An Elegy of Heroes

by K. S. Villoso

  “Yes or no, Sapphire. Can you do it?”

  She glared at him. “Not well,” she finally said. “I’ve made it a point not to dedicate time and effort towards learning atrocities to the craft. I doubt you’ll even see anything.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” he replied. “I just need them to know that somebody tried to reach them.”

  “You’re going to try to contact Yn Garr, aren’t you?” Sume broke in.

  He flashed her a smile. “On point, my lady. Who wants to find us more than anyone else in the world right now? More precisely, who wants to find us and already has men making their way towards us as I speak? A single spark, on Yn Garr’s mirror—the one he carries around in his belt. If you start the spell, I think I can direct you to it. He’s skilled enough to know exactly where the person who tried to contact him is located, if not who. He’ll deduce the rest.”

  “Sounds like a risky and farfetched solution to a pressing problem,” Sapphire said.

  “True, but it is still a solution, one which you haven’t seem to have offered as of yet.”

  She frowned. “So you want Yn Garr to somehow conclude that he has to send his men here instead?”

  “You don’t know him like I do,” Enosh said. “He is a perceptive bastard who leaves no stone unturned. We wait until his men show up and then, while the royal bitches are preoccupied, we sneak out the back door and figure things out from there.”

  Sapphire sighed. “I can think of so many ways this can go wrong.” She pulled her sleeves up, tucking them around her shoulders. “Let’s get this over with. Make yourself useful and grab that candle.”

  Sume stepped aside, watching as they performed the ritual she had seen before from the Kag witches in Fuyyu. The witches, in comparison, had gone through the motions almost effortlessly and with less arguing about the principles. The way Enosh and Sapphire worked with the agan took away all the magic and wonder from the process.

  She smelled smoke and heard Enosh swear. “Did it work?” he asked.

  “You tell me,” Sapphire replied, coughing.

  “You can check, can’t you?”

  “Do you take me for a hound?”

  “I think it worked. I thought I felt him, for a second there.” He gave a wry smile. “I make your life difficult, Sapphire, but I see what you mean about mastering this stuff. I could never do that by myself. The sensation is astounding.”

  “I’ll accept the flattery, seeing as to how you’re about to get us killed soon,” Sapphire droned. “If this is the extent of our planning, then you better go back to your room. We’re supposed to be dead by morning.”

  Sume glanced at both of them. “Is that the next step? Lock the doors until they decide they’ve had it?”

  “They won’t disturb us until midday, at least,” Enosh said. “I doubt the princesses want to be announcing to the rest of the household that they’re going around murdering people. Politics, Sume. There’s always a measure of keeping up appearances. If we lock the doors, they won’t break them down until we’ve been there long enough to give them a reason to.” He took her hand and bowed at Sapphire. “Sweet dreams, my lovely badger.”

  “I hope your plan works,” she grumbled.

  He nodded. “For all our sakes, I hope so, too.”

  They crawled out of Sapphire’s window and back into the other room. Enosh replaced the louvres. Sume could hear Sapphire doing the same thing. After he slid the last one in place, he turned to her with a look that made her glance away.

  “You should get some rest,” she heard him say under his breath. “I’ll keep watch. I know you’ve barely slept a wink.”

  “Thank you,” Sume replied. She crawled back into the bed and pulled the covers over her. Peering over the rim, she watched Enosh blow out the lantern and settle on a chair by the door. His bare sword lay on his lap. The silhouette of it was the last thing she saw before she drifted off into the night.

  Chapter Five

  Enosh woke up to the sensation of a thousand ants crawling under his skin.

  His first instinct was to swing out against an unseen opponent, his blade swinging in an arc and cutting through the darkness. When he realized what was happening, he stopped mid-swing and forced his sword back into its sheath. He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand and turned to Sume. She was still asleep, oblivious of what had just happened. The gentle rise and fall of her chest soothed his nerves enough to make him start thinking clearly.

