((Cheers Travelling Mord Sith and narm's briton 44 for the reviews they are as always welcome and wanted. I'm glad u like the cliffies, my way of keeping u keen, I have also taken a few things from Tricksters queen, but no spoilers or give aways I promise.. Sorry for any bad grammer, I do try my best, but thank you for letting me know, it needs checking.))
Jon stared at Shey stupidly for a second of all the answers he was expecting that had not been one of them.
"What do you mean, it depends, depends on what? You either are or aren't a spy" Jon said finally.
Shey looked at Sage and then to Jon. "It depends on what and why you accuse me" He said softly.
Jon sat back and told them about the attacks coming when Shey was at home and lessening when he was away, he told them about the other things too and how something's didn't seem quite right. Sage and Shey looked at one another for a long while, no-one talked in the silence until Sage spoke.
"Numair what have you told them" His lilting voice soft, his eyes on Numair.
"Nothing, I said they had to ask of you, your past your secrets to tell, not mine" The tall mage replied. He had a feeling Jon was going to find out more then he bargained for this night. Shey and Sage both nodded their thanks at his discreetness.
Jon raised an eyebrow, Raoul frowned thinking Alanna guessed and looked away and Numair watched the pair.
"Knew about you?" Jon asked. Sage sighed amazed how dense the King could be sometimes, he looked to Shey who nodded. "The reason we don't seem "quite right" as you put it, is because Shey and I are lovers, well life bonded really" Sage looked fondly at Shey. Jon nearly blushed, Thayet wished could hit her beloved husband with something hard and heavy for making them have to tell everyone in such a way, but instead had to make do with his embarrassment. She made a mental note to tell him a few hints which would avoid this in the future. Jon looked away, now he could place those looks and expressions that had confused a few people. The only person who didn't look surprised was Numair. Jon rounded on him to cover his surprise.
"You knew and you never told us" He accused. Numair just shrugged and looked to Sage and Shey, they too seemed slightly surprised.
"I always knew about you, well I had a suspicion in Carthak ten years ago, then that night the year before I left and two years ago. When you sat with each other, when you both were injured. Sage and Shey both bowed to Numair "We thank you for keeping our secrets, secret." They said in Talasan.
"Your welcome" Numair replied, "Your keeping mine" Jon was looking from Sage and Shey to Numair not knowing what they said, then he struck on the fact that Shey hadn't answered the question.
"Is that why you left Carthak" he asked gently. "And I am sorry to ask again but, are you a spy?" He asked.
Shey looked away "We left Carthak for a very, very different reason" He told the King his lilting voicing hinting of past pain and danger. "And since you really want to know, yes I am a spy" He admitted looking at Jon, all of them gasped discreetly but all were shocked. Jon sat up straight as did Thayet. But before Jon could get all imperial on them she spoke first.
"Who do you spy for?" She asked them quietly, Jon closed his mouth with a snap, he hadn't thought to ask that. Shey looked at Jon and then at Thayet as if they had two heads each. "The Whisper Man" he said as if it were plain fact. That got Alanna's attention she sat up straight at hearing her husbands name, only the people in the room know who the Whisper Man truly was. Jon stood and strode to the door. Wrenching it open he near yelled at the servant who was mere feet away to "get Sir Myles now!". The servant hurried off, Jon turned back into the room and stopped dead at the look Alanna gave him. Something told him to be polite to Myles, he had a feeling that Alanna would not appreciate her step father or husband being shouted at or about. Looking away from her intent gaze he walked back to his chair.
With out even turning Myles paused and then nodded surprised at the bluntness of the question, Jon had never asked outright to know who spied for him if the person wasn't posted in the palace.
"Why didn't you tell us" Jon asked of Myles. His voice short. His temper rising, he hated not being told things.
"And since when did I tell you, who worked for me" Myles replied equally short. "I have never and will never. Shelan was to be in the Copper Isles which I believe he has been for the last two years or so and valuable work he had been doing to" Jon listened in silence painfully aware that he had been having a tantrum, like his youngest would when told she couldn't have sweets.
"He has found out information we have spent years trying to find out, he was the one that found out about the trouble with the Rittevon line and the people" Myles went on to tell Jon. "He his good at what he does" Jon looked away it was true he didn't normally know who worked for Myles, but where the information came from. He looked at Shey sidelong so if he was the agent in The Copper Isles that he thought he was, then he had an interesting job indeed. Well there were the rumours he looked to Sage who seemed non plussed about all this, Jon wondered how he dealt with the rumours.
