They dropped onto the other side, Jagdish silently, and Gutch with a bang and a flop. But there was no time to catch their breath. An unseen dog was barking at them. They ran down tiny, filthy alleys, avoiding everyone. Once it felt like they weren’t about to be set upon by the gang or the Law, they slowed to a cautious walk until they found a dark corner beneath a warehouse to hide in. It was so secluded an old casteless woman had died here, a month before judging by her desiccated condition, but nobody had even noticed.
As he was reduced to hiding beneath the flea-ridden blankets of a dead casteless, waiting for it to be dark enough to try and sneak away, Jagdish had to laugh at his misfortune. Their mission to track down the Lost House was off to a fine start.
Chapter 9
Six years ago
“You seem troubled. What are you thinking about, mistress?”
“I’m thinking about what’s the best way to kill my husband and not get caught.”
Thera Vane’s arranged marriage was not a happy one.
“Ha ha, yes, such a sense of humor.” Her personal attendant glanced around nervously, but they were alone in the bed chamber. Then she went back to brushing out Thera’s long hair. “You are most amusing, mistress.”
“Of course,” Thera muttered as she looked at her troubled reflection in the mirror. “I was only joking.”
Arranged marriages were the norm among her caste. The higher the status, the more likely your family would marry you off for political reasons, sealing contracts, creating alliances, and so forth. That was just the way of things. It was the one time you were better off being unimportant. Low-status warriors could often marry for love. Nobody cared about them enough to use them as bargaining chips.
Thera had thought her odd reputation would spare her from being used like that. Normally the daughter of a war hero would be in great demand, but Andaman Vane had been demoted and punished for his disobedience. They no longer had an estate or riches. Though her family had managed to keep Thera’s occasional seizures a secret, everyone knew about the injury in her youth and the many years it had taken her to recover. What warrior in his right mind would want to marry a poor girl from a bad line, with bad luck and bad health, to bear their sons?
Sadly her low status had merely delayed the inevitable. She was no first choice, and to present her as such would be an insult, but the great house had decided she would do as a widower’s replacement. She had married late. People often said better late than never, but for such a wretched man, she’d have preferred never.
“Life would be simple if Dhaval would just get himself killed in battle, but he’s too much of a coward to lead from the front.”
The slave girl was growing nervous. “You shouldn’t make such jokes, mistress. The roik is not a kind master.”
There should have been some measure of pride, being married to a leader of one hundred soldiers, but Dhaval Makao was a petty, bitter man, rotten to his core. “The only reason he attained that rank is because of politics. He’s a warrior in name only. In House Vane he wouldn’t be worthy to dig latrines.” Thera sighed. “But I suppose I’m not in Vane anymore. I’m in the great house that conquered it.”
“If Roik Dhaval heard you say such things, he wouldn’t see the humor. He would take great offense.”
“I’m aware.” Thera was Dhaval’s third wife. The first had died in childbirth, as had the baby. She suspected the last vestiges of his humanity had died along with them, if he’d ever been human at all. Dhaval’s second wife had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck. Or at least that’s what he had told the judges, because beating your spouse to death during a drunken rage was illegal. The Law was rather clear on that.
The slave kept brushing the tangles from her hair, while Thera cursed herself for saying anything at all. Opening up had been foolish. She had slipped, but that’s because she had no one else to talk to. She had no friends here. The slave girl would rat on Thera in a heartbeat if Dhaval knocked a month off her obligation.
Loneliness was making her desperate. The women of Vane had quite a bit of autonomy, and could even serve as karta and head a household. In Makao, a wife was expected to be a silent trophy that produced babies, more of a beautiful pet than anything. Thera wasn’t good at silence, and thus far, had no luck getting pregnant. She suspected her long illness had left her barren. So far her marriage had been a year of uncomfortable silences punctuated by Dhaval’s angry, drunken outbursts. He was too proud to ask a judge to grant a divorce, and she’d already vowed the day that he lost his temper and tried to toss her down the stairs like her predecessor, she’d stab him in the throat, Law be damned.
The slave had stopped combing.
“What is it?”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to stare, but this scar on top of your head…It’s from the thing that fell from the sky?”
“You’ve heard about that?”
“We all have. There was a boy in my village, got kicked in the head by a horse, broke his whole skull. He wouldn’t wake up, but the surgeon told us about a girl from Vane who’d been hurt far worse and how she’d eventually healed. He didn’t make it. It’s a miracle you survived.”
“Miracles aren’t real. I survived because Vane blood doesn’t die easy. Thankfully it healed without being a misshapen mess.”
“You can’t hardly tell your head was ever broken, and you can hide it well. You are very pretty, mistress.”
So was the slave, which explained why her wretched husband had claimed the poor girl. Dhaval liked to collect pretty things.
“Lucky me.” Thera had never taken much pride in her appearance, but she recognized that she was decently attractive, though a bit strong and plain by Makao’s snooty standards, but good enough, which was why Dhaval had accepted when the Vane arbiters had offered her as a wife. She suspected the reason his powerful family had approved the contract was the women of Vane had a reputation for toughness, so she’d be more difficult to break on accident should their barbaric son lose his temper again, and thus spare them future embarrassments in court.
