covered in the glory of his brother's blood. If he had used the story of
Otah the Upstart to distract his remaining brother from his schemes ...
A servant boy interrupted, announcing Cehmai. Maati took a pose of
acknowledgment and had the young poet brought to him. He looked unwell,
Maati thought. His skin was too pale, his eyes troubled. He couldn't
think that Otah-kvo was bothering Cehmai badly, but surely something was.
Still, the boy managed a grin and when he sat, he moved with more energy
than Maati himself felt.
"You sent for me, Maati-kvo?"
"I have work," he said. "You offered to help me with this project once.
And I could do with your aid, if you still wish to lend it."
"You aren't stopping?"
Maati considered. He could say again that the Dai-kvo had told him to
discover the murderer of Biitrah Machi and whether Otah-kvo had had a
hand in it, and that until he'd done so, he would keep to his task. It
had been a strong enough argument for the utkhaiem, even for the Khai.
But Cehmai had known the Dai-kvo as well as he had, and more recently.
He would see how shallow the excuse was. In the end he only shook his head.
"I am not stopping," he said.
"May I ask why not?"
"They are going to kill Otah-kvo."
"Yes," Cehmai agreed, his voice calm and equable. Maati might as well
have said that winter would be cold.
"And I have a few days to find whose crimes he's carrying."
Cehmai frowned and took a pose of query.
"They'll kill him anyway," Cehmai said. "If he killed Biitrah, they'll
execute him for that. If he didn't, Danat will do the thing to keep his
claim to be the Khai. Either way he's a dead man."
"That's likely true," Maati said. "But I've done everything else I can
think to do, and this is still left, so I'll do this. If there is
anything at all I can do, I have to do it."
"In order to save your teacher," Cehmai said, as if he understood.
"To sleep better twenty years from now," Maati said, correcting him. "If
anyone asks, I want to he able to say that I did what could be done. And
I want to be able to mean it. "That's more important to me than saving him."
Cehmai seemed puzzled, but Maati found no better way to express it
without mentioning his son's name, and that would open more than it
would close. Instead he waited, letting the silence argue for him.
Cehmai took a pose of acceptance at last, and then tilted his head.
"Maati-kvo ... I'm sorry, but when was the last time you slept?"
Maati smiled and ignored the question.
"I'm going to meet with one of the armsmen who saw my assassin killed,"
he said. "I was wondering if I could impose on you to find some servant
from Danat's household with whom I might speak later this evening. I
have a few questions about him ..
DANAT MACIII ARRIVED LIKE. A HERO. THE STREETS WERE FILLET) WITH people
cheering and singing. Festivals filled the squares. Young girls danced
through the streets in lines, garlands of summer blossoms in their hair.
And from his litter strewn with woven gold and silver, Danat Machi