He hesitated before answering in a sarcastic voice. "What would you have it say? *I, the king, promise not to interfere with the running of the secret organization that I created.' How would I explain such a doc.u.ment to my counselors?"

She shrugged. "Sign a doc.u.ment saying that this land is under your protection, but not subject to your rule. We will take care of the rest."

The monarch gritted his teeth in anger. He did not want to sign his name in connection with these proceedings, and he did not want to lose the freedom of altering his agreement with the a.s.sa.s.sins whenever he chose.

"Well?" prompted the woman.

He set his jaw stubbornly. "Very well. But remember, your loyalty is still sworn to me."

The woman turned, so only Adesina could see her grim smile. "Of course, your Majesty."

A robust middle-aged man nodded. "Yes, this will do very well."

Another woman, more burly than the first, shook her head. "I still do not agree with this endeavor."

They all turned to look at her, but only the king voiced his question. "Why not?"

"You said you wanted an army of a.s.sa.s.sinsa"the best a.s.sa.s.sins in the world. This will not be possible."

The king's face hardened. "What is your reasoning?"

She shrugged. "We are too few. We, alone, cannot teach great numbers to be as skilled as ourselves. It would take many years."

The robust man gestured carelessly. "It will take many years regardless. Especially to build the organization to the scope that His Majesty requests."

The king mulled this over for a while. He paced the stone floors that Adesina had often paced herself. When he came to a decision, it was with a degree of uncertainty. He tried to make his voice seem unconcerned, but no one was fooled. "I will search out other skilled a.s.sa.s.sins to aid you in this undertaking."

"They must be subject to our approval, of course," insisted a tall man.

The ruler a.s.sented reluctantly. All six a.s.sa.s.sins nodded in satisfaction, but the king had a sneaking suspicion that the situation was far too precarious. It would be too easy for things to get out of hand.

In spite of this fear, he agreed to press forward. His visions of power and glory were too great to pa.s.s up.

"We shall begin immediately," said the reedy woman.

Once again, the scene grew hazy as Adesina was pulled out of the memory. It was a bit jarring, and she didn't like it. She looked at the young man, who seemed preoccupied by the gra.s.s at his feet.

She couldn't help asking, "How long did they allow you to live, knowing such secrets?"

He kept his eyes on the ground as he answered. "I lived only as long as I served a purpose."

There was much on Adesina's mind as she followed her mother to the wooden door the next night. She thought of the lives taken by this secret organization, simply because they ceased to be a benefit. She silently shuddered at such cold-hearted practices, and felt a growing dread at the understanding that was forming in her mind.

This time the wooden door took them to a beautiful marble hall filled with light. Unlike the other "resting places," which had seemed rather solitary, this hall was filled with people. They lounged on large pillows, discussing a variety of topics in lively voices. The expanding sound of music echoed through the hall, but it was difficult to see where it came from.

E'rian stood in place for several moments, swaying to the music with her eyes closed. Finally, she looked at her daughter with a smile. "I love music."

Adesina smiled in return. "Me, too."

In all honesty, music had never really been a part of her life until she had met Ravi. Since then, it had become a powerful influence over her. Her guardian seemed to take music with him wherever he went, and Adesina began to a.s.sociate music with all the qualities that personified Ravi. He was a source of strength, her comfort in hard times, calming, encouraging, a voice of reason, and so much more. In its own way, music had become those things to her as well.

The L'avan seemed to share the deep love of music that Adesina a.s.sumed was part of Rashad nature. It was not uncommon for her companions to suddenly break into song and have everyone join in. They had begun teaching some of the songs to her, but she preferred to listen rather than add in her voice.

E'rian walked over to the group of music connoisseurs and managed to detach one of them, leading him over to where her daughter was waiting. He was a short, balding man with snub features and a fussy air. "So, you want a memory, do you?"

She immediately took a dislike to his tone of voice, but her mother acted as if nothing were wrong. "Yes, that is correct."

