A dull ache filled her heart as she thought of her children. She had not had time to say her goodbyes, unlike all the past times she had left their side. That Kronos would protect them from Crovir’s wrath was not in doubt. Though he was loyal to their father to a fault, he loved Kaleb and Eleaza above all else. And her cousins and siblings would not stand by and allow Crovir to harm her son and daughter.
She did not dwell on what her husband’s reaction would be when he heard of Romerus’s murder. Deep inside, she sensed he would side with their father.
The temperature dropped as she and Aäron navigated the sheer slopes toward a narrow pass, their breath and that of their horses misting the air before their faces. Mila was glad for the wintry chill. It soothed her troubled mind.
She followed the captain as he headed through a series of tortuous gullies that took them deeper into the range. Half a league after they crossed the pass, their destination finally came in sight. Dur Untash, the city hidden in the mountains.
Mila studied the clusters of lights dotting the maze of rock and timber buildings clinging to the near vertical gradients ahead. Despite being protected by a ring of peaks, a defensive wall spanned the narrow canyon that constituted the only port of access to the settlement.
Shadows stirred on the rocky escarpments above them as they headed for the gates set in the middle of the ramparts. Mila spotted at least a dozen archers watching them and more on the parapets ahead.
‘Who goes there?’ someone shouted from a guard tower.
‘It is I, Aäron, son of Parsah,’ Aäron called out.
There was a commotion behind the gates. Several of the archers called out greetings to Aäron. The portal finally opened and a tall, sturdy man with a scar running across his left eye strode out to meet them.
‘You devil! Where have you been all this time?’ he said in a voice brimming with exasperation. ‘We have been waiting for word from you for over a year now. What in the name of the Heavens happened to you?’ The man looked past Aäron. He skidded to a stop, his eyes widening. ‘The Red Queen!’ His hand rose to the sword at his waist. He glanced at Aäron with a scowl. ‘What is the meaning of this?’
Shocked murmurs ran among the archers on the ridges and the men atop the walls. Metal clinked in the darkness.
‘Remain still,’ Aäron told Mila in a low voice. ‘Our very lives depend on your silence.’
She frowned but kept quiet.
‘Do not raise your weapons,’ Aäron called out to the guards watching them. He looked to the man with the scar. ‘The Red Queen is my guest, Darius. I need to speak to your father.’ He paused. ‘And we seek shelter for the night.’
The man called Darius hesitated, his hostile gaze drilling into Mila. He dropped his hand from the hilt of his blade and signaled to the archers. They lowered their bows.
‘Follow me,’ he said gruffly.
He turned and led the way into the city.
Aäron and Mila headed after him with an escort of half a dozen men. The gates closed behind them with a somber rumble that echoed through the narrow valley. Mila glanced over her shoulder at the forbidding portal and wondered once more if she was making a terrible mistake.
They scaled the incline and entered a labyrinth of narrow streets. Torches lined the passages they negotiated, the flames casting a mellow glow on the thatch, timber, and rock houses they passed. Few people lurked outside; it was the time of the evening meal. Random voices and the sound of laughter reached Mila’s ears through open doors and windows, and she glimpsed shadowy figures gathered next to roaring fires. She thought of the other city in the mountains, the one Aäron and she had visited all those months ago.
Unlike Hazaara, Dur Untash was full of life.
Mila kept her face impassive as they approached a wide ridge dominating the valley. Breaching the rock face was a pair of caves. Darius stopped in front of the larger one and watched them dismount. She handed Buros’s reins to a guard and felt a pang of loss as the stallion was led toward the other cave.
She had memorized the layout of the city while they traversed it and outlined one possible escape route. It would be a difficult but not impossible path for the stallion to navigate. The crucial issue was the number of opponents she would have to fight to get out of the valley. She could not ignore the fact that Aäron would be among them.
The thought of having to face the captain in a real life and death situation triggered the same unsettling emotion she had experienced earlier that day on the riverbank. Although she knew she would defeat him, Mila was aware she should not underestimate his skills in battle. She sensed he had not shown her all he was truly capable of, including the depths of his tactical abilities. From what she had seen of him last night, he was clearly a brilliant strategist.
They headed through the opening in the cliffside after Darius. Mila’s eyes rapidly adjusted to the gloom and she studied the unremarkable grotto around them with a frown.
Where exactly is he taking us?
She caught Aäron’s faint smile beside her and felt a twinge of irritation. It was as if he could read her mind and was mocking her.
A tunnel appeared after several hundred feet. They navigated it in silence, Mila’s ire growing with every step. She noted the pick marks in the walls and ceilings and traces of hoof prints on the floor. The passage had been broadened to accommodate at least two men on horseback. Before she could make sense of this puzzling observation, the gloom ahead started to fade. They exited the tunnel a moment later and entered a space nearly as big as Dur Untash itself.
Mila slowed and looked around, her heart drumming against her ribs. To the left, outside a row of barracks, animals roasted on spits atop large fires. Men ate and drank at dozens of tables lining the space around the pits. To the right, other fires burned, these more intensely in mud-brick furnaces. Smelters worked metal over them, brows dripping with sweat as they hammered away at swords, spearheads, and axes. Stacked on the floor behind them were mounds of weapons.