"What did that Man mean" Jon asked changing the topic slightly, was it anything to do with Shey, does he know who he is" Jon asked explaining that he had understood some of what the would be assassin had said and Sages reply.
Shey looked away suddenly, Sage looked at him and then touched his hand. A look passed between them and then Shey nodded. "No, it wasn't I know by your face before that you have heard the rumours of how Shey got the information in The Copper Isles, and they are not true, they are what they are rumours," Sage told the room "How" began Raoul but he stopped himself in time.
Shey grinned at that "He knows because he started them, it was my idea, it helped to distract from what I was doing, no one would question me coming out of private rooms late at night or sneaking round, but all I do is be a" He paused thinking for the right words. "I am a player, I tell stories and songs, juggling, nothing else. The old man likes to talk with someone who he thinks doesn't have an agenda." Shey looked to Myles who nodded. Shey hadn't given anything away.
Jon nodded he wanted to know who it was that Shey was based with but he knew that Myles or Shey would never tell him.
"No what the man meant had everything to do with the wonderful ex-emperor Ozorne" Sage said the sarcasm in his voice plain. He was going to say more but Shey touched his arm stopping him. Sage looked at Shey again with a questioning look, Shey murmured something then Sage looked away. Shey started to speak, this surprised the others with the exception of Numair. Shey didn't normally speak very much in large groups but then he had been accused of spying. "When we first went to Carthak, Ozorne was not emperor he was, "in-waiting" so to say. He met Sage in the university when Numair was showing Sage the ropes, he met me sometime later. I was as I pretended here, to be a servant." Shey looked away. "You may have wondered why Ozorne never had any wives, well he didn't care for them in that way" he looked back up and everyone got what he meant. "Well he always got what he wanted, all the time, and after a while we found out he wanted men. Many of the university servants had bruises they could - would not explain. He wanted me in that same way, Sage told him not with out my consent and he could do nothing about it for he thought Sage was my employer Ozorne could not interfere. The more Sage said no and the more friendly and powerful Sage and Numair grew the more he wanted to have me. Well when the old emperor "died." Sage snorted everyone knew that the old emperor had died under strange circumstances.
"Well he found out, who Sage and me really were and that Sage actually had no say in what happened to me - A great note taker the old emperor. When he found out he was angry" "Spoilt little brat that he was" Muttered Numair Shey continued as if he hadn't spoken his eyes were far away remembering. "He made up some crime or another, what. I never knew no-one did. He waited until Sage and Numair were away and couldn't help me. He would never have dared if they had been there." "And for that he will pay one day" Numair said dangerously Sage was nodding in agreement. "When the guards came and dragged me to him, he said he would spare me the death sentence I should have had, he wanted me as a pleasure slave. He took me away and then went to tell Numair and Sage what had happened to me. As Sage and Numair got more powerful he used me to make them do things he could not. He knew Sage didn't care what happened to himself after that. He would deify Ozorne whenever he could. Only when he started to hurt me, did Sage and Numair have to do what he wanted them too. Mainly showy magic and proving they would obey the emperor mage."
Shey paused he was looking at the floor not meeting anyone's eyes, Numair and Sage were likewise, this was something that they too didn't want to remember.
"He did some unspeakable things to me, sometimes just for the fun of it. He always made sure that Sage or Numair would find me or find out what had happened. Ozorne had guessed that Sage cared for me and he made sure the other members of the court knew how the foreign mage cared about slaves. - he never did tell the proper story. He left many scars some will take a long time to heal, others will never fade." He stood silently he lifted his shirt up to show his stomach and chest it was covered in scars caused by many things, "stiletto blades, brands and his favourite, a whip." He said running his hand over he stomach. He let go of his shirt and sat down. He looked to Sage.
Everyone was silent, they had all wanted to know what Jon had meant, when he had told them about what the assassin had said. But this they never would have guessed, no wonder Numair had been upset when Daine had vanished the year they went to Carthak, he had been there and seen this happening to a friend.
"Now I don't remember all that happened after that properly" Shey said. "To many blows to the head the healer say" he touched his head with a smile.
