The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch Page B

spun a knife out from under her uniform and sliced through Dharma’s scarf so that the silvery fabric fluttered to the ground in two pieces. The crimson scar lay beneath.
    She screamed in anguish at the sight of the hidden mark, the sounds from her lips foreign, feverish and incomprehensible. Her knife clattered against the ground; the metallic jolt seemed to right her senses. Raim scooped the pieces of scarf up from the ground. Holding them comforted him.
    ‘You have to run.’
    ‘But—’
    ‘No buts, Raim! You don’t understand what you have done! How could you? You were the Yun’s hope, the future . . . I’ve distracted the guards, but not for long. You must go.’ She shoved him down the hallway.
    Out of sheer instinct and frustration, he shoved her back. ‘I can’t leave, Mhara. That would mean I couldn’t join the Yun! I’ve dreamed about it my whole life! Not to mention the Absolute Vow I made to Khareh.’ He grabbed at the knot around his neck. ‘Don’t you get it? I’m his Protector. I’m the Khan’s Protector.’
    ‘No.’
    ‘No? What do you mean, “no”? Can’t you see this knot?’
    ‘I see the knot, but you will not be the Khan’s Protector. Khareh will not be the Khan.’
    ‘What?’ The question came spitting out of Raim’s mouth. It was the most venomous thing Mhara had ever said to him.
    But Mhara just looked exasperated. ‘They were going to make the announcement today, when all the new Yun had been initiated. The Khan’s wife, the Seer-Queen,is pregnant! The child will be the Khan. Not Khareh.’
    Raim stared at her in disbelief. ‘It . . . it doesn’t matter!’ he said, more brazenly than he felt. ‘I am still Khareh’s Protector for life. I have made the vow. Whatever this stupid scar on my wrist means, I don’t care. I don’t even know what it’s for! This is not supposed to happen! I’m not going back on my word to Khareh.’
    Mhara just shook her head. ‘They’ll kill you. Look at the scar. Whatever promise you made then, was so you could have no other duty in life, not Yun, not Khareh’s Protector, not even a lowly soldier, not anything. If you stay here, you die. Your only chance is to run.’
    ‘But where?’ Raim spluttered, the magnitude of her suggestion overwhelming him. ‘And why would they kill me?’
    ‘Don’t you see? Your final test is to see whether you are free to promise yourself to the service of the Yun. How can you promise us anything when you have this scar?’ She held up his wrist. ‘And surely no one is stupid enough to make a promise without knowing exactly what it is and what the obligations are. They see that scar? They will kill you. You are unfit.’
    ̵vily in his ha

11
    Raim hurtled out of the Rentai, out into a city teeming with festival revellers. He stuck to the shadows, the darkness concealing his far-too-recognizable silhouette. He took refuge behind a cloth banner, which hung from a tall window, the knotted symbol on the flag of Batar-Khan looking down on him like an eye judging his escape. He said a quick prayer of forgiveness to Sola, then gave the banner a sharp tug, sending it tumbling to his feet. He threw it around his shoulders and over his head, using it to pass through the throng of people undetected.
    He heard his name several times, and resisted the urge to look the speakers in the eye – despite the spurious gossip being tossed around. ‘I heard from my uncle, who was inside the palace, that Raim promised himself to two warlords other than the Prince – can you believe it? That’s why he has been exiled.’
    ‘So greedy for power.’
    ‘I hear he’s been an oathbreaker all along, and only pretended to be eligible to join the Yun.’
    ‘They say he’s jealous of the Prince, and tried to kill him! Thank the gods he’ll be in Sola’s hands soon, the traitor.’
    Raim gritted his teeth, put his head down and surged through the crowd, refusing to halt until he came to a hole in the dust-and-stone walls