A Lotus for the Regent by Adonis Devereux Read Free Book Online

his tea, and looked across the room at Kaelmoro.
    "Where did
you learn a song like that?"
    Kaelmoro cast his
gaze to the floor in front of him. "I wrote it."
    "Wrote
it?" Perhaps the boy's genius was why the Guildmaster had him. But that
Kaelmoro could write such a song of the melancholy of old age unsettled Kamen.
"It's the most beautiful song I've ever heard."
    "Thank you,
sir." Kaelmoro rose. "And now I will leave you. Good night,
sir." He bowed in Zenji fashion, slipped into his shoes at the door, and
fled into the night.
    Kamen finished his
tea and lay down. As he drifted off to sleep, his mind replayed the song, and
he hummed the tune, trying to remember the words.
    ****
    Kamen heard the
screaming before he entered the building. And the screaming was being done in
Ausir. He broke into a trot, crossing the garden in no time. He wished he had
had more time to enjoy the scenery, but if he did not get to the main house
quickly enough, there would be blood. Kamen rushed through the gate and took
the stairs two at a time. Once on the covered outer porch, he slipped off his
shoes, pulled the door aside, and entered. He found the Ausir red-faced and
arguing. Clearly they had not been able to convince any of the Lotuses to go to
bed with them. Had the situation been different, Kamen would have laughed. As
it was, he raised his hands and cried out.
    "We're
leaving," the Kimereth captain said. "We should've never followed you
here in the first place."
    The room was full
of Sunjaa sailors who had interposed themselves between the Ausir spoiling for
a fight. Zenji servants lined the walls, and the Guildmaster was on the other
side of the large room. Kamen nodded to him.
    The Guildmaster
spread a smile across his face almost as wide as his outstretched arms. He
spoke in Ausir, and whatever it was he said, it made the Kimereth and
Losiengare calm down. Kamen heard his and Jahen's name several times during the
speech. He also caught the words "Sunjaa" and "Arinport".
Kamen was a consummate politician, able to read people without ever hearing
them talk, so it was not difficult for him to detect the Guildmaster's
deferential attitude toward him. And the longer the Guildmaster spoke, the more
the Ausir came to mimic his attitude. Kamen shook his head and chuckled. There
was witchcraft in the Lotus ways of persuasion. Kamen remembered how Saerileth
had once convinced the Vadal King to aid Jahen's bid for the throne through
nothing more than a mere conversation.
    The Guildmaster
gestured toward Kamen and bowed low. All the servants in the room also bowed,
and the impression this made upon the Ausir was plain. This was Kamen's cue.
    Kamen descended
the three steps into the room's central depression. "Please, mighty Ausir
who ride the sea like a stallion, sit, and let us talk."
    ****
    Kamen led the
way from the negotiation chamber toward the guildhouse dining hall. He was, of
course, attended by the Guildmaster, but Kamen knew that the Ausir were
following him. He sighed. The discussion had been slow, but he was unwilling to
give much ground. The Ausir must keep their war out of all Sunjaa waters. They
had not, of course, been able to deny the justice of that demand, but the
actual border beyond which they would keep their conflicts had caused much
debate, and the final agreement would not be made until after this meal.
    “ Please, noble guests, sit, and partake of the humble fare of the Red
Lotus Guild.” The Guildmaster indicated the lunch table laden with all manner
of fruits, baked fish, and cold boiled vegetables.
    The Ausir moved to
sit, the Kimereth on one side of the long table, the Losiengare on the other.
Ruben sat at one end, and Kamen took the head. The Sunjaa sailors ascended the
steps and waited at the edges of the room.
    Servants came
forward to serve, slaves in unadorned floor-length cotton robes. They poured
drinks and set food before the guests. Two pale, delicate, feminine hands
appeared before Kamen's eyes, and his gaze