by Ashley Capes
The other monk hissed, her eyes wide. But she did not attack. Instead, she spun and sprinted away, disappearing down the highway as Never watched. He approached the other warrior, bending to jerk his blade free. The man did not respond – already dead. “You were part of this,” he told the corpse, then strode to the great heap of melted steel.
It seemed to have burst out in a spray, like a deadly flower opening.
As if something within had burnt its way free... he frowned. Could Ayuni have been responsible? Did she even know how to use crimson-fire? There was a chance it was something else entirely. He paced. Too many questions – the most alarming of which being, if she had freed herself, and it was the crimson-fire, just how much blood had it cost?
Yet any doubts he had about her identity were falling away swiftly now.
It was obvious too, that she was in danger.
He started a circuit of the area, splashing into the nearest field – a line of blackened rice. Never hopped onto the earthen barrier and ran, following the rows of ruined grasses until he reached a pair of bodies. One hung over the barrier, legs dangling, the other lay motionless in the crop. The man in the water possessed no hands – they’d been burnt to stubs, and the other monk was headless. Ash floated in the water.
Never ran on.
The tier curved around a hillside but halfway along, the path veered sharply across the paddy. A third corpse waited for him there, face-down in the rice. By the level of burns, something similar to the bodies near the road, the monk had died a horrible death. Yet he’d obviously expressed some level of bravery, or madness, to have pursued his charge considering he would have seen what happened to his fellows.
Or perhaps it was fear – fear of what Brother Hiruso would do, should he fail.
The trail led toward the hillside. Never leapt over the body and increased his pace, quickly drawing closer to the hill, where he splashed to a halt.
The trail of ashes led directly to the wall of earth and grass but did not stop. It simply continued, tunnelling through as if some mighty ball of fire had pummelled its way into the very hill.
Chapter 18
Never approached the opening.
Slowly.
Soot-scarred earth revealed only darkness, a single spec of ash fluttering down even as he watched. Using crimson-fire to burn through earth was not all that surprising, considering Snow had used it to blast through the Temple of Jyan’s roof in City-Sedrin.
What gave Never pause was the blind fury of what he’d witnessed so far. He lifted his birch hand, the one that had essentially grown back after Snow had melted it down to the bone. There was a real chance she’d hurt him if he wasn’t careful.
He stepped within. “Ayuni?”
Gods, if he was wrong... if he’d come so far only to have been mistaken, his blood, his belief, his damnable hope, all of it wrong, what was he supposed to do then? But that was foolish, surely, after seeing what had happened to the guards?
No-one answered his call.
Light from the opening extended a little way in and then became shadow only. He called again, louder. The dark swallowed his voice. He let a small globe of fire grow in his hands, enough to cast light. The tunnel walls were straight, a pure cut.
It extended some distance. His lungs began to swell and tighten as he walked – damn it, he was holding his breath. He exhaled and quickened his step.
How deep was it going to... he stopped, both the question and his feet.
A shape lay huddled against the earthen wall.
“Ayuni?”
It stirred at the sound of his voice. He flared the fire – only a little – and moved closer. A young woman wearing a torn silken dress, twin to that which Niswan had made, was blinking at the light, raising a shaking hand.
The girl from Isansho Shika’s painting, only older now. Her features were Kiymako yet the Marlosi – and Amouni – heritage was clear.
Ayuni, his sister.
Relief covered her face. “She said you would come one day.”
Never swallowed, unsure of his next words.
She hauled herself into an upright position, revealing another tear in her garment, grazed skin beneath, but she smiled and gestured for him to come closer.
He tried to speak, fighting the words a moment. “You know me?” he finally asked. How could... it didn’t matter now. He knelt beside her, the stirrings of joy buried deep beneath his worry. Who knew how quickly pursuit could be organised? Would she be able to walk? “We have to leave. Are you hurt?” Up close, fading bruises on her cheek and neck were visible and when she nodded, reaching out to take his free hand, old scars gleamed pink in the light.
He clenched his jaw. Bastards! Just how many years had they been draining her blood? At least his scars were his own choice.
“Yes. But I’ll recover,” Ayuni said.
Never pushed aside a thousand questions. There’d be a better time – they had to escape. But one question could not be denied. “Who told you I would come?”
“My mother. We have to find her... Brother…” she said, finishing hesitantly.
Another hundred questions sprang to mind but he set them aside too. “It’s Never.”
She smiled at him. “Never? That’s truly your name?”
He helped her stand and she winced. “I bet you won’t forget it, will you?” he said as they started toward the tunnel’s opening. “We need somewhere we can hide from Hiruso’s men.”
“There are abandoned farmhouses to the west – we’ve taken refuge there during storms before. We’d reach one before nightfall I think.”
