“The path from one city to the next was much too long and took far too much time to be wise,” Maxum answered quickly and truthfully. “It was not possible to come sooner.” Again, it was the truth. But then Maxum did some creative truth telling. “But now that we have thought to use ships for the better part of the journey to Okun and then do overland travel, the route has been shortened considerably.”
Maxum and the group had not made use of this method of travel themselves because of Maxum’s limitations, but it was entirely plausible for a trade route. Airi was impressed by his quick thinking. A blossom of pride unfurled in her breast.
But what was most important about the exchange was that Xzonxzu had never once taken his eyes off Airi. She met his gaze and smiled, nodding her head in acknowledgment of his regard.
“And who is this bedazzling creature you have brought before me?” Xzonxzu asked, getting to his feet and stepping down from the dais to come and take her hands in his. He spread her arms wide as he eyed her critically from top to bottom and back again. Then his eyes fixated on her ears. She blushed, but not from feeling complimented. She was still self-conscious about her ears and it felt strange to have them so openly regarded. But her coquettish blush charmed Xzonxzu and he smiled at her. “Are you not used to being complimented, my lady?”
“On the contrary,” she said. “My master does so regularly. But I have never been told so by a god.”
“So you are his mistress? Well, he is a very lucky man. But tell me,” he said then in a conspiratorial whisper, “why should I open trade between our two cities?”
“Why, to make money of course,” she said.
He laughed. “An honest woman. Very refreshing. But I have more than enough money. I do not need more,” he said, sounding bored with the whole idea.
“There is no such thing as too much money,” Airi said. She winked. “Just as there is no such thing as too much love.”
The demigod threw back his head and laughed. “This is quite a woman you have here, Maxum,” he said in a boisterous tone. “You must stay for eventide meal. You will be my guests.”
“When is your eventide meal?” Airi asked.
“And hour before sunset, why do you ask?”
“Only to know when we should return.”
“Return? You will not be leaving! I must hear all about Calandria for I have not been there myself. You will tell me all about what you wish to trade.”
“Of course,” Airi said with a smile.
They spent the next pair of hours lying through their teeth but telling nothing but truths the entire time. Maxum and Airi played off one another beautifully and anyone who saw them would believe they were exactly who they said they were. Maxum paid very little attention to Airi, allowing her to sit next to Xzonxzu and flirt with him outrageously. He had to pretend it didn’t bother him in the slightest when in fact, it did bother him a great deal. But they were a team, working together toward a common goal.
The rest of the group, acting the part of servants, stood close under the guise of serving their master when, in fact, they were on high alert in case something should go wrong. Doisy was serving Maxum his wine and punctuating the service with the occasional, “Will there be anything else my lord desires?”
“I must say, you have very well-trained servants and clearly they are very loyal to you. What does that one there do?” Xzonxzu asked, pointing to Kilon.
“He is my bodyguard and protector.”
“Ah. He has that look about him. The look of a killer. You would not convince me he is anything else.”
“Kilon has done his share of killing on my behalf and on the part of others.”
“As I said…you are very fortunate.” Xzonxzu looked at Airi, lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her palm in a very traditional show of respect to a lady. “Very lucky indeed.”
“And now, my lord, I must take my leave of you for a few hours,” Maxum said.
“Absolutely not. I forbid you to go. I am enjoying your company too much.”
“I am sorry but I have an appointment that must be kept.”
“No business will happen between you and any citizen of my city unless I allow it to happen! You will stay!”
“My great and wondrous lord,” Airi spoke up softly, soothingly, her hand coming to stroke down the demigod’s bulging biceps. “Perhaps if I stayed and represented my master in his absence we can all be satisfied.”
The demigod’s eyes lit with appreciation and avarice. After all, she suspected she was the reason why he wanted Maxum to stay so much. “My master will return an hour past juquil’s hour and we will spend the night here as your guests. Then, on the morrow you can show me your fine city as only you can do, being its great lord and master.”
“My dear—” Maxum began to protest.
“Yes! That will be a fine arrangement,” Xzonxzu said. “Go and do your business and rest assured I will take very fine care of your lady in your absence.”
Maxum was not happy. He wanted to flat out refuse to let this happen, but he knew he could not do so and still maintain their charade. Airi shot him a look that said “Trust me,” so he decided he would have to do just that.
“I will have to leave my attendants behind, to ensure she is well taken care of,” he said, indicating Doisy and Kilon.
“That one may stay,” he said pointing to Doisy. “But it is better you take your man with you into the city for your protection. Overall it is a good city, safe from many dangers because the citizens fear my reprisals should they break any of my laws, but there is still a bad element that would see your fine clothes and single you out to make a victim of theft of you.”
Again, Maxum wanted to argue, but he could think of no plausible reason to push the matter that would not end up causing friction. So he nodded and got up to leave with Kilon and Dru.
“My master, will you leave Dru for me?” She turned to explain to the demigod. “You see, he is my personal attendant. I should like to look my best if I am to represent all of Calandria.”
