“Why didn’t you kill him?” she snapped. “You had not just him, but his daughter in the room with you. You could have killed them both, and then my sister would have… Why didn’t you do anything, chala?”
“I did fight him, at the end of our conversation,” said Ari. “And I lost, horribly. Diya isn’t an opponent that we can win against through brute strength, even if we discount the fact that he has thousands of warriors and mages at his command.”
He continued on, explaining how one of the other fishers had received a mention from Rachel, Mythril’s old lover. He was careful about he described the encounter, mostly for the sake of Kerys and Eva, but neither seemed to react at his mention of her.
“What are we supposed to do?” asked Kerys, once he’d finished. “If he knows we’re here, and he’s already sent out an army, what chance do we even have?”
“We aren’t helpless,” said Ari. “We can make a stand, and we don’t have to do it alone.”
“What are you suggesting?” asked Rin.
“Simple.” Ari looked around, meeting the gaze of everyone in the room. “I’ll bring the enchanted items I’ve made to Cliffhaven and sell them to raise enough gold to hire an army of our own.”
The silence that followed his idea seemed to emanate from a range of different reactions. Kerys was the first to put hers into words.
“Are you insane?” she asked. “An army? Aristial Stoneblood, that’s one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard you suggest.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” said Eva, with a frown. “Commanding men into battle is not the same as fighting on one’s own. In addition, you would be betting on hired mercenaries against trained and disciplined Sai warriors and mages.”
“I think it’s a good idea, chala,” said Rin. “It’s not as though we’d need them to do much other than serve as a distraction. We are capable of doing the killing ourselves.”
Kerys and Eva scowled at Rin, who shrugged and flashed an eager smile. Ari looked toward Durrien and Amber, both of whom seemed skeptical.
“I have my doubts about whether it would be so straightforward as you make it sound,” said Durrien. “Most of the men for hire in Cliffhaven are only available because they can’t find steady work. The drunks, the troublemakers, the boys too young to trust real jobs to…”
“More importantly, you’re still a wanted man in Cliffhaven,” said Amber. “Did you forget that detail?”
Everyone started talking at once, arguing over whether the plan would or wouldn’t work. Ari held his hands up, but it wasn’t until he attempted to clear his throat and accidentally induced a small coughing fit that the room grew quiet again.
“We haven’t heard from everyone yet,” he said. “Virgil? What do you think?”
Virgil folded his arms and gave Ari a level look. “That depends on whether I will get to be a part of the plan, this time. I don’t want to stay behind.”
“Nobody is staying behind,” said Ari. “That’s the second half of this. Everyone, including the children and the adults who won’t be fighting, will come along to Cliffhaven.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” said Virgil.
“We’ll need you along with us when we return,” said Ari. “You’ll get a chance to fight this time.”
Virgil flashed a boyish, enthusiastic smile.
“I’m still not sure about this, Lord Aristial,” said Eva.
“There’s more to the plan than just attacking the Sai army head-on,” said Ari. “I’ll explain as we go. For now though, I think we could all use some rest. It’s been a long—”
He started coughing again, and did his best to ignore the concerned looks on the faces of his friends.
INTERLUDE (ERWIN LUKA)
Baron Erwin Luka of Cliffhaven took off his crown, sipped his wine, and tried to pretend that the letter sitting on the table next to him said something other than what it said.
He’d known, or at least expected, that the time would come eventually. The rumors of the return of the Sai had trickled in, slowly at first, and then at a pace that flooded every tavern and inn within the city walls with talk of the impossible.
He was reading a letter written by a ghost. Though of course, Erwin had seen the messenger who’d delivered it firsthand. A tall man, with pale blond hair, slim features, close enough in appearance to pass for human, if he’d wanted to.
Erwin took another sip of his wine and exhaled through his teeth. He let his finger trace over the letterhead on the parchment. Emperor Diya of the Saidican Empire. The name was written in such ornate, fanciful script that it almost seemed to actively mock him.