  He walked to the window and flipped the louvres open. It was still very dark outside. What caught his attention was the unnatural stillness. There should at least be a barking dog or an owl hooting from the treetops. At the end of the yard, were a row of leafless trees was perched along a stone wall, he saw the shadows being cast in the wrong direction.

  Enosh pulled back in time to see a figure awkwardly scaling the wall. He shut the louvres and returned to sit, his mind racing.

  Sume had told him that Arn had mentioned alerting his men. He had assumed, after all his years of working for Yn Garr, that Arn was working with the Boarshind mercenaries. But if Kefier had sent a retinue with him, why didn’t he have them when he travelled with Sume from Fuyyu? Why did he risk being alone with her and Hirong Sethi? The griffon wouldn’t have been reason enough. The boy overused his pet as a scare tactic, but he couldn’t be dumb enough to rely solely on it if he had other options.

  The nagging feeling grew stronger, as did the irritating hum along his skin. Enosh got up and returned to the window. He placed his thumb against the edge of a louvre so that he could crack it open.

  Two black, glassy eyes stared back at him. He caught sight of a slight, upward grin before he scrambled to free his sword, just as the entity smashed through the wooden louvres. It uttered no sound as it went for him, its limbs flopping in every direction.

  Enosh managed to gain footing and struck the thing before it reached him. Its neck cracked open as it slumped to the ground. He smelled sawdust and saw the faint bluish whiff that marked something agan-wrought.

  “What in Sakku’s name is that?” he heard Sume utter from behind him.

  “Good morning, my love,” Enosh said under his breath. “I think we’re under attack.” He reached out to poke the motionless bundle with the tip of his sword. The entity didn’t move. He lifted a flap from its body and realized that it looked like a piece of burlap.

  “It’s a dummy,” Sume said.

  Enosh swallowed. “It looks like it now. I can swear a moment ago that it had a face.” He looked at the damage to the window.

  “I know. I saw.” Sume went to the door and knocked. There was no answer, but a moment later, they heard somebody scream in the distance.

  “And it sounds like there’s more than one,” Enosh groaned. He stepped over the bundle—which was slowly turning into ash—as Sume unlocked the door. He opened it himself, walking out first. The hallway was empty, with not a guard in sight.

  He knocked on Sapphire’s door. He heard her swear out loud before smelling burnt firewood. A moment later, the door opened and Sapphire fell out, panting. “That thing…!” she cried.

  “Yes, it paid us a visit, too,” Enosh said. “Did it hurt you?”

  “No,” she scoffed. “But it’s not a pleasant thing to wake up to.” She patted her robes and looked up. They could hear more screams. People burst from a room and fled down the hall without looking back. Another simulacrum followed them, its head flopping as it attempted to gain speed. Enosh ran his sword through its side as it ran past him.

  “By the gods,” Enosh said, as it dropped to the ground in an explosion of stuffing and dust. “They fall fast.”

  “Even if they pose no threat themselves, it’s the fact that they’re here that concerns me,” Sapphire said. “This is the work of someone skilled in the agan.”

  “No doubt,” Enosh snorted.

  “No. I mean—very skilled. This requires a level of connection massive enough to allow this person to manipulate these t
hings, all of them, at once. This is someone who is both very, very skilled, and very…” She paused as a simulacrum hurtled down the hall. She kicked it. It rolled over, its face still pulled into a smirk, its button eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Enosh stuck his sword into its head. Its limbs sagged. As soon as he pulled the sword out, it turned into ash like the others.

  “...childlike,” Sapphire finished. She looked at Enosh, a question in her eyes.

  “This isn’t Yn Garr’s work,” Enosh answered.

  “I know,” Sapphire said. “Is there anyone else with him that could have this power? That boy, Arn—”

  “Would’ve crashed against that window on his griffon like a monkey from a wine barrel, we know that much. I think Jarche could. No, I’m almost sure this sort of thing would be easy for Jarche, except…”

  Enosh glanced down the hall. The main doors to the temple weren’t that far away—another turn down the corridor and they were there. “What if you both left through the kitchens?” he asked. “I don’t think the things are trying to kill us.”

