by Devin Madson
“And risk being executed for treason if Dom Villius has as much control over him as you fear.”
“I…” I wanted to spill all that had happened, to tell him how I had failed my Swords and betrayed Gideon, how he needed support more than anything, how dangerous Ezma’s presence felt, but when I opened my mouth to speak none of it came out. In the end all I could say was, “I have to try, Jass.”
The words were a plea. I needed no agreement, needed no permission or understanding, yet I wanted him to tell me it was the right thing to do.
He gave me what I needed with a solemn nod, and I covered the distance between us with four quick strides. “I’m sorry,” I said, bending my forehead to his. “About all of this.”
Jass snorted a little laugh. “Whatever for, Captain? Who doesn’t like almost dying and—”
I pressed my lips to his, the gentle gesture better able to convey my gratitude than any words I could speak, and we stayed that way long after we should have parted, long after the kiss was complete, unwilling to let go.
I stayed until morning, a morning I had hoped would never come. Curled upon each other’s warmth, I told Jass what I could of the events at the deserter camp, and he pushed me for no more, content to know the Levanti who had chosen not to follow Gideon were safe for now. Tears had followed and for a long time he just held me close.
We had fallen into silence after that, and then from silence to gasping together upon the mat and at last to an unsettled sleep. I had dreamed of what awaited me back at Kogahaera, and come morning he only asked me once not to go.
“You’ll have to travel to the fen camp on foot, I’m afraid,” I had said. “I’ll try to find a way to get your horse out there when I can.”
“A Levanti? Walking?” He made a look of mock horror, but though he meant to make me laugh, ill-ease wormed into my mind. I had apologised because it was beneath him to walk, yet most members of our herd walked the plains, only the Swords allowed horses to scout and hunt and defend. Because we were better? More important? When had I started thinking so?
Jass’s smile faded. “Don’t go back,” he said. “There is nothing you can do to stop Dom Villius if he returns; he’ll know you for his enemy and…”
He left the rest unsaid and I was grateful for it. “I’m a captain, Jass, I cannot abandon my Swords. You know I can’t. And surely Leo will not be back already. This is the only chance I’ll have to convince Gideon.”
“I understand.”
Whether he did or not he made no further attempt to change my mind, and in silence we each prepared to leave, abandoning Leo’s corpse to the dark recess of a cave in a mountain full of caves. Perhaps animals would eat him. It seemed a fitting end.
No goodbye would have been adequate, no wish for good fortune sufficient. All we could manage, facing one another that blustery morning on the hillside, was a mutual salute, a lingering touch, and a shared mumble of “May Nassus watch over you.” Then I was in the saddle while Jass began his journey on foot.
It took most of the morning to reach Gideon’s stronghold at the edge of Kogahaera, its two towers striving toward the clouds. The clang of the gong heralded my arrival, and while the sentries shouted greetings, the gates to the imperial compound were dragged open just wide enough to allow Itaghai through.
“Captain!” Massama strode toward me, gathering eyes as she crossed the yard. “You are alone. What news? Where are the others?”
“I have much to tell, but I must see Gideon first,” I said, and dismounted before Itaghai could carry me straight on to the stables without stopping.
“His Majesty is in his room, Captain, but…” The Sword lowered her eyes and said, “Is… Esi…?”
I had sucked a breath, waiting for her to deliver some horrible pronouncement, that Gideon was injured or dead or mourning the loss of his empress to assassination, but the yard was calm and the manor quiet. “Esi is fine,” I said, surprised by Massama’s awkward stance. “At least she was when I last saw her a few days ago. They ought to be back soon.”
Massama let out a sigh, nodded, smiled, and gestured rather vaguely toward the manor. “His Majesty is inside.”
“And Keka?”
“Keka was in the barracks last I saw him, Captain. I can run and find him if you wish.”
“No, I will find him when I am finished with Gideon.”
“As you say, Captain.”