Xzonxzu nodded with a magnanimous smile and gesture of his hand. So both Dru and Doisy stayed behind as Maxum left with Kilon. The very instant he was gone, she leaned in closer to the demigod.
“So why don’t you show me around this grand citadel of yours,” she said with a winning smile.
“But of course,” Xzonxzu said, getting up from the table and holding out his arm to her. She took it and wrapped her hand warmly around his arm beneath the bracelet ringing his biceps.
“This is fine workmanship,” she said, admiring it openly. “I have never seen its equal.”
“Nor will you ever. This was a gift from a god.”
“Really?” she looked appropriately excited which wasn’t too hard for her to act under the circumstances. Could it be? Could it be the cuff, worn so openly? “Which god?”
“My patron god, the one who rose me up to my godly status. Jikaro.”
“The god of anger and deception?” She gave a light shudder. “I should be afraid to meet him in person.”
“He is a massive fellow, about three times my size. He is strong of body and of temper.”
“And what did you do to deserve this gift and the gift of your godhood?” she asked.
“Do you not know the stories?”
“I am afraid I am ignorant. Please forgive me. My master may have mentioned something, but I do admit to not always paying attention to him when he is droning on about certain things.”
“You are a very naughty mistress,” he said teasingly.
“I confess that I am,” she said. “But you will not hold that against me I hope,” she said.
“I will not, I can promise you that. I rather like naughty mistresses. They are the very best kind.”
“Then why do you not have one of your own?” she asked him.
“I had one once but she was not worthy enough once I became a god so I discarded her.”
Airi let that roll off her. “So tell me the
story of how you came to be so blessed by the gods.”
“I will simplify it by telling you there was a woman Jikaro wanted—more than he had ever wanted a woman before. He needed a warrior to woo and win her and then hand her over to the god when the time came. But it was not easy to win her. Her father was a tyrant and demanded her suitors go through many rigorous tests before he found them worthy of her. The tests were so deadly that no suitor had ever survived.”
“But you survived.”
“I did. It was no easy task, I will admit. The tests nearly killed me.”
“I wonder that Jikaro did not simply take the girl.”
“I wondered at that myself, but far be it from me to question the motives of a god. He wanted her to be wooed and so I courted and won her. And on the night of our wedding I handed her over to Jikaro.”
“Was she not shocked and displeased to be so misled?”
“I do not know. Why would she be though? She was to be loved by a god. That is an honor to any woman.”
“Indeed you are right. Any woman would be a fool not to accept the attentions of a god,” Airi said, openly baiting him.
“You are a very clever woman that you understand this.” He looked quite pleased.
“So tell me about this item,” she said, stroking the armlet.
And of course, thanks to the dagger, he was compelled to tell the truth. But she suspected he would have told her regardless, for he seemed the boastful sort. “This is a very old and powerful artifact, from times long past and forgotten. It is called the Cuff of Cadence and it can do many wonderful things.”
“Such as?”
He stopped their progress and turned to face her. “I will show you.”
Then, suddenly, there were flowers in his hand. She had seen a blur of movement and he was no longer standing exactly where he had been an instant ago, but he stood before her with the dusk roses in his hand. Dusk roses bloomed only at dusk, so the blooms were ripe and full. She gasped and clapped.
“How did you do that?” she asked as she took the small bouquet in her hands.
“Easily. The cuff allows me to move faster than what appears to be the blink of an eye to you from one place to the next. Or I can slow the movements of others. Watch.” He waved a hand at a passing servant and suddenly her movement seemed to slow until she was barely moving, and yet there was still momentum in her body. She was moving, but at an infinitesimal pace.
“Amazing,” Airi said.
“As long as I wear it no one can move faster than me. I could slow the working of the entire city if I wished!”
“Really? That is quite powerful then!”
“The man who owns this is more than a man. He is a god.”
“He is indeed,” she said with appropriate admiration.
So. She had found the cuff. But the only way to get it off him without his knowledge…well, it wasn’t possible. Not even her best sleight of hand could unlatch the cuff and remove it from his body without him knowing.
There was only one possible solution.
She would have to kill him and remove it after he was dead. But if he could slow down the actions of others at a mere thought, she would have to catch him completely off guard.
“Now later I will have something to show you,” she said.
She should bide her time. It would be best to wait until as close to juquil’s hour as she could before acting so that they could flee the city together as soon as possible. But that meant dodging Xzonxzu’s attention for the next few hours.
“What is it?”
“A gift from a god,” she said honestly.
“What is it? I insist you show me now for I do not believe you are telling the truth!” He seemed heavily offended and she realized she had made a miscalculation. Instead of being intrigued, he felt threatened. Knowing that someone else had a gift from a god made him feel diminished and he was not happy about it.
“Very well, I was hoping to do this later when my master returned…”
“Show me!”
Airi bent down and lifted her skirts, glancing up between her lashes as she did so. She exposed her bare leg and immediately his anger dissipated and avarice once again entered his eyes. The avarice of a man wanting and coveting another man’s woman.
