by Joe Jackson
Eve of Redemption, Book VI
Preludes to War
Copyright 2017 by Joe Jackson
All rights reserved
Cover Art by Andreas Zafeiratos
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The Eve of Redemption Series
Salvation’s Dawn
White Serpent, Black Dragon
Serpents Rising
Legacy of the Devil Queen
The Huntresses’ Game
Preludes to War
Convergence (due 2018)
The Awakening (due 2018)
“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.”
– Nelson Mandela
For my grandfathers
And all those of the greatest generation
For taking a stand for freedom
Contents
Chapter I – The Fog of War
Chapter II – Farewells
Chapter III – A Modest Proposal
Chapter IV – The Spotted Lion
Chapter V – Considerations
Chapter VI – Civil Unrest
Chapter VII – Bait
Chapter VIII – Snag
Chapter IX – Perfection
Chapter X – The View from the Other Side
Chapter XI – An End to Subtlety
Chapter XII – Successive Gains
Chapter XIII – Parley
Chapter XIV – Hesitance
Chapter XV – Shifts
Chapter XVI – Feints and Maneuvers
Chapter XVII – Battlegrounds
Chapter XVIII – The Prophecy Be Done
Chapter XIX – Counterstrikes
Thank Yous & Acknowledgements
Appendix A: The Many Unique Races of Citaria
Appendix B: The Merged Citarian-Koryonite Pantheons
Appendix C: Geography and History
Appendix D: The Kings and Races of Mehr’Durillia
Chapter I – The Fog of War
Kari sat with her back to the tree, watching her children play in the dirt. Spring was underway, the thaw long done and the days growing longer and consistently warmer. Little Gray had turned into quite the excavator once winter’s chill had left the ground, and Uldriana, now able to crawl like lightning and occasionally walk, was working to become his partner in crime. The two were filthy, but they were enjoying themselves. Safe as they were, it let Kari sit below the great oak and contemplate how much she missed her mate.
The births of Damansha and Danilynn’s daughters, Jessirra and Amayalou, had helped soothe the pain of Grakin’s passing with most of the family. Kari was glad to have more children in the family – even if Danilynn and Eli weren’t exactly part of it – reinforcing the elven creed of death feeding new life. She had lost her husband, and her children had lost their father, but they had gained nieces and cousins, and that formed a bubble of happiness that helped contain Kari’s pain. It kept her in the warmth of new motherhood, and she found she was able to relive her own happiness through her sister-in-law and close friend.
The family was a bit different now. Grakin’s absence was a hole that no one could fill properly, certainly not to Kari or her children, but the new additions changed the dynamic. No longer was Corbanis a mystery man that Kari heard only snippets about; he had returned to her service in the Order, and eventually became a part of her family. It took months, but he and Kyrie had gradually patched their relationship, and Kari knew that as awful as it was, Grakin’s death had a lot to do with it. Corbanis had reacted so perfectly, comforted his wife and children so well, that almost all the wounds of their past had been healed over since.
Kari glanced up at the house for a moment, specifically to the window of Kyrie’s room. It was now Kyrie and Corbanis’ room, much as they hated to feel like they were imposing on Kari. They were sharing a room and a bed, and more beyond that, Kari knew. She was happy for her mother-in-law, a woman who gave so much, and had lost not just a son, but a fellow priest in Grakin. Kari wanted nothing but the best for Kyrie, and though circumstances had dealt her a few raw hands, she was making the best of things. Despite nearly thirty years apart, she and Corbanis were back together, their marriage bond repaired.
Aeligos was the only other member of the family still reeling a bit from Grakin’s death. He was spending a lot more time with Eryn, and far less at home. Kari thought the house and the fact that she and Grakin built it as their wedding abode had a lot to do with Aeligos’ behavior. To the rogue, it might seem a bit haunted, too much of his brother’s essence and presence in the walls for him to feel comfortable living there full time. Kari figured that might just be a blessing in disguise: something to urge Aeligos and Eryn to explore where they wanted their relationship to go with more urgency.
But there was only so much time for Kari to consider family before all the responsibilities of her position as Avatar of Vengeance came back to the forefront. Trouble was coming; Kari could feel it in her bones. Just months before, she’d received word that King Morduri Irrasitus, one of the seventeen lords of the demon-controlled world of Mehr’Durillia, was calling her debt to him due. He expected her to meet him at the summer session of the Anthraxis Council, where the demon kings met twice per year at the behest of their Overking. There, he would demand of Kari some service to pay for his aid in rescuing Se’sasha, the turncoat syrinthian priestess.
Kari spat, then hoped her children hadn’t noticed. It was amazing how quickly Little Gray managed to pick up her words and mannerisms, so she was careful what she said or did around him nowadays. But the bitter taste the debt to Morduri left in her mouth was hard to push aside. His help had come at the cost of a young woman’s life, and that was something Kari still thought about constantly. She wasn’t sure who she blamed more for that: herself for seeing the mission through, or Morduri for sacrificing a young girl, even though he didn’t want to.