I handed her Itaghai’s reins, stopping only to untie the stinking sacks of heads. With one weighing down each arm I strode across the yard, daring anyone to accost me, but whether because of the dripping sacks or the ferocity of my expression, no one did. Yet eyes followed, turning to whispers as I passed.
I shivered as I stepped through the manor doors and into the cool, dry hall crossed with its heavy black beams. Every lungful tasted of reeds and incense, of paper and tea and mud, and my heart hammered in the vicinity of my throat. Almost I preferred the smell of the sacks. I did not want to be here, but I forced my feet on.
Senet and Anouke were on guard duty outside the emperor’s rooms. They straightened when they caught sight of me and murmured, “Welcome back, Captain,” while averting their eyes from the sacks.
“Knock for me,” I said, nodding toward Gideon’s door. “My hands are rather full.”
Senet grimaced and knocked.
“Yes?” came Gideon’s voice from inside.
“It’s Captain Dishiva, Your Majesty,” Senet said.
“Ah, send her in.”
Anouke gripped one door and Senet the other, and with a flourish they slid them open, saluting as I entered with all the confidence I had left. Long strides, head high, chin lifted, and—
The sacks hit the floor with a squelchy thud, covering my shocked exclamation. For sitting across the table from Gideon, a tea bowl cupped in his long-fingered hands, was Leo. Leo turning to look at me over his shoulder. Leo smiling, a genuine smile like that of an old friend. Leo from whose face I could not pull my gaze even when Gideon spoke.
“You have news?”
Still staring, I managed a strangled “I am interrupting.”
“Not at all.” Leo smiled even more broadly as he gestured for me to join them. “I was just sharing with His Majesty the directions to the deserter camp you gave me before you left. Shrine. Fork. Carved tree. Large boulder in a pool of swamp water. I’ve remembered it exactly as you said.”
He had been there, had still been alive when Jass had made me repeat the directions over and over to be sure I had them right. And now he knew. And Gideon knew.
Gideon’s gaze slid toward the sacks oozing blood and stink at my feet. “Well, Dishiva? What news do you bring?”
And sitting across from the emperor, Leo smiled.
28. CASSANDRA
The cart stopped just south of the Rice Road and we climbed down, thanking the farmer with a forced smile and one of the empress’s rings. He took it in his calloused hand and stared at it a long while, the stare of a man who would tell this story to his children and his children’s children until the day he died. It was several long minutes before he drove on.
Rain danced through the pale morning as we left the track, lifting the hem of our robe to keep it from catching on the long grass. The rumble of the cart drawing away mingled with that of the distant thunder. Another big storm was coming, though the storm season would soon wear itself out and winter would be upon us. Already the air held none of its summer heat, and the damp linen against our skin left an uncomfortable chill.
You’re used to having more padding.
“Padding? What am I, a chair?”
Come on, you know what I mean. It was a long night. Your body is— was —a lot more curvaceous than mine.
“I’ve noticed.”
The empress lapsed into silence as we struggled on through the tall, clinging grass. It was like trying to swim through seaweed, and she was right—it had been a long night. She had travelled most of it while I recuperated in the darkness, but our b
ody was worn out. At the edge of her thoughts, constantly pushed away, was the fear of another bad bout of illness. The last one had nearly killed her. And there was no Witchdoctor here to help.
Don’t think about it. Just keep moving.
I walked on, having to yank my feet from the sucking mud and step over tall grass only to plant them in still more sucking mud. There had been plenty of other options. We could have travelled on toward the capital, have headed for the border, have hidden ourselves away in a farmhouse in the hope Leo wouldn’t find us, but the mad vehemence with which he had sought the box had brought us back here instead, hoping to understand why. To understand his plans.
The hills and the misty morning rain swallowed the cart as it wound away along the track, leaving us alone in the middle of nowhere. A scattering of trees lay to the north while fields stretched south, and if we kept walking west we would soon reach the foothills of the Kuro Mountains. They rose as hazy peaks in the distance, edging Kisia like a city wall. I’d never wondered what was on the other side. Perhaps there was no other side and the mountains just went on forever. Or perhaps there was a whole other empire.
