The Beauty of Darkness

by Mary E. Pearson

  “This way,” he said, and with a Dalbretch platoon, we pounded our way through Vendan lines. The screams of battle filled the air, echoing mercilessly between the valley walls. I heard the wheeze, the coughs, the thud of death sounding over and over again. The Komizar had been quick to silence my voice before it reached even a small number of Vendans, but now, with the youngest Vendan soldiers safely out of his reach, I knew where I had to go, where more would hear me. Faces became a blur as we advanced, my shield raised, my sword swinging, Jeb watching my back, and I his. My shield took a powerful blow, and I was knocked to the ground. I rolled before an ax hit the ground where my head had been, then thrust my sword into a soft gut as the soldier came at me again.

  I jumped to my feet, spinning, my shield lifting to deflect another attack and then, in the swirl of metal and shadow, my eye caught something, something baubled and blue.

  KADEN

  The Vendan troops scrambled under the assault of stones raining down on them. The attack launched from the cliffs was only a distraction until the battalions could reach the valley floor. My leg ran with blood, a piece of wood piercing my thigh like a bayonet. I couldn’t pull it out, so I broke it off, even as I stabbed my sword into a charging Vendan—one I had known. And then I killed another. And another. Griz fought his way toward me. Lia had been only feet from us, and now she was gone. We charged deeper into the Vendan ranks. Minutes seemed like hours, our progress slow, a stream of Dalbreck and Morrighese soldiers fighting at our sides, and then an explosion rocked the valley.

  RAFE

  A fiery plume shot into the sky, lighting the valley with sparks and flames. Fire rained down, thousands of glowing embers lighting on men and animals alike, horses rearing back in fear, soldiers screaming as they were lit on fire. I ran to one soldier, pushing him to the ground and rolling him to douse the flame, and then I saw Tavish. He beat at flames that streamed up his arm, lighting his hair. I tackled him, using my gloved hands to smother the flames. He screamed in agony even after the fire was out. I leaned close trying to calm him.

  “You’ll be all right, brother,” I said. “I promise you’ll be all right.” He moaned with pain, and I ordered another soldier to take him back behind our lines, then helped lift him onto a horse.

  The soldier left with Tavish, and that was when I felt my palms burning, already blistering from dousing the flames. I ripped off my gloves. They were saturated with the fiery substance that had rained down. I knelt, pressing my hands against the cool grass, and then I saw another soldier lying on the ground beside me. It was the Viceregent’s son—Andrés. Kaden’s brother was dead. I had time only to close his blank, staring eyes.

  I rode toward Draeger’s battalion, watching Vendans fall by the tens and hundreds, but no matter how many we felled, there were always more to replace them.

  When I got to our battalions, Draeger and Marques had successfully fragmented the fifth division, but were already losing ground.

  I saw Kaden making his way to me. Lia wasn’t with him, and my heart stopped. Where was she? “I lost her,” he said when he reached me. “She’s not with you?”

  A Vendan as big as Griz came at us, swinging a mace in one hand and an ax in the other. He pummeled our shields, pushing us farther and farther back, until Kaden and I sidestepped at the same time and came from behind, both of our swords piercing his ribs. He fell like a tree, shaking the ground, and then behind him in the distance, we both spotted the Viceregent.

  LIA

  The terror, the blood, it was a wave crashing over us again and again coming at us from all sides. Every time a battalion gained ground, more brezalots were prodded forward, more arrows launched, more iron bolts whirred through the air piercing shields and flesh, more burning disks were hurled that clung to skin and seared lungs. The noise was deafening, roaring through the valley like a relentless storm. Fire and smoke rose, stinging ash fell. I lost my bearings, the bluff no longer in sight. Only moment by moment survival mattered. Swinging, stabbing, refusing to let him win. It is not over.