“Good enough for now,” he said, pausing at the mouth of the cave to scan the paddies. No monks prowled about, no field-workers either. Clouds were passing over the afternoon sun. He led her out and they splashed their way to the nearest barrier, then followed it west. Beneath them in the lower tiers, the paddies were filled with workers bent over the harvest, with more climbing up toward the upper levels.
“They’ll talk, won’t they,” Never said.
“Some gladly, some to save themselves.”
“Then we won’t be able to stay long.”
Ayuni nodded beside him as she jogged along. She was keeping pace easily enough – there was no sign of the massive blood loss she must have sustained after her escape. Yet another mystery he had to set aside for the time being.
They spoke little as they fled, using narrow roads between the fields, saving their breath for running. Ayuni directed him as they left the highway further and further behind, the sun toppling down toward the horizon before they came across an abandoned farmhouse. The building was sinking into the very earth where it presided over a weed-choked field, windows darkened – another home rested further away, it too stood in a barren field. How long since people had abandoned the land?
The front door lay rotting across the entryway, a lizard darting into the shadows when they neared. Inside, those shadows were made deeper by occasional shafts of light from the broken roof.
The first room was bare of all but dirt. Another still bore a table and a single chair. He offered it to Ayuni, then dumped his pack on the table. Then he handed her water, which she accepted, and moved to lean against the doorframe. From his vantage point, if he turned his head, he could see the fields through the empty window and front door but that only covered one approach.
Silence stretched between them and he found himself unsure of what to say – she was probably too exhausted to deal with a barrage of questions from him in any event. Somehow, it’d been easier when they were actually fleeing. Their words had been limited to escape.
“Mother said you would be like him but also nothing like him,” she said, almost blurting the words out, as if the quiet had begun to make her uneasy too. She looked down. “Forgive me.”
“Our father?”
; “Yes.” A look of sadness entered her dark eyes – and perhaps bitterness too. Which was entirely understandable.
“I take no offense,” he said quickly, hoping to reassure her. “I don’t suppose he visited you many times?”
She shrugged. “Twice.”
Never considered his next question. As before, there were so many to choose from but if he was being honest with himself, hearing about Father failing yet another of his children wasn’t high up on his list of moments to anticipate.
“You’re thinking about the men and women back there, aren’t you?” she asked. She continued before he could reply. “I hadn’t planned it... to kill them, I mean. But I used the Fire of Heaven. You probably know it too. Do you call it that?”
“No, but I doubt there is a single name for it only.”
A haunted expression became somewhat lighter, as though she’d gladly pushed aside some shame perhaps. “I’ve wanted to ask you for the longest time, ever since I was a child. Isn’t that silly of me?”
“No, not really.”
“Well, that and so many things, I suppose. Mother said I have another brother – is he travelling with you? Can we meet him here? Or would we have to leave Kiymako? I’d love to see the golden plains of Marlosi.”
Never opened his mouth to reply but couldn’t manage. An image of he and Snow teaching Ayuni, of laughing and smiling together sliced into him like the coldest of blades. Not just its impossibility but the weight of his sudden desire for something that could never come to pass – for something he hadn’t quite realised he’d even desired before this moment.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “No, don’t be. He... died some time ago.”
She stood and crossed the room, hesitating before reaching out to take his hand. Her eyes widened slightly as she noticed his own scars. When she looked up, her gaze was a mix of earnestness and fierceness. “At least I found you.”
“The Gods must have had a hand in that,” Never said. “I’ve been floundering since I arrived, and it looks like you saved yourself back there.”
“I’m not so sure. Mother told me I’d be able to use the Fire of Heaven one day, but I didn’t know it was so powerful.” She drew in a shuddering breath. “Brother Hiruso had been to see me in Takbisu and I don’t know... I just couldn’t bear to have them cut into me yet again. It was so sudden, like a damn had built up and burst. Every mile in that... prison... I grew madder and madder and suddenly I knew how to call the fire. Does that make sense?”
“I think so. I certainly wasn’t taught everything I know. Some things simply seem to lie within my blood.”
“I see. So... can it be controlled?”
“It can.”
She gave a sigh of relief. “Well, when I called... such a roaring came with it, fire was everywhere. When I could see again I had melted everything. And the bodies were... I couldn’t recognise them anymore.”
“But others chased you.”
“Yes. I don’t know what I was doing after. I… I think I was hoping someone had survived. There was one guard, Chani. He’d been so kind. I thought maybe I could save him. It’s a stupid thing to say, I know. And I don’t know how long I stared at his body before the others came – but that’s when I ran.”
“And when they caught you?”
“I burned them without exactly meaning to.” Tears built in her eyes. “I don’t want it to be like this; I want to help people.”
The impulse to put an arm around Ayuni rose but he was still a stranger to her – she might not welcome it, yet he couldn’t just stand there like a lump either. He took her by the shoulders. “I know. I felt the same for the longest time about my blood. I still feel the same – it doesn’t get much better, but you can live with it.”
She laughed, sniffing and wiping at her eyes. “I didn’t want you to lie, Never, but you know you can soften the blow a little.”
