The Worldbreaker Saga Omnibus

by Kameron Hurley

  “You’re certain of this contact?” Harina said, exchanging a look with Mihina, who shrugged.

  “As certain as I am of all of you,” Lilia said. “Elaiko has been providing us with information from Tira’s Temple for months now. Salifa, I’ll want you to maintain your position at the base of the cliff. We’ll need your help to go back out that same way.”

  “What if I’m found?”

  “My hope is they’ll be concentrating on the fires that Mihina will be manipulating out here in the woods,” Lilia said. “If they aren’t, do your best to maintain the vines and save yourself. We’ll slide our way down if we have to.”

  Lilia said, “Namia will start rounding them up now. She knows to bring them here once the evening snaplillies open and release their scent. That’s when we will begin our climb, so we need to be in position before then.”

  “This requires a lot of luck,” Salifa said.

  “Not at all,” Lilia said, “it just requires all of us to follow the steps exactly. No mistakes.”

  Lilia told her mount to sit, and reached out to hug Namia. “You’ll do well,” Lilia told her.

  Namia signed, “Victory.”

  “That’s right,” Lilia said.

  Namia scampered off through the trees, her form looking small and frail against the monstrous trees and massive tangled vines and shrubs.

  “Good luck,” Lilia said to Mihina. “Remember, you want to draw the patrols, but don’t burn down the wood.”

  “I’m ready,” Mihina said. “I was going to be the one to do far worse to the Tai Mora during Tira’s Festival, remember?”

  “You may, still,” Lilia said. She urged her bear back up and pointed toward the sound of the river. “Let’s keep on. It’s getting hot.”

  Avosta kept pace with her, and Harina followed with Salifa at the very back, the four of them keeping to a single-file line in an attempt to disguise their numbers. They stopped twice at the sound of patrols in the far distance, and kept low and silent until they passed.

  As they came down the rocky ridge that descended to the rear of the temple, Lilia had them tie-off and muzzle the bears. Going down the steep trail was hard on Lilia’s leg, so Avosta carried her. She did not complain. She had a very long way to go yet, and tiring herself out this early wasn’t going to help any of them.

  Dusk helped mask their approach. Lilia caught the smell of the snaplilies before the others. She hoped Namia did, too.

  A gushing branch of the Fire River separated them from the cliff on which Tira’s Temple perched. Salifa kicked the rocks and muddy tendrils around them.

  “It’s going to be very obvious,” Salifa said, squinting across the river in the dying light. “Anyone who looks down will see a great tangled vine bridge.”

  “Our hope is they don’t look down,” Lilia said.

  Salifa chewed her lip. “Lots of hope seems to be required in this entire plan. Li, are you sure–”

  “I’m sure,” Lilia said. “For me, Salifa. Please. I need to see what they have uncovered. I must see it myself.”

  Salifa sighed. The air thickened. She closed her eyes.

  All around them, tremulous new shoots sprang from the soil. They tangled together and began moving across the water, growing thicker and darker as they met the cliff on the other side and began to tease their way up.

  “Start across now,” Salifa said, gaze intent on her creation. “I’m going to lower it into the water behind you to mask it. Lilia, here, take hold.”

  Lilia grabbed the leafy tine of the vine with her good hand. It wrapped around her waist and over one shoulder and scooped her up, out and over the bridge. Lilia let out a little gasp. The others were snarled up into the plant’s arms behind her. Lilia was passed from one tendril to another across the whole span of the blue-black water. The plant dumped her into the mud on the other side. She lost her breath a moment, and worked hard to regain control of her breathing. She lifted her head, and stared up and up at the vast distance they still had to travel up the side of the cliff.

  Avosta and Harina arrived, and they began the ascent as the bridge of vines behind them sank just beneath the water. The curling tendrils along the cliff clung to their arms and waists and legs, offering handholds and braces, and a little bit of extra help to climb.

  Still, Lilia was gasping by the time she was halfway, and had to stop to take a swig from a mahuan-laced water bulb at her hip.

  The others slowed to wait for her, but she waved them onward. It was almost full dark now. The lights of the temple were a beacon.