  Jeb was vicious in his attacks, as determined as I was to break through their next wave of lines, but we made no headway, our forces thinning with every new barrage of weapons. I saw glimpses of a heavily armed battalion ahead, horsemen battling above the heads of the infantry. There was no time to search for Rafe or Kaden among them, but I knew that was where they had been headed. The familiar pained squeal of a brezalot screamed through the air. I knew what that meant. Another one had been loaded with explosives and prodded forward. I heard the fearsome thud of its hooves, the hiss of its raging breaths growing louder as it thundered toward us. The sounds echoed, multiplied, surrounded us. I turned, unsure where it would appear, and then a rough hand shoved me, throwing me back.

  It was Rafe.

  We tumbled to the ground, even as the world exploded.

  KADEN

  “You can’t do it.”

  His breathing was labored, his words short, still trying to convince me.

  I saw the terror in his eyes. I was stronger. I was quicker. I was driven by eleven years of anger.

  Metal met metal. Our strikes vibrated between us. You can’t do it. I’m your father.

  He thrust, his blade grazing my arm.

  Blood trickled through my shirt, and his eyes lit with hunger. He glanced down at my leg, still impaled with the wood spike. I saw the calculation in his eyes. How much strength did I have left?

  I wasn’t sure myself. The pain was getting harder to ignore. The stream of blood was sticky in my boot. I drove him back, the clang of steel chattering in the air.

  “I’m your father,” he said again.

  “When?” I asked. “When were you ever my father?”

  His pupils were pinpoints, his nostrils flared. There was no scent of jasmine on him now. Only the scent of fear.

  My blade pressed against his, holding, pushing, a lifetime of lies pulsing between us.

  He pushed off and retreated back several paces. “I’ve tried to make amends with you,” he hissed. “You can’t do it. Son. Let’s start over. There’s still time for us.”

  I relaxed my grip on my sword. Lowered my guard. Stared at him. “Time? Now?”

  His eyes glimmered, and he advanced, as I’d known he would, his swing fierce, knocking the sword from my hand. He smiled, ready to plunge his blade into me, but as he stepped forward, I stepped faster and, standing chest to chest, I thrust my knife upward into his gut.

  His eyes widened.

  “Your time is up,” I whispered. “Father.”

  And I let him fall to my feet.

  RAFE

  I lay over her, protecting her as metal, wood, and fire streamed down around us.

  “Rafe,” she whispered. A split second of relief raced between us before the battle closed in again. We got to our feet, grabbing our shields and weapons from the ground. A cloud of smoke filled the air, and dazed Vendans staggered toward us, the blast disorienting them as much as the enemy.

  “I have to get to the bluff, Rafe. I have to speak to them before we’re all dead.”

  We ran in the shadows of the cliffs. I spotted the bluff ahead, but then Governor Yanos closed in. The Watch Captain, Chancellor, and a squad of five soldiers stood behind him.

  Yanos stepped forward. “Give her over.”

  “So you can put her head on a spike?” I answered.

  “That’s up to the Komizar.”

  My fist tightened on my shield. I felt the blisters on my palms bursting, liquid oozing between my fingers. “The bluff is right behind us, Lia. Go!” I desperately prayed that for once she wouldn’t argue with me. I heard her run.

  The Chancellor smiled. “The bluff’s a dead end. There’s nowhere for her to go. You just cornered our rabbit for us.”

  “Only if you can get past me.” I raised my sword.

  “Past us,” Draeger said, and stepped up beside me. Jeb was with him.

  LIA

  I ran toward the bluff, my lungs bur
ning with smoke. I heard the desperation in Rafe’s command. Go! Too many were dying. Everyone was losing, except the Komizar. The valley still roared with battle. How would they hear me?

  Sweat poured down my forehead, my eyes stinging, and I struggled to see the path ahead, but then the blue flashed again, a bauble, an unseeing eye. I choked on the acrid air, trying to see through the smoke, and then Calantha stepped out of the murky haze and blocked my path.

  She was dressed as I’d never seen her before. She was no longer the mistress of the Sanctum. She was a fierce warrior with sabers and knives sheathed at her sides. One of the knives was mine. The glittering jewels reflected the burning fires.

  Her knuckles were tight knots, gripped on sabers she was ready to use.

