Page 64 of Blood of the Sands

“Dispatch a rider to the lord of Clan Tibel. The punishment of his rider for breaking the agreement of the Trials will fall to him,” Queen Ginevera instructed Aderyn.

“You don’t wish to pass down judgement yourself?” Aderyn asked.

The queen shook her head. “Dealing out punishments that should belong to another lord would not help my case if the clans are uniting against Kelvadan. I do not seek to usurp their power, only to offer a place where the clans can put forth a united front to the rest of the world, and a safe haven to those who do not agree with clan life.”

I chewed my cheek as I remembered the words Lord Alasdar had used to whip the combined clans into a frenzy against Kelvadan. I didn’t think this soft response to a crime would ingratiate Kelvadan to those who thought the loss of the old ways was tearing the desert apart.

This conversation was between Queen Ginevra and Aderyn though, so I stayed silent. They did not keep me around for my understanding of the nuances of politics. I was a blade and a sometimes-unpredictable source of power.

“I would speak to the rider though, before he is sent back to his clan,” said the queen.

“They will have him held in the cells near the guard quarters. I will dispatch your message while you speak with him, so it will precede him to his clan.” Aderyn bowed her head with her fist on her breastbone before heading off toward the stables.

I hesitated, shuffling my feet as I debated whether I should follow Aderyn or not. I still wasn’t sure why I had been summoned.

“Come,” the queen commanded again, answering my unspoken question. Still, she didn’t speak as she led me toward area where the guards without their own homes in the city stayed.

It was only when we reached the room with the cells, and I cocked my head curiously at the wooden structures, did she speak.

“Kelvar had the foresight to make many things when he hewed this city into the mountainside, but a place to hold criminals wasn’t one of them. It turns out he was a touch optimistic.” She wore a wry smile at the thought.

Indeed, it was odd seeing wooden cells when I had become accustomed to everything from walls and stairs to benches being seamlessly integrated into the rocky city.

We walked to the end of the row where the fighter from the melee sat cross-legged. His head remained bowed as we approached.

“The Trials are supposed to be a time of unity,” she began without preamble, her voice icier than I had ever heard it. I straightened my spine at the total lack of her usual warmth.

“They were not always so.” The man still did not look up.

“It has been hundreds of years since the Trials were a fight to the death. Twenty years ago, the last time somebody tried to spill blood at the Trials, I did not tolerate it. I will not tolerate it now.” Her tone was sharp as a saber.

“And yet the one you exiled is the one who sends his snake after us now, spilling our blood so we might march on your city and restore the desert’s good will,” he ground out, finally looking up, eyes still as defiant as when he had been marched away.

“Lord Alasdar chose exile when he resorted to lethal force in his efforts to win the title of Champion,” Queen Ginevra argued.

“And now he sends the demon in a mask to bring the clans together and purge the weakness of the city that sent him into exile for his determination. The man I tried to kill, the one she stopped me from killing”—he inclined his head toward me—“is the one spilling the blood of my kin. Yet you would deny me my justice.”

“You say I was wrong to exile Alasdar and call me weak for punishing murder. Yet you also seek to kill the one who serves Lord Alasdar,” the queen pointed out.

“You can both be wrong,” he said with a shrug. “Besides, I’m not the first one to attempt murder in these Trials.”

The queen took a step forward, and for all her posture appeared calm, her knuckles whitened as she clasped her hands tightly with each other. “Who is interfering with the Trials? Tell me and I will urge your lord to be lenient.”

The prisoner ignored her, his attention swinging toward me instead. I raised my chin against his casual perusal.

“I’m surprised to see you made it back from the survival challenge.”

I stiffened, pieces clicking together in my head.

“You… you poisoned me!” I accused.

He had the gall to smile. “I was too busy trying to kill the Viper to worry about you, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t offered a great price to see that you didn’t make it back to the city alive. I’m sure somebody else took it.”

“Who asked you to do this?” The queen’s voice was sharp enough to cut stone, but the man just leered.

“And why would I tell you?”

“To uphold the tradition of the Trials, the Ballan Desert’s most sacred tradition,” the queen said imperiously.