by J C Kang
Lightning jolted up and down her spine, perhaps from an unseen injury, but more likely from his touch. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“Are you sure you’re all right? Come along now, let us see if we can find you a doctor.” He gestured toward his marines. “Men, go find a healer.”
Behind him, his aide-de-camp, the enormous Peris, snorted. “She looks fine to me.”
“She fell over twelve meters!” With a growl, Aryn pointed back to the Indomitable.
She looked from one to the other. Driving a wedge between the lifelong friends had been as inadvertent as ending up in Aryn’s bed, but only the pesky emotions attached to the latter had sparked a modicum of guilt.
“I’m all right. Nothing seems broken. Let’s just walk.” She waved toward the storefronts, but stopped as the pyramid of Tokahia came into view. When they’d been well out to sea—six kilometers according to Aryn’s standard of distance—the crystal at the pyramid’s pinnacle twinkled like a night star.
Up close, with the sun setting behind it, the massive structure cast a shadow over the one and two-story daub-and-wattle buildings along the waterfront. The shade didn’t dim the garish storefronts, nor the equally flamboyant clothes of people gesticulating in large enough motions to kick up the wind. The thick wooden soles of their platform shoes clopped on the cobblestones. Hawkers pawned all kinds of colorful wares of varying practical use. Delicate glassware. Intricate jewelry. Detailed oil paintings. So far, the Estomari were living up to their reputation as artists and merchants.
“I’m fine,” she repeated. “Let’s just go for a stroll.” Why not, when they had one, maybe two days while the Indomitable re-provisioned? She pointed to where the stone-paved street curved north along the harbor. Elegant white plaster buildings with actual glass windows and brown-and-red tile roofs lined the streets. They stood in stark contrast to the gaudy stores at the other end. Neither architectural style resembled the wooden structures back home.
Aryn shook his head. “Not that way, Miss Jyeh. That’s Mafia territory.” He pointed in the opposite direction. “It’s safer this way.”
Following his finger, Jie took in the cityscape. It looked no different from the supposed Mafia territory—in itself a novel idea, since in her homeland, the emperor held absolute power. “How do the Signores tolerate a challenge to their authority?”
Peris scoffed, looking at her as if she were an imbecile. “In the Estomar, authority only reaches as far as the tips of the Signores’ swords.”
Aryn gave her a tug in the direction of a market. “There’s an unspoken understanding: as long as the crime families don’t meddle with the Signores’ affairs, the Signores won’t move against them.”
Following along, Jie nodded. It wasn’t that much different from the entertainment district in her homeland’s capital. As long as they paid taxes, they were free to govern their territory with their own conventions, and the emperor left well enough alone.
“The status quo might be changing,” Peris said in a low voice. “Our informants say the crime families are organizing and plan on making a move to seize the city.”
“In any case, everything we could possibly need is this way.” Aryn continued past several stalls selling jewelry and other trinkets, without any sign of concern about political upheaval
Jie followed along, but wondered. If she were in Aryn’s boots, instead of his pants, she’d be more concerned about the implications. Still, control of a faraway city had little to do with her own mission. She looked back to Peris.
Instead of chastising Aryn for his lack of interest, Peris kept flicking his eyes to a large man with a jagged scar on his forehead, who stood in the doorway of an antique shop at the far end of the docks. A man who seemed to be looking at them.
She careened into Aryn’s back.
Turning around, he grinned and slid a bracelet on her wrist. “Here, a reminder of home.”
Jie looked back to the large man, only to find him gone. With a sigh, she examined the gift while Aryn paid the vendor. The bangle was made of cheap nephrite, called fake jade back home. Still, a talented craftsman had carved it into an impressive coiled dragon, complete with the five claws reserved for the emperor. If anyone outside of the imperial family was caught wearing it, they might lose a hand.
“Oh, look!” Aryn pointed, jerking Jie’s attention away. In the direction he indicated, a crowd gathered around a street vendor of some sort. “A fortune teller.”
Seriously? She met Aryn’s gaze and raised an eyebrow. “Do you really believe this?” After all, fortune tellers back home tended to find fortunes in the pockets of the gullible.