Emperor Diya’s request had almost seemed innocent on Erwin’s first reading of the letter. He wished to establish official relations between the Saidican Empire and Cliffhaven, and though the incredulity of treating with reborn ghosts still galled him, Erwin would have allowed it. He wasn’t an unreasonable ruler. He wasn’t drunk on his own power, like Baron Ogwell had been.
He wasn’t a fool, either. The letter ended with a section explaining, with rather flowery language, that the Saidican Empire was in need of fresh servants and wished to import several hundred able bodies as a token of good faith between kingdoms. All of them female.
Even what little Erwin knew about the history of the Sai was enough to make the Emperor’s intentions plain. The only service the women would be used for, if he sent them, would be as basic breeding stock. Making any sort of concession to the Sai would be no different from surrendering the autonomy of his city, but from the reports he’d received of their armies, it seemed like there was no other choice.
“More wine!” shouted Erwin. “Bring me more wine, dammit.”
He waited, still glaring at the letter, as his newest favored servant appeared from the side room carrying a bottle of last season’s most expensive red vintage. Leyehl didn’t look at him as she poured, and Erwin felt a small amount of his anger dissipate as he shifted his attention to the stubs of her destroyed wings.
He’d clipped them himself, using a pair of gardening shears. It had been in the early stages of Leyehl’s imprisonment, long before she’d been properly broken in. She hadn’t screamed, even as the blades had cut through feathers and flesh. She’d just stared at him.
Erwin had almost given up on turning Leyehl into a servant after that. Killing her had seemed like a waste, especially since he’d been required to put on a show of interrogating her for information on the poisoning of Baron Ogwell. Information which he, of course, knew he would never get.
He’d gotten creative, offering her to some of his most vicious guardsmen to use and abuse, and in the end, it had been enough. Erwin sipped at his wine and gestured for Leyehl to pour him another glass, which she did, with that same hollow, glassy stare.
She was pretty, even with the scars across her cheek, and each time Erwin brought her to his bedchamber a part of what thrilled him the most of her naked body was how the only damage he’d needed to inflict upon it had been on her wings, which were an eyesore to begin with.
“Fetch my new sword, Leyehl,” said Erwin. “And leave the wine.”
She bowed to him and left to do as bidden. Erwin leaned into his drunkenness, letting his thoughts veer into fantastical territory. The idea of raising an army and marching south to lay siege to the Saidican’s strange city was appealing, and also completely impractical. He doubted that he’d even make it through the desert without losing half his forces to the Weatherblight.
As satisfying as seizing leadership from Baron Ogwell had felt, the reality of handling the minutia of the problems confronting Cliffhaven was frustrating in a mind-numbing way. From the Ravarian refugees outside the city’s walls, to the growing frustration of the nobles, and even the organization of the yearly Season’s End Gathering. Erwin preferred problems that could be solved at the point of a sword.
Leyehl reentered his audience chamber a few minutes later, carrying the sheathed sword in outstretched hands. Erwin motion
ed for her to set it down on the floor before dismissing her with a wave. He stared at the sword’s ruby pommel for a minute, still sipping his wine, still seething at the world.
“I know you’re aware of my presence,” said Erwin. “Show yourself. I have questions.”
The weapon remained where it was, and nothing about it seemed to hint at its true nature. It was a beautiful greatsword, with a long, slightly curved blade, a silver crossguard, and a ruby as perfect as any he’d ever seen for a pommel stone. The weapon had somehow escaped taking any damage from the destruction of the building it had been found in.
They’d found a body with it, too, along with plenty of rumors from the people in the streets nearby. Some of them even mentioned the now-infamous Aristial Stoneblood, though how the young lord would have returned to the city, let alone orchestrated such a destructive event, made it seem implausible at best.
“Bloodrose,” said Erwin. “My time is valuable. I do not have the patience for this.”