She ignored the stares of the men and maids they passed and studied the stables, granaries, and pens dotting the perimeter of the vast expanse. Up ahead, a natural depression in the ground served as an arena; even this late, men worked inside it, naked torsos gleaming in the light of flaming torches as they clashed swords and battle axes.
Some four hundred feet beyond the training pit rose a palace carved out of the very bones of the mountain. She glanced at the dark mouths of caves in distant walls and looked up to a vaulted roof shrouded in shadows.
The complex had been constructed inside a natural cavern, in the center of the peak; whoever had designed it had blended the man-made spaces with the sheer, granite rock faces enclosing it. It was a masterpiece of human engineering, one that triggered another bout of apprehension within her.
Much had changed in the hundred odd years since she had last been here. For one thing, the palace and the structures around her were new. And, much like Hazaara, the city’s outer defenses were more considerable than she recalled.
Mila wondered if Hosanna and her bookkeepers were aware of these developments. Besides them, there was little reason for the Empire’s officials to come into these inhospitable mountains.
If she knew about this, did she deliberately keep it a secret from Crovir?
A man appeared on the steps of the majestic archway at the base of the palace, a guard on either side. Though age bowed his spine, he was still tall, and built along the same sturdy lines as Darius. It took but a moment for Mila to see the resemblance between the two. The older man watched them with an unreadable expression as they drew near.
Aäron stopped at the bottom of the stairs and greeted him with a nod. ‘Governor Edras.’
The latter bowed. ‘Prince Aäron.’
Shock froze Mila’s feet to the ground. She stared accusingly at the captain.
He ignored her and raised a hand.
‘Please, there is no need for such formalities,’ he told the governor. ‘Aäron wil
l suffice.’ He smiled. ‘Besides, you have known me since I was a naked infant playing at your feet with Darius here.’
The governor’s face softened slightly. ‘Aye, that is indeed true.’ His gaze shifted to Mila. ‘Still, I must confess to being at a loss. We have been waiting for news ever since you departed Parsah all those moons ago, on your mission. Yet, here you finally are, with the enemy at your side. And not just any enemy. You bring with you the most fearsome warrior in the whole empire.’
Mila stiffened and narrowed her eyes at the armed guards now ringing her.
A hard edge underscored Aäron’s quiet voice. ‘The Red Queen is here as my guest.’
His tone was not lost on the governor of Dur Untash or his son. Their expressions cooled.
Aäron sighed and ran a hand through his hair. ‘Would you mind going with these men, Princess? I must talk with the governor and Darius. I fear your presence will only aggravate matters.’
Mila studied him silently. Although she was confident she could defeat the men around her and escape the city, her interest was piqued. It was evident that the governor of Dur Untash was building an army. And she wanted to know the reason why.
More importantly, the man who had been her constant companion since she escaped her grandfather’s citadel the previous night had some serious explaining to do.
‘I will do as you ask,’ she said stiffly. ‘But be aware that my patience is running thin, Prince Aäron.’
He winced. Mila felt his gaze on her back as she allowed her stone-faced escort to lead her up the steps and through the archway.
Chapter Nineteen
Mila leaned on the stone parapet and gazed at the cave some four hundred feet below. The hour was late and the fires outside the barracks had long died down. Only the smelters’ furnaces still smoldered, oozing red light in the gloom.
‘Do you need anything else, Princess?’
Mila looked at the servant hovering nervously by the bed in the room behind her. ‘No, that will be all.’
The woman bowed, gathered the tray containing the remains of a meal, and hurried out of the room. Mila caught a glimpse of the guards outside before the door closed.
She had been given a guest chamber in the palace. Although it did not boast any of the luxuries she was accustomed to, it was clean and comfortable.
At least they had the decency to grant me a room. They could easily have locked me in a cell.
That, however, would not have gone down well. The governor of Dur Untash and Aäron no doubt realized this. Much as the events at the citadel had stunned her, she was still the lieutenant commander of the Empire’s army and would not have tolerated such treatment lightly.
Mila frowned. She was willing to keep her peace for now. How long this state of affairs lasted depended on the answers a certain captain with fair hair and blue eyes owed her.
The door of the guest chamber opened. The man in question walked in. Mila straightened and turned, elbows on the low wall separating her from the deathly drop at her back.
‘Have you eaten?’ said Aäron.
He crossed the floor and joined her on the narrow terrace outside the room.
Mila noted the lack of honorific with dry amusement. ‘I have.’ She turned and looked out over the shadowy cavern once more. ‘A hidden city inside a hidden city. I am keen to hear the reasons behind this secret Dur Untash, my prince, and about this “mission” you were supposedly sent on.’
Aäron sighed and rubbed his stubbled jaw. ‘You are not going to let this prince thing go, are you?’
Mila was surprised by the involuntary smile that curved her lips. ‘No.’
They studied the expanse below in companionable silence.
‘It is too late to hide the evidence of what you have seen in these mountains,’ Aäron finally said. ‘You also know that I am not who I claimed to be when I joined your brother’s army a year ago.’
