The Oathbreaker's Shadow Page 8

  Raim just nodded.

  ‘I knew he hadn’t trained hard enough. It was a most embarrassing show on his part. Rest assured he will be punished. Still, your display was most impressive,’ he finished, before bowing his head to Khareh and moving on.

  Khareh beamed like a proud father.

  Raim wasn’t sure whether it was the excitement, the drink, or both, but when a group of girls waved him over, he felt himself gravitate towards them. Khareh grabbed his arm.

  ‘Not yet, battle spear. You’ll have plenty of time for that later.’

  When they stepped out onto the balcony, they had a complete view of the revellers. Khareh swept his arm out over the crowd dramatically.

  ‘That’s all for you, you know.’

  Raim rolled his eyes, drained his glass. His head buzzed. He looked into the bottom of the empty goblet, wondering what had been in it. He turned his back on the city. ‘It’s for all four of us. And it’s the only day we all get to enjoy ourselves for a long time. And you’re keeping me in here, away from all the fun.’

  ‘No.’ Khareh’s voice was firm. ‘It’s for you. There hasn’t been a Yun like you in living memory, that’s why.’ He paused once again, for added drama. ‘I need you to swear to be my Protector.’

  ‘You want me to make an Absolute Vow now?’

  Khareh had never looked more serious. ‘Yes, why not? I’m going to be Khan, and I want you there with me.’ There was a hard edge to his voice. ‘You will do it, right? I will have no one but you. I want the best.’ He held out his own thread of blood-red wool.

  ‘Of course.’ Raim inserted as much confidence into his voice as possible. He fumbled with the string-belt around his waist and removed it. It felt odd to no longer be wearing it, especially as he had only chosen it the day previously. It would take the entire length of one thread for them to complete the knot that would seal his Absolute Vow. It was the kind of promise that made you forgo all others.

  Raim unravelled the rope to create one long line and handed it to Khareh. Raim watched as Khareh slowly wound the two threads own path to followorcentered-imageCC f together and Khareh’s blood-red thread intertwined with his own. Even though Khareh’s was made of the most expensive, finely spun wool from a rare mountain goat and his was spun from the backside of a yak, when they were bound together they became equally magnificent and important. Once Khareh had come to the end of the threads’ length, he held one end loosely in his hand, and offered the other end to Raim. Raim gripped his hand as if they were about to start an arm wrestle. Instead, Khareh began the vows.

  ‘Raim, do you promise to protect me, Khareh, future Khan of Darhan, against all threats, dedicating your life to my service above all, even your love for your family, until your death?’

  It was a ritual they had both prepared for. Despite his mind’s cloudiness, it performed as it was trained.

  ‘No. You have that with my entrance into the Yun. That does not deserve an Absolute Vow.’

  ‘Ah, but you must serve me above your Yun obligations, following my directions over theirs.’

  ‘No, you have this as my Khan. I will not make an Absolute Vow over something so self evident.’

  As they drew closer to the conclusion, Raim felt Khareh’s nails draw blood on the back of his hand.

  ‘Then you will promise me that should you fail and I die, you must pursue my murderers with single-minded intensity. Once that is accomplished, or should I die of natural causes, then you will kill yourself as your life shall serve no purpose without me in it.’

  ‘I promise. My word and my life are yours. This is my Absolute Vow.’ They completed the vow and pulled the knot tight.

  A bolt of energy quaked through them, dragging them both to their knees.

  Somewhere, a woman screamed. It was the worst noise Raim had ever heard, a high-pitched screech that rang in his ears and made him shudder with fear. His hand jumped to his blade, ready to fight. It sounded like a woman being tortured, being burned alive or flayed. And just as abruptly, it stopped. Raim spun round and looked down from the balcony ledge into the crowd below, his eyes scanning for evidence of a woman in distress. But everyone mingled as normal, as if no woman had been screaming her lungs out. He glanced up at the other balconies, to see if she was inside the palace, but he could see no one. He turned back and stared wide-eyed at Khareh.

  ‘Did you not just hear that? We should call the guards . . .’

  ‘Hear what, Raimanan?’

  ‘That woman screaming!’

