Where could she go indeed. Denden wasn't a doorway to everywhere. However, it opened all of Xernia, some of which remained a mystery even hundreds of years after its capture. The natives did keep their secrets well.
Wrepta lay dormant in those turbulent waters.
Realization dawned.
Backaran.
Denden to the port of Larki. It would be only days on a good horse from there to Backaran and the mad city had a hand in everything. Kendrick went to the window. The cityscape of Arathum sprawled below the window in the heavy sun. Even at a distance, he heard the cry of those streets. Teeming life begging to be devoured, but even more to be set free from the yoke of conquest.
"Versa, I think I know where she's going."
"Where?"
"I need you to hide my absence."
"Where has she gone?"
"I have to follow her myself."
"Kendrick, where has she gone?" Kendrick winced under the grip on his arm. Sometimes he forgot Versa was not a soft woman to be manipulated. She chose her path and he had to honor her for that.
"I can't tell you."
"You and your secrets." Her tone cut.
"Forgive me. This is something I have to do. Where she goes, madness treads." He caressed her fingers before drawing them to his lips. "Please, forgive me. I cannot explain."
"If you disappear, the council will question. Especially so soon after your declaration of her death."
"I have to go. Can you do this for me?"
"I have already done far worse."
"Tell them I have secluded myself in mourning. That should keep them from requiring me to appear."
He spared her a kiss on the forehead, stunned again by their difference in height, and strode toward through his private chambers to his wardrobe. He wouldn't need much. He didn't intend to be gone long. Still he had to consider whether or not he was truly prepared to fight her toe to toe. Leviana was formidable and her powers remained untested despite the length of her life. He couldn't be certain anything he did would have any effect.
Of course, then there was Backaran itself.
The paltry few shirts stared back at him.
The mad city would throw its backing wherever it chose. Could he hope to persuade it of his cause?
He wrapped a featureless brown shirt around his fist.
Perhaps.
If he got there first.
Versa's presence in his doorway broke his revelry.
"You're still here," he said.
"I am. I am not your servant to be dismissed by a turned back."
"Versa--"
"Don't. I've already agreed."
"You're angry."
"You're lying to me." She paused. "Again.
"I haven't lied."
"You refuse to be honest with me."
"I'm protecting you."
"I am not a child to be protected."
"Everything cannot be handled on the point of a sword."
"Says the man who prepares for a war of his own." She turned her back on him. "You claim peace, but are quick to war. Just like her." His door slammed shut behind her leaving behind only the whiff of her energy in the air.
"War has its uses."
Backaran
With the softness of night curling around the ship, Leviana stared out over the placid sea. Above, stars winked. The sky, dominated by a round disk of silver moon, went on for ages over water like black glass. The feeling of a blade laid against her throat did not even cause her pulse to quicken.
"Why shouldn't I just cut your throat and throw you overboard?"
Warden's question surprised her little.
Why not? In all truth, he could disappear with her dead. Eventually, his reputation would no longer follow him like a dark cloud and he could resume his activities with impunity.
His blade laid open her flesh, but only a little. His hand trembled. Or maybe it was just his heartbeat she felt. A few seconds longer, she waited before guiding his hand away. He did not resist.
"You wasted your chance."
Turning, she looked up into his face. Illuminated by the moon, he looked almost striking. As if he could be the man she longed for.
He wasn't, but she had seen a glimpse of it as he fought in Denden. In him, the dragon rested and waited. In him, Vadian waited. The light scruff on his face wanted caressing. Where Warden was slim, Vadian had been broad.
Beneath them, the ship creaked and groaned. Above them, someone coughed on their night watch. The trip from Denden to Larki could be treacherous. Pirates plied the nearby Xernian waters. Unexpected storms sank many. Then there was the crew of Regalia's Legacy to contend with. A few stomped back and forth along the deck, but Leviana felt their eyes on her and Warden. In her time below deck, she had already heard murmuring about having a female crew member aboard who wasn't a doctor or a net mender, positions commonly held by Xernian women. They seemed all the more disturbed at her carrying a sword. None of it mattered to her, but she had to be aware she would be stuck with them for some time. If she wished to avoid trouble, better to know trouble was coming.
"I'm getting good at that." He walked away. Leviana watched him go. Had she felt that way once? Caught between the girl she had been and the woman she would be, a hellacious phase unending? What she knew of Jalcina of Sartol said the young woman had been a fighter, though not trained. Navar's recollections of her were tainted by his nearness to Vadian, but he had been willing to talk.
Standing on the swaying deck, Leviana looked across the boards to a man who had stopped to stare at her. His unfamiliar face marked him as a Xernian, one of those who could be called a pure blood. Intermarriage made them rare anymore, yet those dark eyes beckoned. He approached with his lantern.
"You're not who you say you are," he said.
Leviana leveled her gaze at him. She had spoken nothing of who she was to anyone aboard. Though communication into the hinterlands might be slow, that she had been declared dead made it to Denden. Therefore, she refused to speak of herself. Better to leave them to wonder than to have to deal with someone trying to profit from her misfortune.