  I slowly drew my sword. “Move aside, Calantha,” I said, waiting for her to spring. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “I’m not here to stop you, Princess. I’m here to tell you to hurry. Speak to them before none are left to know the truth of this day. They are not hungry for this. They hunger for another kind of hope.”

  A quarterlord charged through a veil of smoke, an ax in his hand, poised to bury it in me, but Calantha lunged, slicing his belly wide, and his body tumbled, thudding into the base of the cliff. She looked at me, repeating Rafe’s plea, “Go!” and then turned to take down another of her own.

  RAFE

  I had fought by Jeb’s side before, but not by Draeger’s. He knew instinctively which were the strongest fighters. We fought back to back. I kept the Chancellor in view as I smashed one soldier’s face with my shield and sliced the calf of another to the bone. The Watch Captain hung back behind them all. Draeger’s blows drove Yanos back, and the governor fell. Draeger ran him through, then spun to block the blows of another soldier. The Chancellor bore down. The jolt of his sword hitting my shield cracked the air, but I deflected the force and it glanced into the skull of a soldier at his side. He fell as Jeb thrust his sword into a soldier beside him. Now it was one on one, except for the Watch Captain who still cowered behind the others. My hands burned on my sword, slipped with the wet blisters, but I gripped harder, meeting the Chancellor blow for blow. Our swords crossed, pressing, our chests heaving.

  “It was you,” I said. He pushed away, and swung. Our swords chattered.

  “I only killed the old one,” he said, not even knowing Sven’s name. His face glistened with sweat. “The Watch Captain and Viceregent got the rest.”

  “Sven’s not dead,” I told him.

  Steel rang, and sparks flew between us.

  “Do you think I care?” he said between heavy breaths.

  My sword rammed his shield, the metal crumpling under the blows.

  “Not any more than you care about impaling a princess or betraying your kingdom.”

  I pressed forward, not giving him a chance to attack, his arm weakening under the barrage, and finally his shield fell.

  I thrust my sword forward. The blade slid through his ribs, my hand meeting his gut, my face inches from his.

  “I don’t expect you to care, Lord Chancellor. I just expect you to die.”

  LIA

  I ran, coughing and stumbling through dark ruts. Night had closed in, but the valley glowed with pockets of light, the fires burning ridges, meadow, and bodies. Smoke hung in clouds, bitter and sharp, woven with the smell of burnt flesh. The clang of metal still reverberated from the valley walls. The cries of the fallen stabbed the air, and the animals caught up in the devastation keened with misery.

  I wiped my stinging eyes, searching, falling embers burning my skin as I tried to find the trail to the bluff, hopelessness sweeping over me.

  Don’t tarry, Miz, or they will all die.

  I choked and stumbed forward.

  A finger of clear air opened, and I saw the trail. I ran, tumbling and clawing my way to the top. I made it to the bluff’s rim, and my soul tore in two. In both directions, the valley burned, the weapons boomed, the glint of metal flashed, the bodies writhed en masse, like a nest of dying snakes.

  “Brothers! Sisters!” I called, but my words were lost in the roar of a valley that stretched too far and thundered too loud. They couldn’t hear me. Trust. It was impossible.

  I was desperate and cried out again, but the battle raged on.

  Trust the strength within you.

  I lifted my hands and raised my voice to the heavens, reaching not just for the strength within me but the strength of generations. I felt something reaching back to me, and then what I heard wasn’t my voice alone, but a thousand voices. They wove through me, around me, the world breathing us in, remembering, time circling. Morrighan stood at my side, Venda and Gaudrel on the other. Pauline, Gwyneth, and Berdi stood behind me and a hundred more. Our voices braided together, a steel reaching to the ends of the valley, swirling, sharing. Heads turned, listening, knowing, some swaths cutting deeper than others. The smoke coiled, thinned.

  And then the battle stilled.

