The Other Lands by David Anthony Durham Read Free Book Online Page B

her courteous tone had a bite to it, “and you will get nothing less from me. Proceed.”
    Sire Dagon nodded, his eyes half closed as if the words were music to him. “Queen Corinn, you must know by now that the league holds you in the highest regard. In truth, we haven’t held such complete faith in an Akaran for several generations. No insult to your ancestors intended, of course. It’s just that we find yours a remarkable reign, young though it is.”
    “So full of promise,” Sire Neen slipped in, grinning. His teeth had been filed, not to points, but to roundness, each of them a gentle curve of measured uniformity. When Corinn looked at him she kept her gaze pinned to his forehead. His eyes had a dead quality to them, a reptilian flatness that she could not—and to some degree did not wish to—penetrate. She was not sure which of the leaguemen held greater rank, nor did she know where or how Sire Neen had served the league before taking over management of the Outer Isles project. They never offered the information, and she never asked.
    Despite their claim of directness, a few minutes more passed with both men praising the peace she had brought, both of them sure that the empire would soon be more prosperous than ever in its history. Eventually, Corinn lifted her finger. “Please, you digress again. What are you really here to tell me or ask of me?”
    The two leaguemen conferred with their eyes and seemed to conclude that the time had come. Sire Neen said, “There has been an unfortunate development. Recently, last fall to be precise, we sought intelligence about the Auldek.”
    “Sought intelligence?”
    “There has never been a more closed, maddeningly secretive people than the Lothan Aklun,” Sire Dagon said with no hint that his listener might find this complaint ironic coming from him. “As you know, the Lothan Aklun are to the Auldek what we are to you. They are not the market you trade with; they are simply the merchants who hold sway in the Other Lands.”
    Corinn interrupted. “This was a detail the league was slow in divulging.”
    “If we were cautious in divulging our information, it was largely because we knew and still know so little ourselves. Bad information is no better than information. Surely you agree?” He paused, but not long enough for Corinn to answer. “We know the Other Lands are vast. We know the Auldek are powerful. But that is all we know. As you will understand, that is no knowledge at all. So we concluded that now as we are entering a new age under your leadership it was essential that we learn more of this nation we are so dependent on.”
    “You sent spies among them?”
    “Just so.”
    “But before we learned much of anything,” Sire Neen proceeded, “one of our agents was found out and captured. He, in turn, was convinced to betray other agents. Several were captured and … questioned.”
    “How many?” Corinn asked.
    “Oh …” Dagon pursed his lips as if the exact number were of no consequence, but then he produced it. “Twenty-seven.”
    “Twenty-seven? Are you mad?”
    Neen fondled his gold neck collar, fingering the dolphin shape embossed there. “It is a large territory. One or two spies would have told us nothing. It would have been a waste and still a risk at that. Our spies were finely trained, disciplined, and looked perfectly the part of grown slaves. We were all shocked when one was caught and shocked that he gave up the others so thoroughly.”
    “It seems,” the other leagueman said, “that the Lothan Aklun took possession of them. They have very persuasive forms of torture.”
    Corinn tapped her fingernails against the hard wood of the armrests, waiting for more. “So you’ve been caught spying? How have the Lothan Aklun responded?”
    “Put simply,” Sire Neen said, “this has placed us in an awkward position. What we believe will help is a direct entreaty from yourself. We will make our own apologies directly to both parties, but if