by David Estes
Jai nodded.
Falcon tried to ignore the despair he felt at knowing both of his living sisters were missing. Though his brothers had never gotten along with the trio of Sandes’ sisters, Falcon had never held anything against them, though they were an enigma to him at times. “Viper despises slavery as much as all the Sandes do,” he said. “She will help us.”
Shanti looked less certain, but she said, “Send an official stream to Viper, telling her what has transpired.”
Falcon nodded, glad to be of help. “What about the enemy?”
Sonika stepped forward. Her face was as cold as ice. Truth be told, the Black Tears’ leader scared him a little. “If they get through the Bloody Canyons, a force of a hundred-thousand won’t be able to stop them, not with those fire weapons.”
“If we face them in the canyons,” Jai said, “we will be as trapped as they. It will be a massacre. Thousands will die on both sides.”
“Better than a rout in the desert,” Sonika fired back.
So this, Falcon thought, is the argument I interrupted.
“Stop,” Shanti said. “You both have made your positions clear. I am also in favor of the canyons. What say you, Zor?”
The soldier stiffened. Falcon really looked at him for the first time, chastising himself for slipping back into old habits so easily. His red skin gave away his Teran descent, as did his round blue eyes and coppery hair. To call him a man was being generous, for he was as young as a new day’s dawn. Still, he was here for a reason. To represent the army. A general, then. Falcon remembered his own generals, grizzled old veterans with their lust for battle and fierce opinions they liked to wield like blades.
Unlike Falcon’s old generals, the Teran soldier was soft-spoken, his words more like a promise than anything else. “The soldiers will go where he wills us to.” His eyes were trained on Jai Jiroux, leaving no doubt as to who he meant.
Jai looked uncomfortable. “I am not your master,” he said. “You have free will now. Do you feel our chances of success are greater in the canyons or in the desert?”
The soldier, Zor, said, “You carry the mark of justice. It shall be borne on our backs wherever you choose.”
Jai shook his head, clearly frustrated. “What about you, Marella?”
All heads turned toward the other Teran woman, and she seemed to shrink into herself, blushing fiercely. “I—I don’t know why I’m here.”
Jai took her hand in both of his. “Your own people chose you to represent the mine workers, whose numbers exceed even those of the trained army.”
The woman seemed to take strength from Jai, and Falcon detected a closeness between them, like they were old friends. Garadia, he thought. When he was the master there… Of course, he would’ve been familiar with the slaves, developed friendships. He’d helped liberate them twice, after all. “There is talk of returning to Teragon.”
It didn’t surprise Falcon. Why would the Terans stay here? They were brought against their will, enslaved, and forced to endure great hardships. Returning to their true home made sense.
Sonika muttered something indecipherable, turning away when Jai warned her off with a pointed look. “They have that choice now,” Jai said. “The empire will provide ships and supplies as needed. Is it a majority?”
“I haven’t put it to a vote yet,” Marella said. “But I believe it to be an even split.” Falcon appreciated the way the woman spoke. Clear, concise, a quiet divide between facts and opinions.
“Which side do you land on?” Jai asked.
She met his gaze. “My children were born in Phanes. In a mine, yes, where they could not see the sun or the moons or the stars. For many years, they never felt rain on their faces or smelled the scent of fresh flowers in spring. And yet…this is their home. This is my home. We all have the chance to change this empire, to make it a place worth living in. I will stay. My family will stay.”
Jai nodded, like he’d known what her answer would be before he’d asked the question. “Good. We are honored to have you on the council. Now, we have two votes for fighting in the desert, two for the canyons. What say you?”
Marella seemed to seriously consider the question, pursing her lips. “The canyons,” she said. “I don’t want to bring war to our doorstep. And my people are not afraid to die for a cause they believe in.”
Falcon caught Jai’s slight grimace. He is afraid for the liberated slaves. He wishes they would all go back to Teragon and avoid bloodshed altogether. He blames himself.
“The last vote goes to the emperor,” Shanti said. He met her eyes. “Will you push us back into a tie or cast the deciding vote?”
It wasn’t even a question. Phanea had always been protected from its enemies by two things: the Southron Gates and the Bloody Canyons. The Gates were shattered—his sister had given her life to ensure that. But the canyons remained, a bloody throat that had been the end of several powerful armies over the years.
“The canyons,” he said. “And I will lead the army into battle.”
The five others in the room exchanged furtive glances, before eventually settling back on Shanti. “What?” Falcon asked, wondering what they weren’t saying.
Shanti said, “Falcon—Emperor Hoza—we would prefer if you stay here.”
They don’t trust me, he thought. I am a Hoza; no matter what I do, they can never fully trust me. “Why? I can fight. I won’t be like my father. I reject that.”
Shanti shook her head. “No, it’s not that. We have another task for you.”
“What?”
More furtive glances. “The previous slave owners…unite them to our cause. Change their way of thinking.” There was something else she wasn’t saying, he could sense it lying in wait.
Sonika shook her head in frustration. “If the rest of you cowards won’t say it, I will. If they don’t fight for us, they will be executed. We can’t imprison them all. There are far too many.”