“Next time, I promise.”
Chapter 19
They ate fruit and flatbread as darkness fell, and again Never kept watch on the doorway, listening too, but it seemed there was at least enough time to finish their meal before leaving once more. If pursuit was to come, even aided by the field-workers, it would have to actually reach the site of Ayuni’s escape before locating and then following their trail.
“So where is your mother?” Never asked.
“In the Cesanha Mountains,” she said. Ayuni was much calmer now but the troubled look had not totally left her eyes.
Never raised an eyebrow as he took a drink of water. “Isn’t that halfway across Kiymako? She must have mighty lungs to tell you I was coming from there.”
She laughed, and the welcome sound eased his own worry. “No. She told me when I was very young, before Father came to take me away.”
“Ah. When was that?”
“I was five, I think. It’s been nearly twelve years at the end of this summer, of being carted from temple to temple so they could drain me for their salves.”
Never lowered his flask. “They use your blood for healing?”
She nodded. “The monks mix it with regular medicine and use it to save those who cannot be healed by regular means, and sometimes themselves. Part of me is glad that my blood can help people...”
“You’re not something for them to harvest, Ayuni,” he said, a little more sharply than he’d intended.
But she only nodded.
Never found himself pacing again. Once more, Father had revealed new depths of his depravity. Was there no limit to how far the man could sink? “Is that why he left you at the temple?”
“He only told me I would be safe there, and that the monks would protect me,” she said. “And that he would return soon.”
“A lie I’m sure he spoke to many.”
“To you?” she asked.
“Not that I remember... but certainly to my mother,” he said. “But I’m sorry to have led the conversation to him. Tell me more of your mother and how you think we can reach her. Is she an Isansho or can she help us escape Brother Hiruso somehow?”
“I think she can, yes. But in my mind, she was always more humble than any overseer. If we can reach the mountains, I would love for you to meet her, Never.”
“And I her.” He glanced into the darkness beyond the farmstead. The moon would be rising soon, their best chance to travel swiftly. Now that he’d actually found Ayuni, he had to protect her and if that meant travelling halfway across Kiymako then he’d do just that. “Do you have any ideas of how we’re going to reach the mountains?”
“I didn’t think about it when I called the fire. I simply ran – I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, we’ll figure something out. We can start with the cover of darkness.” She probably didn’t know the countryside too well, if she’d been confined to temples or a steel cage most of her life, but there was still Niswan’s friend Pinshe in the Blue Feather. Even if heading to the capital would be a great risk, there was at least one person who might be able to help.
And visiting Mondami wouldn’t be much of a detour at all, since both it and the mountain range lay to the east of Takbisu.
Still, was it too great a risk?
Before finding Ayuni, he hardly had a plan of his own for what would happen after. He’d simply needed her to exist. But now he might have a chance at more – he’d found a family member who needed him. And perhaps someone who would understand him, who might see the world like he did. Who might become the sibling Snow should have been.
And Never would protect her no matter what they faced.
“Never? Is something wrong?”
He sighed. “I’m trying to think of someone who might be able to help us. I have a name but they’re in the capital. I’m not thrilled about travelling closer to Brother Hiruso.”
“I know perhaps two monks in all t
he temples who I would trust. One resides in the capital and the other in Yalinamo. I think we need a disguise.”
“Any ideas?”
“How about a Lady and her Bodyguard?”
“Well, it’s not far from the truth at all but I still don’t think I’ll ever pass for Kiymako,” he said with a smile.
“The very rich have been known to employ foreign blades. People will assume you’re a holdover from before the sealing of the harbour.”
“All right, that might do for most people, but the monks will be looking for me specifically – and you too.”
“Then we need to act the part,” she said. Her voice grew hard with resolve. “And put a stop to any who see through.”
“Agreed,” he said. Obviously she didn’t want to be recaptured and he’d burn every damn monk to the ground before he let them take her. “And I can’t think of anything else so let’s try it. But we’re still going to need help with this. I know someone but we have to head back to Takbisu City.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. “More and more. Hiruso’s men will be focusing their search beyond the point of your escape. They’ll assume that neither of us would be stupid enough to return to a densely populated place like Takbisu.”
She hesitated. “But thanks to you, we are?”
“I know. But they don’t know that,” he said with a grin. “So, all we have to do is slip inside and let Niswan look after us.”
Ayuni blinked, a hand reaching up to touch the silk at her throat. “Niswan the Seamstress?”
A voice spoke from the darkness. “Yes, but I’d rather we left her out of it this time.”
Never spun, dagger in hand but the voice was familiar. A large shape blocked the light. “Muka?”
“It is.” He entered, footfalls soft. When he reached their room, he inclined his head to Ayuni. “Lady. I am relieved to see you well.” He was sweating but moved easily enough; he still bore a tyrant and pack with little to suggest he’d recently been mortally stricken.