THE BLUE KING - CHAPTER FIVE

I want to thank everyone for the critique they've given, and *dearly* hope you continue. :] There's nothing more to say except ~ enjoy!!

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Ianna dropped silently down into the sorcerer’s corridor, moving forward without needing to gather her bearings. She knew the palace better than she knew her own hold’s hideouts; it was a simple enough thing for her to sneak around. Before her, nine sorcerers lay prostrate on their respective cots, one or two of whom were snoring loudly.

"Ancestors," Ianna murmured, calling up her J’engar-ai blood, "show me my kin."

For a moment nothing happened; but then, as if a thick rope had been tied around her navel, she was jerked forward to stand over the sleeping form of a sorcerer with her same high cheekbones and hard, pointed chin; he was small, by usual standards, and his hands were long-fingered and dainty, an identical match to her own. "J’engar-ai," Ianna breathed, and the man’s eyes flew open, the same rich dark brown of her own.

"Who are you?" he said harshly, eyes flickering a faint amber. The color was not as intense as Ianna’s; she had expected that; but yet it was still there.

"I am Queen Ianna J’engar-ai, Head Thief to the High King," Ianna said, keeping her voice low. "And you are …" She listened to her singing blood, then finished decidedly, "Taejon."

"J’engar-ai?" he whispered, eyes widening in surprise. "Wha—what are you doing here?"

"The ancestors have spoken," Ianna said, as he sat hurriedly up and pulled his robes about him. She felt no doubt anywhere within her; the ancestors were insistent, absolutely sure that he was the one they needed. "You are J’engar-ai."

He stopped, looking at her incredulously. "But—we are a bastard line—"

"But a line nonetheless," Ianna replied. "Come; walk with me." She waited only a moment for him to leap to his feet before continuing. "I am the last, Taejon. My hold is small; for many generations, we have guarded the borders, and the Talons have picked us off one by one until we number only a hundred. I am the last surviving nobleblood—when I am gone, the J’engar-ai line will be dead."

Taejon looked incredulously out at the gardens as they passed, robes whispering, clearly shocked. "—Dead? But—they say that J’engar-ai is strong, stronger than all the other holds—"

"We are," Ianna interrupted. "I rule the best fighters in all of J’engar. I am the Head Thief—I am Queen—and I am the High King’s closest advisor. Our treasury is rich and well-fed. We are, by anyone’s standard, powerful. But we are dying nonetheless."

"And you will not take a husband, because it would mean forfeiting your rule," Taejon realized. "And with no one to accept that rule, it would mean J’engar-ai would be up for grabs."

"You are astute," Ianna agreed. "It is the crux of the matter."

Taejon stopped, looking out of one of the palace’s many windows, face tense and lined. "If you wish it, I will call for my family. They will come to Kaenul as fast as their legs may bear them if they hear they are no longer Bae-ai but J’engar-ai."

Ianna rubbed tiredly at her eyes, shaking her head. "You have not yet grasped it, Taejon. The ancestors do not recognize your family as J’engar-ai—they have recognized you."

"But—they possess more J’engar-ai blood than me, surely—"

"And do they have the Talent?"

"My grandmother had it, and strongly," Taejon said defensively.

"Had," Ianna said contemptuously. "They are not J’engar-ai. That you work for J’engar-fae tells me much, Taejon."

"Such as?" Taejon demanded hotly.

"Your family possesses no royal blood, or you would be working for your own hold; you are masterful in the Talent, or Ceani would not have hired you. His Majesty felt the truth in your words, for all that he is only my cousin—you are very well looked upon by the gods, Taejon." She frowned at him. "Why do you resist this? It is an honor no bastard line has ever recieved before."

"Without my family, I am nothing," Taejon replied, chin rising slightly in a good impression of Ianna’s own moral fits.

"Then call them," Ianna replied. "But they are not J’engar-ai." She looked at him once more, consideringly, and as she faded from view, he heard her voice distinctly, as if whispered in his ear; "Come forth to my people—they will rejoice your name, and give you high honors." And then she was gone.