Mila waited expectantly.
‘Your kin have built an empire like none have seen before. Had they ruled it with fairness and wisdom over the hundreds of years past, they would have earned the respect and loyalty of those they governed. No doubt there would have been some who wanted more and who would have stirred unrest among the populace. But a just sovereign would have garnered the support of those true to him and handled those situations shrewdly.’ He turned to her then, his eyes glinting in the gloom. ‘Alas, the ones who reign over this kingdom are anything but kind. With each year that passes, their lust for power and riches grows, and with it come wicked acts of the most vile nature, and levies that sap people of their most basic subsistence. Even as I speak, entire cities starve. And unbeknown to the ones who sit on the thrones of Uryl, the disease that struck Hazaara slowly spreads its tentacles south and west across the Empire.’ His face hardened. ‘In truth, King Crovir likely knows these facts. He has ears everywhere. But he does not care.’
Mila’s pulse accelerated as she digested his words. There was no denying their truth. And it was not as if she had not mulled over such thoughts herself in recent times.
Aäron looked out over the cave. ‘It began with a promise.’
Mila frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘One hundred and seventeen years ago, my grandfather made a promise to his father. A promise to assemble an army that would challenge the tyrants that rule us. A promise of war.’
A chill ran through her. ‘War?’
‘Yes. This was after King Crovir sent an emissary to Parsah, demanding a second tithe. A larger tithe than the one my great-grandfather had already submitted to the collectors of the Empire that year.’ Aäron’s tone grew cold. ‘Our people were already suffering from the effects of a severe drought at the time and they were left with barely enough grain to feed half the city. As a result of the cruel demands of the king, hundreds of men, women and children died from hunger and many more succumbed to the sickness that inevitably followed. My great-grandfather was among those who contracted the disease that killed nearly all of those who survived the famine.’ He paused, a muscle jumping in his jawline. ‘It was as he lay dying that my grandfather resolved to one day end the dominion of the Immortal kings. In the time since that promise was made, the rulers of Parsah created secret alliances with other human leaders throughout the Empire, leaders who would be loyal to our cause and who would contribute troops and resources for our plans. Forty years ago, they elected my father as the first monarch of this new faction.’ He stared at her. ‘We aim to depose King Crovir and King Bastian.’
Mila blinked. A bark of incredulous laughter escaped her. ‘Did the fall in the Tigra affect your mind? What makes you think you have a fighting chance against the soldiers of the Empire, let alone my siblings and cousins?’
‘Because you will be at our side, Red Queen,’ said Aäron steadily. ‘And you will help me lead the human army that will defeat the Immortals.’
Carrion birds circled high above, wings silent against the pale blue sky as they drifted on invisible air currents. A southerly breeze brought a stench of rotting flesh to Mila’s nostrils. The carcass of an onager appeared up ahead.
‘How much farther is this place?’ she said after the animal’s body disappeared behind them.
Aäron glanced her way. ‘Not far now.’
She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘You said that before.’
He grinned. ‘Patience is not one of your virtues, is it?’
‘Honesty does not appear to be one of yours,’ she snapped.
His smile faded. ‘My lies were a necessary evil. We would not be here right now had I not stretched the truth somewhat.’
‘Stretching the truth is putting it lightly. If there ever were a prevarication contest, you would be the champion of it.’
Aäron burst out laughing.
Mila glared. ‘I am glad my words amuse you, Prince.’
‘You have no idea, Princess,’ he said, eyes sparkling.
Mila felt her pulse jump despite her annoyance.
Sh
e looked away from his warm gaze and studied the sheer bluffs on either side of them. ‘Still, all I can envisage at the conclusion of this path is a dead end.’
‘Have faith, Princess.’
He dug his thighs into the flanks of his steed and broke into a canter. Mila urged Buros on and followed.
Nearly a day had passed since they departed Dur Untash. As dawn swept across the canyon protecting the hidden city in the Zagros Mountains, Governor Edras and Darius stood at the gates and watched them leave.
Edras’s last words to Aäron rang in her ears, even now. ‘Let us all hope that you were wise in your choice of companion, prince of Parsah. I do not envy you the task of convincing your father why bringing one of our enemies into the fold is a good idea.’
A hard expression had flashed across Aäron’s face. ‘I will deal with my father.’ He dipped his chin at Darius. ‘You shall receive word of our plans soon.’
It was midday by the time they left the snow-capped peaks behind and ventured onto the desert foothills bordering the plateau that extended hundreds of leagues east to the Toba Kakar Range and the Indus Valley. Arid wilderness soon gave way to a landscape of lush, green plains and forested elevations spread across a wide basin. A while later, the Zayande River came in sight and with it a handful of villages abutting the fertile fields on its banks.
Aäron followed the meandering waterway until a city appeared on the horizon. Mila tensed slightly when she recognized Parsah shimmering in the heat waves rising off the valley floor. Surprise had darted through her in the next moment.
Instead of keeping to the road that would lead them there, Aäron turned and headed for the dark massifs looming to the south.
Mila pulled Buros to a stop. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Home.’
Origins Page 12