order of the king.”
“Three?” Tao almost laughed. “How does the king expect to raise and maintain an army if no more than a trio of soldiers can be together at any one time?”
Tao’s men snickered at that, winning a deadly look from Beck. “Not other soldiers, General. It’s your men he’s got a problem with. Your army.”
So. There it was again, the insinuation that the army was somehow his to use for nefarious reasons. He was no longer in the Hinterlands where his decision was all that mattered. At home, the commander of the army couldn’t give the appearance of ignoring the king’s orders, however nonsensical they were.
He turned to the officers. “As reluctant as I am to end the party, we’ll have to break it up.”
Sandoval and Mandalay nodded. “It’s all right, sir. We don’t want to cause you any trouble. We’ll tell the men.” Yet, neither looked eager to do so at the height of the party.
Tao couldn’t blame them. “Gentlemen, if there were another other option, I’d take it, but there isn’t. I’ll see to this utterly insane law being struck out first thing in the morning.”
“Utterly insane, is it? Is that what you think of my lawmaking, brother-in-law?”
Xim. Hell and damnation. The king stood at the entrance to the balcony, surrounded by his cronies and, at long last, Markam.
You’ve done it now, his friend’s unhappy face said.
“Your Highness,” Tao greeted, dipping his head, cursing his timing. If this were the battlefield, he’d be dead.
“It’s not comforting to know my top military commander holds such a low opinion of my judgment. Not only that, you’ve just encouraged your entire army to have the same attitude.”
“Your Highness, my choice of words was poor. My aim was only to advocate a more lenient policy concerning my men—”
“I already know what your aim is, Tao. You’ve revealed your true colors. You declared your intent to overturn my law. Field-Colonel!” Xim scowled over his shoulder at Markam. “Arrest this man for treason.”
CHAPTER SIX
MARKAM MARCHED TAO DOWN a curving staircase, through one fortified doorway and then another, leaving a pair of hulking guards by each, until it was just the two of them climbing down the stairs. The lower they went, the denser, colder, damper the air became.
I am descending into hell.
“Put me on house arrest and we’ll revisit this in the morning when everyone’s sober.” Tao thought of the dancer waiting for him in the luxurious bedchamber he’d hardly visited since arriving. “Confinement to quarters works for me.”
“You’re to be held in the dungeon three days, after which the king plans on killing you.”
Tao coughed out a derisive laugh. “Why three days? Why not just do it now?”
“He needs time for a trial with false witnesses and testimony.” Markam’s voice dropped. “Xim’s not stupid. He knows the reason for your arrest is weak. He’ll simply find a stronger one, with the help of torture and truth serums.”
True. Drugged, a man could be made to say most anything. “This is madness. Yes, I should have watched my tongue in front of my officers. I knew better. But treason? I gave Xim peace on a silver platter.” Asking nothing for himself but the chance to fade away into the fabric of the precious lands he’d defended. “In thanks I get a death sentence.” The aftertaste of betrayal was bitter indeed. “You can’t let him go through with this.”
“What can I do?”
Come on, Markam, think outside the box. Maybe there was a reason his friend had stayed behind with the Palace Guard and Tao had gone off to fight in the Hinterlands battlefields, where thinking unconventionally was a requirement for survival. “Help me escape.”
“You’ll end up living like an animal on the run, Tao.”
“So be it. I have the survival skills. I’ll go back to the Hinterlands. I’ll disappear.”
“And I’ll be hanged for my role in it, leaving the madman in charge of the asylum. I can’t, Tao.”
Bleakly, Tao walked down the stairs, trying to think his way out of a dead end. He’d rather take his chances in the wild lands than wait for a mock trial, but he couldn’t leave his best friend to be tortured and killed.
“Don’t worry,” Markam said. “By tomorrow, it will be as if you never existed.”
Tao jerked his head up. “I thought I had three days.”
The dungeon stank of rat feces and decay, the smell of hopelessness. Markam steered him into a cell and locked him in. Although it was arguably the best of the lot, inside the tang of urine was downright eye-watering. “Be patient, and you will see.”
Tao gripped the bars. “You try being patient from inside a dungeon cell.”
“Too many lives hang in the balance to tell you more. People I care about greatly. If things were to go wrong now, and you were hauled in for an interrogation, and you revealed…” Markam stopped himself. His angular face took on the appearance of stone, his eyes full of secrets.
“You want protection for your men.” By Uhrth, Markam must have been thinking outside the box for years while Tao was away, if he had a network to protect. “In that case, I want protection for my men, also. Their service to the kingdom has been beyond the call. Beyond any crime blamed on me in a charade of a trial.”
“Xim will need to placate them after getting rid of their general. There’s enough land to go around, and a fair share of women, lonely from too many years of losing men to war. Knowing the alternative, they’ll let Xim buy them out, I suspect.”
Tao knew this was the unfortunate truth of a large fighting force. The average soldier didn’t know him, the general, personally; they received their orders through the chain of command. His officers were the ones most at risk in this. Their loyalty and honor to him ran blood deep. Yet, if they moved to defend him, they’d be hanged for mutiny.
Weary, Tao gripped the bars. “I trust you’ll look after Aza.”
“Always,” he said, his tone somber, his gaze flickering with something that gave Tao pause. It was more than just childhood friendship talking; Markam had feelings for Aza that transcended a palace guard protecting his queen.
I have indeed been gone from home too long. If Aza shared Markam’s feelings, Tao prayed the pair knew enough not to take any chances and reveal it to Xim, and that a pointless dream of star-crossed love wasn’t the motivation behind Markam’s desire to undermine the king. But he bit back the urge to demand the truth. Any such knowledge could be wrested out of him and be used to hurt Aza.
Tao let his hands slide off the bars. “You’d better go.” There was nothing more to be said, nothing more to do. Everything he cared about existed outside these prison walls. He was locked in a dungeon, and by tomorrow, according to Markam, it would be as if he’d never existed. We shall see.
“Good
