into trusting him for a while longer at least. And maybe Kiyan's husband
would find a good way to make use of the time Sinja won for him.
"Ah, Kiyan-kya," he said to the night and the northern stars, "look what
you've done. You've made me into a politician."
"MOST HIGH," ASHUA RADAANI SAID, TAKING A POSE. THAT WAS AN APOLOGY and
a refusal, "this is ... this is folly. I understand that the poets are
concerned, but you have to see that we have nothing that supports their
suspicion. We're in summer. It's only a few weeks before we have to
harvest the spring crops and plant for autumn. The men you're asking for
... we can't just send away our laborers."
Otah frowned. It was not a response his father would have gotten. The
other Khaiem would have raised a hand, made a speech, perhaps only
shifted hands into a pose asking for the speaker to repeat himself. The
men and horses and wagons of grain and cheese and salt-packed meats
would simply have appeared. But not for Otah Mach], the upstart who had
not won his chair, who had married a wayhouse keeper and produced only
one son and that one sickly. fie felt the urgency like a hand pressing
at his hack, but he forced himself to remain calm. He wouldn't have what
he wanted by blustering now. He smiled sweetly at the round, soft man
with his glittering rings and calculating eyes.
"Your huntsmen, then," Otah said. "Bring your huntsmen. And come
yourself. Ride with me, Ashua-cha, and we'll go see whether there's any
truth to this thing. If not, you can bear witness yourself, and reassure
the court."
The young man's lips twisted into a half-smile.
"Your offer is kind, Most High," he said. "My huntsmen are yours. I will
consult with my overseer. If my house can spare me, I would he honored
to ride at your side."
"It would please me, Ashua-cha," Otah said. "I leave in two days, and I
look forward to your company."
"I will do all I can."
They finished the audience with the common pleasantries, and a servant
girl showed the man out. Otah called for a howl of tea and used the time
to consider where he stood. If Radaani sent him a dozen huntsmen, that
took the total to almost three hundred men. House Siyanti had offered up
its couriers to act as scouts. None of the families of the utkhaiem had
refused him; 1)aikani and old Kamau had even given him what he asked.
The others dragged their feet, begged his forgiveness, compromised. If
Radaani had hacked him, the others would have fallen in line.
And if he had thought Radaani was likely to, he'd have met with him
first instead of last.
It was the price, he supposed, of having played the game so poorly up to
now. Had he been the man they expected him to be all these years-had he
embraced the role he'd accepted and fathered a dozen sons on as many
wives and assured the ritual bloodbath that marked the change of
generations-they would have been more responsive now. But his own
actions had called the forms of court into question, and now that he
needed the traditions, he half-regretted having spent years defying them.
The tea came in a bowl of worked silver carried on a pillow. The