepped forward, a dagger raised. “I swore!”

“And I think you even believed yourself.” Briala swallowed. “But when the nobles protested, when it threatened to weaken the empire, you would have let it go. You would have ignored your promises to me, knowing that I would always forgive. That I would always stand at your side.” Now her blades came out. “After all, I believed in you even after you killed my parents.”

Celene waved it away. “That was Lady Mantillon! Whatever you think—”

“Gaspard!” Briala shouted. “When did Lady Mantillon give you your ring?”

Gaspard had sunk to his side, leaning against one of the benches. “After I’d proven my worth.”

“And how did you do that?” Briala didn’t look over. Her eyes were locked on Celene’s.

Gaspard coughed. “I ordered a man’s death as part of the Game.”

Celene looked at Briala’s anguished face, and remembered, as she did so often in those predawn hours of the morning, her meeting with Lady Mantillon.

“You have impressed me, Princess,” Lady Mantillon said, her face hidden behind layers of makeup. “My own son believes that you are certain to accept his suit should I support you. Comtess Jeannevere’s son, coincidentally, believes that you will accept his suit.”

It could have been a threat. Celene did not flinch. With a winsome smile, she said, “One cannot be held responsible for what young men think.”

“Florian is failing,” Lady Mantillon said, “but with all the efforts of the empire, he might live on for years yet, weak, ineffectual, allowing chaos to grow around him. If I introduced you to Marquis Etienne, could you keep your support intact until your uncle felt the hand of the Maker upon him?”

Another test. “If I could not,” Celene said, still smiling, “you would not have extended this lovely invitation, Marquise Mantillon.” After a heartbeat, gauging the noblewoman carefully, she added, “But for the good of the empire, it were best decided quickly.”

She was sixteen years old, orphaned and alone in Val Royeaux, and she had just asked this woman to murder the emperor of Orlais.

“If we are discovered before we move,” Lady Mantillon said, tapping an elegantly lacquered fingernail on the polished wooden arm of her chair, “we will fail, or we will be killed. Neither is acceptable.”

“Then we must not be discovered,” Celene said with a confidence she did not feel, and curtsied to Lady Mantillon. “Do what you must. I am ready.”

“Are you?” Lady Mantillon asked, looking at her curiously. “How carefully have you moved? How circumspect have you been? Are there any who could, through bribery or threats or even trickery, betray your intentions?”

Celene thought. She had moved perfectly, using everything Lady Mantillon had taught her to position the pieces for this last gambit. All the other players, everyone she had trusted, stood to lose as much as she did if their plan failed. She remembered sipping wine with Lady Mantillon’s son, drinking Antivan coffee with Lord Joseph Montbelliard, gauging each move, catching the subtle hints their bodies gave when they glanced at the passing servants.

The passing servants …

Celene swallowed.

“My estate is currently empty,” she said, “save for the servants.” She met Lady Mantillon’s gaze. “An attack by would-be assassins might build more sympathy to my cause … and ensure that bards hear no tales in the marketplace.”

Lady Mantillon looked at her for a long moment.

And then her perfectly made-up face broke into a slow smile. “I agree, your Imperial Majesty.”

“If I had not ordered the servants killed, Bria, Lady Mantillon would never have backed me. Gaspard would have had me killed.”

Briala nodded slowly. “As I thought. And so Gaspard wins the duel.”

Still leaning against the bench, Gaspard laughed weakly. “I wouldn’t have had you killed, Celene. Might have married you off to some Fereldan noble to get rid of you, though.”

Daggers drawn, she advanced upon him. “You did not win this duel, Gaspard. You forfeited before…” She looked at Ser Michel, who did not meet her eyes. “… your opponent yielded, when your mages cheated to help you win.”

“I’d wondered what happened to Lienne,” Gaspard said, looking past Celene at the fallen girl.

“With her treachery, this duel is forfeit.” Celene held her dagger out, ready to strike.

Gaspard snorted. “To forfeit, I would have had to approve such treachery. Which, on my honor as a chevalier, I did not.”

“How convenient for you,” Celene said, and attacked.

His mailed arm knocked her strike aside, and with a grunt of effort, Gaspard lunged up and threw an elbow that caught Celene in the gut and sent her stumbling back.

“I’m hurt, cousin. Not dead.” He leaned on the bench, teeth clenched. “And you gave your champion all the pretty little rings you wear to cover the fact that you never had to learn to fight properly.” He reached down to his boot and came up holding a short-bladed dagger. It was ugly but practical, a wedge of steel Gaspard had likely kept as a weapon of last resort since his days at the Academie. “How do you like your odds?”

Celene spun her dagger. He’d caught her by surprise, and the blow had hurt, even muffled by her leather cuirass. “I like them well enough, Gaspard. Unfitting as such a job is for an empress, I will see you dead by my own hand, and then I will claim the eluvians and retake Orlais.”

“Briala?” Michel said, and Celene stepped back out of Gaspard’s reach and looked over her shoulder.

Briala was walking through the labyrinth of runes, her steps small and careful but sure as she made her way through the twisting pattern. She was already more than halfway through.

