by Susan Faw
A male voice called, “Enter.”
The door swung open of its own accord, and Shikoba was pushed into the room. The door closed behind her as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim interior, much darker for the walk through the brilliant sunshine. Waves of heat rolled over her from a source in the middle of the room.
“So, Shikoba. We meet at last.” The silk in the voice slid across her fear like liquid steel, strumming her nerves. She took a further step into the room, blinking furiously to try to clear her vision. Sweat broke out on her brow as her vision cleared and she was able to make out the view of the interior.
In the center of the theatre-shaped room a fire blazed, leaping with abandon from the glowing mass at its base. Suspended from a set of chains that disappeared into the dark shadows of the ceiling was a woman, hanging by her feet above the pit. Her arms were invisibly bound to her sides. Her chestnut hair covered her face and flames licked at the strands sending tiny sparks curling through the air, but it didn’t matter. Shikoba knew exactly who it was.
“Harm my mother, and I will kill you,” hissed Shikoba, all fear fleeing as rage boiled to the surface of her emotions. “I will make it my personal mission to feed you to the sea drake in tiny, living pieces. Take her down. Now!”
Chapter 20
Two Sets of Chains
“MY, MY, MY. Little Shikoba has fangs.”
Emperor Madrid stepped from the shadows, the fires dancing across his narrow face. A shock of dark hair swept across his forehead framing his dark eyes, but the sides of his head were shaved. His hairless pate shone, reflecting the flickering firelight off its smooth surface until it reached the back of his head. A long braided ribbon of black dropped from the crown of his head and past his shoulders. His hands were tucked inside grey robes, stitched with silver thread and belted with silver links. His soft-soled boots made no sound on the wooden floor.
Shikoba tensed, her anger arousing her need to do battle, to attack her foe. The chains on her wrists jangled, as she instinctively reached for her favourite knife. There was no knife, no staff, no weapon she could bring to bear, as she traditionally had done in times of peril.
The movement was not lost on the emperor. A cruel smile parted his lips. “You wish to do me harm? You think to stand against me? Child, you will be unable to lay a finger on me as long as you think two dimensionally. Have you learned nothing while training with that den of vipers called L’Ordre du Coeur Sacré at their hideout on Jintessa?” Shikoba’s eyes widened with surprise. “Yes, I know all about Jintessa, the land across the time barrier and the witches training center there. Fortunately, I was able to save the male heart bearers from the brainwashing you poor, unfortunate young women had to endure in that libertine cesspool. They have proven to be the true heart bearers. Men of magic and morals. They desire only to serve the cause of freedom with the leashing and control of the radical elements of magic.” He lifted his finger and pointed it at Shikoba. “It starts with you.”
Shikoba’s furious eyes swept the room, searching for a weapon.
As though he could read her mind, the emperor said “There are no weapons in this room. There are only the three of us and two of you are in chains. No, my pet, you are quite helpless…and your anger is killing your mother.” Shikoba’s eyes were drawn back to her mother when she heard a rattle of chains and her mother dropped an inch closer to the fire with a shriek.
“Stop! Don’t harm her. She had nothing to do with my leaving.” Aisha wailed as an ember popped and flew into the air, hitting her face. “Please, show her mercy.” Shikoba stepped toward her mother, moving to the side where she could see a set of steps descending down into the pit, but when she reached the top of the stairs, she smacked into an invisible wall. She ran her hands over the flat plane, searching for the edge of the wall of magic.
“Come now, Shikoba! You have magic, yet you do not use it. You are mired in the ways of the past, in physical weapons and strength of arms. You do not use your third sense. If you want to free your mother, you will have to do better than this.”
The emperor’s taunt roared in Shikoba’s ears as her panic blinded her to everything but her mother’s plight.
“Shikoba.”
Shikoba raised her head at the sound of her mother’s voice, blinking away the tears she did not know she had shed.
“Shikoba, let me go. There is no other choice. Let me die. With me dead, he can no longer control you. Let me die.”
“No,” she whispered. “No, I will not let you die.”
“Shikoba. It is my time. Please.”
