The Oracle’s Queen. Lynn Flewelling

       Chapter 7

      Lutha sat alone, far down the long table from Korin and the others, among soldiers and minor lords he didn’t know, men who had drifted into Cirna looking for a king to serve. They knew who Lutha was, though, and eyed him curiously over their wine, no doubt wondering what he was doing so far from his rightful place. They probably thought he was in disgrace and they weren’t far off.

      Shame and resentment smoldered in Lutha’s heart as he watched Korin and the older Companions laughing with Niryn while Caliel, ignored, stared glumly into his mazer. Lutha had joined the Companions when he was eight years old and served Korin loyally every day since. So had Cal. Now Korin hardly spoke to either of them. And all because, their first morning here, Caliel had suggested that a Companion go back to Ero to learn the truth about Tobin and Lutha had agreed.

      There had always been rumors about Tobin—the madness in his family, the demon ghost, and of course, the gossip about him and Ki. Neither Lutha nor Caliel knew what to make of this latest business, though. They’d swum naked with Tobin too many times to believe he’d been a girl in boy’s clothes. Now Lutha was torn between wondering if Tobin had somehow gone mad overnight, or if he’d just suddenly turned traitor and liar. Lutha couldn’t imagine the Tobin he knew doing either, much less Ki going along with such a farce. No, something very strange indeed was going on.

      Tired of the sidelong glances of his tablemates, Lutha wanted nothing more than to steal off to his room with Barieus or Caliel and a skin of wine, but Caliel wouldn’t leave Korin’s side and Barieus currently had his hands full, trying to fill the serving duties of his fellow squires who’d fallen at Ero.

      So few of us left, he thought, taking another sip of wine to ease the sudden tightness in his throat. He missed Nikides most of all. He’d been Lutha’s first friend at court, and now he was dead. Barieus had taken it hard, too, and was also quietly pining for Lynx, for whom he had a bit of a fancy.

      If Korin missed them, too, he showed it by drinking more than ever at night and Niryn only seemed to encourage such behavior. With Caliel under a cloud and Tanil gone, there was no one left to curb Korin. Master Porion was as disapproving as ever, but there was little he could say, given his rank. Korin was no longer the old swordsman’s student, but his king.

      It was a strange and cheerless court they kept here. Korin claimed to be the rightful king of Skala, and had even had himself crowned by a trembling priest, but they lived like exiles on this lonely, windswept stretch of the isthmus.

      The fortress yards still stank of blood and fire. The garrison, still loyal to Tobin, had tried to resist, but Erius had made Niryn Protector here, and he’d had his Red Hawk Guard at the ready. They cut down the Cirna men and opened the gates to Korin. The sight of all those Skalans dead by Skalan hands had turned Lutha’s stomach the night they’d ridden in. There were women among the dead, too, and even a little page who couldn’t have been more than six. Someone had run him through. What sort of warrior killed a page?

      Cirna was a formidable defensive position, though, one of the most critical in the land. It stood at the narrowest point on the land bridge connecting the Skalan peninsula to the rich farmland territory to the north. A man with a good strong arm could throw a stone into the Osiat Sea from the western wall; from the eastern wall an archer could shoot an arrow into the Inner Sea.

      That also meant, however, that whichever way the wind came from, it carried the damp and salt and left it on every surface. The bedsheets were clammy and every door in the place was warped, their hinges stiff and loud with rust. No matter how many times Lutha licked his lips, he always tasted salt. Even the great hall was perpetually dank and cold, despite the hearth fires and torches that burned there day and night.

      Korin was bantering drunkenly with Alben now, reaching around Niryn to tug at a lock of the young lord’s prized long black hair. Alben laughed and pushed him away. Korin swayed on the bench, jostling Caliel’s arm and spilling his wine. Alben lurched back into Urmanis, sitting beside him. Urmanis swore and pushed him back. Alben lost his balance and tumbled backward off the bench amidst much laughter. Even Old Fox Beard joined in. The wizard was especially thick with those two now, and had tried to court Caliel, but Caliel kept his distance from the man.

      Lutha had never cared much for Alben or Urmanis. They were arrogant and could be mean bastards when they chose, which was often enough. They’d always gone along with all Korin’s whims, no matter how base, and they were in high favor these days.

      Poor Caliel was another matter. He still had his place at the table, but something was very wrong between him and Korin. Dark-eyed, golden-haired Cal had always been the sun to Korin’s moody clouds, the one among them who, together with Tanil, could cajole him out of a vicious prank or get him to bed before he poisoned himself completely with wine. Korin seldom listened to him anymore.

      Korin was better in daylight, perhaps because he stayed sober then. Still dressed in mourning, he greeted the worried nobles flocking to his court, accompanied by the remaining Companions and Porion. He wore his grief with a dignity beyond his years. In less than a year’s time he’d lost wife, child, father, and capital. Men who hadn’t seen him hesitate in battle were drawn in by his flashing eyes and ready smile. They saw his father in him: strong, hearty, and charming. Nobles old enough to be Korin’s grandfather knelt with tears in their eyes to kiss his ring and touch the hilt of the great sword at his belt. At times like that Lutha could almost forget his own doubts.

      Late at night, in the privacy of his own hall, however, Korin drank more heavily than ever and that grim, haunted look returned. It was the same look he’d had after their first raid, and when he’d gotten them all cornered in Ero. When Korin was drunk, the fear showed through. And Niryn was always there at the young king’s elbow, whispering.

      “Advising him,” Old Fox Beard called the bile he fed Korin.

      Niryn usually kept out of sight during the day, and Lutha kept as far from the man as he could at any hour. He’d felt the wizard’s gaze on him too often. Anyone could see that Niryn meant for Korin to take up where his father had left off, but Lutha was smart enough to keep such thoughts to himself.

      A few lords and officers who’d dared speak their minds had already been hanged in the bailey yard, including a handsome and popular young captain named Faren, from Duke Wethring’s regiment. His bloated corpse still hung in the yard, twisting slowly in the unrelenting breeze with a placard around its neck. It bore a single epithet scrawled in large letters: Traitor.

      Only Caliel still dared stand up to the wizard, and Lutha feared for him. Others might feel the same, and Lutha knew of those who did, but Caliel was too hot-blooded and loyal to hold his tongue. He braved the warning signs and Korin’s occasional bouts of drunken abuse and stayed by his friend, even when it seemed he was not wanted.

      You’re going to land yourself in the dungeon, or worse,” Lutha warned him one night as they huddled together in a sheltered corner of the windswept battlements.

      Caliel leaned down and put his mouth close to Lutha’s ear. “I can’t just stand by and watch that creature steal his soul.”

      It sent a chill through him that even here, alone, Caliel wouldn’t speak Niryn’s name aloud.

      In addition to the few surviving Harrier