The man sighed as if it were a great imposition. "Will it be just the one?"

She rolled her eyes while E'rian smiled patiently. "Yes."

He reached out his hand, which Adesina gripped harder than what was strictly necessary. The man flinched, but did not pull away. The blanket of light whisked them into the warren of his memories.

She opened her eyes to find them standing in a well-lit study. The wall hangings were blood red in color and the large window was covered by a gilded screen. The king from the previous memories sat at a large desk filled with books and doc.u.ments. It was clear that several years had pa.s.sed, as evidenced by his graying hair and the weary expression on his face.

The door opened to admit a young page. "Your Majesty, there is a messenger here for you."

He waved a hand disinterestedly. "Send them in."

The woman that entered was the thin a.s.sa.s.sin from the fortress. Her dark hair was also streaked with gray and pulled tightly back, giving her an even more severe look than before. She was dressed like a servant, but anyone who looked her in the eye could see that she served no one but herself.

She locked the door behind herself and turned to face the king. "Greetings, your Majesty. And congratulations on the birth of your son."

He was surprised to see her. "Why are you here? Are there any problems with the a.s.signments I have given you?"

She smiled briefly. "No, no problems."

The monarch frowned. "Well?"

The a.s.sa.s.sin seated herself without asking permission. "I come with a request from the fortress."

Adesina frowned at the woman's manner of speaking. It was seemingly pa.s.sive, but behind the calm tones it was clear that she was the one in control rather than the king.

His expression was immediately wary. "What do you want?"

"Children."

He couldn't have looked more bewildered. "What?"

The woman was entirely at ease, as if her request was completely ordinary. "Children, your Majesty. All the orphan children in the realm."

The ruler was speechless, so the woman continued with her address.

"We want a system put in place so they can be transported to the fortress undetected, as well as all future orphans. We also want a rumor spread that impoverished families can turn their children over to the traveling workers for excellent care and a respectable future."

"Who are these traveling workers?"

She waved a bony hand. "Artisans who go from village to village looking for work."

"Where will we find artisans willing to acquire children for you?" he asked in confusion.

A patronizing smile appeared on her face. "We already have Shimat in place to act in that capacity."

The king looked agitated and uncomfortable. "I wish you would stop calling yourselves that. The shimat are myths. Demons from old wives' talesa"

The woman's eyes gleamed with a manic light. "Oh, but we are shadow demons. Your shadow demons, for you created us."

He shuffled the papers on his desk, avoiding eye contact. "For what purpose do you want these children?"

"To be raised and trained as Shimat."

The idea caught the monarch's attention, and an amazed smile appeared on his face. "Of course! An entire generation of a.s.sa.s.sins at my command!"

The a.s.sa.s.sin said nothing, keeping her expression neutral. The feelings of apprehension that the king had been feeling moments ago were replaced by a greed for power. This lasted for several minutes before the he became cautious again.

"I will allow it on one condition: the children must be raised completely loyal to me."

She smiled slyly. "Of course, your Majesty."

He still looked distrustful, but nodded. "I will begin gathering them immediately. What ages would you prefer?"

She leaned back in her chair, interlacing her fingers. "For now we will take all the children who range from infancy to fifteen years of age. In the future, when this program is more established, we will lower that cutoff age."

They began discussing the details, but Adesina felt herself being pulled out of the memory. She shuddered as she pulled her hand away from the man standing in the marble hall.

"How did you witness this without notice?" she asked him.

He sighed with a melodramatic expression on his face. "I was one of the King's Counselors, and I wished gain prestige and riches. I was spying on the king with the hope of learning something valuable."

"You tried to blackmail him?"

He looked offended. "I merely wanted to warn him of his lack of discretion! He had me executeda"

Adesina wasn't surprised in the least. The fussy man turned away from them and went back to his friends in the marble hall. The two L'avan made their way back to the Garden, where they could discuss what she had seen.