"And who do you say I am?"
His smile went feral revealing the characteristic tar-colored teeth of a pure breed Xernian. Leviana swallowed her revulsion.
"The crystal lighthouse awaits you, Immortal. Restless dreams stir sleeping waters."
His use of her title made her dart her eyes to see who else could overhear. No one stood close. Perhaps his words would find their way further out to sea.
"Be silent."
He brought the lantern up throwing harsh light on his face, turning his eyes into sockets full of glass.
"The son of the lighthouse seeks you. He will find you."
Without missing a beat, he wandered away muttering. "Then he will kill you."
"The son of the lighthouse?" Leviana questioned. The crewman did not come back, but wandered the perimeter of the deck as if watching for someone to come crawling up the side from the waves below.
Madness already and soon they would be in Backaran.
The comforting darkness had developed a cold edge. Leviana descended below deck with a touch of shiver.
Weeks later, they rode into the gorge of Backaran and dismounted. The horses plunged and carried on. A high pitched keening split the air around them. Warden covered his ears with his hands and screwed his eyes shut.
"What is that?"
"That's the city screaming," Leviana said. She seemed much less bothered by it, though her jaw worked as she ground her teeth. "It never stops."
"Do you get used to it?" he asked.
"I don't know. I refuse to stay here long enough to find out." She loosed the reins of her horse and let it dance around, though it didn't immediately run away. "We need something to stop up the horses' ears. Then they might be able to follow us down."
"Like what?"
"I don't know," she said. She took off the scarf she wore for the growing cold and wrapped i
t around the creature's head. "Maybe this will work." The scarf hung in the horse's eyes, but it calmed down to a shiver. Warden's horse continued with its antics, rearing and plunging to rid itself of the bridle and the offending man. He held on to the horse with both hands. He had chosen a strong willed animal and now he paid for it. The walnut colored stallion stamped its feet and whinnied.
"Can you quiet him?"
"I don't think he wishes to be quieted," Warden said. He pulled the horse's head down and stroked his muzzle. The animal made unsettled sounds, but didn't try to run away. "Do you have another scarf?"
"In my saddlebag."
Their stop in Larki had been profitable. They stayed a few days and worked as bodyguards to a wealthy couple. The couple had been generous when they chose to leave. With that generosity, they had bought provisions for the trip inland. The journey of a little over three weeks had been cut to two by their choice to cut straight through the foothills rather than taking the road around. Now at the head of the gorge, they tried to calm their horses into going down into the darkness. Night approached and would be full by the time they reached the city at the bottom.
"How did you come here before?" Warden asked.
"I believe last time, I entered the city on foot," she said. He dug through the saddlebags of her horse to find another long scarf to wrap around the head of his horse. Once it was in place, he tried to mount up again. His horse stepped away and shied.
"Dumb animal."
"Let's walk them for a moment," she said. Leading her horse down the slope, she stepped slowly. Warden came along after trying again to mount up. The horses huddled close to one another and shivered even as they walked. Warden kept looking back toward the top as if willing it to be closer to them. Leviana's eyes were captured by the city at the bottom staring up at them.
In the sky above the darkness, minarets clawed at the sky. Low hanging clouds seemed as if they were hung from them to make a canopy of gray silk in the darkening sky.
Hours later when they reached the city, they passed through the first gate. In the broad street, no one gathered. Silence caused the hoof beats to ring off the walls. Closely packed buildings gave the impression of a single wall staring at them. Leviana stopped.
"We need to head toward the center of the city, there will be a cathedral there."
At a distance, a dog howled. Mid-Stride, Leviana drew her sword. Warden cocked his head to one side.
"Wolf?"
"Dog," Leviana said. She continued forward with her sword in hand. Warden continued unarmed, but wary.
The city was set out like a spider's web of streets. The broad avenues reached toward the center, but most did not go all the way through, instead, only one reached the true center. It took them an hour of walking the horses to reach it. The cathedral stood in the center of the city with its peak high overhead. Its rose window emitted light. There were the remains of a market in the square before it. A gallows swung empty in the North corner.
The heavy wooden doors thrummed when Leviana knocked on them. No one came.
At the edge of the square, dogs circled. When they approached, Leviana warned them off with her sword. Warden popped the blades at his wrists and waited for them to come closer. Again Leviana knocked. Finally, the door opened. The man who stood in the doorway looked them over and said,
"She will not see you now."
"She must see us."
"She will not see you now. Return in a few days time and perhaps that will change."
Leviana's grip tightened.
"What are we to do in the meantime?"
"Avail yourself of the hospitality of the city. The people will welcome you."
Stepping away from the door, Leviana patted Warden with her free hand. They went back to the horses down at the bottom of the stairs. Leaving the square, Leviana looked again at the gallows and this time it hung with a body bloated in decay.
The man in the doorway waited for some time as if he wanted them to disappear before he could move. Finally, he shut the door and shut in the light. Leviana turned into the avenue of the city.