  But Khareh wasn’t really listening – his focus was on the knot in Raim’s right hand, and as he stared a huge grin spread across his face. Raim looked down too. The two strings, Khareh’s red and his brown, were knotted together, a knot and a promise he would carry with him for the rest of his life. Khareh then caught his eye, and the smile shifted to his wry grin of amusement.

  ‘I didn’t hear anyone scream. Maybe you’ve had a bit too much Rago wine. Wait here. I have a surprise for you,’ Khareh said. ‘I think you’ll like it.’ He winked and then disappeared through the curtain.

  The fabric parted again, but it wasn’t Khareh this time; it was Erdene.

  Wafts of her perfume reached him first, spice and flowery sweetness sending the blood racing through his veins. She was wearing her dre own path to followorcentered-imageCC fss clothes, silky folds of white winking beneath a soft brown dress as she moved. Raim’s eyes barely flickered over her outfit before she lifted her veil and he was stunned by her eyes.

  ‘Oh,’ she said, and he was startled by the acidity in her voice, the disappointment in her eyes. ‘I thought you were the Prince . . . never mind.’

  ‘Not this time, Erdene.’ But he was too happy to see her to be upset. ‘Well done with your duel, by the way.’

  To his relief, she smiled. ‘You too. I hate all this garb,’ she said, irritated as her veil blew back into her thick eyelashes.

  While she was distracted, he tried to stow the Absolute Vow knot away in his tunic until he had time to make it into something wearable. She noticed, and darted forward, grabbing his right hand and opening his palm so the whole newly formed knot, with the shock of royal colour twisting through it, was visible in all its glory. Raim blushed a deep crimson, a mixture of pride and apprehension as the magnitude of his promise became more and more apparent.

  Erdene gasped. ‘Khareh chose you already? I knew you two were close, I knew you were the most likely candidate but . . .’

  ‘But I’m not even officially Yun yet? But he’s not even the Khan?’ he finished. ‘I know. Keep it quiet until tomorrow, please?’ He attempted once again to cover it, but she held his arm firm. He shivered as her fingers traced the knot in his palm.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ she whispered. ‘And it suits you.’

  Raim suddenly felt dizzy. The places where she was touching him burned like fire, his mouth went dry and his eyes refused to blink.

  For a moment, Erdene’s eyes opened wide, and her pupils grew to islands in a milky white sea.

  ‘You will be Chief Yun.’

  He nodded. She caught him in the upward motion, pressing her lips against his. Her mouth was full, wet and salty, tasting of olives and cinnamon.

  He felt like he was suspended, like the only things stopping him from tumbling over the edge of a precipice were her lips. When she reached her hands around his neck, he put his own on her waist, struggling to get a grip on the silky material.

  Her fingers fumbled with the ties that held together his tunic. She kissed the corner of his mouth, continued down the side of his neck. He was out of himself, out of his body, ecstatic.

  There was a hesitation, then a sharp intake of breath that expelled itself as a scream. Raim came crashing down to earth. He looked down.

  The sleeve of his left arm was on fire and the flames had caught hold of the hem of Erdene’s tunic. She jumped back and slapped at the flames and they went out quickly.

  Raim fell with his arm against the wall, tryin
g to quench the fire. But it wouldn’t go out. It wouldn’t go out and soon his whole arm was consumed with flames. And yet he could feel no pain. The flames travelled up his arm to his shoulder before fizzling out in a curved wisp of grey smoke.

  But the fire had left its mark. There, seared into his left wrist, was the mark of a broken promise, blood-red and hideous. Staring at Erdene’s appalled face, her mouth twisted in disgust, he could see the horror of the taboo as clearly as if it were inked on her forehead.

  But there was no shadow. They boI’m so sorrybl knowingdth stood in paralysed silence, waiting for the shadow to appear. But it did not come. He was not fully Chauk yet. Maybe there was still time. His sleeve was ash on the ground so he grabbed Dharma’s scarf from his neck and threw it over his wrist.

  Erdene didn’t know, couldn’t know, that he was ignorant of the promise’s origin. She only saw the evidence of the greatest Darhanian taboo. She stared at his wrist as if the mark was still right in front of her eyes instead of hidden beneath the scarf.

  He stepped forward, but she recoiled.

