***
I dined with Shu the next evening. Just the two of us in my suite. She had a scimitar around her waist, but that wasn't unusual. She started wearing it after we escaped from the high sage's harem. She wore black leather breeches tucked into black riding boots, and a dark blue silk shirt that laced down the front.
I dressed in black for this evening, black leather breeches, black riding boots, and a black silk shirt. My cutlass was around my waist. My hair was tied in a ponytail, using the bone handled choking device rather than a ribbon.
My ability to move small objects with my mind had progressed to the point where I could wrap the choking device around my hair without laying a hand on it. I had been practicing in the mornings, when I dressed, using my mind to move the choking device off the dressing table where I kept it, and through the air, finally tying it around my hair without ever touching it.
We ate a dinner of roast chicken, potatoes boiled in milk, fresh baked bread, and wine. Shu talked about the progress in building up Holt's army. They were five hundred strong and fully mobilized for war. She asked how the buildup of our forces were going here in Vassa. I gave her no details, not knowing if I was speaking to her or to my father.
When dinner ended, we moved from the dining room to the drawing room. When the servants left, a grinning Shu followed them out the door, only to return a moment later with something wrapped in white silk.
"A gift," she said, handing it to me.
"What's the occasion?" I unwrapped the white silk.
"It will soon be one year since we met. Seeing how neither of us may be alive when that date arrives, I figured I would give you your gift now."
Inside was a pink silk shirt. It laced down the front and had long puffy sleeves. Underneath the shirt was a pair of calf high pink leather boots.
"You're starting to look like a royal adviser, with all the black you've been wearing. I thought you needed a little more color. Then I realized I've never seen you in pink."
"Never really thought of pink as my color," I said. "But thank you."
"Try them on. Let's see how you look."
I felt a chill creep up my spine. This was my vision. Me in my dressing room, changing into some pink clothing. Shu slipping up behind me, drawing her scimitar, then swinging it at my neck.
Even though I knew what was coming, I took the clothes and headed into my dressing room. I left the door between the two rooms open, but slipped out of view for a minute. I tossed the clothes aside, drew my cutlass, and pictured myself in my mind, wearing the pink shirt and boots. A second later, my point of view shifted a few feet, from where I was standing, to where my image was standing.
My image walked to the doorway, its back turned toward the drawing room, its imaginary hands busy with the imaginary laces on its pink shirt. I maintained that image in my mind and opened my eyes. My image was still in the doorway, still busy lacing up its pink shirt.
I couldn't see Shu from where I was standing anymore than she could see the real me, but I could hear her, rising off the divan and walking across the drawing room. I heard her scimitar slide out of its scabbard. A second later, I saw her stop behind my image. She raised the scimitar, then hesitated, as if she were fighting for control of her body.
Shu lost the battle for control and swung the scimitar at my image's neck. When her scimitar passed through my image's neck, I imagined my head separating from my body and tumbling to the floor. I also imagined blood spurting out of the severed neck, then imagined my body falling next to my severed head.
I thought if I could fool my father, make him think that I was dead, he would release his control over Shu. When she bent down to touch the body, I knew it wouldn't work and let the image fade away.
I stepped out from behind the door with my cutlass raised. "Really father. Did you think it would be that easy to kill me?"
Shu didn't respond, she still seemed to be fighting my father for control of her body. Once again, she lost the battle for control. I knew that when she straightened up and an ugly sneer crossed her face.
"To find out how powerful a seer is, you have to test them," my father said, speaking through Shu.
"To control someone without being here must tax your powers considerably," I said. "I could end this fight right now, but I'm curious to see how long you can control another person."
"Long enough to separate your real head from your real neck, daughter."
It felt weird to have Shu sneering at me while calling me daughter. I had to keep reminding myself that she wasn't in control.
"Fight him," I urged Shu. "The harder you fight him for control, the harder he has to work. The harder he has to work, the sooner he'll lose control."
"You underestimate my powers, daughter."
"Perhaps you overestimate your powers, father."
