Rapid chatter scurried around the assembled islanders, the volume increasing until it was abruptly silenced as Shek Kul rose and descended the steps with a measured tread.

“Calm yourself.” His soft words reached to the furthest corners of the hall as he knelt beside the weeping woman and she fell silent. Taking one of Kaeska’s hands, he raised her to her knees and used a soft silk square to gently wipe the tears from her face.

“So why does this slave accuse you of sorcery?” I breathed a shallow sigh of relief at the firmness of Shek Kill’s question.

Kaeska spread her hands in a helpless gesture. “I do not know. I cannot say—my lord, forgive my foolishness, my failing! I have spent long days of anguish repenting my weakness, I will be a good wife to you—raise Laio and Gar above me and I will take my place as the least of your women. My transgressions have been grievous but I have seen the error of my ways—let me make a new start just as the birth of our son marks a fresh opening for the domain. Crown this joyous time with the shining jewel of mercy.”

“If this slave did not see sorcery, what did he see?” Shek Kul stood and looked down at Kaeska, arms folded, face stern, his manner subtly directing the mood in the hall.

“May I speak?”

The Ice Islander’s halting words shocked a hiss from the assembly but I saw Shek Kul’s eyes were unsurprised. “I will hear you.”

The Elietimm moved from the shadow of a pillar where he had been waiting and stepped into the light at the edge of the great marble insignia. “I must apologize most humbly for my part in this affair.” He paused, a nicely calculated shake of his head as he looked at the kneeling Kaeska. “It is I who supplied your wife with the smoke. I had obtained the leaves to take home; our holy men use it to open their minds to a higher realm of being. I did not understand the powerful reasons the Aldabreshi have for keeping such things from your islands and sought only to relieve the lady’s dire distress by lifting her perceptions beyond her immediate sorrows. I did not know that I transgressed against your customs and for that I am heartily sorry.”

So his was the pattern of words I had been hearing in Kaeska’s impassioned laments.

“The slave was listening at the door, was he not?” The snake wasn’t even looking at me. “The shutters were open to catch the breeze and the door was uncurtained, as I recall. I suggest the air carried the smoke to the slave and worked on his mind to weave a hallucination. It is not an uncommon effect of the drug on an unprepared mind; I blame myself for not ensuring the smoke did not drift.”

Shek Kul looked at me. “How say you?”

I bit down my instinctive rebuttal and took a slow count of three before replying. “No, it was no hallucination.” The approval in Shek Kul’s eyes at my considered response heartened me further.

“Forgive me,” the Ice Islander’s words were courteous, but I hoped Shek Kul could see the hostility in the man’s eyes as he turned his gaze toward me, “but how can you be so sure? The very nature of an hallucination is to mimic reality in every particular.”

“I had experience of taking smoke in my youth.” I kept my voice level and unemotional. “This was completely unlike that feeling.”

“Of course,” the Elietimm nodded, “you are a mainlander, are you not?”

I could tell this reminder was not lost on the watching islanders and saw that Shek Kul was looking thoughtful.

“I am body slave to the Warlord’s lady, Laio Shek,” I stated firmly. That much was simple fact, and no forswearing.

“The question of the effect of the drug aside,” the Ice Islander moved on smoothly, “your accusation of sorcery, of magic, stems from what exactly? From the rites you say you saw and heard? From the words I spoke in what you yourself said was a tongue unknown to you?”

I nodded, not about to risk a snare in his tangled argument. He inclined his head with a satisfied air and turned to Shek Kul.

“As I explained, the holy men of my people use the smoke to open their minds to the higher states of awareness. I have some grounding in what is a complex procedure, not without risk, and we use chants to focus ourselves. This is what the slave heard and did not understand; it is not magic in any sense.”

“What I saw being practiced was sorcery.” I raised my voice above his tone of level reasonableness and was gratified by the whisper that ran around the hall.

“Again, I ask, how can this man be sure?” The Elietimm kept his eyes on Shek Kul.

“I have seen magic worked before—”

‘The mainlander practices of charlatans and those whose very blood is tainted with enchantment—are you saying you are familiar with such men?“ The priest’s eagerness to discredit me betrayed him.

“I have seen this magic worked by men of your race, on the islands you inhabit in the far ocean,” I stated baldly.

The bastard knew I had scored a hit with that stroke and looked for a recovery. “You say you have visited my homeland? How did you come to be there? What were you doing in the deep ocean?”

“I was on a fishing vessel that was carried far off its course by wind and current.” What did the fool think I was going to say? That I had been on a spying trip working with a wizard of Hadrumal who reported directly to the Archmage?

“So you don’t know exactly where you were?”

I had to concede that, given the circumstances.

“Did you see much of the island you arrived at? How long were you there?”

“Enough to know your islands have none of the resources you are offering to trade—no wood, no metals, no leathers,” I said crisply. “Long enough to be greeted with hostility and attacked with magic.”

“You are no fisherman, surely? What were you doing on a fisher vessel?”

This change of tack momentarily threw me off balance. Aware that I had hesitated, if only for a breath, I opted for the truth. “As a sworn man to the House of D’Olbriot, I was seeking revenge for cowardly and magical assaults on members of my master’s family.”

That came out more forcefully than I had intended. I mentally kicked myself as I felt a shift of disapproval in the air of the hall.

“It would seem your mistress has still to beat those old loyalties out of you, Tormalin man.” The Elietimm fixed me with a challenging eye for a moment but then shrugged helplessly. “I believe I know the islands that you speak of, but I can assure you I am not of their race.”

“You are of the appearance of the enchanters, you speak their tongue.” I insisted, aware this was now my word against his. “I have also seen your kind of magic worked on the mainland, used in foul assaults on the weak and helpless, to maim and to rob.” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my voice as 1 remembered Messire’s nephew, blinded and bleeding after these scum had beaten him senseless. If this bastard was going to remind everyone I was a mainlander, I’d do my best to reverse that rune for him.

Shek Kul raised a hand and returned to the dais, all eyes on him, my heart quickening.

“I do not find this matter either truly proved or satisfactorily refuted,” he declared, his deep voice ringing through the hush of the hall. “A grave crime is alleged and this must be resolved. The truth will be tested in single combat, at noon tomorrow, on the person of this body slave who brings the accusation.”

I looked blankly at Laio, only to see a look of total shock on her face. She jumped to her feet, silencing the buzz of speculation running rife on every side.

“Where is the body slave to Kaeska Shek, that her veracity may be defended?”

“Yes, where is Irith?”

Shek Kul looked at Kaeska, who was unable to restrain a fleeting smug expression before collapsing once more with piercing wails of distress. “He is dead, my faithful servant, he is lost because of my stupidity. As well as the smoke, I acquired some berries to numb my mind, but whereas I knew they should only be eaten one at a time and seldom, Irith found them and ate them all!”