The Doom of Kings_ Legacy of Dhakaan - Don Bassingthwaite [42]
“I know,” said Geth. “Chetiin told me who you are.”
“What else has Chetiin told you?”
Geth scratched the thick stubble on his chin. “Enough to persuade me to follow him and meet you. That Haruuc needed me”—his hand dropped to the ancient sword at his side—“and Wrath. That Ekhaas was involved, too, which is really why I came. He didn’t say anything about Ashi.”
“He didn’t know about her,” Ekhaas told him. “None of us did. Ashi wasn’t part of our plans initially.”
He gave her a long look. “I think it’s time I heard more about these plans. Chetiin got me this far on your name, Ekhaas, but I didn’t agree to go any farther until I know more. I’m not sure I like people making plans around me without asking first.”
“I want to know what’s going on, too,” agreed Ashi.
“So,” said Vounn, “would I.”
The lady seneschal stood behind them, wrapped in a shawl against the night air. Her face, as ever, was expressionless, but her voice was firm.
Tariic scowled. “Didn’t I tell you to wait in the cart?”
“You told your people to wait in the cart. Your authority doesn’t extend to me.” Her eyes narrowed. “Nor does it extend to my charge, yet it seems she’s become part of something. Please, enlighten me.”
“Who is this?” growled Geth.
“Geth, may I introduce Lady Seneschal Vounn d’Deneith, envoy of House Deneith to Lhesh Haruuc,” said Tariic tightly. “Lady Vounn, Geth.”
“She’s my mentor,” added Ashi.
Geth looked Vounn up and down and grunted.
Vounn’s lips pressed together. “Another figure from Ashi’s past,” she said.
Color rushed into Ashi’s face. “He’s my friend!”
“And mine,” said Ekhaas.
“He may be the one person,” said Tariic, his ears twitching, “who can prevent the collapse of Darguun when Haruuc dies.”
CHAPTER
EIGHT
For a heartbeat, all Geth—and Ashi and Vounn as well, it seemed—could do was stare at Haruuc’s nephew, then his voice came back and he blurted out, “I may be what?”
Ashi looked like she had words ready to burst out of her as well, but Vounn silenced her with a sharp hiss before looking to Tariic. “Explain this,” she said. Her voice could have frozen a river.
Tariic gestured for them to move farther away from the lightning rail carts, and they followed him, Chetiin joining their group. When they were out into the yard and safely away from being overheard, Tariic folded his arms across his chest and said, “There is a succession crisis in Darguun.”
“You said Haruuc hadn’t chosen his successor yet,” said Vounn.
“He hasn’t—or if he has, he hasn’t revealed it to anyone. That hasn’t stopped rumors, though, and there are a number of people and groups trying to position themselves for power.” His ears pressed back. “My uncle has indicated to me—and to a few others—that who takes power after him may not be as important as how.”
Ekhaas took over, and Geth heard her slip into the tones of a performing duur’kala. “The history of our people teaches us that we ourselves are the greatest threat to a stable nation. Before Jhazaal Dhakaan united the six kings and laid the foundations of the empire, we fought among ourselves. When the empire fell and the Desperate Times came, clan fought against clan once more. After millennia, Haruuc has united some of the clans again—enough of them that Darguun stands among the other nations of Khorvaire. But not all of the clans have pledged themselves to Haruuc. Some of the lowland Ghaal’dar clans still stand apart. Many of the Marguul clans of the highlands are restless. The clans under the mountains who have preserved the traditions of Dhakaan largely stand apart, though Haruuc draws closer to an alliance with the Kech Volaar.”
She spread her hands. “Even many of those clans who have followed Haruuc as lhesh do so only because of his strength and the force of his personality. Haruuc grows old and knows he grows old. What will happen when his power passes to another? Will the clans accept his successor, or will they fight to put one of their own on the throne? Will the alliances Haruuc has forged stand, or will Darguun pass as Dhakaan passed, collapsing into the chaos of clan war?