Free The Scepter's Return by Harry Turtledove Page A

Lanius would go hunting with him despite caring nothing for the chase. Worse things happened when Ortalis didn’t hunt than when he did.
    Or was that true? His wife, Princess Limosa, had stripes on her back, and Ortalis had put them there although he hunted. Lanius shook his head. Limosa was a perfect match for Ortalis in a way Lanius hadn’t thought possible. She liked getting stripes as much as he liked giving them. The mere idea made Lanius queasy.
    Had Petrosus known that about his daughter when he dangled her in front of Ortalis? Lanius had no idea, and he wasn’t about to write to the Maze to find out. Which was worse? That Petrosus had known about her, and used her … peculiarity to attract Ortalis? Or that he hadn’t, but was willing to have Ortalis hurt her as long as it gained him advantage in the court?
    â€œDisgusting either way,” Lanius muttered. He knew what Petrosus’ … peculiarity was—power.
    But Petrosus hadn’t had the chance to indulge his peculiarity. Grus had made sure of that. As soon as Grus found out who Ortalis’ new wife was, into the Maze that treasury minister went. On the whole, Lanius approved of that. Grus had power and liked wielding it, but he’d never been as heartless in his pursuit of it as Petrosus was. A good thing, too, Lanius thought. I’d be dead if he were.
    If only Grus had been as stern with Ortalis as he had with Petrosus. But for a long time he’d had a blind spot about his legitimate son. By the time he couldn’t ignore what Ortalis was, it was much too late to change him. Lanius wondered whether Ortalis could have changed if Grus had tried harder earlier. The question was easier to ask than to answer.
    Lanius went back to the tax register. As far as he could tell, nobody by the coast was trying to cheat the kingdom. That was how things were supposed to work. Ortalis probably would have asked him why he’d gone to all this trouble just to find out everything was normal. If I hadn’t checked, I wouldn’t have known. Lanius imagined himself explaining that to Ortalis. He also imagined Ortalis laughing in his face.
    â€œToo bad,” Lanius said out loud. A servant walking down the corridor gave him a curious look. He’d gotten plenty of those. He looked out at the servant. The man kept walking.
    Hurting things is Ortalis’ peculiarity. Knowing things is mine. A white butterfly flitted about in a flower bed outside the window. As soon as Lanius saw it, he recognized it as a cabbage butterfly. Knowing that would never do him any good, but he did know it, and he was glad he did. As for some of the other things he knew … Well, you never could tell.

CHAPTER FOUR
    A scout galloped back toward the Avornan army. His horse’s flying hooves kicked up dust at every stride. Like the rest of the Avornan scouts, he rode a small, tireless mount of the sort the Menteshe bred. But he wore a surcoat over chainmail, not the boiled leather soaked in melted wax the nomads favored. And he shouted, “Your Majesty! Your Majesty!” in unaccented Avornan.
    â€œHere I am,” Grus called, as though the royal standards weren’t enough to let the scout find him.
    â€œThey’re coming, Your Majesty!” the man said, and pointed southward.
    â€œNow it begins,” Hirundo said quietly.
    Grus shook his head. “It began when we set out from the city of Avornis—or long before that, depending on how you look at things.” He gave his attention back to the scout. “How many of them are there, and how soon will they hit us?”
    â€œEnough to cause trouble,” the scout answered—not a precise answer, but one that told the king what he needed to know. The man went on, “You should see their plume of dust in a little while.” He patted the side of his horse’s neck. The beast was lathered and blowing hard. “I almost killed Blaze here getting to you quick