Shikoba stared in horror at her mother, as a clicking sound filled the air. A metal drum was strung with chains and hung from the ceiling. A ratcheted wheel held the windings still. With a snap, the winch let off its slack. The chain and her mother descended closer to the flames. She dropped several inches before the gear caught. The hungry fire roared up, igniting her chestnut strands and burning its length, moving toward her scalp. A wail of pain filled the room, along with the overpowering odour of melting hair.
Fear clouded Shikoba’s reasoning. She screamed, “Stop this! Stop it right now! I will do what you ask. I beg you. Do not harm her.”
“That is quite the statement, young woman.” Madrid moved further into the light to stand beside the flames and the twisting bundle of her mother. He lifted an arm, waving it in Aisha’s general direction. “Aisha asks to die, but I would be greatly displeased if that were to occur. You see, Shikoba, she is my mate.”
“Your mate? What manner of lies is this?”
“It is no lie. Aisha and I were bonded before your return. It was a quiet ceremony.” A naked grin flashed across his face, and a humourless laugh bubbled from his throat. “I assure you, she is my mate in every sense of the word.” A sob escaped Aisha’s throat. Shikoba, horrified, felt her anger ramping up once again.
“You pig. You filthy son of a goat. How dare you…”
Emperor Madrid raised a hand, halting her tirade. “I grow tired of your childish words. Do you wish to save your mother or not? We are nearly out of time. The next revolution of the wheel, your mother will surely burn. You are running out of time.”
Shikoba dragged herself away from her sobbing mother and glared at the emperor, her eyes shining in the firelight with unshed tears. “What do you want, Madrid? State your terms.”
“What I want is what you want. To free your mother. But first, I need your assistance with a small matter. I need you to use these.” He bent over and picked up Shikoba’s wrapped parcel, given to her by Madame Cherise.
Shock widened Shikoba’s eyes. “How did you get your hands on that?”
Emperor Madrid smiled. “You don’t really think that attack was a battle? No, it was an excuse to capture you and your gifts. You know of the sea drakes?” Madrid saw the flicker of understanding pass through Shikoba’s eyes. He nodded. “As you so rightly surmised, there are sea drakes in the mines. Troublesome creatures, lacking the basic intelligence of a dragon. Not surprising, given that they are native to Jintessa. An inferior evolution of a higher lifeform, but deadly nevertheless.”
“What has this to do with me?” Shikoba asked quickly.
“I need you to recover something precious that belongs to me. Using these.” He shook the bag in his hand. “Yes, I will be returning your satchel to you. Only one of the items is of any use to you.” He tossed the bag to her, and she caught it in both hands. “The magic of your moccasins is unique. Agree to aid me, and I will let your mother live. Refuse, and she dies here, right now.”
Shikoba thought furiously. She had no choice. She couldn’t free her mother. She couldn’t even free herself. She had no options. “I agree to your terms. Please release her.”
“There. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Madrid idly waved his hand, and the chains released. Shikoba’s screaming mother plunged head first into the fire, but before she hit the ground, the fire snuffed out. She crashed onto the floor and rolled to the side,
groaning. The shield vanished, and Shikoba ran down the stairs as fast as her chained feet would allow. Clanking to a stop, she dropped to her knees beside her mother, cradling her head in her lap.
“Mom, are you okay?” Tears streamed down Shikoba’s face.
Aisha’s tired eyes lifted to meet her daughter’s. Pain and sorrow filled her face. “You should have let me die, Shikoba.” Her eyes closed. Rough hands clamped around her arms and hauled her to her feet.
“Take her back to her cell. We will begin in the morning.” Madrid put a finger under Shikoba’s chin. “Do not forget your promise, child,” he said softly, his words silk and steel. “Fail me, and she will die.”
Shikoba wrenched her chin away and staggered at the tug on her arms by her guards. She let her tears fall unchecked as she was hauled out of the chamber. A soft chuckle was the last sound she heard as the door closed, shutting away her mother and sealing both their fates.
Chapter 21
A Perfect Fit
THE CONTENTS OF HER PARCEL lay scattered across the floor, once again spread out for inspection. Everything was there. Madrid had kept none of it. Shikoba sniffed, then picked up the moccasins, wondering how she was supposed to wear them when they belonged to her mother. She ran a finger down the delicate beadwork, imagining her mother’s hand guiding bone needle and thread, punching the holes in the supple leather.