As if animated by them being shut out of the cathedral, people began to move through the streets. The city was still closer to silent than either Leviana or Warden were used to, but at least now there was some movement. An oxen tread the stones of the street with a man standing at the bridle. At one corner, an older woman stood with flowers in her basket. The flowers were black and blue but appeared healthy. Leviana stopped beside her and asked,
"Where will we find a place to stay?"
"There is no inn here," she said. With a gap-toothed smile she bowed her head. "But if you be here for the good of the city, then I may have a spare room you can use."
"I come to speak with the Queen."
"Ah." The old woman waved them forward. "She has been quite quiet of late. Her dogs do not hunt the streets as they have. It is curious indeed. But if you come for her, then I will open my house to you and your companion. Your horses can eat with my goats."
She led the way away from the street corner and further into the spiderweb. Leviana followed her. Though they had only been moving for a few minutes, it seemed as if the night had moved on a great deal since they came into the city. Leviana reached out to the woman to stop her.
"Where are we going?"
"We go to my house."
"And who are you?"
"I am one of the chosen of the Queen. Call me Marchiana, I once kept the quiet of the cathedral in my veins, but she allowed me out when my time had finished."
Mulling the woman's words, Leviana followed her. Warden looked around as if he expected something to come flying from the shadows to attack them. He kept one blade out and occasionally stroked the face of the horse at his elbow. They reached a building with a small yard dominated by a piebald goat. Marchiana led them in and put her basket of flowers to the side.
"What do you come to the Queen for?" Marchiana asked as she opened the spare room for the two of them. "She is a powerful, but strange being."
"Once upon a time, she offered me aid. I only come to see if she may offer me the same aid again."
"One must be careful of the things they ask of her, she is capricious," Marchiana said.
"You speak of the Queen as if you knew her," Warden said coming to sit at a table in the front room. He picked up a flower from the basket and peeled the petals from it one petal at a time. "Is it common for those of the common folk to know the Queen of this place?"
"The Queen of this place was once a commoner and she still has a heart for her people," Marchiana said. She went to a wall and heaped coals into a grate. The room warmed. "But that is a story perhaps she will tell you if you come to her. For now, let it suffice that she is indeed a bound woman with her own things."
The old woman went into her kitchen, another cut stone room, and picked up a loaf of bread.
"I did not get to see much of Backaran when I was here. I did not know the people were the same as everywhere else."
"We are not the same as everywhere else. There is no one born here. We all come to the call of our blood. Even the Queen was not born here. Her fate brought her here. My fate brought me here as well."
"And what fate was that?" Leviana asked. The idea of fate drawing someone to a place was not completely foreign to her and she felt some curiosity toward this new woman.
"Perhaps I will tell it to you over breakfast. It is late. Please come and rest yourself in my spare room."
The spare room had warmed when the front room warmed and Warden went in first. The large bed dominated the floor space. Beside it was a small table with an unlit candle on it. Leviana followed him in and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Shall we flip for who gets the bed?"
"If you want the bed," Leviana said. "Then I will take the floor. There is no reason to fight. Besides, we will be here a few days, so we can share somehow, I don't doubt."
He gaped.
"Am I speaking with the
same woman?" he asked. "You were a queen."
"And now I am not. Here I am only a traveler as you are. Therefore, I can expect no more than you."
Marchiana stopped in the doorway.
"I'm sorry there is but one bed." She brought in clean linens in her arms. Milky gray eyes fixed on each of them in turn. "Will he be a gentleman if I leave him in here with you?" she asked.
"He has been nothing less throughout our travels," Leviana said. "I expect no less from him here. Besides, I think I will sleep near the fire in the front room."
"If you desire, I can make up a nest there for you of blankets and such."
"If you don't mind."
"You have but to ask." After putting the linens on the bed, Marchiana went back into her own room and came back with several blankets. "I will set you up now," she said.
"Thank you," Leviana said.
The intervening weeks inboard ship and with Warden had weakened her, but she would continue on in strength. Their journey was coming close to an end. The Queen would have the answers she sought. It was here things began, perhaps it would be where they ended as well.
Leviana laid down in the nest of blankets with the heat radiating over her from the grate and closed her eyes. Her sword lay within reach of her hand just as it always did. Without fear, she let sleep invade and take over. In the other room, Warden laid down as well and let sleep overtake him. His final thought was of how the city's scream did not carry inside it.
Sleep wrapped securely around them, the night wore on.
Leviana drifted in and out of hearing, her heart beating slowly.
Warden shifted in his sleep and reached for someone he saw only in his dreams.
Standing at the head of a cliff, Leviana looked at the expanse of the world arrayed below her. Behind her the sheer face of a mountain rising into the sky. Following the slope down with her eyes, she saw two boulders practically in each others arms. Arms encircled her waist. She turned and was eye to eye with a face she had not seen in years. She had never learned his name. She had stabbed him in the stomach when he attempted to come between her and Vadian years ago. Now he held her and dipped his face forward to kiss her. She accepted his kiss with an eagerness she had never felt before. His hands came up to caress her face and hair. Leviana wrapped her arms around him even as her heart screamed no. This was not Vadian. Who was he and how did she know him?
Blades of Fate Page 8