by Devin Madson
‘I am not Endymion. I read emotions, not minds, and then only from those in close proximity. It has nothing to do with knowing what the enemy will do, and everything to do with making them do what you want them to do. If planned properly, one plan is all you ever need.’
Katashi’s stare lingered, a little smile twisting the corners of his bow-curved lips. ‘One plan? You’re sure of yourself.’
‘You noticed.’
He slammed his fist on the table. Pieces jumped and rolled off the board, and my heart leapt into my throat.
‘I’ve noticed that you’re a snarky cunt and I don’t trust you,’ Katashi said. ‘I’ll tell you what the one plan is. The Crimson Throne is mine. I will sit on it with Kin’s severed head in my lap or you will find yourself travelling back to Esvar in tiny pieces. I might not be able to harm you, but there are plenty of Pikes who would gladly do it for me.’
I forced a smile. ‘Your play.’
Katashi stood. ‘No. I’m done. I’m done with you. I’m done with this. Find someone else to torture with your waste-of-time game.’
He strode toward the door, his heavy tread causing the wagon to groan.
‘You ought to finish what you start, Your Majesty,’ I said over the rapid pounding of my heart. ‘We are not done.’ I moved a piece and turned one of his, revealing a blackened crown on the white face. My lead.’
His fists clenched and unclenched and he spun back, unable to leave, yet unwilling to stay. I had misread him. Katashi was getting harder to predict. Malice was a dangerous dog, but at least I knew I could always bring him back to heel.
Katashi remained smouldering in the doorway, real heat coursing off him. ‘Let me go.’
I held his stare, my jaw beginning to ache from gritting my teeth. ‘No. You are my servant and you will remain when I tell you to remain.’
A snarl broken by an abrupt laugh. ‘You’re punishing me because of my sweet twin, aren’t you? In love, Lord Laroth?’
‘Love is for Normals who cannot control their hearts.’
‘So that’s a yes, then? I’m still the head of the family, you know. If you want to marry her you’ll have to get my blessing.’
The nails of my left hand dug into my silk-clad thigh. ‘If only you’d been so protective of her in the past.’
‘I stopped her marrying a stinking merchant,’ he retorted. ‘If that isn’t protection, then I don’t know what is.’
‘Protection of your name and your honour. It didn’t matter that she had to sell her body to survive.’
‘Spoiled or not, she’s too good for you, freak.’
‘But not for anyone who could pay a hundred drams for a touch at royalty!’
His fury returned, his face as red as his crimson coat. ‘I will kill you, Master, that is a promise.’
‘I look forward to seeing you try.’ The words came out clipped and angry, the sort of anger that fuelled the soul. ‘But I think you overestimate your men. Your Pikes are getting edgy, not to mention the trio of generals who command half your force. And what happened to that last shipment of food?’
The hit registered on his face. While no ally had yet withdrawn their support from his cause they were getting jittery and tight-lipped. Excuses, half-filled promises, even the incoming supplies dwindled day on day.
Katashi slammed his hand down on the Errant board again, scattering the remaining pieces. ‘You get off on your power, don’t you, Laroth?’ Smoke rose from his splayed fingers. ‘You want to play puppet master and pull our strings so we dance.’ He lifted his hand, leaving a charred handprint cutting through the white and brown squares. ‘One day I will burn that self-satisfied smile from your face.’
Fury blazed through my veins, his anger feeding mine. ‘Try it,’ I growled.
He seethed. Waves of heat obscured everything behind him and his fingers flexed, but he could not move, could not raise a hand to me while my mark remained upon his heart.
‘You are my Vice, Vengeance, and you will do as I command. Sit. Down.’
Katashi’s glare lingered longer than due respect allowed, before he made a flourishing bow, his hatred directed at me like daggers. ‘As you command, Master.’
He knelt back down across the table and brushed aside the destroyed remains of our game. ‘Lead away.’
I revelled in his fury. For so many years I had fought against the urges of my Empathy, and for what? Five years a dead man.
Now I was alive.
A heavy knock rattled the door. ‘Come,’ I said, and the door swung to reveal two figures rain-drenched upon the threshold. Avarice pushed in first.
‘Master,’ he said, bowing only to me. ‘One of the patrols has caught a scout.’
His companion was a Pike. ‘Your Majesty,’ he said, out of breath and with water dripping down his face. ‘We have caught one of Emperor Kin’s scouts, although he claims to be only a messenger.’
‘The Usurper is sending me notes now?’ Katashi laughed harshly. ‘If only he would plead for mercy or give himself up, that would be fun.’
Avarice didn’t have to speak again. I had known him long enough to read him.
‘I will see this messenger,’ I said, rising from my place.
A scowl slammed down upon Katashi’s features, but though his displeasure was palpable, he said nothing. His Pike watched, but Vengeance was not foolish enough to risk another battle of wills now we had an audience. With a grunt he strode from the wagon.
The storm had grown heavier while we played and now drowned the noise of Pikes, traitors and Vices alike. Lanterns flickered here and there upon the plain and a few fires had survived beneath their spill tents, but for the most part the camp was dead. Servants had once carried an awning to protect Minister Laroth from the rain, and fresh sandals in case an errant puddle caught me by surprise, but here there was just the rain, delighting in the instant saturation of my robe.
Avarice fell into step beside me. ‘The messenger was travelling north-west, Master,’ he said, his voice low. ‘Following the road but not on it.’
‘That was to be expected.’
