A Lotus for the Regent Read Online Free PDF Page A

to speak honeyed words though you'd rather spit venom.”
    Jahen nodded
once, his face a mask of childish gravity. Kamen turned back to the herald and
nodded as the boy-king took his seat on his throne.
    Two men, their
sweating and irritated skin splotched pink from the heat, strode into the
throne room and approached Jahen with boldness. Their steps were a measured
march, their steady footfalls filling every silent nook of the cavernous
chamber. They looked at Kamen as they passed, but they did not speak to him.
They bowed only their necks to the King.
    “ Your Majesty, Lord of the Sweetwater, Eternal Serpent Who Circles
the World, we bring you greetings from—”
    They never got
to finish. A great cry rose up in the outer corridor, and then some running and
confusion. A guard set to watch the palace wall—his bare chest heaving from
exertion, his hands a mass of bony knuckles clutching his spear—burst into the
throne room. His wild eyes swept the scene until they found Kamen. He ran to
the Regent.
    “ Lord Itenu, Ausir warships attack the harbor!”
    Kamen did not
wait to hear any more. He sprinted from the room. “Get the King to safety!”
    This was not
what he needed right then. Ambassadors had come from the north to meet Jahen,
and now this? The distant Ausir civil war had at last come to Arinport's gates?
But why would they attack the city? Why would they risk angering the Sunjaa, by
all accounts the mightiest nation of Men? When Kamen reached the palace wall
and whistled for a horse, he found sailors waiting for him. Some he recognized;
some he had sailed with and fought beside.
    Kamen vaulted
into his saddle and wrapped the reins around his wrist, rearing his horse back.
“Report.”
    “ Ausir warships going at it in our waters.”
    “ Who's involved?”
    “ No idea, but they're flying different flags. One's got fish, the
other deer.”
    "The
Kimereth and the Losiengare," Kamen said to himself.
    The sailors
just blinked at him.
    Of course Kamen
could not expect any of these men to know the identity of two of the major
players in contention for the disputed Ausir crown. Kamen had prayed this day
would never come, the day he would have to make a choice about the war that had
devastated the eastern sea and threatened to pull every coastal city into the
conflict.
    “ Where's the Admiral?” Kamen whistled for the gates to be opened.
    “ Away. Up north, most like. Word was he'd sniffed out a pirate nest.”
    Kamen could not
help but smile to himself. He loved the days when he and Darien had sailed
together and taken enough booty from pirates to make both of them fabulously
wealthy. He wished more than anything that his best friend were by his side
now.
    “ Get back to your ships.” Kamen dug his heels into his mount's
flanks, and he was off. He galloped down the wide street that led away from the
palace grounds, but he quickly ran out of room. The avenue turned into a mass
of tangled alleyways as the splendor of Arinport's center gave way to the
harbor-side slums.
    Kamen whistled,
and nearby guards took up the call. “Make way for the Regent!” After more than
a few narrow misses, Kamen sprang from a dusty alley into the fish market that
stretched from the wharf-front houses down to the water's edge. The smell of
the sea brought back so many memories. Kamen could not remember when he had
last had occasion to be at the docks, but he found it a refreshing change from
the opulence of the palace. He loved politics, and he was good at it, but every
once in a while, a man needed to break loose. That was why he found himself so
suddenly at the harbor thirsting for some adventure.
    Fishmongers and
old women stared at him. They clearly recognized him by his long deadlocks and
serpent tattoo that sprang from its coil across his breast and climbed over his
shoulder. But deep scars marred the matchless art of the dragon.
    Distant popping
sounds filled the air, and Kamen looked up. Grey puffs of smoke rose from