  Lilia knew she was close when the lights from above finally illuminated her handholds as the gentle insistence of the vines continued to propel her upward.

  Avosta, already at the top with the others, held out his hand and pulled her up the rest of the way. Lilia leaned against him, trying to catch her breath.

  A great bone fence, twice as high as they were tall, confronted them.

  “What now?” said Harina. A slight drizzle began to fall. Lilia worried about the rain and the fire that Mihina needed to keep kindled, but an overcast sky would further protect their approach and escape.

  Lilia wished for Namia up here, in the dark, as Lilia’s night vision was not excellent. Namia could have guided them by sound and smell alone.

  “We should see a break in the fence here,” Lilia said. “Let’s look for it.”

  They tramped around in the dirt until Harina found a broken, out-of-place bone that they could push out of the way.

  “I’ll go first,” Avosta said. When he indicated it was clear, the rest of them followed.

  Lilia led them through a great maze of bones to a long-dead bone tree at the center. Lilia had been to Tira’s Temple only a few times, but Elaiko had given good directions. The paths were lit with blue phosphorescent lichen that sent up little puffs of spores as they trod across them.

  At the base of the dead bone tree, a little Dhai woman Lilia recognized as Elaiko stood hunched, seeking shelter from the rain. Elaiko hugged her arms to her chest. When she caught sight of Lilia, she darted forward. Like the other Dhai who had been made slaves, she wore some kind of collar, and drab gray clothes, like a scullery drudge.

  “You’re here?” Elaiko whispered. “All of you? I could only get three outfits. Only two collars. Oh, wait, there are fewer of you than I expected.”

  Lilia frowned. “Yes, we had to leave very quickly. Avosta, stay here and guard our retreat. Harina, you’ll come with me.”

  “I’m Elaiko,” the woman said, by way of greeting, to the others. “I’d so love to offer you tea, but the circumstances–”

  “That’s quite all right,” Lilia said, as she began to shed her clothes. The cold bit into her bare skin. She rucked on the too-big drudge clothes, already damp, as quickly as she could.

  “I should go with you,” Avosta said.

  “We need that break in the fence kept clear,” Lilia said. She did not look at him, but was keenly aware that he was staring at her as she dressed.

  “Quickly, quickly,” Elaiko said.

  Lilia didn’t hear anything, but Elaiko kept looking toward the temple. “Is everything in place?” Lilia asked.

  “Yes,” Elaiko said, “but you must put on the collars, quickly.”

  Lilia handed one of the collars to Harina, and took the other herself.

  Harina wrinkled her nose, but she took the collar. “These aren’t live, are they?”

  “No, no,” Elaiko said. “That isn’t how the wards work. The wards that keep us from injuring the Tai Mora… those are written into our skin. These are simply a marker that it’s been done. A shorthand, you could say. If you attract no attention, they will look away, assuming you are warded.”

  Dressed and collared, the little party started off after Elaiko. “Go back to the fence!” Lilia called to Avosta. He hesitated another moment, but finally complied. She let out a sigh of relief. She needed their love, yes, but more than that, she needed their faith and their loyalt
y. Love was more fickle than faith. It worried her that Avosta might love her more than he feared her.

  Elaiko led them through the bone tree maze and into the rear temple garden. Here, the way was lit with flame fly lanterns. They came inside through the kitchens. The heat and noise assailed them; the drudges were preparing the evening meal. Rice and tender spring shoots, and meat – the smell of the meat made Lilia recoil a little. What animal were they cooking? The Tai Mora love of flesh outside the funerary still disgusted her. They went in pairs, Elaiko and Harina up front, and Lilia behind.

  A passing cook yelled at Elaiko, “She wants tea upstairs! Where have you been?”

  Elaiko started. Froze. Babbled, “Yes, of course,” and went for the tea tray on the big table at the center of the kitchen. Harina lingered with Elaiko. Lilia did not want them going in groups larger than two.