“Don’t you know? Estomari can predict the future, with magic. Come on!” Aryn’s face lit up like Black Lotus Clan children when they received their first throwing star. With the marines clearing the way, he tugged her along through the masses of bodies to the vendor.
Jie followed, rolling her eyes. While everyone on Tivaralan knew the tales of Tatiana, the first Diviner, it took a special kind of naïveté to believe her predictions had helped humans overthrow their orc masters a millennium ago…or that the magic of the pyramid’s Dragonstone now prevented the orc gods from returning on their flaming chariots.
Still, with the mission on hold until they could catch up with the Serikothi ship, Jie might as well humor the prince. Let him believe in fate and destiny; no prophecies hung over her.
At the front of the crowds, a brown-haired young man shuffled cards in his hands, flipping them in and out of his fingers with mesmerizing dexterity. The brilliantly painted cards matched his flashy orange longcoat, puffy red shirt, and purple hosiery. “Come, learn your future from me, Roberto Romero, the best Diviner in Tokahia! No, the best in all the Estomar! I predicted the rise of the Pirate Queen and the election of Haros Bovyanthas to First Consul of the Teleri Empire. My results are guaranteed!”
Aryn flicked a gold draka into the air. “A reading for this pretty young woman.”
Roberto swiped the coin out of the air. The smile which started to materialize on his face slipped as his eyes met Jie’s and widened. Blanching, he shook his head. “I’m sure your future hasn’t changed since the last time you came. No refunds.”
Jie cocked her head. “What?”
The fortune teller tucked away his cards and started folding up his table. He scowled at her. “If you haven’t succeeded in killing your father, that’s not my fault.”
Aryn gawked at her, while somewhere behind them, Peris chuckled.
Heat flared to the tips of her ears. The crowd gasped and stared as she shook her head incredulously. As satisfying as it would be to find the dastard who’d abandoned her as a baby and stick a knife between his ribs, no one had ever told her her future. At least, not beyond the occasional—no, alarmingly frequent—prediction, Prepare to die. That particular fortune had yet to come true.
“Come on, let’s forget about this.” Jie turned to Aryn, when a ghost from her past strode by.
Her jaw dropped. Princess Kaiya, the daughter of Cathay’s emperor, took uncharacteristically long steps and swung her arms in the most unladylike fashion. White silken robes with bright embroidery on the hems fluttered behind her. It looked nothing like a court gown, and instead of imperial guards, she was accompanied by a tall, middle-aged man and an attractive young woman, both with dark skin, coarse black hair, and similar but cheaper robes that marked them as Aksumi Mystics. Both the princess and the woman gesticulated with broad motions, while dismissing the man whenever he tried to speak.
No, it was impossible. Even though the emperor had given the princess more leeway after she put down a rebellion with the budding magic of her music, he’d never let her come this far from home. Certainly not without an army of imperial guards. Not to mention, she’d been in Cathay’s capital when Jie had departed. There was no way she could reach Tokahia first. Jie took a longer, more careful look.
While the young woman resembled Princess Kaiya, she was too pretty, too
filled out, too… Jie sucked on her lower lip. The face and curvy figure were less like the actual princess, and more similar to the illusion from the magic bauble which the aforementioned rebel leader had used in plotting an assassination of the Imperial Family. Which meant these Mystics might be tied to the conspirator aboard the Serikothi ship, and the clan traitor she was tracking. In town, just as the Mafia might try to take over the city.
Heedless of Aryn’s protests, Jie slipped between the dispersing crowds and trailed the trio. How ironic it was, that the pretty pink dress which would make her stand out back home was actually quite muted compared to the flashy clothes the locals wore.
The fake princess tossed a glass bead over to the man, her image instantaneously shifting to a young, dark-skinned woman who looked so similar to the other that they had to be related. The moment the man caught the bauble, he shrunk and transformed into the likeness of Princess Kaiya, only in the clothes he was already wearing. His form returned to normal when he slipped the bead into his pocket. Passersby gawked and pointed.