  “Not yet,” Sapphire pointed out. “After what that one did to your window, I think they could be strong enough to.”

  “I stand corrected. Nevertheless, it is worth considering that what they may be doing is trying to get us to leave in a panic, like everybody else. The main entrance is being watched, at least. Probably the others, too, but I suppose we can take that chance.”

  “You said both of us,” Sume said. “What about you?”

  “My, but you’re perceptive,” Enosh said, smiling at her. She didn’t look amused, so he cleared his throat. “I intend to go through a window and make my way to the main grounds. I’m...curious...to see who’s behind this.”

  “You tried to call on Yn Garr to provide a distraction so we can escape,” Sapphire said. “Whether this has anything to do with that or not is irrelevant. You’re risking this chance because you’re curious?”

  “What can I say, Sapphire,” he grinned. “I am a man of many mysteries.”

  “If by that you mean a man of many mysterious diseases,” Sapphire drawled. She looked at Sume. “Are you going to let him do this?”

  “I…” Sume glanced at him. The uncertainty was plain in her eyes. She bit her lip. “It’s not like I can stop him.”

  “Your lack of faith wounds me,” Enosh said, keeping his tone light, though he looked at her first before making an exaggerated bow to both of them. “My ladies. I’ll join you as soon as I can.” He turned on his heel and made his way back up the hall.

  True to his word, Enosh found a window and jumped out into the night.

  Or dawn, to be precise; he could see the first rays of sunshine struggling against the mist on the horizon. This made it easier to see silhouettes from the rooftop. He could make out the panicked guards and motionless simulacrums piling up along the grounds. He didn’t know enough Jinan to understand anything beyond that they were frightened out of their wits. It came, he supposed, with not knowing anything about the agan. Superstitions don’t teach people to think on their feet.

  Enosh crawled along the roof, keeping an eye out for moving simulacrums. He caught sight of a couple leaping over the hedges and plunging into the huts built downhill from the temple. A moment later, others emerged from the same direction. He followed the source and traced it to a storehouse in the west, at the foot of the hill. It was the last place anyone would think of going to during an attack and the size of it was perfect for concealing the activities for an elaborate spell such as this one.

  He crafted a simple don’t-look spell before making his way down from the roof and crossed the grounds. It was effective enough that a simulacrum passed by him without so much as a glance. He hopped over the fence, pulled out his sword, and kicked the door down.

  There was a single lantern on a box in the middle of the storehouse. Beside the box knelt a child, a girl. She looked up as he came in. Her eyes, which were light brown, looked almost yellow while she worked with the agan, which he knew she was doing because his did the exact same thing.

  A simulacrum leaped from the lantern, taking full form two paces from it as it rushed towards him. Enosh cut it in half before it could reach him, an action he took without thinking. He didn’t know what to think. Another simulacrum, another strike. He stepped on the ashes and realized the girl was staring back at him.

  “Your master took a great risk, leaving you here,” Enosh said, finding it easy to talk even when the rest of him seemed to have stopped working.

  The girl looked at him. “You’re not frightened of them,” she said. She seemed more amused by this than concerned about the fact that he was walking towards her with a drawn sword. What the hell else can you do? Can you kill me right now where I stand, the way they say some mages could?

  He stopped, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. This, he thought, grinning in spite of himself, is probably not how you’re supposed to feel when you first meet your child. And it’s not even because she resembles an angry Sume right now. Although maybe that’s part of it. Hell in a handbasket, that’s probably the most of it, although the sensation of an ocean of agan around her certainly doesn’t help.

  “I’m not frightened because it’s not your intention to hurt anyone, is it, Rosha?”