“But she can’t! She doesn’t have…”

Briala had seemed so forceful as she’d kissed her just a few minutes before. One hand had pressed tightly to the back of her neck, and the other had gripped Celene’s waist.

Celene’s hand went to the pouch at her waist where she’d kept the keystone ruby. It was empty.

Gaspard laughed. “She is dangerous.”

Celene turned and sprinted for Briala. She could see the ruby now, clutched in her hand. Briala was almost through the labyrinth. Celene raised a hand, leaped for her, and then fell back with a cry of pain as a jolt of energy flung her away. The runes at the edge of the labyrinth glowed angry red.

“Briala!”

She didn’t look over.

Celene raised her dagger, shifted it to a throwing position. “Bria. Please. Do not do this.”

Then a wave of frost snapped against her side, an icy numbness that was followed by a burning cold as Celene stumbled back, the dagger falling from nerveless fingers.

“I think,” said Mihris, rising to her feet with her staff ready for another blast, “that I am ready to choose again.”

Celene looked at her, then at Felassan, rubbing the feeling back into her arm.

“I was so worried about Gaspard,” she said, “that I never thought to concern myself with you.”

“Don’t feel bad,” he said. “Happens to the best of us.”

With no other gambit, no last stratagem, Celene could only look at Briala as she stepped to the pedestal. She placed the ruby on it, leaned in close, and whispered words that no one else could hear.

She lifted her head, met Celene’s stare, and as a wave of ruby-red light washed over the room, she said, “I claim these eluvians for the elves of Orlais.”

* * *

The wave of red light had awakened every eluvian in the room, at least for a moment. They were all dormant again, now, but Briala could sense the lingering energy in the air, the hum of power when she stepped close to them. They would awaken when she chose.

Gaspard and Michel looked at her as they bound their wounds, sneaking glances when they thought she wouldn’t notice. She ignored them. Mihris stared at her openly.

The magic had flowed through her as well in that moment, a thrill of cool wind that had raised the hair on her arms as she had stood over the pedestal. The eluvians were hers now, all of them, ready to take her and her people anywhere she chose. It would take time to explore, to deal with any possessed corpses or ancient traps that might endanger her people. But those threats could be managed.

And when that was done, she would have everything she needed to help her people.

“I would have freed them, Bria.”

Celene stood a few paces away. Mihris and Felassan leaned against the pedestals, not quite blocking Celene’s path to Briala.

“So you say,” Briala said. “But freedom is not given. It is won.”

“It is both.” Celene shook her head, wiping tears from her eyes. She seemed so much smaller now than she had in Val Royeaux. “Have you seen nothing in all the years you spent at my side? Change comes through careful planning, through compromise.”

“You compromised my parents.”

There were tears in Celene’s eyes as she nodded, and without makeup or a mask, Briala could see the spots of red on Celene’s cheeks. “I was sixteen, Bria. The Game had just killed my mother, and my father had just died avenging her. I would have been killed had I not proven myself worthy to Lady Mantillon. For all I knew, you would have all died with me!”

“And that was how you decided?” Briala asked, her voice even. “Sacrificing some to save the rest?” There was a time, she knew, when hearing Celene admit it would have broken her, stripping away everything Briala thought she knew about the world and her place in it. Now … it still hurt, of course, and Briala would shed tears later over it, for a long time to come. But she had endured worse pain in her life.

“I…” Celene looked away. “The blood of your family is on my hands. What does it matter how I came to my decision?”

Causes matter, Felassan had said. Briala knew that he was right, some of the time. But not now.

“You more than proved yourself to Lady Mantillon. She supported you even when I killed her,” Briala said, and Celene started. “She could have taken me with her, but she stayed her hand. I always thought it was because she felt guilty about what she had done to my parents. But it was because I told her that I would serve you loyally. She saw that you had fooled me, and she did not wish, even to avenge her own death, to deprive you of a useful tool.”

“You are not a tool, Bria.”

“Not any longer.” The fear and excitement of the moment was starting to fade, and she felt the great yawning darkness inside her. She kept it at bay. She would not cry now.

“Michel and Gaspard are gone,” Felassan said. He stood by an eluvian, and as Briala looked at it, the mirror went dark.

Briala had offered them all safe passage. She could feel the eluvians now as she felt her own hands, and she directed Celene to a mirror that would take her away. It was whole, undamaged, and with a strange thrill, Briala could even feel the fresh air against it that meant Celene would not be walking to her death in a sunken crypt.

“Then it is your turn,” she said to Celene. “Where do you wish to go?”

“Val Royeaux.” Celene’s smile was bitter. “I have an empire to reclaim.”

Val Royeaux would be possible. Briala felt the pull of the magic through her, felt it twist to match her intention. But Val Royeaux would also put Celene in a position to end this war quickly and easily.

Briala was done helping Celene.

“Go, then,” she said, nodding to hide the implicit lie. “Fight for your university, your culture. I will fight for the others who have no one to champion their cause.”

Celene swallowed. “I will fight to save this empire, Bria. And I will take joy in my love finding her people, even as my breast aches with every heartbeat I live without you.”

Celene walked alone to the mirror, and with a quiet phrase, Briala awakened it.

“As does mine,” she whispered after Celene had disappeared.

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