Serpents Rising (Eve of Redemption Book 3)

by Joe Jackson

  The inside was bright white and quiet, with only a couple of elestram clerks seated behind a stone counter, much like the one in Anthraxis. One of the jackal-folk looked up and beckoned for the new arrivals to approach, and Uldriana led her friends over. They started their conversation in beshathan, but soon switched to infernal, and Sonja and Danilynn flanked the mallasti girl and listened with great interest. Kari waited as patiently as she could for someone to tell her what was being said. The elestram clerk called out, and a young syrinthian came out of one of the back rooms. After brief instructions, the young man left the building.

  “They’re checking to see if the Prince wants to speak with us before we proceed,” Sonja said. “If he does, we’ll have to stay in the city for the night, at least.”

  “Will they pull some trickery to delay us so we can’t get to the King’s palace in time?” Kari asked.

  Uldriana shook her head. “No. If the Prince wishes to see us, then our Seven Days’ Grace will not begin until he has released us on our way.”

  “But if he keeps us here, it gives his father more time to arrange something to waylay us,” Danilynn mused. “Let us hope we are simply approved to proceed.”

  They took seats and waited for the syrinthian courier to return. Kari was surprised to see Uldriana fidgeting while they waited, either drumming claws on her thighs, or else tapping her feet. She stopped when she noticed Kari’s stare, along with those of Sonja and Danilynn. “What’s the matter?” Kari asked.

  The mallasti girl made a dismissive gesture. “We are simply in the land of our enemies,” she said. “This is the first time I have left my village, let alone traveled outside of my king’s realm and into that of an enemy.”

  Kari nodded; she could understand the girl’s trepidation. Kari was nervous too, but she had been in life-or-death situations so many times in the past that she was better able to keep her emotions and body under control until it was time to act. There was also an underlying trust that she would emerge safely from this venture, built upon the belief that there were many factions and resources dedicated to her success. Still, she had to keep most of that quiet in front of the mallasti girl, all the better to avoid implicating King Koursturaux, and drawing the volatile demon king’s ire onto Kari and her friends.

  They had only to wait half an hour before the Prince’s response came back, and the elestram clerk sent them on their way. She explained only that the King would want to see them as soon as possible, and that the Prince had no desire to delay them in the face of his father’s wishes. Uldriana led her companions back to the market square, where they took just enough time to resupply with water and rations, and then returned to the main road toward the city of Sorelizar – the heart of enemy territory.

  There were no incidents on the way to the capital, though that wasn’t so surprising. Along the way, though, they passed by several hamlets and roadside inns, and even stayed at a few of the latter when there was room. During these times, Kari could plainly see that much of what she’d heard with regard to Sorelizar and the rule of King Sekassus was true. There was no sense of contentment or security among these people; they looked like they lived in fear, or at least with little hope of ever being free. Even the people in Saristor seemed cheery and liberated compared to the state of those they passed on the road. That, too, made Kari respect Prince Vassiras just a little more.

  They were able to make it almost the entire way to Sorelizar before anyone even took notice of them. The land graded downward at a very subtle angle, and the center of the realm near Sorelizar was a depressed, open, arid plain. That made it even easier to see the great black pyramid in the city’s – and realm’s – center that was no doubt the home of King Sekassus the Calculating. Everything else in the city was made of sandstone, with much of it painted white in the arid heart, so the pyramid stood over the city like the very shadow of death, and Kari had no doubt that was the intent.

  Uldriana’s anxiousness was a little better on the road, but got stronger when they made the final approach to the city. Once they were within a short walk of the edge of the city, Sonja picked a good moment to dispel her masking spell so that no one would be looking at them when she did so. There was light traffic around the city, mostly syrinthians with some of the beshathan people. The three rir women did draw curious stares, but that seemed to be the extent of it. They passed into the city proper, and found that most of the signs and other markings on buildings were written in the strange, flowing script of the syrinthians.