"You think I have to work to control a simple minded creature such as this?"
"I think you have to work very hard to control someone as strong willed as Shu. If you didn't, we'd be engaging in a sword fight right now instead of a discussion."
"You want a sword fight, daughter? Then we will have a sword fight."
And so it began. Shu rushed at me, holding her scimitar high above her head and swinging it with both hands. I began with my cutlass in my left hand, content to remain on the defensive.
I did learn one thing. My father was limited by the size and strength and skill of the person he was controlling. He might have the ability to control people, but he couldn't enhance their skills. Shu was a decent swordsman, but not good enough to threaten me. After a couple of minutes, either she began to grow weary, or my father began to grow weary from controlling her. I hoped that it was the latter.
"Two minutes and you're already growing weary. Your powers are laughable, father."
I switched my cutlass to my right hand and went on the offensive, forcing Shu to retreat. I drove her out of my dressing room and into the middle of the drawing room.
"You'll have to kill her," my father said, still speaking through Shu. "It's the only way that you can end this fight."
That's what you think. I imagined Shu's scimitar in my left hand. A second later, I felt it in my hand even though it wasn't there. A second after that, it flew out of Shu's hands and into mine. I then imagined myself untying the choking device from around my hair and tying it around Shu's wrists. A second later, I felt myself doing just that. A second after that, the choking device unwrapped itself from around my hair, flew through the air and wrapped itself around Shu's wrists. Just like that, the fight was over.
"It's time for you to go, father." I sheathed my cutlass and transferred the scimitar to my right hand. "There's no reason for you to remain here. Nor is there any reason for you to try and use anyone else against me. I can disarm them as easily as I disarmed Shu."
"Your powers are impressive, daughter, but I still possess the superior army."
And bringing that army to the Finger States will bring you close to me, which means I can use the Curse of the Crown of Sorrows against you. Not that I was going to tell him that. There was no way I was going to tip my hand and let him know that I knew how to destroy him.
Shu's eyes closed and she collapsed to the floor, rolling onto her back. She remained like that for a few seconds then opened her eyes.
"He's gone," she said, looking up at me.
I didn't need to probe for my father's presence to know that he had gone. The look in Shu's eyes had changed, along with the way she talked. She looked and sounded like her old self again.
She struggled to a sitting position, with her hands still tied in front of her.
"Tell me what it felt like," I said. "From the time he took control of your body to the time he left."
"It was weird," Shu said. "One second, I was sitting there waiting for you to finish changing, the next second, it felt like there was someone inside my head, ordering me to do things that I didn't want to do. The next thing I knew, my body was moving, obeyin
g him and not me, then I was drawing my scimitar and swinging it at you. Or what I thought was you."
"Did you fight him?"
"When we were fighting, I kept yelling at him, telling him to leave me alone and go away. He was still in control, but I think it became a lot harder for him to maintain control."
"That must've been the point when you seemed to grow tired."
"I figured it would be better if you killed me than if I killed you, so I kept yelling at him to go away. The Finger States will survive without me. I'm not sure they'll survive without you."
I used my power to untie the choking device from around Shu's wrists. It unwrapped itself from around her wrists, flew through the air, and wrapped itself around my hair, so my hair was once again pulled back into a ponytail.
"Nice trick," Shu said, scrambling to her feet. "You surprised your father with that one. He didn't know you possess that ability."
"I know." I gave Shu's scimitar back to her. She slid it back into its scabbard.
"I'm sorry for trying to kill you, Lila."
"It wasn't you," I said. "It was my father."
"Why does he fear you so?"
"As the King of Sorea, he carries a curse, one that can destroy him. As his daughter, I'm the one person on this side of the desert that can activate that curse." He wanted to kill me before I found out how to activate the curse. Little did he know, I already knew how to activate it. I just needed to get near him.
"What do you think your father's next move is going to be?"
"I think he made that clear. He's going to use the Army of Dunre to try and kill me."
"Then war is upon us."
I nodded in agreement. "War is upon us."