  ‘Erdene . . .’

  ‘What . . . what was that?’ She was backing away.

  He grabbed her wrist. ‘Please, tell no one! There’s no shadow, that means . . .’

  She wasn’t listening to him. ‘It was red . . . a scar . . . I saw it.’ She looked up at him, ‘What does that mean? I must . . . I have to go.’ She tried to wrench away from his grip.

  Raim was desperate now. He could tell Erdene was going to straight to the Yun and all would be ruined. But he just needed time! Time to get to his grandfather. What was it his grandfather had said? Raim, I have to talk to you about your bracelet. His bracelet. This was what Loni had wanted to warn him about. Yasmin must’ve known that he couldn’t make another promise – that he was already bound. But to what? To whom?

  He had to discover the promise behind the scar and try to keep it, or else seek the person who forced the promise on him and get them to forgive the burden. He had just become of Honour Age today. His promise to Khareh was to be his first and his last. None of this was supposed to happen. Maybe Loni knew how to solve it? He had to find out before Erdene told the Yun.

  His fingers still clutching her wrist, he brought his right hand up so that his new promise-knot to Khareh was in her line of sight. ‘You see this?’ he said, shaking the knot in front of her. She bit down on her lip. ‘You know what this means. It means I will be Chief Yun.’

  Understanding flashed through Erdene’s eyes. When the time came, Raim would have great influence over where Erdene was placed in Darhan. He could keep her close to her homeland. He could elevate her to a position of immense power. Her hesitation inspired him. Seeing that she understood, he pressed on. ‘Please, tell me you won’t say anything.’

  Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded.

  He tried his luck. ‘Promise me.’

  This time she did wrench away. ‘What right do you have to speak of promises?’ She spun round, her hair whipping his cheek.

  Bile rosng that he bar

  10

  Regular soldiers had dragged him from the party – none of the Yun would touch him and taint themselves by their interaction with an oathbreaker. They paraded him in front of the entire party, through the streets from the palace, and then threw him in a dark, damp cell beneath the Rentai. From hero to traitor, in one fell swoop.

  All for a promise he didn’t even know he had made.

  Someone had to understand. He just needed a moment to explain. He knew his pleas would fall on deaf ears to the soldiers, but if he could speak to Mhara . . . he could tell her the truth. Panic rose in his chest, causing him to choke down air, as his mind considered the alternatives. What if Mhara wouldn’t listen? What if they sent him into exile? He wasn’t an oathbreaker. The panic threatened to engulf him – he felt his vision close, his heart pounding in his chest, his palms slick with sweat. He wasn’t an oathbreaker. He clung to that thought like the reins of a runaway horse, desperate to bring the situation back under his control.

  Some of Yasmin’s meditation tricks came back to him as he tried to keep himself from panic. He needed to be sound of mind in case they came to question him. He closed his eyes and concentrated on feeling every muscle from his toes to his forehead. He focused on his breathing, trying to slow it down as much as possible. When he finished he felt better, calmer, ready to defend himself against the unjust accusations. His Absolute Vow knot to Khareh was still hidden in his tunic. He tied it in a loop and hung it around his neck. That would show them he still had oaths to keep.

  The bolt on his door opened with a clank and an imposing hooded figure entered the room, features obscured by shadow. The figure lowered her hood. It was Mhara.

  Her face and neck were drenched in sweat; Raim could see the outline of moisture on her tunic. He had been relieved to see her; now he was afraid. Her eyes were narrow; there was none of the kindred affection he was used to receiving the other apprenticese was I to the ground from the i from her. Now there was just anger – anger and something else, something unreadable.

  ‘Tell me it isn’t true, Raim.’ But she didn’t wait for him to reply. She strode across the room, dragged him to his feet by grabbing his sleeve and threw him out of the door. When they were in the hallway, she spun a knife out from under her uniform and sliced through Dharma’s scarf so that the silvery fabric fluttered to the ground in two pieces. The crimson scar lay beneath.

  She screamed in anguish at the sight of the hidden mark, the sounds from her lips foreign, feverish and incomprehensible. Her knife clattered against the ground; the metallic jolt seemed to right her senses. Raim scooped the pieces of scarf up from the ground. Holding them comforted him.