  Lilia kept walking, and Harina came with her. The temple layouts were all virtually the same, but she had gone over a rough map of this temple’s interior provided by those in the camp who had been there. She was confident she could wait for Elaiko in the foyer if they ducked into the scullery stair. They needed to pick up laundry, and it was a good place to rest and get a sense of their bearings.

  Lilia stepped up into the foyer and headed right, passing under a low arch and into the scullery stair. The mouth of the laundry staging area lay open; all the drudges brought laundry from the levels above here, where another set of drudges were usually tasked with bringing it to the proper laundry facility in the basements.

  Two drudges were already inside, dropping off laundry. They nodded as they headed out, but one narrowed her eyes, clearly suspicious that she had not seen them before.

  Lilia went to the back of the room where it was darker. She shifted a load of laundry toward Harina as she entered. “Let’s get ready.”

  But just as she cleared the threshold, a dark figure blotted the light. A Tai Mora soldier blocked their path. Pointed at Harina. “You, there. Come with me!”

  Lilia froze. She needed a very quick story.

  Harina, though, was already moving, so fast Lilia did not catch the flash of the knife, though she saw the blood immediately. Harina bumped into the Tai Mora and whirled him around, so now the Tai Mora stood in the laundry room. It was a solid hit that could still have been construed as accidental.

  “My apologies, so sorry,” Harina said, wiping at the Tai Mora’s shoulder, a sleeve. The Tai Mora pushed her away, still so flustered that he was oblivious to the blood pumping onto the floor.

  Lilia became alarmed at the amount of blood. She backed up against the bundles of dirty laundry along the rear wall.

  “Out of my way!” the Tai Mora insisted, but then Elaiko was there, with the tea, her mouth a wide O.

  The Tai Mora slipped in his own blood and went over. He became aware of the pump of blood. His eyes widened. He gasped. But he was already bleeding out. Even as he pressed at the pumping wound, he was going into shock.

  “Stay out of the blood!” Lilia hissed at Harina, but it was too late. She was on her knees, holding the Tai Mora down. Blood soaked through her trousers and smeared her hands. A few drops peppered her face.

  Lilia hefted what was left of the laundry bag with her good hand and gingerly stepped across the piles of blood-soaked laundry.

  Harina became aware of her own bloody clothing. “Sina’s maw,” she muttered.

  “You can’t go out like that!” Elaiko said, gaze darting back into the hall. “Quickly! Someone else is coming.”

  “Stay here,” Lilia said, low. “Clean up. Change your clothes. You know where we’re going. Follow us.”

  Harina grimaced, but nodded.

  Lilia went into the corridor with Elaiko and closed the door to the laundry closet, leaving Harina with the body.

  “If anyone walks in–” Elaiko said.

  “I know,” Lilia said. “We must keep moving. Ah, your shoes!”

  Elaiko made a little peeping sound. Lilia handed her a towel from her bag, and Elaiko scrubbed at her bloody shoes.

  Elaiko hissed something. Lilia turned just in time to see two more drudges heading toward them, up the scullery stair. Lilia moved out of their way. The two gave them an interested look, but kept moving.

  Elaiko bustled out of the scullery stair and into the foyer. Lilia hurried after her as fast as her limp would take her. The basement doors had a single guard, who opened it to them after asking the day’s password. When the door closed behind them, Lilia murmured, “They change the passwords every day?”

  “Yes,” Elaiko said. Her hands trembled so hard the teacups on the tray rattled. “All the temples now, at the Empress’s command. You can’t get down here without the daily password. There’s been a great deal of activity. Are you… are you sure we can–”

  “Courage,” Lilia said.

  Elaiko pursed her mouth and said nothing. The teacups still rattled.

  Lilia dropped the laundry off inside the steamy laundry bay on the first basement level, then continued after Elaiko to the second set of doors.

  “Here,” Elaiko said, gesturing to an open storage room. “Stay here until I call. There’s never more than one person bringing tea. Only authorized people here.”

  “Still your trembling,” Lilia said. “It will be all right. Try not to look at them.” Lilia wanted to add, “Because you will give it away!” but did not. Elaiko was already too shaken. What if they didn’t drink the tea? If they needed violence here, Lilia would have to turn back. She did not think she had the strength in her one good hand to injure, let alone kill, anyone.

