Страница 92 из 137
“To the best of my personal knowledge, they are, Milady,” Salthan said in a calm, formal voice, his eyes never wavering under her intent regard. The blue light clinging to her sword never wavered, either, she noted. In fact, it grew stronger.
“And also to the best of your personal knowledge, they are authentic and unchanged. There have been no additions, no deletions, and no alterations?”
“None, Milady,” Salthan said firmly.
“Thank you,” she repeated, and nodded for him to remove his hand. He did so, and if he sat back in his chair with a bit more alacrity than he’d shown leaning forward, Kaeritha didn’t blame him a bit.
She looked down at the documents before her, then lifted her sword across her open palms, holding it between her and the scrolls.
All right, she thought, closing her eyes while she reached out to that ever-present link co
She sensed a distant, delighted rumble of divine laughter … and approval. Then she opened her eyes again and looked down at her sword.
Which, she was no longer the least bit surprised to see, continued to glow a bright, steady blue.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Kaeritha Seldansdaughter sat in the chamber Lord Trisu had assigned to her in Thalar Keep and gazed out the window at a cloudless sky of midnight blue spangled with the glitter and glow of Silendros’ stars. It was a clearer sky then she’d seen any night since arriving on the Wind Plain, and she had never seen the stars brighter or larger than they looked tonight. A crescent nail-paring of a new moon glowed purest silver in the eastern sky, and she studied it with an intent frown, wondering what Lillinara thought She was doing to let this situation get so out of hand.
Well, she told herself scoldingly, that’s probably not entirely fair. It’s not as if She were the only god with an interest in mortal affairs, and I suppose not even a god can be expected to keep up with everything Her worshipers need. But these are war maids, for Tomanak’s sake! Her war maids—so what in the world is She thinking about? And why hasn’t She spoken to Her Voice at Quaysar about it?
That was the heart of the entire question. Of course, it would have helped if it had occurred to Kaeritha to test the authenticity—or, at least, the accuracy—of the documents at Kalatha. She should have, if only in the name of thoroughness, although to be fair to herself, she’d had absolutely no reason to doubt them. And even now she was certain Yalith and her council saw no reason to question them. And why should they? They knew they had the original, controlling documents in their possession.
Unfortunately, Tomanak Himself had seen fit to assure Kaeritha that the copies in Trisu’s possession were most definitely not forgeries. One of those special abilities she’d mentioned to Salthan was that no one could lie successfully to her while touching her sword, and that no false or deliberately misleading document or evidence could evade her detection when she held the blade and called upon Tomanak to determine its accuracy. Which meant Trisu’s documents were not simply genuine, but that they accurately set forth the original language and true intent of both Gartha and Kellos. Kaeritha had seen enough in other investigations she’d conducted to be unwilling to rule very many things categorically out of consideration, but she was not prepared to question His personal assurances.
Which meant that somehow, impossible as it manifestly must be, the original documents at Kalatha were the forgeries.
Kaeritha hadn’t shared that conclusion with Trisu. And she had invoked her champion’s authority to extract Sword Oath from Salthan to keep the results of this afternoon’s examination and investigation to himself. Which meant that so far no one but she knew where the unpalatable chain of evidence was leading her. Nor did she intend to share that with anyone else until she saw a clearer path through the maze before her.
She let her mind wander back an hour or two to this evening’s after-di
“And has your investigation thrown any fresh light on my differences with Mayor Yalith?” Trisu asked as he toyed with his glass. Like many Sothoii nobles, he was particularly fond of the expensive liqueurs distilled in Dwarvenhame and the Empire of the Axe. Kaeritha liked them just fine herself, but she also entertained a lively respect for their potency. Which was why she had contented herself with wine rather than the brandy Trisu had offered her.
“Some, Milord,” she said.
He leaned back, cocking an eyebrow, and regarded her thoughtfully.
“May I take it that whatever you and Salthan discovered—or discussed, at least—this afternoon has at least not inspired you to immediately rule against me?”
“It was never my intent to ’immediately rule’ for or against anyone, Milord,” she said mildly. “I would prefer, at this point, not to be a great deal more specific than that, although honesty and simple justice do compel me to admit that, so far at least, the situation is considerably less cut and dried than I had assumed initially.”
“Well,” he said with a slight smile, “I suppose I must consider that an improvement, given your original comments to me.” Kaeritha’s temper stirred, but she suppressed it firmly, and he continued. “And I must admit,” he went on, “that I’m gratified to see exactly the sort of impartiality and willingness to consider all the evidence which I would have expected out of a champion of Tomanak. The more so because I have something of a reputation for stubbor
For a moment, Kaeritha wondered if somehow Salthan’s oath had slipped. But even as the thought crossed her mind, she dismissed it out of hand. She didn’t believe the magistrate would have knowingly or intentionally violated it under any circumstances. More than that, even if he’d been inclined to do so, he couldn’t have been able to break an oath sworn on a champion’s sword, which, in the moment of swearing, actually was the very Sword of Tomanak. It was simply a fresh warning to her never to underestimate Trisu’s intelligence just because she detested his opinions and attitudes.
“It’s not always easy, no,” she agreed. “But it is a trick any of Tomanak’s champions has to master. I imagine the lord of any domain has to be able to do much the same thing if he’s going to administer justice fairly. “
She smiled affably, hiding her amusement—mostly—as his eyes flashed when her shot went home.
“On the other hand, Milord,” she continued more briskly, “I feel I’m definitely making progress where the documents and their interpretations are concerned. At the moment, I have more questions than I have answers, but at least I believe I’ve figured out what the questions themselves are. And I feel confident Tomanak will lead me to their answers in the end.
“But there is one other matter which doesn’t relate to the documents or, actually, officially to Kalatha itself in any way.”
“Indeed?” he said coolly when she paused.
“Yes, Milord. When I spoke with Mayor Yalith, it was clear to me that more was involved than the simple legalities of your disagreement could explain. There was, quite frankly, a great deal of anger on the war maids’ part. And, to be equally frank, it became quite apparent in speaking with you that the same is true from your perspective.”