  “Brothers! Sisters! Lay down your arms! I am your queen! Daughter of your blood and sister of your heart! I will stand by you. I will return to Venda.” I told them there was another kind of hope—the one Venda had promised. I begged them to listen to their hearts, to trust a knowing as old as the universe. “The strength is within us. We will settle the Cam Lanteux. Build new lives. With my last dying breath, I promise you, we will make it happen together, but this is not the way. We can prevail against the Dragon who steals our dreams! Lay down your arms, and we will create a hope that lasts.”

  A universe stilled. The heavens watched. The breath of the centuries held.

  The pause of battle stretched.

  And then a sword was thrown down.

  And another.

  And while the chievdars, governors, and quarterlords still raged, not open to the hearing, the clans laid down their weapons in waves.

  “I couldn’t have asked for a better place to find you, my pet. Where they all can watch.”

  I whirled. It was the Komizar.

  “Now they’ll all know with certainty who the Komizar of Venda really is,” he said.

  I drew my sword and stepped back. “They’re listening to me, Komizar. This is what they want. It is too late for you.”

  He lifted his heavy sword with both hands. I knew that stance. I knew what would come next.

  “They want whatever I want,” he said. “And I want you dead. It’s as simple as that, Princess. That is what real power is.”

  He looked at the sword in my hand and smiled, its reach far shorter than his. He stepped closer, his face gleaming with lust for the power at his fingertips. I stepped back and felt the bluff’s rim crumbling beneath my feet, heard the loose stones tumbling to the valley floor. My heart seized in a fist, and I saw the hunger in his eyes. More. The battle and my fear fed him. But then I saw something else, a flash of color. A jeweled blue eye.

  “Reginaus!”

  The Komizar’s expression went cold, hearing his birth name said aloud, and then rage engulfed him. He spun and faced Calantha.

  Grief shimmered in her lone pale eye, and maybe loyalty, love, and a thousand other things I couldn’t name. We have a long history, she had once told me. Maybe that was what I saw in her gaze, the memories of all he had been to her and all that he was now.

  “You gave me hope once,” she said. “But I cannot let you do this. It is time for another kind of hope.”

  A dismissive huff of air had barely passed his lips when she charged toward him. He lifted his sword in a sharp move, and it impaled her long before she ever reached him, but her momentum had unexpected power, the sword running her through, and her body slammed into his. He stumbled back, one step, then another, then panic flashed across his face as he scrambled for footing, but it was too late. I leapt to the side as both of their bodies flew past me and tumbled over the edge, his scream echoing as they fell to the valley floor, but as I lunged, I felt myself sliding too, the ground giving way beneath me. I frantically grasped for
anything, grass, branches, but it was all out of my reach, earth sliding around me and I was falling with them, and then I felt a hand lock onto mine.

  CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT

  PAULINE

  The battle may have ended, but it still raged on in dreams. It took a regiment of soldiers, along with Gwyneth, Berdi, Eben, Natiya, and me, to contain the child soldiers who were ushered out of the valley, and to comfort them in the following days. Even from the camp, we heard the explosions, the terror, the screams reverberating through the valley. Just before it ended, I fell to my knees in desperation, reaching out to Lia, praying for her safety and strength, praying her voice would be heard by the Vendans.

  Natiya, who was only a child herself, spoke to the children with words that were familiar to them, and it seemed at times that was all that quieted them and got us through the night. The next day the children still trembled with fright, struck out, recoiled at our touch. It was hard to gain their trust. I understood too well that trust couldn’t be forced or gained overnight, but I also knew it could come with patience, slowly, day by day, and I was ready to give them that time, however long it took.

  When I went into the valley and saw the dead, and then helped care for the hundreds who were injured, I thought about the devastation described in the Holy Text and the handful of the Remnant who had survived. We had almost been them. I kissed two fingers, one for the lost and one for those to come, and prayed the winnowing was over.

  We could spare no more lives to the heavens.

  “I’m done with this one,” the surgeon said. She wiped the blood from her hands, and I followed the sentries as they carried Kaden to the far end of the tent.

  KADEN

  I reached down, feeling for my leg.

  “Don’t worry. It’s still there.”

  Pauline wiped my forehead with a damp cloth.