  “Uldriana, can you read any of these signs?” Kari asked. When Uldriana nodded silently, Kari added, “Why don’t you get us to an inn? We’ll get ourselves fed and washed up so we’re presentable, and then hopefully we can get in to see King Sekassus as soon as possible.”

  The mention of the demon king’s name drew more stares from the people of Sorelizar. No one moved to intercept or question the four strangers, but Kari wanted to get off the streets quickly. The longer they were exposed, the faster word would get back to King Sekassus, and the more likely they were to end up in trouble before they could even get in to see him. Uldriana was extremely nervous, but she obediently led the group to the nearest reputable-looking hostel. After a short conversation with the innkeeper, a lithe syrinthian fellow named Akistis, Uldriana led her companions upstairs and to a large, open suite.

  Their suite had a private bathtub with levers and a spigot that came out of the wall and hung over the tub’s outer edge. Uldriana gave the barest hint of a smile and approached the tub, and she turned the two levers to distinct angles, producing a column of water from the spigot that turned steamy in short order. It was nice to have another room with indoor plumbing, and Kari motioned for her friends to get ready to bathe quickly so they would be ready for a meeting with Sekassus whenever they were summoned.

  Uldriana didn’t bother waiting to be ordered to bathe, and instead shed her robe and climbed into the tub. She began to wash herself quickly, and the tub was only large enough for one, so Kari turned away and took in the rest of the room. It was a very spacious room. Since the establishment was a hostel and not an inn, Kari assumed the rooms were larger and more luxurious because guests were expected to stay for an extended period of time. That brought to mind the question of how long it might take to get an audience with King Sekassus. If he made them wait for days, it might count against the Seven Days’ Grace visitors normally received. Kari realized that could be a trap in itself, but she had to trust that the laws would take such trickery into account.

  Uldriana finished her bath quickly, and Kari turned to her friends when she heard both gasp in surprise. Kari turned to follow their stares, and beheld Uldriana standing beside the tub, her fur no longer the reddish-brown that was so common among her people. She now had an ivory coat, highlighted in all the same places by black spots, and with the charcoal gray hands, feet, ears, and snout. She acknowledged the shock of her companions and began drying her fur using her arcane power. “I will explain shortly,” she said.

  Kari regarded her friends, but they didn’t have any answers for her sudden slew of questions either. They took their own turns getting washed up. Danilynn took hers first, then Sonja, and so Kari was in the tub when a knock came at the door. The rir women exchanged concerned glances, but after taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, their mallasti guide simply walked over and opened the door.

  Outside was a syrinthian dressed in regal finery colored in golds and greens. There seemed to be a lot more than the usual amount of snake in him: his serpentine features were much more pronounced than on any syrinthian Kari had seen before. There was little doubt he was someone from Sekassus’ court, and the two armored erestram flanking him left little to the imagination about what the price of crossing him would be. Still, there was little apparent hostility in his stance or the expression on his serpentine features.

  He looked Uldriana up and down for a moment and his eyes narrowed momentarily, but then he looked past her at the three rir wo
men. Despite the fact that nudity didn’t usually bother Kari, she wasn’t sure what the syrinthian reaction to it would be, so she kept her wings fanned and her back turned while she dried off. She kept her eyes over her shoulder, though, gauging the syrinthian’s intentions and those of his erestram guards.

  When he turned back to Uldriana, he finally spoke. His voice sounded fairly imperious despite the soft, flowing accent that overrode the typical one for the beshathan tongue. They held a short, tense dialogue back and forth a few times, and then switched to the common trade tongue. The syrinthian’s accent was even more pronounced as they changed languages, but he said in smooth, supple tones, “His Majesty has demanded that you come to his court and declare your intentions before him, outsiders.”

  Uldriana looked over her shoulder at Kari, and the demonhunter nodded: it was time to throw their cards on the table. The mallasti girl turned back to the syrinthian courtier and said, “Tell His Majesty that Karian Vanador, Hand of Zalkar, has come to negotiate with him, and that she has brought a vulkinastra with her.”

