The wide smile Erakes wore earlier returned. “The affection of one of Agna’s blessed is no easy thing to win. Killing Karsas was a far easier task.” He offered Gilene a bow, acknowledging her status as a sacredagacinbefore all his clan. “Welcome to my encampment,Agacin. Clan Eagle is honored by your visit and that of Azarion Ataman.”
She bowed in return. “I am honored to be here, Erakes Ataman.”
Erakes ushered them all into hisqara.Servants showed them to places where they could sit and rest in luxury. Numerous lamps ringed the dwelling, and the scent of roasting meat filled the air, making Azarion’s mouth water.
Theqarawas a crowded place, filled with Erakes’s family and servants as well as theatamansfrom the other clans. Each called a greeting to Azarion, along with congratulations on reclaiming his clan’s chieftainship.
A finely dressed woman directed the servants with efficient ease. Azarion recognized her as Erakes’s wife, though theatamandidn’t introduce her to his guests.
He bellowed for wine, mare’s milk, and food to share with the visitors. It was the start of a drawn-out process involving generous hospitality and hard-driving negotiation.
Gregarious by nature, and a hedonist with great appetites for food, music, drink, and women, Erakes was a shrewd negotiator and an ambitious clan chieftain—exactly the kind of man Azarion’s plan might appeal to if presented the right way.
He would have to be careful. Iruadis himself had once said Erakes made for a loyal friend and a dangerous enemy. He was Savatar through and through, proud of his heritage and the land that birthed him and the many generations of his ancestors before him. His love for the Sky Below was superseded only by his hatred for the Empire.
He and Azarion swapped stories between them, including Erakes’s recollections of growing up with Iruadis and the scrapes they got into as boys. Azarion, for his part, spoke briefly of his enslavement to the Empire and watched as Erakes’s genial mood darkened. Azarion turned the conversation to a lighter subject before theatamangrew even grimmer. They bantered with the otheratamansand subchiefs for the next hour about inconsequential things, each man measuring the other as either potential ally or adversary in future dealings. Nearby, Gilene sat among six of the nineagacins, carrying on her own conversation or listening to theatamans’ conversations, her expression guarded and hawkeyed.
A servant girl approached Erakes and whispered in his ear. He nodded and sent her off before turning back to Azarion. “We have aqarafor you and one for theagacinif she wishes it. Your subchiefs are welcome to stay with other families.” He held his cup up to a servant for a refill of wine. “The last of theatamans, Tulogan of Clan Lynx, will arrive late tonight. We’ll all get a good sleep and meet here again tomorrow once the sun has burned away the ground fog and hear what you have to say. Until then, I bid you all good evening.”
They were dismissed and escorted out by more of the efficient servants. After declining theqarafor theagacin, Azarion and Gilene followed one of the servants to aqaraset near the camp’s center.
Once inside, Azarion surveyed their surroundings, noting its many luxuries.
“This isn’t nearly as big as Erakes’sqara,” Gilene said as she wandered the interior, pausing at various spots to admire the silk rugs that lined the floor and the elaborately embroidered hangings that graced the walls. “But it’s certainly as opulent.”
“It probably belongs to one of Erakes’s subchiefs.”
Carved stools joined plush backrests for those who preferred not to sit on the ground. Velvet coverlets in jewel colors draped pallets, and the lit candles smelled of beeswax instead of tallow.
“Does it appeal to you?”
The few belongings he possessed and those that became his at Karsas’s death were basic by comparison. Clan Kestrel had never been as large or as wealthy as Clan Eagle, even at its height.
Gilene dragged a finger over a carafe made of delicate glass the color of milk with wispy tendrils of mist caught in the design. She waved a hand to encompass the interior. “This would appeal to anyone for a short while.” She tilted her head to the side, aquestion in her eyes. “Do you not think it oppressive, though? It’s all beautiful in its way, but it isn’t the stars at night, and I feel as if I’d drown in silk and velvet by morning.” Her expression turned pleading. “I don’t wish to sound ungrateful of Erakes’s generosity or that of the chief who allowed us the use of his home, but would you mind so much if we slept outside? It’s warm enough, and the ground isn’t muddy. And we can use our own blankets to keep from soiling these.”
Azarion was tempted to pull her into his arms. Instead, he bowed. “As theagacinwishes. We’ll sleep under the stars tonight and welcome the sunrise tomorrow.”
She possessed a beautiful smile, one she showed far too seldom for his liking, and this time that smile was for him alone. They left theqara, fielding questions from those of both Clan Eagle and his own retinue; concerns theqaradidn’t meet with their approval and offers to provide them with something else to their liking.
Azarion assured them all he merely indulged the whims of theagacin, who wanted to stargaze and enjoy the warmer weather before the summer season faded to fall. Appeased, they left him and Gilene to journey outside the camp’s periphery, opposite the horse herds, where the grasses were thicker but shorter, and the ground was free of horse dung. They stopped at the fire where his soldiers gathered for the night and took with them saddle pads and blankets for making a bed.
They were still close enough to the camp and its light to deter a visit from nocturnal hunters but far enough away to gain a modicum of privacy. The moon above them hung bright in the celestial black, creating shadows with razor edges on the Sky Below.
Gilene helped Azarion lay out the makeshift bed. Once finished, she dropped down to the bed, toed off her shoes, and laysupine atop the covers, face tilted up to the sky and the stars salting its expanse.
Azarion joined her, stretching out on his belly. He bent his arms to use as a headrest and rested his cheek on his forearms, content to watch theagacinwatch the stars.
She spared him a glance from the corner of her eye. “Surely, you can’t see the stars that way.”
It didn’t matter to him. She was prettier than the stars and gleamed more brightly, in his opinion. The sour look that had seemed permanently stamped on her features when they first met was gone now, in its place, the beauty of fortitude. This was how he wanted to remember her after she returned to Beroe, he and the Savatar only a vague memory in her mind. If she bothered to recall them at all.
“I’ve seen stars many times,” he said. “I’m just glad to be outside.”
She smiled. “Me too.”
They lay in companionable silence for several moments until she spoke again. “Do you think theatamanswill agree with your plan? More importantly, do you think Erakes will agree to it?”
He considered Gilene’s question before answering. “I really only need Erakes. With his support, the otheratamanswill follow. He hates the Empire even more than we do. His first wife died a captive in a Kraelian brothel before he could rescue her.”