The magic couldn’t be a coincidence. No, it was a clue tied to her mission. And clearly, with their cavalier flaunting, they wanted to be seen. Likely to attract someone’s attention. It would be child’s play to pick his pockets once they got back into a crowd, and Jie could use the bauble herself, to find out who they were trying to attract.
After winding through the wide, stone-cobbled streets, the group came to what looked like a market square, with dozens of fortunetellers set up around the edges. None of the dozens of people paid these charlatans any heed. Instead, they gathered around several huge, rectangular stones jutting out from the ground, forming what looked to be a circle. The three Aksumi jostled their way through the crowd.
Jie edged up to the closest spectator. “Why are there so many people here?”
The man looked down through his nose at her, his expression one of disbelief. “This is the Cassius Larusso. He’s a confirmed descendant of Tatiana, herself. The best Diviner in the Estomar. Protector of the pyramid.”
If she had a draka for every claim she’d heard in the crowds today, she could buy a ship and hire the crew to serve her for a year. Still, these Aksumi Mystics—the most powerful sorcerers in the world—had come straight to this Cassius Larusso. Maybe there was something to him.
She looked back the way she’d come. Aryn and his crew were nowhere to be seen. No matter, he’d said something about staying at the posh Regent inn. Surely it would be easy to find. She slipped through the people toward the front, to the edge of the megalith circle, right beside the Aksumi Mystics. Some exotic flower scented the females’ hair.
Inside the middle of the circle stood a short rock column that served as an altar. Beside it, a handsome, dark-haired Estomari man twisted and turned the rings of a strange metal device. With a green embroidered longcoat over a black shirt and brown pants, it was clear his taste in clothes was much more subdued than his compatriots. His eyes—one brown, one blue—roved over a chart of some sort.
He looked up and gestured to three dark-haired, bronze-skinned warriors who wore high-collared long shirts. The heavy, curved swords at their sides marked them as Ayuri Paladins, the defenders of the South. This was the first time she’d actually seen one, up close no less, and they certainly didn’t look like the mythical warriors of legend.
They had ordinary builds, nothing remarkable. The eldest was a woman, whose wrinkled skin, grey hair, and thin arms brought into question if she could possibly lift that heavy, primitive-looking blade, let alone wield it. The other two were men, one middle-aged and the other young. How strange it was for both Aksumi Mystics and Ayuri Paladins—not to mention a Cathayi half-elf—to be in the same, otherwise ethnically homogenous city. This was either a strange coincidence, or the start of a bad joke with an equally awful punchline.
The magic bauble was in the male’s left pocket. Simple enough to retrieve. Sidling up to him, she started to tug the lacey gloves off for better tactile sense, but then thought the better of it. If it changed her image on contact, like the one she’d used back home, it would draw undue attention. She reached—
The female Mystic in the cotton robes clasped a jewel about her neck. Her head turned and her gaze locked on Jie. “Why have you been following us?”
Chapter 4:
Impulse
As a Paladin apprentice, Sameer Vikram strived to embody the virtues of the Gods of the Sun, Justice, and Martial Prowess, and the Goddesses of Wisdom and Compassion. Too often, the Goddess of Passion tempted him.
With his two masters flanking him in the renowned Cassius Larusso’s megalith circle, it was all he could do to pretend he didn’t still love Sohini. Sameer could barely contain his excitement in front of them. His heart skipped like a sling stone across the Shallowsea.
Larusso claimed he could find her in this strange, foreign land.
Ah, Sohini. She was descended from the Founder of the Paladin Order, who in turn could trace his lineage to Vanya, the first Bahaduur. Legend had it Vanya’s martial skill almost equaled that of her lover and teacher, the Elf Angel.
Like her esteemed ancestors, Sohini had been unrivaled in her fighting prowess, perhaps the most talented among their class of Paladin recruits. She was so beautiful that all the other students were either jealous of or enamored with her. Sometimes both.
And against all rules, she’d chosen him. Sameer shuffled on his feet as Larusso’s eyes—one blue, one brown—roved over a record of Sohini’s birth date, time, and location.
“This is a waste of time.” Master Anish, Sohini’s mentor, scowled. His crooked nose and sharp eyes gave him the look of a hawk. Grey streaked his long black hair, which, like that of all Paladins, was tied into a topknot.