This had been the hardest memory for Adesina to watch. She felt ill when she thought of all the children who had been manipulated through the years. More than that, she was angry when she thought about how she herself had been manipulated.

She thought about her Shi friend, Lanil, who was so sweet and caring that it was hard to believe that she was also a warrior in training. If her parents had lived, she probably would have been a lot like Deasa. Doubtless, Lanil would have married young and been happy to raise her family. Unfortunately, her parents had died when she was an infant, and she had become a Shar Childa"raised in the Shimat fortress with no option but to be trained as one.

Adesina began pacing back and forth, and E'rian seated herself on the edge of the fountain, watching her daughter's agitated movements.

"Why has nothing been done before now? Why are the Shimat not stopped?"

The older woman clasped her hands together and leaned forward. "Ma'eve, the Shimat order thrives on secrecy and subtle manipulation. To most of the world they are nothing but a dark story to get one's children to behave. It was not until they approached us about an alliance that the L'avan knew of their reality."

Adesina stopped in her tracks. "The Shimat offered an alliance with the L'avan?"

Her mother nodded. "It was before our isolation from the rest of the world. The L'avan king of that time had the gift of reading intentions, and he could see that the Shimat only wanted to manipulate us and have use of our powers. They thought vyala was something that could be transferred, and they wanted it for their own."

Her daughter moved to sit next to her. "What happened?"

"The king told them he would not accept their treaty, and then the persecution began."

The young woman frowned. "The Shimat began persecuting the L'avan?"

E'rian smiled sadly. "No, they are much too subtle for that. They used all of their influences to create fear and distrust of the L'avan among other people. After that, they just had to sit back and watch. We were driven from our homes by farmers, merchants and artisans, all of whom thought they were protecting their families and ways of life from our evil influences."

Her daughter shook her head, not understanding. "Why would they go to so much trouble?"

She tilted her head to one side. "For revenge, Ma'eve. We dared to defy them, and they hate us for it. Also, they did it for protection. We knew they existed, so they had to destroy any possibility that anyone would believe us if we exposed their secrets."

Adesina was speechless. She knew her mother had warned her against what she would be shown in these memories, but she had still been completely unprepared for what she had seen. Each memory seemed worse than the last, and she was afraid of what she would learn next about this order of a.s.sa.s.sins to which she had sworn loyalty.

The next night the wooden door took them to a cozy cottage. It was a place that looked as if many generations had lived there, leaving behind traces of love and experience. An old man was sitting next to a fire with his arm around a kindly old woman when they entered.

"G'morrow to ye, la.s.ses! How ken I hep ye?"

E'rian walked over and pressed each of their hands warmly. "Good morrow to you as well. We are in need of your memories."

The old man shook his head adamantly. "No, no, ye kennot come to no good wit dem. Warm fire, good talk, det is all I ken offer ye."

To Adesina's surprise, her mother didn't argue. She seated herself across from the old couple and indicated that she should do the same. The old woman looked them over carefully.

"Ye seems ta be da norther' sort."

E'rian inclined her head. "Yes, we hail from the north. And you?"

She knew that her mother already knew their answer, and couldn't figure out why she was wasting time with small talk.

"Weeell," said the old man, "We c.u.mmot form de sout'."

The L'avan woman looked delighted by this news. "Oh, the south is a lovely place! Such beautiful farms."

The old man straightened proudly. "Yes, yes, I dunno' deny it. I had a farm of such."

She reached over to lay a hand on Adesina's arm. "My daughter was raised in the south."

The aged woman leaned forward with a concerned expression on her face. "Did ye not raise her yesef?"

Her mother shook her head sadly. "I pa.s.sed away before I even had the opportunity to hold her in my arms."

The woman turned to her husband. "Ach, sech a sad tale!"

He nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes, I dunno' deny it!"

E'rian fixed her powerful gaze on the old couple. "You see, my daughter was raised by my enemies, the Shimat."