Her stare lingered on her daughter, named for that brave young mallasti girl. Kari had long considered the hyena-folk of Mehr’Durillia to be demons, her enemies; only after that fateful trip to rescue Se’sasha had Kari come to learn the truth of the matter. Now, every time she looked at her daughter or said her name, she was reminded of that young girl, of what she had sacrificed, what she had died for, and what that represented to Kari. War with the demon kings was coming, it was only a question of whether it would happen on Kari’s homeworld of Citaria, or if she would take the fight to Mehr’Durillia.
She had made that decision some time ago, but it wasn’t her choice alone.
Kari sighed, reached above her head, and ran her hand down the trunk of the tree planted over her husband’s grave. She marveled at the gift of the elven druidess who’d caused the tree to grow to nearly its full height in under an hour, even in the dead of winter. Now, when the summer sun came, she would have a shady place to reflect on her love and from which to watch their two children play. Just as he had requested, selflessly thinking of his wife and children as he stared death in the face.
Morduri – or rather, what he would request of her – continued to dominate her thoughts. She wouldn’t lie with him, wouldn’t murder anyone on his behalf, and most certainly wouldn’t do anything to help him set foot on Citaria, so she couldn’t imagine what he might want. She supposed the first of those would, at the least, be the easiest thing she could do to pay her debt to him, but she couldn’t picture w
hat one of the jackal-folk might see in her. She was terra-dracon, a draconic but mammalian race: she had black skin, claws, wings, and a draconic head. Though she had the breasts that marked her as a mammal, that was about the extent of her similarities to a female elestram – one of Morduri’s people.
Kari sighed again. Sex would probably be the least of his desires. He had a love interest, and if that was what he’d wanted, Kari suspected he’d have taken payment up front. No, there was something he needed from her, something that, as he’d said, required her to have reached the rank of Avatar of Vengeance – which she had only recently claimed. He’d said that he wouldn’t ask her to do anything against her nature, but what did he really know about her or her nature? Next to nothing compared to how much she knew about his, she reckoned.
She glanced to the left as someone approached, and she grimaced involuntarily when she saw it was a young cadet from the Order. Was it time to go teach her class already? She felt like she’d only been out here with her children for a few minutes, and even checking the position of the sun told her it hadn’t been very long. Her class – teaching Tumureldi’s fighting style to some of the promising hunters of the Order – wouldn’t be for another couple of hours yet. She tried to keep her annoyance under wraps; perhaps it was something important.
“Ma’am, your presence is requested at once,” the young terra-rir cadet said predictably, snapping the demonhunter salute of tapping his fist over his heart and bowing his head.
Kari sighed for what had to be the thirtieth time in the last hour. “Tell them I’ll be at the campus in half an hour,” she said absently.
“Not at the campus, ma’am.” The young man had Kari’s full attention at that. “You are needed at the docks. A bah’qitur warship has been sighted on the horizon, headed straight for the harbor.”
Kari jumped to her feet. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Go!” With the young hunter on his way to deliver her response, Kari gathered up her daughter and called Little Gray to her side. The excited nature of her call and the presence of a messenger attracted the family’s attention from the house, and soon Seanada and her in-laws came out to see what was happening. “There’s a bah’qitur warship on the horizon!” she told them hurriedly.
Seanada, the half-syrinthian, half-succubus assassin who served as Kari’s bodyguard, was the only one who didn’t know what that meant. Kari’s sister-in-law Sonja answered first. “Get to the docks. I’ll go find Mother at the temple and let her know; she can spread the word.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Aeligos. Her brother-in-law was nearly a spitting image of Kari’s late husband. She was surprised to see him at the house, but hardly had time to think about it.
With Sonja going to tell Kari’s mother-in-law, who was High Priestess of Kaelariel, and word likely having already reached Kari’s fellow demonhunter brother-in-law Erijinkor, Kari raced inside with her children. Their half-paralyzed uncle, Typhonix, was sitting by the fire in his wheelchair, reading a book. Kari deposited Uldriana in his lap and gestured for him to come along with them.
“What’s going on?” he asked, and Kari quickly explained the situation. “Whatever do you need me there for?”
Kari had to resist the urge to slap him. “You’re still a hunter at heart, Ty. I’ll want your input on things.”
That broke him free of the usual uselessness he felt in the face of such situations. While Ty was doing a fine job managing Kari’s household and the vineyards and olive groves of her land, he missed being a demonhunter more and more each day. Kari tried to keep him feeling like he was an important part of the Silver Blades despite not being able to physically participate, but that was oftentimes easier said than done.
Soon enough, the majority of the family was on the way to the docks. Little Gray was excited, having no idea what the implications were of a bah’qitur warship approaching the city of DarkWind. But the adults remembered well the bloody invasion that had taken place a couple of centuries before, when the bah’qitur sought to conquer Askies Island. They were rebuffed in one of the stranger wars that saw the people of Askies ally with the minions of the Devil Queen on a temporary basis. With the Devil Queen now gone, though, Kari had to wonder if the bah’qitur might make another attempt.