The sword seemed to mock him with its inaction. Erwin knew what it wanted, and it took all of the patience and compromise he had in him. He walked across the floor to where the sword lay, crouched down, and set a single finger on its hilt.
Bloodrose appeared in a shimmer of light, standing closer to him than he would have preferred. She was an alluring woman, with flame-red hair and a pale face. Erwin had demanded her clothing removed and replaced when his men had discovered the sword and the secret within. Bloodrose wore a simple women’s tunic that did a remarkably good job of showing off her modest curves, along with plain cotton leggings.
“Get back!” snapped Erwin, knocking into her with his shoulder. “I am in no mood to play your games today.”
Bloodrose let out a laugh that would have sounded musical on the lips of any other woman. The expression on her face was drunken and cruel, a smile that showed too many teeth and emphasized the chaos in her eyes.
“We haven’t even started playing yet,” said Bloodrose. “I want to play with you, Erwin. I really do!”
Erwin gritted his teeth, feeling his anger boil at the childish, singsong tone of her voice.
“Tell me what you know of the Saidican Empire, and this man who claims to be Emperor of it,” said Erwin. “You were from that time. I’ll have all the knowledge you keep.”
Bloodrose shook her head. Erwin felt himself lose control. He stepped forward and slapped her hard across the face. She fell sideways, laughing as she stooped to one knee, as though she was well aware that it was one of the few reactions that would serve to make Erwin even angrier.
“You unnatural whore,” he hissed. “You will tell me what you know. You claim that you’ve chosen me as your new master. I command you to tell me.”
“I’d be happy to,” said Bloodrose. “But you already know how this works. I can’t tell you what I can’t remember. Come on, I see how you look at me! It’ll be fun, you can even slap me again.”
Bloodrose gripped the bottom of her tunic and pulled it up and over her head. Her breasts bounced into view with erotic, mesmerizing jiggles. Erwin looked away and forced himself to take a deep breath.
“Do you take me for a fool?” he asked. “You are poison, a seductress, and I will not be wound around your finger!”
Bloodrose stared at him, her smile slowly fading. She ran her hands up her body, though Erwin only let himself watch from the corner of his eye. Her hands cupped her breasts before sliding further up, and she performed a stretch with her arms overhead, arching her back.
“Do I take you for a fool?” Bloodrose shrugged. “No. You’re more of a coward, to be honest. You’re scared of everything. You’re scared of the nobles surrounding you and how they see you as a soldier, playing at being Baron. You’re scared of the Ravarian refugees on your doorstep. You’re scared of Emperor Diya, probably for good reason.
“You’re a sad, pathetic man, Erwin. Too scared to take an unfamiliar woman to your bed, let alone do battle against the Sai. No, Erwin, you’re no fool. I could work with a fool. You’re craven, stuck in your ways, and losing your grasp on what little you have.”
Erwin snarled. He closed the distance to Bloodrose and seized her by the arm. She didn’t flinch or even look away, and the intensity of her eyes sent a flicker of uncertainty through him. A flicker of fear, not from her examples, but from the possibility that she might be right.
The fear turned to anger, and then Erwin was pushing the half-naked woman down against the table and flinging free his trousers. Bloodrose laughed and pushed her hips out, urging him on and celebrating her victory.
CHAPTER 28
Ari was up early the next morning, a few hours ahead of sunrise. The fatigue of the aftereffects of the Weathersense potion made it into somewhat of an ordeal, but he’d realized during the night that he still had a few things left to take care of before leaving Etheria.
Eva was asleep next to him in bed, which meant that Rin was most likely on watch. Ari grabbed what he needed and headed through the tower’s main chamber, slipping into the tower while trying to make as little noise as possible.
He’d had a dream the previous night, though the details of it were hazy. It was a dream that hadn’t felt like it belonged to him, with both Mythril’s memories threaded through it alongside other, stranger thoughts that reminded him more of controlling the Weatherblight.