If what the Shamankas had said was true, then her mother had made these moccasins and then sent them away to be hidden in a world apart from Shadra when Shikoba was a mere infant or possibly just after her birth. Shikoba had never seen the moccasins before they were gifted to her, and they had the clean look of a new item that had never been used.
The emperor wants the magic woven into the stitching. He must know something of their use, but not how to wield the power himself. Or maybe the magic of the moccasins wouldn’t work for him? Maybe their power was incompatible with his? Maybe they could only be worn and activated by a witch’s gift? Or maybe only by my mother as the Shamankas had indicated? If so, then how am I supposed to wear them?
The questions chased themselves around in her head. If she did wear the moccasins, in whatever misaligned quest the emperor sought to achieve, and they failed to work for her as they would have for her mother, then they would die. The emperor would assume that she was sabotaging the effort and kill them both. Instinctively, she knew that her mother had kept the truth of their use from Madrid, only revealing part of the information. It was the only thing that made any sense. Madrid had to know this or at least suspect that she would not willingly give up such sacred knowledge.
On a whim, Shikoba slipped her boots off her feet and put on the moccasins. They fit like a second skin, sized just right. She stood up and clanked around the cell, testing out their feel. The soles of her feet tingled. The sensation was not unpleasant. Her feet warmed, spreading to her toes. The sensation crawled up her ankles and then to her knees, warming her body as it traveled. Blue lightning flickered around her body, spreading past her hips and up to her chest. When the blue enveloped her head, she felt twin stabs of lightning. One pierced her heart and one pierced her head. The flash of light was blinding and she fell to her hands and knees, crying out at the sudden shock of the invasion. The magic sifted through her mind, and her heart, taking its measure of her, and then abruptly it left.
The heat faded, and Shikoba shivered as the cool air of the cell enveloped the sheen of sweat that covered her body.
“Okay, that was not cool.” Shikoba sat back and reached down to take off the moccasins. They would not come off. She tugged at the sides, tried to peel them off by her heel, but they would not budge. She wriggled her toes and could feel the tender hide moving with them, but try as she might, she could not remove them. The moccasins had fused themselves to her body. The tingling in her feet settled into a low hum, but did not dissipate.
“Oh great. This is just wonderful,” she groused. “This isn’t going to end poorly. You are going to get me killed,” she said aloud to the offending moccasins. “What happens when the emperor wants me to hand them over? Are you going to grow me new feet, then? Because he will chop them off.” The slippers did not respond, beyond a faint rumbling. Shikoba had the impression that they were purring, like a satisfied cat.
As she sat there, contemplating the moccasins, her eyes wandered over to the mask. “I am not putting you on. No way.”
The sound of a giggle made her jump to her feet. She swung around, just as the cell door closed with a click. Tesha was back. Shikoba had not heard her enter the cell. The girl carried a tray. A delicious aroma wafted across the room and Shikoba’s stomach rumbled at the smell. Tesha carried the tray to a table pressed up against the outside wall under the window and set it down.
“Do you always talk to your feet?”
Shikoba’s mouth twitched at the corner with the beginning of a grin. “No, not normally. Do you?”
Tesha laughed. “I talk to my hand. See?” She bent her fingers into the shape of a duck’s beak. The fingers opened and sound came out, although her lips did not move. “The emperor demands that you eat. He says he will come for you shortly,” quacked her hand.
The smile slid from Shikoba’s face. Her hunger fled.
Tesha‘s smile dropped. “I’m sorry, Shikoba. I want to help you, but I am not sure how.”
Shikoba gave her a sad smile and sat down in front of the food. A bowl of watery soup and a chunk of bread sat on the tray. There were no utensils. She broke the bread up and dropped it into the soup, watching it melt below the surface. Some stray carrots bobbed to the surface. “How did you come to be here? Where is your brother?”