It was a long walk to the docks, but even with Ty’s pace being limited by his wheelchair, they got there in good time. There was a host of people already gathered: a couple of members of the Demonhunter Order’s council; some of the Duke’s generals and advisors; many captains of the city watch, from which Kari’s other sister-in-law, Damansha, was conspicuously absent owing to her maternity leave; and Kari’s other family – Erijinkor along with her mother-in-law Kyrie. Only her eldest brother-in-law, Serenjols, remained absent. There was excited chatter all around her, but Kari excused herself to go speak with the Council members.
“Masters, what’s the situation?” she asked with a salute as she stepped before them.
Masters Arinotte and Perez, the two in charge of missions and military integrations, both turned to regard her. Master Perez, the older of the two and a decorated military veteran, was the one to answer. “The Royal warship Vanguard of the Tides has pulled up alongside the bah’qitur ship, which is flying the colors of truce, and is escorting her into port. We won’t really know what’s going on until they anchor or pull up to a pier.”
“So it’s a lone ship?”
“Aye,” Master Arinotte answered. The dark-skinned human smiled and patted Kari on the shoulder, apparently well-acquainted with her trepidation. “It is good to have you here. The presence of an Avatar of Vengeance may dissuade them should they be here for anything even remotely hostile or suggestive of war.”
Kari waited and watched with the others, the chatter only growing more pronounced when the Vanguard of the Tides broke off and sailed away. The bah’qitur warship proceeded toward the harbor with no escort, though it continued to fly the flag of truce. She came in slowly, expertly piloted through choppy and calm water alike, and the master was apparently intent on docking at the pier where everyone was gathered.
Everyone marveled at the magnificent ship, Kari not the least of them. It was titanic compared to even the bigger galleys and warships of the Royal Navy. Kari had long thought Karmi’s Sword, the pirate-hunter and transport that had taken her and her friends to Tsalbrin years before, had to be one of the biggest ships on the seas. Staring at this bah’qitur destroyer, however, she quickly saw she was far from accurate in that thinking. It dwarfed Karmi’s Sword, which only made the skill of its pilot that much more impressive in bringing it safely into port.
The pilings were barely high enough for the ship, and the bah’qitur men didn’t seem keen on trying to drop onto the pier and help get the ship tied down. Kari stepped forward along with one of the Duke’s men – General Crowley, if she remembered the human’s name correctly from the Duke’s court. They walked slowly down the pier as an unusually long, steep gangway was lowered, an imperious-looking, impeccably uniformed bah’qitur male standing at the top. Kari expected he would come down to introduce himself and his intentions, but he kept to his place, watching her and General Crowley approach.
The bah’qitur were somewhat human-looking, but with some reptilian features. Their eyes, in particular, were large, round, deep, and dark. They had a series of almost feather-like fins on their heads in place of hair, and tended to be quite tall compared to humans and rir. Kari didn’t know much about them except that they were a force to be reckoned with militarily. The people of Askies Island may have driven off the bah’qitur with the help of the Devil Queen, but Kari didn’t expect the same result if the bah’qitur invaded again all these years later.
“I hope he doesn’t invite us up on the ship,” the general muttered.
Kari had to bite down a laugh. No doubt the general would be better suited to sending his underlings into dangerous situations to negotiate. Kari doubted even the bah’qitur, if they were truly bent on conquest again, would risk
attacking an Avatar of Vengeance. She may not have been an avatar in the true sense of the word, but she was head of Zalkar’s Demonhunter Order and his right hand on Citaria. To attack Kari was to attack Zalkar, and thereby the entire pantheon. Though the bah’qitur worshipped their own deity, Kari still doubted they would make war on an entire pantheon and its peoples.
The time for contemplations came to an end when the ship’s captain turned and saluted someone approaching. Kari wondered briefly if it might be an admiral, some warlord, royalty, or other ranking member of bah’qitur society. When the person stepped into sight, though, she came to a stop and her jaw dropped wide open.
Standing there at the top of the gangway, exchanging a salute and then a handshake with the bah’qitur captain, was none other than Kris Jir’tana.
It’d been years since Kari had seen him. He was dressed in his paluric armor, a full set of the lightweight plate that was just like Kari’s own, its dark, earthy tones blending in somewhat with the ship. He didn’t have his helmet on, letting the coastal winds blow his black hair about. In the tradition of rir warriors, it was lengthy in the back, showing off just how long it had been since someone had earned the right to take it by besting him in combat. The top was layered so it got gradually longer the farther back it went, something that had always drawn Kari’s eye – much as she pretended otherwise.
Kris was like Kari’s in-laws, standing nearly six and a half feet tall, muscular and broad, unscarred – that she remembered, anyway – and strikingly handsome to a rir. He had the stripes of a terra-bengal, even as a serilian-rir, but because of that heritage, his were crimson instead of white. He spent a couple of minutes saying farewell to the captain and crew of the bah’qitur ship whose name Kari was unable to read. The Warlord, as Kris was commonly known, had barely set his feet on the pier before the bah’qitur began bringing up the gangway and preparing to depart. Only then did Kari realize the tremendous honor they had bestowed upon her former commander: they had brought him home aboard what had to be one of their mightiest ships, a testament to his power as well as their own.