  ‘You have to run.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘No buts, Raim! You don’t understand what you have done! How could you? You were the Yun’s hope, the future . . . I’ve distracted the guards, but not for long. You must go.’ She shoved him down the hallway.

  Out of sheer instinct and frustration, he shoved her back. ‘I can’t leave, Mhara. That would mean I couldn’t join the Yun! I’ve dreamed about it my whole life! Not to mention the Absolute Vow I made to Khareh.’ He grabbed at the knot around his neck. ‘Don’t you get it? I’m his Protector. I’m the Khan’s Protector.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No? What do you mean, “no”? Can’t you see this knot?’

  ‘I see the knot, but you will not be the Khan’s Protector. Khareh will not be the Khan.’

  ‘What?’ The question came spitting out of Raim’s mouth. It was the most venomous thing Mhara had ever said to him.

  But Mhara just looked exasperated. ‘They were going to make the announcement today, when all the new Yun had been initiated. The Khan’s wife, the Seer-Queen, is pregnant! The child will be the Khan. Not Khareh.’

  Raim stared at her in disbelief. ‘It . . . it doesn’t matter!’ he said, more brazenly than he felt. ‘I am still Khareh’s Protector for life. I have made the vow. Whatever this stupid scar on my wrist means, I don’t care. I don’t even know what it’s for! This is not supposed to happen! I’m not going back on my word to Khareh.’

  Mhara just shook her head. ‘They’ll kill you. Look at the scar. Whatever promise you made then, was so you could have no other duty in life, not Yun, not Khareh’s Protector, not even a lowly soldier, not anything. If you stay here, you die. Your only chance is to run.’

  ‘But where?’ Raim spluttered, the magnitude of her suggestion overwhelming him. ‘And why would they kill me?’

  ‘Don’t you see? Your final test is to see whether you are free to promise yourself to the service of the Yun. How can you promise us anything when you have this scar?’ She held up his wrist. ‘And surely no one is stupid enough to make a promise without knowing exactly what it is and what the obligations are. They see that scar? They will kill you. You are unfit.’

  ̵vily in his ha

  11

  Raim hurtl
ed out of the Rentai, out into a city teeming with festival revellers. He stuck to the shadows, the darkness concealing his far-too-recognizable silhouette. He took refuge behind a cloth banner, which hung from a tall window, the knotted symbol on the flag of Batar-Khan looking down on him like an eye judging his escape. He said a quick prayer of forgiveness to Sola, then gave the banner a sharp tug, sending it tumbling to his feet. He threw it around his shoulders and over his head, using it to pass through the throng of people undetected.

  He heard his name several times, and resisted the urge to look the speakers in the eye – despite the spurious gossip being tossed around. ‘I heard from my uncle, who was inside the palace, that Raim promised himself to two warlords other than the Prince – can you believe it? That’s why he has been exiled.’

  ‘So greedy for power.’

  ‘I hear he’s been an oathbreaker all along, and only pretended to be eligible to join the Yun.’

  ‘They say he’s jealous of the Prince, and tried to kill him! Thank the gods he’ll be in Sola’s hands soon, the traitor.’

  Raim gritted his teeth, put his head down and surged through the crowd, refusing to halt until he came to a hole in the dust-and-stone walls ofhe Western Eye of Sheba of the >< he couldhe old man the city’s perimeter. He imagined the eyes of the Yun on his back, and the Rentai’s tiered rooftops looming ominously behind him like a monstrous multi-winged bird. He pushed himself through the crack and darted through the maze of tents.

  He ran, his feet pounding against the ground, past old men smoking pipes, past boys stoking the fires and girls drawing pictures in the ground with long twigs. One of the girls recognized him; he was surprised more people didn’t after all the attention that had been showered on him over the past twenty-four hours. She shouted his name, but he ignored her and ducked and swerved between the yurts until he reached the edge of the camp, almost completely out of breath. He pressed down on his knees, unable to move. He had to decide where to go. No matter how insistent Mhara was, he couldn’t go to the desert. He had to go somewhere he could solve his puzzle, his mystery. He needed to get back to Loni, but their yurt was on the other side of the city and that would be the first place the Yun would look. He had to keep moving forward.