Tesha sat down on the floor beside her, her knees drawn up under her chin. “We were on our way to you, following your path, when we ran into a slaver wagon. We didn’t know what it was at first. We thought it was a merchant train. They captured us and stuck us in the wagons with the other people in there. Deshi was put in a different carriage from me. It was a horrible trip. The wagons stink like a privy. The people were covered in the smell.” Her face darkened at the memory. “Thankfully we didn’t have that long to travel before we arrived here. When they reached the building, one of the guards dragged me out of the wagon and off to the side and said I was to serve the emperor. I was taken to work in the kitchens. I have not seen Deshi since we arrived. I fear they sent him to the mines.”
“The mines. You mean the salt mines?”
“Yes. The emperor has tripled the quota that Shadra must pay in tribute as punishment for withholding a special salt from the sacred caves. That is what the cooks say, anyways. They bring in new workers every day.”
“Where are they all being housed? Did they build long houses for them all?”
Tesha shook her head. “No, no one ever sees the workers after they go down into the mine. They never return.”
“Never? Who feeds the workers? Someone must be caring for them.”
“The workers are fed by an elevator. The food is loaded in, and then it is sent down the shaft. We do not know what happens on the other end. We try to send down lots, but we don’t even know how many people are down there.”
Shikoba stared at Tesha, her mouth dropping open with surprise. “I don’t understand. How do they take the workers underground?”
“They are delivered there in the same wagons they arrive in. They never leave the wagons until they reach the underground caves. I am one of the few ever to be taken off of a wagon and that was because the girl who was doing this task died just before I arrived.” She waved at the far wall. “On the east side of the cliffs, there is a tunnel. It is heavily guarded by over one hundred mercenaries.” She glanced at the cooling bowl of soup. “You need to eat.”
Shikoba picked up the bowl and took a tentative sip. Once the liquid reached her lips, she realized how hungry she was and tipped the bowl back, gulping down the contents. She even licked out the bowl, leaving no morsel behind in the pottery. Assured that it was
empty, she put it back down on the tray. Tesha picked the tray up and returned to the door.
“Shikoba. If you happen to go down into the caves, will you do me a favour? Will you keep an eye out for Deshi?” She stood with her back to Shikoba.
“Yes, of course, I will.” She almost said that he was fine, but the words wouldn’t come. She could not speak what might be a lie. “I will find him, Tesha. I promise.”
Tesha’s hand moved up to swipe at her face. “Thank you,” she whispered and then left the cell, pulling the door closed behind her with a click.
Shikoba laid down on her pallet, suddenly weary. The emperor might be coming to fetch her, but she wasn’t about to sit around waiting for him. The stress of the last day washed over her, overpowering her fear of the future. She closed her eyes and was soon fast asleep.
Chapter 22
The Cave to Nowhere
OBSIDIAN SLID ALONG the horizon of the sea, skimming past the edge of frenetic energy that constituted the barrier in this part of Shadra. This close to the Perilous Sea, the curvature was so pronounced that the sunlight passing through it cascaded rainbows in a waterfall of prismatic light. Pretty but deadly. She knew to not contact the surface, but it did not stop Sarcee from screaming, “Watch out for the barrier! Don’t you remember the last time we came in contact with it? You want a repeat of that?”
The peace tower was not the barrier. It was a hole in the barrier caused by a disturbance in the prayers to the spirits, said Obsidian. This is a barrier. I can smell it. I could not detect the danger of the other.
Fine. Just stay away from it. Sarcee scanned the cliffs, searching for a place to land. Shikoba is nearby. She must be a captive in the mines somewhere. Keep flying along the shore. Follow the bond.
They swooped low, Obsidian’s claws skimming the surface of the emerald waves. Their reflection rippled and danced on the surface. Rocky walls to their right surged and frothed with the incoming waves, driven by a steady wind that pushed the sea water against the face of the cliff with constant force. Obsidian swept up and over a jagged outcropping. When she crested the peak, she saw a striped sand beach. The crescent curve dug deep into a fold of rock. Like a huge tongue, the sand licked through the narrow opening of the deep chasm. Darkened with moisture and covered in seaweed, it was obvious that this beach was only visible during low tide. Sea birds flocked to it, pecking at crustaceans trapped in the tidal pools. As Obsidian swept down the beach, they rose into the air, squawking at her appearance and wheeling into the sky. Obsidian ignored them, other than to snap at a few that flew too close. She tilted to vertical and aimed for the narrow passage, plunging into the space between the narrow walls.