"After that" Sage gestured to Shey, "He made his life hell" the menace in his voice was clear. "He did things that we wont ever tell" Sage said and Numair nodded in silent agreement. "things went quiet for a while when Numair took his exams for the black robe, and then a week later my exams were announced to take place. On the night after the exam, Ozorne was furious for some reason, not with me or Numair. One his nobles. Had done something to upset him he couldn't kill or hurt to noble. But he could Shey. Shey in turn had heard and had hidden away in the gardens. Well Ozorne and his guards found him in a corner." Sage stopped looking round the room, it had grown dark, he waved his hand sending sparks to the torches and lamps a soft glow filled the room. Shey and Numair had been left in shadow, it wouldn't matter Shey wasn't looking at them anyway.
"Three hours later Numair and I were informed by one of the other slaves that Shey was dieing, he had been left in the gardens badly hurt" Sage had now looked away.
"We went and found him" Numair continued seeing Sage couldn't for a moment, what had happened to Shey had affecting him more then he would ever let on. He had blamed himself for letting Shey go with him to Carthak. "He was in a very bad way, the healers did something for him, but they couldn't do a lot in fear or invoking the emperors wrath on themselves, they did what they could then we moved him back to my workrooms, somewhere that I had warded so that Ozorne or anyone I didn't want, would have never been able to get into no matter how many Mages he used. He was near death, but we knew he if lived the night he would live" Numair paused and looked to Sage he could continue now.
"Numair left for a while, and I sat with him all night, I talked to him, from what I have been told he did for me what I did for him" Sage looked to Shey and talked as if only to Shey, "I sat with him the whole night and then for three days more until he woke up, I got one of the healers to heal him properly, that left Shey weak, so whilst he got his energy back we and Numair planned our escape, I had to the black robe and Shey with me, so there was nothing to keep me staying." Sage looked back to the room. Everyone's faces were shocked, disgusted and pain for them.
"So Numair made out we had gone into hiding in the mountains. Whilst they looked for us there we sent word home that we would come back. One night word came that our ship was near harbour to where we were, so we left, Numair knew he would have to leave soon after for Ozorne would never believe that he had nothing to do with it. So made plans with Lindhall for his get away. The last we saw of him was when the ship sailed out of port for home." Sage looked to Numair "That was the last we heard of you until you came here and worked for the king. That was eight years ago now, and then we didn't see each other until nearly two years past now."
"What did you do when you went home" Jon asked his voice sounding loud in the silence. "I was recovering" Shey said suddenly "That I can remember, I tried to forgot what was happening to me, when I was with him, I reverted you could say, I was scared of my own shadow anyone near me, it took a long time but I finally got better" He looked round at the people, "I still don't like talking or being in crowds, but I deal with it"
The silence in the room was great you could of heard a pin drop, everyone looked round at everyone else, they had all wanted to know, why Numair had left and why they had, but to find out like this, about that. They didn't know what to say, what would seem the right thing to say, before anyone could say something wrong Thayet spoke. "We have great respect for you, to tell us this, I am sorry you had to tell us like this in this way, there is no good way to tell a story like this. But be happy in the knowledge that when ever and how ever we will help you get your blood revenge" Her voice carried round the room, Sage rubbed a cut on his palm and Thayet smiled showing him her own palm that too had a small cut on it. "K'mir swear in blood too, the people I swore to kill did die with the help of my friends, as your friends we will help you".
It was all Jon and the others could do, to nod and voice there agreements. As they stood to leave, Shey left Sage behind him, before he walked out he turned back to the room. "Please don't treat or think of us in any different way, we don't think we could stand it from friends, we are the same people as we were this morning" With that Sage walked out followed by Numair, Raoul and the lioness, all knew that they could be never tell of what they had heard, they walked through the corridors to there own rooms. Thinking of what they had heard. As Jon and Thayet walked to their rooms it struck Jon that he had found a spy, but now he would have to find the one who was leaking information to Magar. Sage and Shey closed the door to there rooms, Sage threw his over robe over the nearest chair and took the Stormwing feathers out of his hair, he turned to talk to Shey, as he caught the look on his lovers face he stopped what he was going to say, Shey walked up to Sage and hugged him, Sage hugged him in return, the hugs turned to kisses and with out words he knew what Shey wanted, and with out words he complied.
((Hehe, a bit of a sad chapter some history is always good, please as always R and R. hope it was easier to read then the last few. if not let me know))