Blood Heresy

Yoris rushed to the third floor, ignoring the inquiring looks he received from those he passed. It had taken him weeks to gain the nerve to come here. When he reached the corridor of Lord Hoon's wing, he saw no one: nearly all of Hoon's retainers, nibari, and other servants had gone with him. Those that dwelled here rarely left this wing, because Timon's folk gave them short shrift whenever Lord Hoon was absent. Three doors before reaching Lord Hoon's presently unoccupied suite, Yoris stopped and knocked loudly.

The door opened and a slender, female Lemyari named Zinzi stood there, brushing her wheaten hair. "Hoon's little rat in the walls. What do you want?"

Yoris glanced back down the way he had come as if he feared he had been followed. "Can I come in?"

"I suppose." She stepped aside and let him enter, motioning him to a sofa. "This had better be important or I'll rip a piece out of you. I was preparing to feed."

Yoris' eyes scanned the room, taking it in in a single sweep. The sitting room was twice the size of his own. A writing desk stood in the corner near the window where there was also a broad window seat with brocaded satin pillows and cushions. Two equally elegant and opulently upholstered sofas and four chairs surrounded a long, low table.

Settling on a sofa, Yoris wondered how she merited it. She must be held in high regard by Lord Hoon, and that made him nervous. His hands writhed over each other in a washing motion. "I must send a message to Lord Hoon. He said I was to come to you."

Zinzi strolled over to the low table and dropped her brush on it. She gave her long hair a quick twist and shoved a large, sharp pin with a sapphire head through it to hold the twist in place. "I have several of his birds. I warn you, it had better be important. Lord Hoon does not suffer fools and cravens lightly."

"It is. I assure you, it is."

She nodded and patted the desk in the corner near the window. "Everything you need is here." She opened the center drawer and took out several small pieces of paper that she casually placed on top of several sheets of stationery. "Write it on this. I've given you more in case you're shaking too much to write clearly."

Yoris rose and stalked to the desk, feeling belittled and angry.

Zinzi backed away to give him privacy and watched how hard he bore down on the quill in his irritation at her. When Yoris had finished, she let him follow her into the next room, where there were huge cages of various large birds. She chose out a moonhawk and slipped the message into the tiny canister on its leg band. "Lord Hoon will have it by nightfall. If this has proved to be a trifle…"

"I know," Yoris said wretchedly. "I'll be punished. It isn't."

"A nibari will be sent to you tonight. Try not to make as much of a mess of her as you did the last one. We had to place coercions in the last one's mind to stop her panics."

"I will try."

"Now, get out."

Yoris ran into the corridor and past several doors. He stopped and leaned against a wall, recovering himself a bit. When he started moving again, his walk had taken on the tiniest swagger. He passed people in the outer hallways without wincing from them and headed down the backswept stairway to the second floor where his rooms were. Gareth, dirty and bedraggled from working on the estate's latrine, stared at him. Yoris went to him and whispered in his ear, "Bodramet is withering."

Gareth grabbed his arm as Yoris started to go on. "The hell you say."

Yoris stopped in his tracks. He was not as afraid of Gareth as he was of Bodramet, yet caution was his nature. "Anksha can quicken it early."

Gareth stroked his chin. "If Bodramet goes down first, I rule our brotherhood of the winepress."

"I assure you, Gareth, that I will help you as I may."

GODWAR CENTRAL

Blood Heresy