“It could be worse, mistress.”
“I do not disagree.” Dhaval had only tried to strike her once. It had been over dinner, but she’d threatened to stab him with her fork, and they hadn’t eaten a meal together since. “He’s at least smart enough to know when to back down.”
“I meant that he doesn’t beat us slaves…Often.”
Thera didn’t like having slaves. The whole concept bothered her. They were just regular people, temporarily deprived of their status as whole men because of some violation of the Law. Thera could take care of her own affairs, comb her own hair, fix her own clothing, and fetch her own food. But whenever she tried to do anything on her own, her husband became offended. Dhaval loved having slaves do all their menial tasks. It made him feel important. This particular girl had been a worker in one of the villages his garrison protected, so she’d been obligated to his estate to make up for their unpaid debt.
“He’s not so bad, as long as you don’t upset him.” The girl seemed hesitant to continue. “But it’s like you’re determined to upset him, then he takes his anger out on us. Perhaps if you weren’t so obstinate?”
Thera was growing annoyed. “Just comb it so the scar stays hidden and quit talking.”
“Yes, mistress.”
By the time she was done dressing in the silly bunch of colorful silks, jewelry, and headdress that her useless husband insisted was appropriate attire, another slave arrived to announce the arrival of a visitor.
“Does Dhaval wish for me to stay hidden in my chambers, or does he wish to parade me about like a show pony to impress his friends again?”
This slave was an old man, who’d once been a cobbler in the city of Kanok, before he’d been punished for overcharging the army on a shipment of boots. “Neither, mistress. Roik Dhaval has gone to a meeting at the great house. The visitor is here to see you.”
Thera was suspicious. Who would want to see her? Th
e other wives ignored her. She was a social nobody here, but since she had no use for the vapid, useless beauties the other officers were married to, Thera was fine with being ignored. Hopefully it wasn’t Dhaval’s family. They either barely tolerated her, or held her in outright contempt.
“It’s a risaldar from Vane, who says he was in the city on business. He didn’t wish his arrival announced to the entire house, but asked to speak with you alone.”
There was only one risaldar of House Vane who would go out of his way to visit this particular estate. Thera rushed past the slaves and practically ran for the stairs. From the balcony she saw him, a bit more wrinkled and grayer around the temples, but still as powerful a presence as ever.
“Baba!”
Andaman Vane grinned when he saw his daughter. “Hello, Thera.”
“I’m so glad you’re here.” Overjoyed, she had to hold onto her ridiculous frilly dress to keep from tripping on the stairs, but when she got to the main floor she leapt into his arms and hugged her father tight. It was the happiest she’d been in ages.
“I didn’t know you were coming to Kanok.” Then she realized he was still standing in the entryway, wearing his boots. In Makao it was rude to enter a home without taking your shoes off. The slaves hadn’t even invited him inside! Her own father! That was insulting, but he seemed so glad to see her he hadn’t taken offense. “What’re you doing here?”
“I had to deliver some reports to the great house. I don’t have much time.” He glanced at the two slaves still watching curiously from the top of the stairs, then whispered, “We must speak privately.”
“Of course, this way.” Barefoot, she led him out the door. There was a large garden in the middle of Dhaval’s estate where Thera spent many hours because it was quiet, secluded, and enabled her to avoid her new family. “I have a garden where I like to pass the time.”
The bushes had once been carved into animal shapes—a fashion copied from the warmer houses in the north—but Dhaval had eventually given up on the tedious practice, so now the central garden of their estate was more like a small overgrown forest. When they arrived at the quietest part, her father took in the wooden targets that Thera had tied to the decorative fence, with the thousands of notches left upon them from her throwing knives, and nodded appreciatively.
“For a moment I thought maybe you’d taken up gardening.”
“I try to stay in practice. Apparently being able to pin a running rat with a spike at twenty paces is considered unladylike in these parts. How was I to know that?”
“The Makao are rather flamboyant and impractical. They’ve got you dressed like you’re about to lead a parade.”
Thera laughed. “They consider this casual. Can you believe it? I couldn’t even kick a man above the knee in this frivolous outfit if my life depended on it. And these are their warriors. You should see how their first caste dress. They walk around like puffy, embroidered, giant flowers.”
Speaking of clothing, her father was wearing the drab uniform of a risaldar, nothing like back when he’d been a mighty phontho, covered in bright ribbons and clanking medals. He wore only one medal now, a simple bronze medallion in the oval shape of a banyan leaf, awarded for courage in battle. It was the first award he had ever earned decades ago, and when she’d once asked about it, he’d told her it was the only medal that had ever really mattered to him. That was just how her father was. In all the years since his fall, he had never once acted bitter or resentful for choosing to stay by her side, but had instead rejoiced daily that she lived.
“So how is life among the perfumed fops?” her father asked, still smiling.
She almost told him the truth. He had no idea what manner of monster their house had married her off to, but she didn’t have the heart to tell him how miserable she was. Andaman Vane was a proud warrior, driven by honor. He’d probably challenge Dhaval to a duel…Only Dhaval came from a powerful family, and her father had very little status. Her husband would just dismiss the challenge. If Andaman Vane angered Great House Makao again, this time they would surely take his life.