Sameer studied Sohini’s famous master. Master Anish tapped the hilt of his curved naga. He’d been hesitant to consult a Diviner at all, but no doubt the guilt weighed heavily on him; assigned by the Paladin Council to investigate some Paladins who’d gone missing on their pilgrimage to the Estomari pyramid, he’d lost his own apprentice.
“Apprentice Sameer, still your thoughts.” Elder Gitika’s voice was calm as the Shallowsea. Unlike Master Anish’s brow, which was furrowed from frustration, the only wrinkles in her forehead came from age. Her bushy white eyebrows stayed level. She exuded tranquility as only one of the greatest living Paladins could.
“I am sorry, Elder.” Sameer curled his fingers in the mudra for apology. If only he could be so serene under such trying conditions. One day, maybe, he could become half the Paladin that Elder Gitika was. It was already such an honor to be mentored by her.
Master Anish nodded. “You must focus, feel the Vibrations of the World.”
“I know it is difficult for you, Apprentice. It is for all of us.” She placed a wizened hand on Sameer’s shoulder. Elder Gitika was Master Anish’s former mentor. She’d taken the first ship to this land of the fair-skinned as soon as the Paladin Council had received his news of Sohini’s disappearance.
“Ahem.” Signore Cassius Larusso cleared his throat.
The spectators outside the megalith circle fell silent, their attention now locked on him.
He pointed to the sky. “Your friend’s signs are in transition, making the answer hard to pin down. What I can tell you right now is that her birth date, time, and location correspond to the missing Golden Flock, which will reappear during the Godseye Conjunction.”
Sameer followed the Diviner’s finger to the Iridescent Moon, now waning to mid-crescent. It looked smaller than usual, sitting just above the sparkling Dragonstone of the Estomar pyramid, much farther to the west of its usually reliable seat in the heavens. Legends claimed the Golden Flock constellation had appeared annually during the Era of the Orcs, disappearing after the War of Ancient Gods for seven hundred years, only to briefly reappear just before the Hellstorm, three hundred years ago. “When is the next time?”
Elder Gitika placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder again. “Pa
tience, Young Sameer.”
Sameer took a deep breath. Maybe one day, he could channel the Goddess of Patience as well as his master.
“In three years,” Signore Larusso said.
Three years! Sameer’s stomach sank. Risking the ire of his mentor, he asked, “Does that mean we won’t find her until then?”
Signore Larusso stroked his thin, pointed beard. “The future is not set in stone; yet to alter what the hands of the gods plan to chisel may come at great risk. With a little more research into the skies over her birthplace, along with as many of her personal effects as you can provide, I can Divine at my other circle. It will reveal exactly where your friend has been, where she is now, and perhaps where she will go. I forewarn you, though, changing destiny may have unintended consequences.”
Shivering, Sameer cast a sidelong glance at the two masters. Elder Gitika’s expression remained serene as always, hiding whatever she thought.
Master Anish aligned his fingers into the mudra for apology. “Sohini was my responsibility. I will face whatever danger I must in order to recover her.” He looked to Elder Gitika.
The elder had frequently reprimanded Sohini for her impulsiveness, and in private, Sohini criticized the elder for her stodginess. With more important matters back home, Gitika wouldn’t want to join in anything more than a search of Tokahia and its surroundings.
And as her apprentice, where she went, Sameer would go too. His heart felt as if it was being torn in two. Part of him wanted to follow the elder, to absorb as much as he could from the greatest Paladin of her generation. The other part wanted—no, needed—to ensure Sohini’s safety. Maybe Gitika would allow him to accompany Master Anish.
“I will do whatever it takes to help you,” she said.
If not for the intervention of the God of Discipline, Sameer’s jaw would’ve hit the grassy ground. The Goddess of Fortune must’ve thought of him when swaying the elder’s mind.
Master Anish pressed his palms together and bowed his head. He fixed the elder with an adoring gaze. “Master, as I have said before, you do not need to trouble yourself. Please, return home and rest, and allow Apprentice Sameer to join me.”