Shadow and Betrayal

paused and then sat.
    ‘Good. The Galtic Council had a plan to ally themselves with the andat. We poor suffering spirits get our freedom. The Galts kick out the supports that keep the cities of the Khaiem above the rest of the world. Then they roll over you like you were just another Westlands warden, only with more gold and fewer soldiers. It’s a terrible plan.’
    ‘Is it?’
    ‘Yes. Andat aren’t predictable. That’s what makes us the same, you and I. Ah, relax, Otah-cha. You look like I have a knife at your belly.’
    ‘I think you do,’ Otah said.
    The andat leaned back, gesturing at the empty house around them - the crackling fire, the falling rain.
    ‘There’s no one to hear us. Anything we say to each other, you and I, is between us unless we choose otherwise.’
    ‘And I should trust you to keep quiet?’
    ‘Of course not. Don’t be an ass. But the less you say, the less I can repeat to others, eh? Right. Amat’s near getting what she needs. And she won’t stop. She’s a pit hound at heart. Do you know what happens when she does?’
    ‘She’ll take it to the Khai.’
    ‘Yes!’ the andat said, clapping his hands together once as if it were a festival game and Otah had earned a prize. ‘And what would he do?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘No? You disappoint me. He’d do something bloody and gaudy and out of all proportion. Something that sounded like a plague from the old epics. My guess - it’s only my opinion, of course, but I consider myself fairly expert on the subject of unrestrained power - he’ll turn me and Heshai against whatever Galtic women are carrying babes when he learns of it. It will be like pulling seeds out of a cotton bale. A thousand, maybe. More. Who can say?’
    ‘It would break Heshai,’ Otah said. ‘Doing that.’
    ‘No. It wouldn’t. It would bend him double, but it wouldn’t break him. Seeing the one child die in front of him didn’t do it, and tragedy fades with distance. Put it close enough to your eye, and a thumb can blot out a mountain. A few thousand dead Galt babies will hurt him, but he won’t have to watch it happen. A few bottles of cheap wine, a few black months. And then he’ll train Maati. Maati will have all the loneliness, all the self-hatred, all the pain of holding me in check for all the rest of his life. That’s already happening. Heshai fell in love and lost her, and he’s been chewed by guilt ever since. Maati will do the same.’
    ‘No, he won’t,’ Otah said.
    Seedless laughed.
    ‘More the fool, you. But let it go. Let it go and look at the near term. Here’s my promise, Otah of Machi. Amat will make her case. Liat may be killed before it comes before the Khai, or she may not, but Amat will make her case. Innocent blood will wash Galt. Maati will suffer to the end of his days. Oh, and I’ll betray you to your family, though I think it’s really very small of you to be concerned about that. Your problems don’t amount to much, you know.’ Seedless paused. ‘Do you understand me?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Then you see why we have to act.’
    ‘We?’
    ‘You and I, Otah. We can stop it. Together we can save them all. It’s why I’ve come to you.’
    The andat’s face was perfectly grave now, his hands floating up into a plea. Slowly, Otah took a pose that was a query. Wind rattled the shutters and a chill touched the back of Otah’s neck.
    ‘We can spare the people we love. Saraykeht will fall, but there’s no helping that. The city will fall, and we will save Liat and Maati and all those babies and mothers who had nothing to do with this. All you have to do is kill a man who - and I swear this - would walk onto the blade if you only held it steady. You have to kill me.’
    ‘Kill you, or Heshai?’
    ‘There isn’t a difference.’
    Otah stood, and Seedless rose with him. The perfect face looked pained, and the pose of supplication Seedless took was profound.
    ‘Please,’ he said. ‘I can tell you where he goes, how long he stays, how long it takes him to drink himself to sleep. All you’ll need is—’
    ‘No,’ Otah said. ‘Kill someone? On your word? No. I won’t.’
    Seedless dropped his hands to his sides and shook his head in disappointment and disgust.
    ‘Then you can watch everyone you care for suffer and die, and see if you prefer that. But if you’re going to change your mind, do it quickly, my dear. Amat’s closer than she knows. There isn’t much time.’

17
    ‘S omething has to be done,’