Tribes, mostly, the empress said. We’ve had agreements with a few for trade routes, but it’s no safe journey. Although neither is the summer pass to the south, I understand. The sea wind is as endless as it is bitter.
As though summoned, a chill wind whipped across the field, shaking the grass and billowing the wet cloth of my robe. I crossed my arms over my chest. This was definitely where we’d met the scouts, where the hieromonk had called a halt and sent Captain Aeneas off with the box. He had been told to hide it, but where?
I walked on, stopping every few minutes to look back and check we were alone. Leo had been willing to kill for the box, but until I knew what was inside, I wasn’t willing to die for it.
Sure no one had followed, we walked on toward the mountains for a time, only to turn north toward the trees when we found nothing. Swiff had been gone a long time when he helped the captain, but they couldn’t have gone that far burdened with a heavy box.
Stop.
I stopped, planting sandalled feet in the mud while wind blustered around us, pecking us with rain. The now distant track was still empty, as was every horizon. “What is it?”
Listen.
Wind and rustling grass, rumbling thunder and—
“A dead body.”
The song teased my ears, so faint it might have been just a trick of the wind, but with nothing else to go by I turned west and followed its call toward the mountains.
You don’t hear dead animals, do you?
“Never have before,” I said. “So unless being an Otako grants you some affinity for… pikes or… dragons.” I finished lamely with a flap of a hand, and Empress Hana deigned no reply.
A hill barred my progress west across the rainswept field, the sort of hill that from a distance looked like nothing but up close was a mountain. My knees protested just looking at it, but the death song was growing louder and stronger with every step, so west we had to go.
I tried to make it halfway up before stopping to rest but only made it a third. Already saturated, I sat in the wet grass and stared out at the grey morning, taking deep breaths to calm my racing pulse. But I couldn’t seem to fill my lungs, my ribs too tight, and the more I tried the more uncomfortable it felt. Panic crept in from the edge of my mind, carried on dark thoughts. We could die here on this hillside, in pursuit of nothing, and no one would find us until animals came to gnaw the meat from our bones. Would we still be here, stuck in this skin while they ate? Sharp teeth ripping muscle and—
Cassandra!
Darkness closed around me as the empress took over, calming her body as only she knew how. Fear might catch at her attention, but she knew this skin, had lived with this illness, and so held the reins until our breath evened and our heartbeat slowed. Every part of her body still ached, but the worst had passed by the time she let me stand us up and continue toward the source of the song.
It must have been almost noon when we reached the top of the hill, so bright was the patch of cloudy sky overhead. The wind had died a little, but the rain continued to drizzle and dark clouds to the east promised more to come. Beyond the hill a slope led down to a muddy gully only to rise again to an even steeper hill, where rocks and twisty trees took over from the tall, waving grass. There was nothing to see, no sign of Captain Aeneas or the box, so we followed the song, half walking and half sliding down the slope to land in the mud. Our sandals sank beneath the surface, cold brown sludge creeping over our toes.
“Gross,” I said. “This is why I like cities.”
In a city it would be human refuse instead.
“Just call it shit, all right? None of this ‘human refuse’ business. It’s not like there’s anyone around to say it’s un-empress-like.” I tried to lift my foot, but the sucking weight of the mud was too strong and I could not pull it free. “Fuck.”
Miss Marius—
“Shut up, we’re stuck. Let me think.” I tried to wriggle my foot, but it only invited the mud to close tighter around my ankle like a rabbit trap.
“Empress Hana?”
I looked up. Captain Aeneas stood on the slope, wet hair covering the scars around his eye. He had frozen mid-step, staring. “Hello, Captain.”
The soldier looked from horizon to horizon without moving. “You’re alone, Your Majesty?”
“As you see.”
“His Holiness…?”
