27. Lyr

27

LYR

L yr looks over Damon's big shoulder, still bleeding from the impact of the door. Atticul stands there behind him. He holds Razelii, the Amber Blade at her throat, the familiar gold gleam of it, unmistakable.

"Don't try anything. I have my men just outside."

"What do you want from me now, Atticul?" Damon says from his knees. He sounds weary, almost careless.

Atticul doesn't seem to notice. He says, "An exiled man, in Azuria, in Attar, in the Rose Palace, I have every legal right to kill you like a dog."

"If you must. You've always wanted a reason to kill me." He looks at Atticul with dark eyes. "Let them go. Let Lyr and Razelii go. You only ever wanted me."

Atticul raises an eyebrow. "You think I'm a fool? Put down your blade, and stay on your knees."

"This?" Damon pulls a sword from his belt and throws it across the cell floor.

"And don't think your big bitch is coming to save you. I have her. My men have her under guard. And my faithless concubine who was cavorting half-naked with the dungeon guards. Those guards will all get flogged for this. But they are luckier than you and your pathetic team of spies and assassins. The glory I will get for having foiled this attempt on the Rose Palace by a deadly faction of Juran and Plumian scum."

"A deadly faction?" Damon sneers. "Two whores and two soldiers against you and all your bodymen?"

Atticul ignores this. "I can't believe you'd be this stupid to come back here after him."

"You didn't expect me to?" says Damon blankly.

"Yes, perhaps. Perhaps I should have realised that you are a fool. And a slut for that whore. But what matters is, you're here now. You are an exiled man in the Rose Palace, it is my duty and honour to kill you, Bastard."

Lyr's mind races. Damon will fight him. Of course. Damon will fight him. He looks at Razelii in Atticul's arms. She looks pale and scared, but she blurts out, "Run. Just run. Leave me."

Before Atticul can react to this, he slumps. He seems to fold up like crumpled parchment. Razelii stumbles forward, confused as he drops his grip on her.

A man is behind Atticul. Holding, not a knife, but a small dart that he has stuck into Atticul's neck. A tall man in grey robes. The man who rescued Lyr from the dungeons last time.

Damon says, "Doroth Zain."

"He's not dead," says Doroth Zain. "Although the realm of Azuria, the whole world would be better off if he was."

Damon says, "Don't kill him. It's what Vindar wants."

"It is," says Doroth Zain. He walks over to Lyr and wordlessly unlocks his manacles with a key. Lyr drops to the floor into Damon's arms. He lets Damon hold him, kissing his hair as Doroth Zain drags Atticul across the cell and locks up one of his wrists. Lyr can feel Damon shaking.

Doroth Zain turns to Razelii who stands stunned in the doorway. "Your friends are locked in the guards' room. I have taken care of Atticul's men. Release them and take them back to the banks of the Gleam. You can wait there for Damon and Lyr."

"I'm not sure if she—," Damon begins.

"She won't betray you again," says Doroth Zain, passing a key to Razelii.

As he takes her over to the cell door to explain where she needs to go, Lyr whispers to Damon. "That's Doroth Zain. The priest?"

"The High Word of Zai. Zai as man," Damon says.

Doroth Zain turns to Lyr and Damon. "You two will come with me," he says.

Damon crouches forward and picks up the Amber Blade where Atticul dropped it on the cell floor.

They follow Doroth Zain back through the dungeons, through a maze of tunnels, until they reach a small chamber. There is a small bench against a stone wall and a single torch burning in a fixing on the wall. When they are inside, Doroth Zain bolts the door. Turning around, he says, "Please, sit. This room is part of my private quarters inside the underground temple. We are quite safe here." He looks at Lyr and gives a slight smile. "I hope this is the last time I have to help you escape from these dungeons."

"I hope so too," Lyr says as he sits down.

Damon sits next to Lyr, close, their thighs touch. Damon lifts his chin. "Why are you here Doroth Zain? Why are you helping sinners like us? "

"There are things that are more important than trivial sins."

"What does that mean?"

"I take it from what you said about killing Atticul that you are now aware that my brother Vindar would like to see his son on the throne. And that he wants you out of the way so that when he forces a succession crisis the people or the court do not look to a great hero with Darek blood, who has only been discounted due to a small accident of birth, rather than the rule of a young boy. Prince Atticul has proven himself to be vain and easily manipulated. Vindar's hope was that one of you would kill the other and then he would be rid of you both."

"And you want to stop him?"

Doroth Zain tips his head to one side. "Not particularly. Vindar's plans mean nothing, except that they endanger you. I want you alive, Damon Darekul. You are important."

"Me? For what? I have no interest in becoming the Emperor of Azuria."

Doroth Zain nods. "Your purpose is far greater than that. Few people know that Atticus saw you alive on Sanvicta. Fewer still that your slave returned to Attar. If you leave now most will assume you died on your island, in exile. Let them. Leave Azuria. It is vital you go now."

Damon shakes his head. "What are you talking about? Why are you so interested in me? Where do you want me to go?"

"I want you to go to Queen Jareleezi in Ismagaar."

Damon can't speak for a moment, then, when he does, his voice is a growl, "You are working for the Hevelikar?"

"Of course not. I work for Zai."

"I think you have made it quite clear in the last few moments that you do not. "

Doroth Zain says, "Damon, you will have to trust me now. Come, before you leave, do your penance at the feet of the Immurite, one last time."

"I'm not going anywhere without Lyr. He is not leaving my sight."

"Take him with you. He is needed too."