  The syrinthian was clearly no politician or poker-player: his eyes went wide and his mouth fell agape at those words. Kari wasn’t sure if it was the fact that Uldriana had introduced Kari by title, or the mention of whatever a vulkinastra was. Kari had no idea what a vulkinastra was, but it was a safe bet that it was whatever Uldriana had brought with her to barter with.

  “Give us half an hour’s time to prepare, and we will come with you to the king’s palace,” Uldriana added, and the syrinthian gave it only a few moments’ consideration before he nodded. He left, but one of the erestram guards stayed by the door to make certain the women didn’t try to escape somehow. The other left with the syrinthian courtier, and Uldriana closed and latched the door once again. She turned and put her back to it, and there was little doubt in Kari’s mind that the girl was fighting down the urge to either cry or be sick. She was now terrified, and all that impassiveness that she had learned from her people was cracking completely. “We must go over some things before we stand before King Sekassus, so that you are fully prepared,” she said, working hard to keep her voice steady.

  Kari wasn’t thrilled with the idea of standing before Sekassus herself, but for some reason, she didn’t feel the anxiousness or fear she had expected. Danilynn and Sonja were both nervous, but they were war veterans and masked it better. Uldriana had no such training or experience, and her trepidation was almost palpable. “Are you going to tell us what a vulkinastra is?” Kari asked the mallasti girl.

  “I suppose I must, or what I tell you will make little sense,” Uldriana returned. She gestured toward her now-ivory coat. “A vulkinastra is one of my kind: a mallasti born with a white coat. When we have agreed to the prisoner swap, you must–”

  “Prisoner swap?!” Kari interrupted, spinning around while she worked to get dressed. “Wait a minute, what the hell are you talking about?”

  “Oh, gods,” Sonja gasped. “Kari, she’s–”

  “I did not come with you to safeguard an item from my people,” Uldriana said, her arms folded across her chest in such a way that she looked to be hugging herself. “I am the thing my people had that Sekassus wants. As I was saying, once he has agreed to the prisoner swap, you must take Se’sasha and be out of this realm within six days. You must get out of Sorelizar as quickly as possible, and get off of Mehr’Durillia at all costs.”

  “Screw that,” Kari said vehemently, drawing on Ty’s vocabulary. “I didn’t come all this way to trade one girl’s life for another. If that’s the deal Morduri came up with, then his payment is forfeit, because there’s no way I’m leaving you here. Gather your things; we’re getting out of Sorelizar now.”

  Uldriana sighed through her canine nose. “Kari, think about this rationally. We have already exhausted nearly the entire Seven Days’ Grace. We would not have sufficient time left to escape the realm in any direction, and if we tried, we likely would not even make it out of the city. If you try to leave the city now, you are fair game to be hunted and captured, or killed.”

  “I’ll take that chance,” Kari returned, marking well the surprise and uncertainty on her friends’ faces. “I made a promise to your mother that I’d bring you home safely, and I intend to keep that promise.”

  “You cannot,” Uldriana said somberly. “Kari, that is why she spat on you when you made the promise! We were told to keep this from you, because King Morduri understood this would be your reaction. I have been offered up as a prisoner in trade, and at this time there is nothing you can do to change that. You must accept it, and please, please see to it that this sacrifice I make is not in vain.”

  Kari wanted to hit something, and she gave in to the temptation. Her fist knocked some flakes of paint and dust free from the sandstone wall, but it hurt her a lot more than the stone. “I don’t understand; why? Why does Sekassus want you more than the syrinthian priestess he already has?” Kari asked, turning back to the mallasti girl.

  “I am told that some centuries ago, King Sekassus received a portent that a vulkinastra would start a rebellion against him and bring about his deposition,” Uldriana answered, pacing back and forth. She was working hard to return the impassive demeanor she’d nearly mastered, but she was having little luck while staring imprisonment in the face. “He captures or kills the ones he is able to find, though if we are offered to him freely, we may at least live out our lives: bound to his will and control, but alive. This is why my fur was dyed, why my people tried to hide me.”

