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.He woke suddenly, reaching for his pistol."Easy, Jason," Jane Slovotsky's voice whispered from the mouth of the tent.She tapped him on the footagain."You were crying out in your sleep."There was a bitter taste in his mouth, and his head felt as if someone was regularly jabbing a dull icepickinto the back of his head.He brought himself up to his elbows."It must have been a dream," he said.But the dream was gone now.Something about wading throughknee-deep rivers of boiling blood, holding a crying baby girl over his head.It had been distinct, sharp asthe edge of a knife.but now it was gone.He wiped sweat from his forehead and stretched, his blankets damp and musty around him."Thanks forwaking me." Her outline was vague in the dark, and then it was gone.She was gone.His mouth still tasted sour as he checked his weapons.There was no waterskin near his head; he'dforgotten to put one nearby.As far as he knew, Tennetty had the only bottle of Riccetti's Best on theisland.He needed a drink of something, and his bladder was full, tight as a drum.He didn't like waking Tennetty.Not only did she need her rest, but she always came awake armed.Twoor three times the-Gazelle had taken an unexpected pitch or roll and he'd found himself bumped upagainst Tennetty, the slim woman coming awake wide-eyed, a knife in her hand.He had slept in his jeans, but unbuckled the waist for comfort; he buttoned himself up, slung his holsterover his shoulder, then crawled out and stood up in the night.Tennetty was asleep a few yards to his left and Jane had returned to her blankets and sleeping canvas, tohis right.Tireless Durine was on watch, sitting on a rock down by the water.The big man raised his hand ingreeting.Bren Adahan's tent was a stone's throw from Jason's, and -beyond that was the forest; Jason took thetraditional twenty steps beyond the farthest sleeper and urinated against the nearest tree.He buttoned hisfly and walked back toward the camp. Beyond the charred bones of the waterfront buildings, beyond where gentle waves stroked the shore,theGazelle stood at anchor, supported by a sea that seemed built more of reflected starlight and faerielight than of water.It caught the twinkle of the million points of light overhead, and mixed it with thepulsations of the distant faerie lights.There were light footsteps behind him--bare soles on dirt.Jane Slovotsky cleared her throat.She stood there in the dark, wearing loose drawstring pants and ashirt, holding a pair of clay bottles."Pretty, isn't it?""Yeah.""Which do you want? Whiskey, water?""Both," he said, accepting the whiskey bottle first."You're not exactly your father," she said."He wouldn't have let me sneak up behind him.""I heard you.""Sure."He uncorked the bottle and took a swig.Lou Riccetti's corn whiskey might not have been as important adevelopment as guns and gunpowder, but it had its points.Still tasted like horse piss, though."Easy on that," she said."You had a bit of a shock today.Don't push yourself."His first reaction was to bristle, to tell her that he was capable of judging how much he should drink andthat it was none of her damn business.but she was right."Good point," he said.He exchanged bottles with her, and she took a quick swallow before recorkingthe whiskey.A cold wind blew out of the west, but her smile was warm in the darkness.The water was cold and fresh.It tasted good, particularly clean and bright tonight.Valeran had oncesaid something about the value of almost getting killed: it did tend to sharpen the senses.He handed her the water bottle."Thanks.""Mind if I ask a question?" she said as he started to turn away.He shrugged."Go ahead.""Why haven't you made a pass at me?" There was a curious lilt in her voice, a note he hadn't heardbefore."Is it me, or is it you, or is it some combination?""Has every man you've ever known tried to get you to sleep with him?"She smiled."Almost.Since I turned fourteen." He looked down the slope toward the others, and she nodded."Sure.All three of them.Durine was kind of cute about it.Bren's being kind of a nuisance."He shook his head, once."Bren Adahan says he wants to marry my sister," he said coldly."I'm not sureI like that.""No harm done." She snorted."I said no.Besides, I didn't know that it fits in only one," she said."Yoursshaped like a key?"There wasn't anything to say to that, but he did anyway: "Do you have to talk like that?""I don't know." She shrugged."Runs in the family.A lot runs in my family.Did you ever ask yourselfwhy my father sent you after me?""Because he wanted you and your mother and your sister to relocate to Biemestren," he said.She snorted."Youdo need a keeper.Didn't it occur to you that he thought that the two of us might pairoff? Or don't you have all the parts?""No." It hadn't occurred to him.He swallowed.Why was she bringing this up? Just to make himuncomfortable.It should have occurred to him, though.Back in Biemestren, around court, there hadbeen constant subtle pressure from most of the barons to pair him off with a baronial daughter.Anybaron who had a daughter had no difficulty seeing her as the next empress.Why should WalterSlovotsky be all that different?"Oh, that's too bad," she said half-mockingly."You don't have all the parts, eh?""You know what I meant.""Yes, I do."He didn't remember her putting down the bottles, or moving closer to him, but suddenly she was in hisarms, her hands locked behind his back, her mouth warm on his.After a while she let go of him, moved a few inches away."About time, Cullinane."Durine had been watching the whole thing casually from his place by the water.Jason wasn't sure, but hethought he saw Durine smile before he turned away."He knows," Jason said.She shrugged."So what? Doesn't your tent have enough room for two?""Y-yes," he said, biting his lip in frustration at the way his voice shook for a moment.He was the man,damn it; he was supposed to be smooth and sophisticated."But, why?""Didn't your father ever tell you not to look a gift horse in the mouth?" She laughed quietly, then kissedhim gently on the lips when he frowned."No, no.I'm not laughing at you.It's because, like, you'reirresistible, maybe?" "Try again." His smile didn't feel entirely genuine.Maybe Jane Slovotsky saw herself as an empress atcourt, too, eh?"Who knows?" As though she was reading his mind, she nodded."It won't bother me that from themorning on, it'll get easier to keep Bren's hand off my ass.That's getting real tiresome.But mainly it'sbecause of my father.""Your father?""Something he said.Something about what almost getting killed does.Or doesn't it make you horny,too?"CHAPTER 21To SalketThe logic of the heart is absurd.--Julie de LespinasseLying, like eating, can be overdone.--Walter SlovotskyKlimos to Geverat, and they hadn't been there, but maybe on Menelet? No, no, the raid on Menelet wastendays ago.It was Klimos.The three of them, the dozen of them, the hundreds of them, had struck onKlimos, burned everything to the ground
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