  Lilia ducked into the storeroom. But she could not help but peek out and watch Elaiko taking the last long walk to the two guards at the second set of doors. Elaiko offered up the tea tray to the two guards. One gestured at her to set it on the pedestal near them. Elaiko set it down, clanking and trembling only a little, and started back down the hall. She met Lilia’s look.

  Lilia turned back to the storeroom. She looked through the barrels and boxes until she found the plain burlap bag that Caisa had Elaiko smuggle in the day before. Lilia was relieved to find it. She opened it and dug through the tubers until she found all three of the plain, shelled hazelnuts at the bottom of the bag. She stuffed them into her pockets.

  Elaiko met her there and shut the door. She let out her breath, and began to cry. Lilia did not know how to react. She made a comforting noise, but stopped when Elaiko continued to sob.

  “It will be all right,” Lilia said.

  “No, it won’t! What have I done?”

  Lilia recognized it, then, but still had no time for it. Elaiko had never committed violence before.

  “Maybe they won’t drink it?” Elaiko said.

  “You need to hush.”

  “What if they drink it?”

  “That was the plan.”

  “I have to–”

  Lilia could not help it. She grabbed Elaiko’s sleeve. “No. We stick to the plan.”

  The clatter of teacups. Someone swearing. A cry.

  Lilia held Elaiko’s sleeve and met her look, daring her to try to pull herself away.

  A thump and crash in the hall. Elaiko finally slipped from her grasp and went to go and see what had happened. Lilia limped after her.

  The guards lay heaped upon one another. Broken teacups and poisoned tea lay spilled all around them.

  Lilia grabbed the keys from the belt of the nearest one, who was still moaning and retching. Doors in the temples were not built with locks. This one had been attached to the door by the Tai Mora, a simple padlock. Lilia unlocked it, but the door resisted her.

  “It’s warded,” Elaiko said.

  Lilia pulled one of the little hazelnuts from her pocket and shoved it under the door jamb.

  “Stand back,” Lilia said.

  Elaiko moved behind her.

  The innocuous looking hazelnuts were fused with a powerful twining of sinajista and tirajista spells. One meant to explode with great force
when triggered.

  A whisper of power made the air heavy. Lilia’s ears popped. She shifted back on one foot, unsure herself of what she would unleash.

  A low pop. A thread of searing red light. When Lilia looked back, a quarter of the door had sheared away. Lilia pressed at the door and it swung open. The light from the hall illuminated a short flight of dark stairs.

  Lilia pocketed the keys and grabbed the nearest guard. He was heavy. Elaiko just stared at her.

  “Help me!” Lilia said.

  Elaiko stumbled forward. Together, they pulled the comatose bodies down the short stair and rolled them into an open storage room. These rooms were usually overflowing with barrels of goods, but were now empty; the Tai Mora had far more bellies to feed than the Dhai.

  Their movement awoke the flame flies in the lanterns hung just inside the doorway. When the bodies were pushed aside, Lilia took up a lantern and headed further down the corridor to the next set of steps. Elaiko hurried to catch up with her.

  “What if they–”

  “Keep moving,” Lilia said. “One more level. I’ve seen the temple diagrams.”

  The next door required only a key. She found the right one and stepped into the cavernous space. No more corridors, just a massive chamber filled with what appeared to be tangled tree roots, great fibrous monstrosities. Lilia swung the lantern toward another source of light coming not from above, but below.

  Some industrious force had torn up a great section of the floor, and a soft blue light emitted from the gaping hole.

  “How did she even get down here?” Lilia said. “This took them so many months.”

  “It was terrible,” Elaiko whispered. “When they broke through the floor the temple… moaned. And bled! I thought it would fall around us!”

  Lilia poked her head through the hole in the floor to confirm there was no one in the chamber below. She handed Elaiko the lantern and climbed down the ladder precariously pushed against the rim of the wound in the floor.

  “Come down!” Lilia called. “I need a light.”

  As Elaiko came down, swinging the light with her because she had two good hands, the great room came into focus.