Shadow War - Deborah Chester [63]
“Get out,” Agel said coldly. “You are clearly up to no good. I will not get involved with—”
“It concerns my master,” the strange said impatiently. He cast Elandra a worried look, as though she might know whom he referred to. “There is trouble.”
“You are always in trouble,” Agel said with asperity. “Have you run away?”
“Only you can help me. I need an audience—”
“If you have run away, or done something even worse, I cannot help you,” Agel said. “I have no influence in that quarter.”
“You have the ear of the emperor,” the stranger said. “I must speak to him.”
Agel’s gaze shifted nervously to Elandra. “Impossible,” he said.
“May Faure burn your ears!” the stranger said. “Don’t say ‘impossible’ in that pompous tone. It must be done. Every moment is vital. Give me your spare set of clothes and some wash water. While you ask for an audience, I will get cleaned up.”
The healer looked exasperated, and Elandra had to smile behind her veil. This filthy stranger clearly had no idea of how the emperor was approached.
“Well?” he demanded.
Agel sighed. “You are mad to come here like this. Why didn’t you send for me in the normal way?”
Even Elandra lost patience with him. He was stodgy and stupid, for all his professional skill. She could see the stranger was rapidly losing the scant shreds of temper he had left.
“Healer Agel,” she said imperiously, stepping forward.
Both men glared at her as though they wanted no interference.
“If this man is known to you, why do you deny him your assistance?”
Agel’s mouth dropped open before he hastily closed it. “But I cannot—”
She gestured to silence him. “The man is hurt, and cold, and has obviously walked many miles to come here. He is in trouble and has need of you. Will you refuse him care?”
“No, of course not, my lady,” Agel said, looking confused and frustrated. “But I must attend you First.”
“If you will give me the potion I came for, I will consider myself satisfied.” She reached out her hand, and he reluctantly gave her the bottle.
“Thank you,” she said. “Now care for this man.”
“I don’t want that,” the stranger said, interrupting. “The emperor must be warned.”
“Of what?” she asked. “What news do you bring?”
He glared at her.
“Answer her, you fool,” Agel said.
The stranger whipped his head around suspiciously. “Why?” he asked the healer. “It’s no concern of hers.”
Agel’s face went red again. “You lout. You have no manners. A savage would be better than—”
“You can correct his manners later,” Elandra said, losing patience with both of them. She pinned the stranger’s gaze with her own. “What would you tell the emperor?”
His blue eyes were stubborn. He made no answer.
“See?” Agel said to her. “He is hopeless, no one for your Maj—for you to concern yourself about. Just a stupid, troublemaking slave who has run away from his master and wants protection.”
“The law forbids harboring a runaway,” she said severely. However, when she looked into this man’s fierce blue eyes, she had difficulty believing he could belong to anyone. He looked like the hunting eagles of Gialta. Even with tresses on their legs, their talons blunted, and their wings clipped for training, their eyes remained untamed. “Have you run away?” she asked gently.
His eyes did not flinch from hers. “Not yet,” he said.
There was darkness in his voice, a tangle of undercurrents and emotions she did not wish to unravel. As interesting as this was, she could not tarry here for long.
“Take care,” she said in warning to the healer. “Your oath is to help the sick, the injured, and the helpless, but you may not extend that to sheltering runaways or those who have broken the law.”
Agel’s eyes narrowed. His face remained red. “I shall not break the law for this man, my lady. I shall not harbor him, and I cannot give him what he asks for.” He turned on the stranger with open resentment. “Always you cause trouble. Go! Whatever you have done, I want no part of it.”
The stranger looked frustrated. “Yes, you have always