The Doom of Kings_ Legacy of Dhakaan - Don Bassingthwaite [167]
Geth stared at him in shock. He could push Wrath’s memories away if he wanted to—it was easy. But before he claimed it, Wrath had lain silent in the ghost fortress of Jhegesh Dol for five thousand years. The rod had remained in the grasp of Dabrak Riis, trapped in the timelessness of the Uura Odaarii. Geth swallowed. “I took the rod from Dabrak Riis. I carried it. Why didn’t it speak to me?”
“Because you’ve already been claimed by Aram. Because the Sword of Heroes can’t be held by a coward and the Rod of Kings answers only to someone with the will to rule,” Haruuc said. His mouth twisted and he looked down at the rod. “The emperors knew that.” His hands squeezed hard on the back of the throne. “Help me, shava,” he said. “Help me save Darguun again.”
“How—?” Geth started to ask, but the answer burst over him before he could even finish. “Ashi! Her dragonmark may be able to block the rod’s influence on you.”
“For how long?”
“Long enough,” Geth said. He sheathed Wrath—just as three slow knocks sounded against the great wooden door of the throne room.
Haruuc started. “Razu,” he said. “It’s time to end Keraal’s rebellion.” He let go of the throne’s back and walked around it. His hand hovered over the rod, then he took it and seated himself. Geth hissed, but Haruuc shook his head. “This can’t be delayed. It must be done. Nothing can save Keraal now. I would only look weak if I let him live. I know this without the rod. But hurry.” The lhesh raised his voice in a powerful shout and said in Goblin, “Enter! Enter to mourn! Enter to witness judgment!”
Down at the end of the throne room, the great wooden door began to rise.
Geth jumped down from the dais and raced up the aisle. Ashi would be with the court. He could catch her as she entered and take her around to the side of the dais. She only needed to touch Haruuc and they could put an end to this—
And why do you care so much? he found himself wondering. Not so long ago, you were ready to leave and put Darguun behind you.
He ground his teeth together. Call it the influence of the sword, he thought. But Haruuc’s words came back to him.
Weren’t you already a hero before you took up the sword?
“Rat,” he muttered as he slid to a stop beside the rising door. Shins were visible on the other side. Knees. Thighs. Waists. Geth threw a final look back at Haruuc, sitting like a statue on his throne, then ducked under the moving door.
Ekhaas watched Razu lift a massive staff from her shoulder and swing it three times against the great carved door of the throne room, then step back. There was a short pause, then Haruuc’s deep voice echoed through the wood. “Enter! Enter to mourn! Enter to witness judgment!”
Razu gave a nod to some hidden assistant and the door began its slow rise up into the ceiling. Ekhaas took a breath and made herself calm. There were rumors about what judgment waited for Keraal on the other side of the door. After all that Haruuc had done already, it was hard to guess what he might do next.
Standing beside her, Senen Dhakaan spoke under her breath. “You saw Dagii. What did he say about Haruuc’s announcement on the bridge?”
“Nothing,” said Ekhaas. She kept her voice level and calm. It was the truth. She’d found Dagii after the procession had returned to Khaar Mbar’ost and gotten close to him under the guise of offering healing for his torn hands. As she had sung away his wounds, they’d exchanged quick words. Haruuc’s announcement, to her shame, had not been what they’d discussed.
“You bound all of the Gan’duur into the grieving trees yourself?” she’d asked.
“Cho,” he had whispered back—then he’d caught her gaze, haunted gray eyes to amber, and whispered what amounted to treason. “They didn’t suffer long, Ashi. I opened a vein for each of them. They died on the trees, but quickly. Haruuc was wrong to order them killed that way. What happened to him?”
She shook the memory—and the image of her hands around Dagii’s—from her head and looked back toward the throne room.
Just in time to see Geth duck under the partly open door. The