  Kari growled low in her throat. “Gods, am I ever going to have choice words for Morduri when I see him again, and for Koursturaux if I ever have the displeasure of meeting her,” she said.

  “Not just you,” Danilynn grumbled.

  “King Koursturaux?” the mallasti girl repeated. “What has she to do with this?”

  “Your king only agreed to this entire scheme because Koursturaux forced him into it,” Kari said. “That’s why he wasn’t happy about asking your people to give us…well, you. But now I owe him a favor, and I still owe Koursturaux her payment, and frankly, I’m tempted to tell both of them to kiss my rear end.”

  “Worry about that another time,” Uldriana said, though it was clear the involvement of the Crimson Queen perturbed her even more than her current predicament. “Remember what you have been instructed to do, and all that I have told you. The moment the trade is made, your Seven Days’ Grace begins, and it is measured by days, not by hours. You must be out of this city immediately, for it will take you close to that long to escape the realm. Do not dally: get Se’sasha to Anthraxis as quickly as you can, and get home. Staying here or trying to find a way to get me released will only serve to ensnare you in some other plot, or be captured yourselves.”

  “I could slap you for this,” Kari said gruffly, and Uldriana tilted her head curiously.

  “You hate my people; why the concern for me?” the mallasti girl asked, but in her tone was curiosity, not venom.

  “I told you, she’s a defender,” Sonja said, walking over to collapse on the edge of the bed. She sighed, and let her head drop into her hands.

  Uldriana continued to stare at Kari curiously, and the demonhunter approached. A part of her wanted to slap or even punch the girl for being part of such a deception, but Kari understood that the girl probably wasn’t given a choice. The girl was making a noble sacrifice, willingly or not, and the mother in Kari was sad to see a young life threatened with going to waste. The two held their gazes locked for several long moments, but then Kari pulled her in for a hug. Uldriana accepted it tentatively, but Kari held her tight and fought the tears that threatened to roll free.

  Kari wondered what was wrong with her; she felt like she had with Makauric, caring for something she’d been trained to kill. Everything about her livelihood and her training kept being thrown into chaos and doubt, but she recognized it was because she was finally, after all these years, beginning to see the truth of things. It was possible that a lot of
it was just the fact that Uldriana was young, her mother had cared for her, and Kari’s own maternal instincts were getting the better of her. Her heart argued, however, that it was the fact that the girl had come willingly, ready to give up her freedom not just to secure that of a stranger, but one who could cause significant damage to her people and their kings. Even if Uldriana did it solely at the direction of her king, there was merit in it, and Kari couldn’t easily dismiss that fact.

  They gathered their things and left the room, and the silent erestram guard led them down and out of the hostel to where the syrinthian courtier was waiting. He nodded vaguely to the four women when they approached, and soon he and his guards led Kari and her friends south toward the massive black pyramid that draped much of the city in shadow. Sorelizar was an interesting city, with a flowing, angular architecture that was unlike anything Kari had seen before. Like the features and the language of the snake people, the stone- and wood-work flowed, and there was a stateliness to all of it.

  The people were not all that different a story: the syrinthians dressed in light, flowing garments that ensured modesty while remaining stylish and accentuating their natural forms. Sylinths were still fairly uncommon, though here and there Kari and her friends caught glimpses of the massive serpent-men slithering through the city. Beshathans seemed rare, and of those Kari and her friends saw, most were elestram. That seemed to make some sense, as the jackal-folk were said to appreciate warmer, arid climates. Still, the fact that they shared a city with the snake-people under the shadow of King Sekassus still seemed odd to Kari, even taking the bans on migration into account.

  Uldriana’s white coat, no longer masked by the dyes she’d used upon herself, drew far more interest even than the three rir women. The syrinthian people seemed to understand just by looking at the passing, snowy-white mallasti girl that her fate was sealed. No one got in the way of the courtier or, more pointedly, his erestram escorts, though there was the occasional thing said to Uldriana in beshathan. Neither Kari nor her friends could make out any of it; Uldriana had barely managed to teach them any of her tongue.