  His knowledge of her name did nothing to faze her. “What do you want?” she asked. The difference between her and the feeble boy back in Barun struck him. The way she maintained her gaze on him, unafraid, reminded him of…

  Kefier, he realized, with a start.

  Enosh smiled. “Nothing to do with you, per se,” he said. “Do you know me?”

  “No,” she replied. “Should I?” She began to create another simulacrum.

  He held his hand out. “Please. I am a friend. There is nothing to fear.”

  “I could make them hurt you if I wanted to,” Rosha said.

  “I do not disagree. We thought as much. If you would mind waiting a moment, though…”

  “I’m listening.”

  He smirked. “Who brought you here?”

  “Jarche and the master,” she said, without missing a beat. “They’re out by the temple. I thought you would ask that, next.”

  “I was. Thank you for that, my lady. What are they doing here?”

  Rosha shrugged. “Jarche asked me to do this so people don’t get hurt. As for the rest, you’re better off asking someone else. I don’t care about the details.” She finished making the simulacrum, but instead of setting it after him, she made it run around and through the open door.

  He nodded. “I think I understand. But what do you know about what you’re doing here? It must’ve been quite a journey. Surely you would’ve asked why.”

  “I didn’t have to,” she said. “I know that Master Gorrhen requires me to leash Naijwa’s beast once it is found and direct it to where it is needed. I assumed this had something to do with that. Jarche would have told me otherwise.”

  “You know that much?” He hadn’t expected that. “Then you must know the repercussions that can come from helping these people. You must have an inkling.”

  She nodded.

  “So then…”

  “Having the beast in our possession will reduce the chances that my father will get hurt in battle,” Rosha said.

  And the arrow meets its mark, Enosh thought. How typical of Yn Garr to reduce himself to such manipulation tactics. He licked his lips and glanced outside. How much time did he have? He didn’t want to think about what Rosha would do to him if he dragged her back with him. He was also not ready to face Yn Garr or speak with Jarche, who he had not seen in well over seven years. Abandoning him in the Gasparian dungeons was something he might’ve expected from the old bastard, but not Jarche. Thinking about that particular betrayal still hurt.

  “What would make you abandon your post and come with me?” he asked.

  “Because my father’s life is on the line here, I’d say nothing.”

  “Oh, he’ll be al
l right,” Enosh said. “It will take a while for Yn Garr to extract Naijwa’s beast from the cavern where it’s trapped in. You can return to him then.”

  “I was also told not to go walking off with strangers. I’m not even actually supposed to talk to them, except—” Rosha cocked her head at him, as if she was about to say something else and then decided against it at the last moment. “I can explode you with fire,” she said, instead.

  Enosh chuckled. “I don’t doubt it.”

  “It will hurt a lot.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “I can do it now, if this conversation bores me.”

  “Please don’t. I happen to like my hair.” He flashed a grin. She stared back without smiling. Clearly Sume’s daughter, he thought. “Listen to this, then. I know your mother.”

  “Oldest line in the book.”

  “Her name is Sume.”

  “Not convinced.”

  “She’s waiting for me right now, several hundred paces from here.”

  “You should’ve started with the candy.”

  Is this the part where I say I’ve got no one to blame but myself? Enosh glanced behind his shoulder again. “Look, Rosha. Yn Garr doesn’t like me very much, so I very much desire to be away from here as soon as possible.”

  “The door behind you is still open, you know.”

  “I’m just scared what your mother’s reaction will be if she finds out I saw you and didn’t try to take you with me. My half-flayed corpse will probably decorate one of those towers by midday tomorrow. Do you understand?”

  Rosha’s eyes flickered. She looked down at the lantern, and then at her hands, before she murmured, “This isn’t the sort of thing you should lie about.”

  “I’m not lying,” Enosh said.

  “Because she left me and my father, and she never sent letters, and he pretends it doesn’t bother him but I know her absence is breaking his heart.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, Enosh nodded.

  “You have to give me a reason to trust you,” she said.