“It’s fine. I’m doing well.”
“What of your health?”
There had been one seizure, but it had been here in the garden, and there had been no witnesses. She’d woken up lying in the dirt, aching from violent muscle spasms. If the Voice had spoken that time, there’d been no one around to hear. It had left her weakened for several days afterward, but she’d blamed it on a fever and Dhaval had believed her.
“I have been well.”
He looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them. “And the Voice?”
She shook her head. Only Thera and her father knew about the Voice. Not even her mother had known about it before she had passed away. If news of her curse got out, marrying well would have been the least of her worries. The Voice was the sort of strange thing that would attract the attention of Inquisitors.
He sighed in relief. “Thank goodness. My greatest fear is that it comes upon you again, and I won’t be around to protect you.”
“It’s been years since that…thing…last spoke. I think it’s gone.”
But her father didn’t look so sure. “May we be that fortunate. Now, I apologize for being so abrupt, but I have little time. I’m not supposed to be here at all. I’m merely serving as a guard for our delegation, and if they find out I left my post, I’ll be severely reprimanded.”
Thera was shocked, it wasn’t like her father to shirk his duty. He’d only done that once before, and it had cost him dearly. “You should go before you get in trouble!”
“Seeing you is worth the risk. We traveled for a week to get here, yet our arbiter wouldn’t even give me the smallest courtesy and allow me to visit my only child, who lives right down the street. To the ocean with him.” He took hold of her arm. Somehow his hands of stone were always gentle when it came to her. “You must listen carefully, Thera. I’ve come to warn you. A house war is coming.”
“What?” There hadn’t been a house war in the west in her lifetime.
“The raids between Harban and Makao have been escalating. They’ve kept Vane very busy. I must say, your father has regained quite a bit of his old glory recently. I’ve led three raids already this year, looted two towns, and captured a whole garrison. It’s certainly reminded the men how much better things were back when I was in charge.”
“I hadn’t heard about any of this. Has the Capitol authorized it?”
“Not at all. In fact, they’ve denied both great houses requests for reprisals, but things are spiraling beyond the first caste’s control. There will be house war…No more raids. I speak of full-fledged warfare, the total might of both sides brought to bear against each other. It’ll be glorious. I’m surprised your husband hasn’t spoken of it. Your new family is in the thick of things.”
She let that pass. They rarely spoke at all. There was no way to explain her relationship that wouldn’t put her father in a difficult position. “Are they mad? If the Capitol doesn’t approve, they’ll set an example. I don’t know how many times you told me that growing up. Don’t enrage the Capitol. They’ll send the Protectors in and kill everyone.”
“They probably will, but in times of great strife comes great opportunity.”
“Wait…What’re you plotting?”
“It’s best if I not say, and safer if you’re not involved. You have a comfortable life here. I don’t want to disrupt it.”
Thera laughed. “Oh, I know you too well. You’re up to something. Please, disrupt this comfortable life. I’d rather know the truth.”
“It would put you in danger.”
“As if I’ve never had to keep a secret before!”
“You’re as stubborn as your mother.”
“She was soft hearted. You mean as stubborn as you, old ox.”
“You have me there, little tiger…However, this would test your loyalty, your new family versus—”
“Vane,” Thera stated withou
t hesitation. “I choose Vane.”
None of that seemed to surprise him. He chuckled. “Very well…In a total war, if Makao is too busy fending off Harban, whose warrior caste is nothing to scoff at, then Vane has an opportunity to be a vassal no more. We’ll break off, and declare ourselves free of Makao. We’re tired of bleeding for them. Let the fools fight, and once they’re fully committed, then we would have the chance to reclaim what is rightfully ours.”
Thera was shocked by the audacity of the idea, and she had just been plotting how best to murder her husband. “Rebellion? Who is with you?”
“All of my old officers will follow me, and their men will follow them. Among the first caste, the name of Andaman Vane is worth salt water, but those who matter will still follow me into battle. The first hand out ranks and titles like holiday treats, but they don’t understand real authority only comes when soldiers respect their commander. The Capitol won’t care, as long as we pay our taxes and obligations. Our arbiters won’t like it, because they never like when warriors take the initiative, but once I secure victory and we achieve great house status again, they’ll be quick to act as if it was all their idea and claim the glory for themselves.”
“And if you fail, they’ll heap blame on you alone while they plead their ignorance.” Her head was swimming. Thera had to sit down. She picked the closest bench, heedless of the dust on her fine dress. “This…this is…”
“Bold,” he finished for her. “Of course, if I go through with it, you’ll either have to deny me and pledge your undying loyalty to Makao, or you’ll have to flee this place and return home. Even if you did forsake me, they still might try to use you as a hostage in negotiations. That’s why I came here today, to warn you. Vane means everything to me, but I am not some Capitol politician who will use my own flesh and blood as a pawn. I willingly risk my own life, but that is my choice. I will not force that upon you.”
This was a lot to absorb. “So you’ve come to ask your daughter’s permission…to rebel against the Law?”
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