She withdrew the dagger from its sheath in a blinding flash of movement, acting before he had a chance to react with the powers of the cuff. All she needed to do was break his skin and that was exactly what she did, nicking him across his cheekbone. Then the next thing she knew he had backhanded her hard and the dagger went flying out of her hand as she hit the wall on the opposite side of the corridor and slid to the floor.
“Foolish woman!” he roared. “I am a god! You cannot hurt a god!”
Airi spit blood as Dru leapt in to protect her, casting his blurring magery so the demigod could not focus on any of them enough to harm them. Then he cast his multiply spell which cast multiples of each of them so that the guards coming up on them could not tell which was the real target.
Airi shook off her dizziness and lunged for her dagger, but the demigod was there before her and picking it up. She felt as though she were moving through molasses, her speed inconsequential in the face of the cuff.
Why wasn’t the Dagger of Truths working? If she so much as cut the skin of a victim the power of all his lies should come to bear. But Meru had not told her how long that would take or in what manner it would come. She had been foolish. Foolish to act so rashly. Now they would all die because of her.
And just as she thought it Xzonxzu dropped the dagger to the ground as if it had burned him, and indeed the imprint of the dagger was suddenly burned into his palm. That was when she realized that no one but she was able to hold the dagger.
As he roared in outrage the cry suddenly choked off. Xzonxzu seized violently, doubled over, and fell to his knees on the floor. The nick on his face where she had cut him began to grow, his skin splitting and tearing and spilling blood until half his face was engulfed in the wound. Black ichor began to ooze out of the wound and all over his body Xzonxzu’s skin was bubbling and expanding as though he were being filled with air from the inside. Other rents appeared in his skin and they too began to leak blood and blackness until he was striped with tears in his flesh and his skin was slick with black and blood. Then Xzonxzu exploded from the inside out, dousing everyone in blood and ichor.
Airi wiped blood out of her eyes and saw Xzonxzu’s skeleton lying in a heap on the ground, bits of flesh still clinging to it. And there, wrapped around the fleshy bits of his arm, was the cuff.
Airi leapt for it. Aware that there were guards bearing down on them she stripped the bangle from the flesh left behind and closing her eyes she tried to focus on slowing everything down, on freezing it in place.
When she opened her eyes the entire world had frozen still. Dru, Doisy, the guards…everyone was barely moving. The cuff, meant to be worn around a man’s biceps, was too big for her to wear, so she gripped it with everything she was worth. Then she dove for her dagger. She hurried to the nearest guard and cut him with it. She did the same for the three others she saw then hurried back to Dru and Doisy. She reached out and touched them, grabbing a wrist in each hand, and suddenly they came to her speed.
“What the hells?” Doisy said.
“It’s the cuff. We have to go before anyone finds us, and we have to get word to Maxum that he’s not to return to the city.”
“How are we going to do that? We don’t even know which direction he’s gone in and there are three gates leading out of the city.”
“Then we’ll each have to take a gate.”
“The guards will lock the city down! They’ll be searching for us!” Dru said.
“Why? Their lord and master is dead. There’s no one to dispense justice now. And from what I’ve heard they’ll be glad to be rid of him. I know I would be. What a pompous, overinflated jackass.”
“But how do you know he’s dead? He…he’s a god.”
/>
“Demigod. But you have a point. However, I doubt even a demigod could survive…”
“What did you do to him?” Dru asked. “What was all that about a gift from a god?”
So they had overheard that part. “I’ll explain later. After we leave this city.” She stopped then, suddenly remembering something the demigod had said. “Wait. He said he could slow the entire city. What if I freeze the city, leaving us with the time to find Maxum and make our escape…as best we can in any case.”
“Wait a minute,” Doisy said. “You have to take something else.”
“Something else?”
“Something valuable. We traveled all this way…I’m assuming for that,” he said nodding toward the cuff, “But Kilon is going to want his share. The minute he sees how that thing works he’s going to want it. The only way to mollify him will be with cold gold.”
“Fine. Apparently we have all the time in the world now. Let’s find the coffers and be done with it. If this man is really a favorite of Jikaro, we could be looking at a very angry god of anger and deception. Although, one might think he would appreciate such a great deception.” No easy trick considering the truths they’d had to tell.
Finding the coffers took more time than she would have liked. By the time they had emptied them to what Doisy felt would be Kilon’s satisfaction, Airi was feeling exhausted. That was when she realized it took great mental effort on her part to maintain the frozen aspect of the world around her. She wondered just how far she was reaching out with this power when they exited the citadel and found the entire city was also frozen still.
She wondered if she could tighten up the area of affectedness, limiting it only to the city walls. Perhaps then it wouldn’t take so much energy to maintain. For all she knew, the entire world was moving at an infinitesimal speed. Or maybe they were the ones moving at a super fast speed. She couldn’t really tell. They made it back to the inn and, exhausted, Airi released the hold she had over everything. The world revved up around her, coming back up to speed. She figured they had very little time before the alarm was raised, if indeed it was raised, so they found Kilon and packed their bags with all due haste.