It hadn’t been a nightmare, though the experience had left Ari sweating when he’d awoken from it. The emotions it stirred within him were ones which had been building for some time, emotions that raised questions of identity and existence that Ari didn’t want to think about or have the answers to.
More importantly, what he could remember from the dream was actually relevant. He’d been enchanting at some point, working on stone golems. Several of the patterns had flickered through his mind, including the one that he needed.
Ari tiptoed as he approached the enchanting altar. He took a couple of seconds to just listen and confirm that the early morning was as quiet as it sounded, and then he set the copper hand down on his workspace.
He used a thin metal pick that Amber had lent him to do the alterations. It was simple enough and didn’t even involve replacing the old rune patterns. He needed to add a few lines and symbols, giving the enchantment the proper context to allow it to be controlled directly rather than as a part of a whole.
It took him a while, but only because he did it slowly and carefully. Ari was smiling from ear to ear as he finished. He set the hand down in the center of the enchanting altar, pressed his palm down on the relevant ward, and began the process.
The altar began to glow, and a quiet, ambient hum of energy filled the room. The copper hand didn’t look any different once he’d finished, though that was to be expected. Ari could feel the pulse of essence within as he picked it up. He gave it a small push with his will and chuckled when the fingers gave a corresponding twitch.
The copper hand wasn’t the only reason he’d woken up early. The group conversation he’d had with the others had left him feeling concerned about whether his plan to raise an army would be enough to protect Etheria.
There was one other idea he’d had that he put voice to, mostly because it was rather farfetched and based on a few unknown factors. Etheria was an ancient arena, a fact which had become rather easy to ignore now that a domestic community had been established within.
There were a number of wards in the main chamber that seemed to have been placed in odd locations, on the stones of the floor, or against the outer walls of some of the underchambers. Ari’s curiosity over what they might do had waned after he’d discovered how much essence each of them would take to activate.
He had essence to spare now, though he’d still need to make the choice of which ones to activate carefully. Ari drew a moderate amount from the enchanting altar, slipped back out into the main chamber, and got to work.
Testing them would have to wait, as he had no idea how much essence might be expended on each usage.
Ari activated two on either side of the arena’s entrance and a handful more spread out across the floor before running out of essence.
He set the idea aside for the time being and figured he might as well start getting ready for the trip to Cliffhaven. He headed into the newly restored bathing chamber and was surprised to find steam already emanating from within.
Ari hesitated for a moment before his curiosity got the better of him. He headed around the corner and into the bathing chamber, his eyes immediately settling on the very naked figure of Lady Prestia.
Her body was mostly hidden by the steam, which was both a blessing and a shame. Lady Prestia’s auburn hair hung in a long, wet lock, and she ran her hands across the back of one of her legs, humming a soft tune. She was a stunningly attractive woman, with generous hips and surprisingly plump breasts for a woman of Sai ancestry.
She reminded Ari of some of the more appealing wives back in the Hollow. He’d managed once, along with a few of the other boys, to spy on the women on a bathing day. He’d barely been a teenager at the time, and the experience had been burned into his mind as one of the most intensely erotic and confusing experiences of his life.
Seeing the naked bodies of some of the very same mistresses who would reprimand him for shirking chores was enough to make him realize that their baggy dresses and skirts did them far less credit than he’d ever realized.
Ari felt a sudden stab of shame over what he was doing, and he politely averted his gaze off Lady Prestia and cleared his throat. She made a small, surprised noise, followed by a more considering one.
“Lord Aristial,” said Lady Prestia. “It’s okay. I’m covered. You needn’t look away.”
Ari turned toward her and had to work to keep his reaction in check. She was covered, in a loose sense of the word. She had one arm over her breasts, though the top edge of one of her nipples was still clearly visible. She had a dimpled, devious smile, and raised one eyebrow at him.
Reborn Raiders (The Weatherblight Saga Book 4) Page 17