Falcon closed his eyes. Opened them. Felt the burn of his sores on his skin, the weight of his leather armor on his shoulders. He would do this thing, but he knew his people better than most. There was only one way to accomplish what they asked.
And it would involve blood.
Forty-Eight
The Southern Empire, Phanea
Jai Jiroux
Jai watched the army from the corner of his eye. They were in the heart of Phanea in the palace courtyard, a wide area surrounded by beautifully carved marble railings and white-stone staircases leading to other parts of the complex. On two sides the canyon walls loomed overhead, pocked with vestibules carved into the stone. Homes. Once inhabited by slave owners, now filled with ex-slaves. Broad stone steps provided access to the upper levels, which had housed the wealthiest Phanecians.
Jai saw General Zor striding amongst the soldiers, correcting positions and improving techniques. Though he was several years younger than Jai, Zor was the oldest and most experienced of the soldiers; thus, he was named general.
And yet at every turn he reverted to following Jai’s every command.
Can I blame him for that? Jai thought. After all, it was he who had used the power of his mark on these soldiers, persuading them to fight for him rather than the masters that had trained them. They’d lived their entire lives under the command of another—it could take years for them to learn to make decisions for themselves.
The memory of what had happened near the Bloody Canyons was as bright in Jai’s mind as a lit candle. The soldiers had retreated as ordered, their comrades falling as they were hit by metal projectiles. Later, after the Phanecians had ridden away toward Hemptown, they’d gone back to retrieve the bodies. The soldiers hadn’t wept for their friends, their comrades. No, they’d simply gone about their business, hefting the corpses onto their shoulders and carrying them to where they were placed on makeshift gurneys to be hauled back to Phanea.
Do they feel no emotions? Is it possible to save them from a life of following orders?
Not if I c
ontinue to control them, Jai thought. Forcing them to fight the Phanecians felt almost as bad as forcing them to slave away in the mines. Almost.
Sometimes the difference felt as narrow as the width of a needle.
Jai turned his attention back to where Marella’s children, Jig and Viola, were playing nearby. Well, Jig was playing, practicing his sword work with the stiff branch of a tree, while Viola braided her long coppery hair, occasionally batting her eyelashes at Jai. Most of the Teran women had gone back to their traditions of wearing their hair short now that they could, but some of the younger girls were of a different mind. Viola, as strong-willed as ever, was one of them.
Jig swept his sword at an invisible enemy, parried once, and then danced back, flashing a grin at Jai.
Jai’s eyes roved to where Marella stood, watching, her stare as distant as the sun that had slipped behind the tall canyon walls. He moved over to her side.
She didn’t seem to notice him or her children, lost in the memory of some faraway place.
“Teragon,” he said, and her head jerked toward him.
“Oh,” she said. “Sorry. I was thinking. Yes, Teragon weighs heavy on my mind.”
“You want to go back.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t know. It’s been so long…too much time has passed.”
Jai considered her words. “You’re afraid it won’t feel like home anymore.”
“Yes. And my children were born here. I meant what I said before. This is our home. But I can’t stop the others from leaving.”
“No, you cannot. And I meant what I said about the empire providing ships and supplies. This country will no longer hold its people captive.”
Marella watched her son, her daughter. “That is good.” Her eyes flitted to where the army continued to train. “Beautiful,” she murmured.
Jai followed her gaze. It was beautiful, the way they moved as a collective unit, like a single organism. Their phen ru kicks were precise, their flips perfection. It wasn’t the same as the beauty of the graceful dance of phen sur, but it wasn’t far off either.
His attention was dragged away from the soldiers when a shadowy form moved so quickly down one of the staircases she was like a bird in flight, dive-bombing an unsuspecting prey.
Sonika jogged up, her strides powerful, the taut muscles of her bare arms shining in the waning light. “We have to talk,” she said.
Jai sighed. There were so many personalities to contend with in this new world, Sonika not the least of them by a longshot. “About?”
“The slave owners.”
“Prior slave owners, you mean?”
“Not in their minds. They continue to make demands. They continue to ask for their ‘rightful property’ to be returned to them. They don’t only mean their homes or their precious things. They mean slaves.”
This was going to be the most difficult task of all, even harder than defeating the Phanecian forces to the north. Changing stubborn peoples’ minds was like fighting a war against an invincible opponent. “That is Falcon’s responsibility.”
“Emperor Falcon?” She didn’t try to hide the mocking tone in her voice. “He is part of the problem, Jai. So long as there is a Hoza in power, the Phanecians will cling to their old ways of thinking.”
“Do you agree, Marella?” As usual, the Teran woman seemed surprised to be asked her opinion.
“That depends on…Falcon,” she said slowly.
“I was skeptical of him once, too,” Jai said. “But he showed his true mind when he fought his brothers.”
“His competition,” Sonika scoffed. “He was only protecting his stranglehold on the empire.”
“They almost killed him. Shanti trusts him.”
“Shanti is generally a good judge of character,” Sonika conceded. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be wary. At the first sign of a political maneuver by Falcon, we need to end him like his brothers.”
Though he hated to admit it, Jai knew she was right. He’d trusted blindly before, and it had almost gotten his people killed. “Agreed,” he said.