“Is dead.”
His hand twitched toward his throat, touching an unseen pendant. “How?”
“This is hardly the place for conversation, Captain,” I said, looking pointedly down at my stuck feet. “Why don’t you pull me out of this mud and then we can talk.”
Captain Aeneas folded his arms. “Why don’t you ask your friend to help you?”
“Friend?”
“I heard you talking to yourself, so either you have a passenger”—he tapped the side of his head—“or you’ve lost your mind. Either way you’re dangerous. Safer to leave you where you are.”
“Passenger?”
“No need to pretend, Your Majesty,” he said. “You don’t serve the hieromonk for twenty years without learning things you never wanted to know.”
Fear sparked at his words, but I tried to remain calm. My feet were stuck fast and I needed his help. I had refrained from reminding the empress that I’d told her going into Koi was a bad idea, and now she returned the favour with a deep silence.
The captain unclipped the scabbard from his belt and brandished it. “I can pull you out,” he said. “But only if I like your answers. Understand?”
“Perfectly.”
“Good. How did you know where to find me?”
“I didn’t. I’ve just been walking around in the hope of running into you.”
“God be damned, you’re bad at this. I thought an empress would be used to lying. All that… court politics and”—he waved a hand—“backstabbing.”
I scowled at him and set my hands on my hips. “You try lying with a new face and see how well it works for you.”
Cassandra!
The man tilted his head. “Miss Marius?”
“Captain Aeneas.”
“Where’s Empress Hana?”
“Oh she’s here, but it’s beneath her dignity to talk to you so here I am.”
Cassandra!
Captain Aeneas scowled at me and I scowled back. Truly it was brave of the raindrops to pass between us.
Eventually the captain grunted and looked away. “Her Majesty is to be pitied. Do pass on my condolences that she has to put up with you. Now you’ll have to give me very good answers if you want my help. The world would be a much safer place without you.”
I clenched my hands, hating that it made my knuckles hurt. “Safer with Leo in charge?”
“Oh? You think you know all about Dom Villius?”
“I know the hieromonk was afraid of him. I kno
w he can do things no one should be able to do, and I don’t think he’ll stop at being lord and master of Koi. I also know you’re going to need help getting that box out of here as fast as you can because he knows you have it and he wants it. I don’t know what’s in it, but whatever it is I think it’s safer in your hands than in his, so here I am.” I spread my arms. “Does that answer all your questions?”
He passed the scabbard from hand to hand. “No, you still haven’t told me how you found me.”
“I followed the call of the dead.”
His brows rose. “The what?”
“Dead bodies sing to me,” I said, looking away to avoid the sneer sure to overtake his face. “I think it’s because they are empty vessels, a soulless container into which I can offload my extra soul.”
Offload? Don’t forget whose body this is, Miss Marius.
“A poor choice of words,” I said aloud, not caring that he heard me. It had been a very long day.
“But there are no dead bodies here,” the captain said.
“There must be. I can hear one.” I pointed to where a short spur protruded from the hill behind him. “It’s coming from the other side of that hill.”
It was quite loud now, but as the captain turned to see where I pointed, I had to remind myself he could not hear it. I awaited his incredulous laugh, but like the mocking sneer, it never came. He turned back slowly. “From over there?”
“Yes.”
He seemed as unwilling to meet my gaze as I had been to meet his, and for a moment he stared at the ghostly forms of the Kuro Mountains rising in the west and gnawed his lower lip. “And the hieromonk,” he said, still not looking at me. “How did he die?”
“Leo killed him when he wouldn’t say where you were.”
“Is that true, Empress?”
She took over to answer, a catch in her voice as she said, “Yes. There was a fight and the castle caught fire.” Her castle.
“And Swiff? Etus? Jovian?”
The memory of the hieromonk plunging his blade into the back of Swiff’s neck replayed in my head, but I did not speak the callous words upon my tongue. Let him believe his master had been a good and pious man. “I’m sorry.”