Walking the palace halls had become a nightly ritual for Jai. All the lavish rooms were now occupied by families of refugees, so Jai didn’t open any doors, but he did poke around in the various nooks and crannies beneath staircases and around corners.
With each night that passed, he became more and more certain that he’d imagined his mother a fortnight ago. Or perhaps had seen another woman who reminded him of her. If the latter, he was determined to find that woman so he could close off that part of his heart once more.
He was just finishing a large, winding loop, when he almost collided with Shanti as she rounded the corner. “Where have you been?” she said, her breaths coming in great heaves, as if she’d been running for some time.
“Walking? Why? What has happened?”
“It’s Sonika,” she said
She didn’t need to say anything else. Jai bolted down the corridor, heading for where the Phanecians were being held.
Sonika’s commanding tone met him even before he turned the corner to the large holding area. “We need to start making examples of the most outspoken,” she said. She was flanked by the Black Tears, most of whom were nodding in agreement.
“They won’t respond to that,” another voice said. Falcon. Next to the group of rebels, he looked like an island smashed from all sides by an ocean of waves. “I know how they think.”
“Because you’re one of them.”
Beyond Sonika and Falcon was a huge room filled with people. Hundreds. Phanecians, all of them. Some were sitting, while others milled around. A large group had congregated against the wall of iron bars, shouting.
“Emperor Hoza,” one said. “Release us! We have done nothing wrong.”
Falcon turned to them, gesturing for them to quiet down.
Just as Shanti reached his side, Jai said, “What is going on?”
Sonika glared at them. “The esteemed emperor Hoza is promising his people that everything will go back to the way it was.”
“That’s not what I said,” Falcon retorted.
“Close enough.” Sonika stepped forward. “Jai, this is madness. I know these…people”—she said the word like a curse—“too. I grew up in Phanea. People like these murdered my mother, my father, tried to kill me and my brother. Just because we didn’t think like them. They will never change. Not without an example being made. Maybe not even then.”
Jai said, “You agreed to give Emperor Falcon time.”
“He’s had enough time.” Though Jai was loath to admit it, he understood her impatience. She’d been fighting for years for the slaves’ freedom. Now that it was here, squashing any threats was tempting indeed. But that doesn’t make it right. At least, not without giving them a chance to change, to join a new society with new laws.
“You are a member of a council. None of us, not even the emperor, have absolute power. Not anymore. Before major decisions are made, you must consult. We have to vote.”
Sonika’s narrow eyes were steel. With a wave of her hand, she gestured her Tears to follow her as she stalked away, shouldering Falcon as she passed.
Shanti said, “She’ll come around.” Jai wasn’t so certain, but he kept his mouth shut.
Falcon said, “I should’ve stayed in bed.”
The Phanecian prisoners were shouting again. Falcon faced them once more. “Silence!” he said, his voice echoing. The murmurs faded away. “I am your emperor and you must trust me. But I am also the emperor for all who live within the bounds of Phanes.”
“Even slave filth?” someone asked. Jai’s fists clenched at his sides. Shanti started to step forward, but Jai held her back, watching what Falcon would do.
He scanned the crowd, trying to locate who had spoken, but the coward had faded away. Falcon lowered his voice, and yet it seemed even more powerful than before. “Whomever has that mindset will remain imprisoned for the rest of their days.”
“You filthy t
raitor,” another voice said.
“I am no traitor. I am a Phanecian. My father ruined this land and its people. I can’t save it alone. I need your help. Stand with me and our way of life can continue. It will be different than before. You will have to work harder, or compensate those who work for you. But you can still enjoy all the fruits Phanes has to offer.”
“Thief!”
“Traitor!”
“You’re no emperor of mine!”
“We will never bow to you!”
The shouts grew in intensity, blending into each other until they were a collective roar of anger. Falcon turned away, looking slightly shaken, before he composed his expression once more. Without looking at Jai or Shanti, he swept past them and out of the room.
“That went well,” Shanti said.
“At least no one got killed.”
“Want to go blow something up?” Shanti asked.
Strangely, it was the best idea Jai had heard all day. “Absolutely.”
Forty-Nine
The Southern Empire, the Burning Sea
Grey Arris
Grey barely noticed he only had one hand anymore. For one, his existing hand and arm were strong enough for two, long weeks spent scrubbing decks and winching ropes and hoisting anchors strengthening muscles he didn’t even know he had. For another, he quite liked his blade-hand, though he had to be vigilant not to stab anyone he didn’t intend to.
And the rolling sea that had once turned his stomach into the fiercest enemy he’d ever faced? The ocean had become his ally, his coconspirator, his confidante, his friend.
Standing at the railing, the salt spray on his face, his dark curls blasted by a brutal wind, Grey felt alive.
I’m a pirate, he thought. Even though he’d lived through them, he could scarcely believe the series of mad events that had brought him to this point, from losing his hand, to pursuing the furia after they abducted his sister, Shae, to freeing her and facing the undead horse men on the Dead Isles, and, finally, to meeting the pirate king, Erric Clawborn and helping his pirates fight off the sea vampires known as the Drahma.