‘Yes, Master, and your other prediction has proven true. Conceit left this afternoon and has not yet returned. It is not being talked of.’
‘Oh good,’ I said. ‘It is always nice to be right.’
‘Yes, Master. Are you sure you don’t want me to—’
‘No. Let Malice make his mischief if it keeps him happy.’
‘Yes, Master.’
Katashi and his Pike walked ahead of us with a covered lantern leading the way. At the edge of the camp a knot of Pikes had gathered around a tree, dark figures upon a dark night. Laughter hung in the air, laced with cruelty. The men parted for Katashi and might have closed ranks behind him but for Avarice. He followed, glaring, daring them to shut us out, and the Pikes fell back grumbling. A man was chained to the rough tree trunk, a man in black with a crimson dragon encircling his waist.
‘A Ts’ai spy,’ Katashi said, crossing his arms as he halted before the man. ‘What lovely gifts The Usurper does send. Proof he loves me after all.’
The Pikes sniggered, but in the light of covered lanterns the messenger set his jaw mulishly.
‘Why,’ Katashi began with mocking sweetness, ‘don’t you tell us where you were going.’
The man spat, or tried to spit, but his mouth was too dry. It got the message across, however, and Katashi laughed at the man’s fear-laced loyalty. ‘Oh good,’ he said. ‘I was worried you might not make this fun.’
Katashi took his bow from his back and brandished it in the man’s face. ‘You know what this is?’
The messenger blinked raindrops out of his eyes. ‘A bow.’
‘No, my bow.’ Katashi drew an arrow slowly and took a few steps back. ‘You have perhaps heard of my skill.’
More sniggering, and
the Pikes spread as Katashi took a few more steps back, ready for a show.
‘Now you tell me where you were going and what message you were carrying, or I will prove just how good I am.’
As Katashi backed past me he shot me a challenging look. I held his gaze but said nothing. If I knew anything of Kin’s spies it was that Katashi’s brutishly physical attempts at questioning would get him nowhere.
Vengeance nocked his arrow and took aim despite the insistent rain. ‘Do you have something you want to tell me?’ he asked, looking at the messenger along the length of his arrow.
No spit this time, just a short sharp ‘no.’
‘Where shall I aim for, boys?’
The Pikes all shouted.
‘Left shoulder!’
‘Kneecap!’
‘Left earlobe!’
‘Third toe on the right foot!’
They had played this game before.
‘Pinky finger!’
This last was met with much amusement given the man had his arms tied behind him, bent painfully around the tree.
‘Third toe on the right foot,’ Katashi repeated. ‘That sounds like a good place to start. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to enlighten us?’
Kin’s man said nothing.
‘Very well.’
There wasn’t even a pause. The string juddered. A sharp yelp of pain punctuated the night, but it did not last. The man clamped his mouth shut and breathed quickly, snorting through his nose while resolutely not looking down. The arrow had not only gone through the third toe of his right foot, but also through his sandal and into a tree root, pinning his foot to the ground in a mess of blood.
The Pikes crowed.
‘Well?’ Katashi said.
Kin’s man kept his lips clamped shut.
‘Kneecap! Kneecap!’
Katashi took aim amid the noise. Again no pause for drama. Bone cracked. Blood oozed around the arrowhead, and the fevered breathing of the messenger grew faster and fiercer. Still he did not look down. Still he did not speak.
While the Pikes called out their next suggestions, Avarice leant down and spoke in my ear. ‘He will kill him before he breaks, Master,’ he said gruffly.
‘I’m sure of it,’ I said.
‘Are you going to let him?’
‘I think not, but as with Malice, it is always best to let Katashi make his mischief.’
Avarice grunted.
An arrow buried itself in the spy’s left shoulder. Katashi licked his lips, his eyes bright. In a circle around him, his Pikes bayed for blood.
‘Left ankle!’
‘Elbow!
‘In the cock!’
The bowstring stretched as Katashi drew with ease.
‘You have not asked if he is ready to give information yet,’ I said.
Katashi’s eyes darted to me.
‘Perhaps,’ I said, ‘you would let me ask.’
It was not a suggestion and he knew it, but his blood was up. Still looking at me he let go the string.
This time the man screamed. I gritted my teeth against the pain I could no longer ignore. Parts of my body throbbed in a way healthy flesh ought not to do. Now the pain of mangled flesh hung between my legs. Blood poured onto the man’s riding breeches, making dark fabric darker. Thuds punctuated his screams as he slammed his head back against the tree trunk again and again.
All around us Pikes were laughing, caught in the reinforcing spiral of their own madness.
‘Be my guest, Lord Laroth,’ Katashi said, indicating the maimed man. ‘What can I say? A drawn bow must always be fired.’
I entered the circle like a player upon a stage. ‘I have but a few questions,’ I said. ‘Before His Majesty continues his game.’
The Pikes stopped cheering and watched on, not sure whether to be curious or outraged by the interruption.
‘I think perhaps you might know me,’ I said, approaching the stricken spy. I did not expect him to look at me and nor did he. The crack of his skull hitting the tree trunk was sickening. ‘My name is Lord Darius Laroth. I was Emperor Kin’s Minister of the Left and am now chief advisor to Emperor Katashi Otako.’ The rain was washing away some of the blood but none of the fear, none of the pain. ‘I admire your fortitude, but I have a very simple question. One you can safely answer without painful coercion. Has Emperor Kin been drinking?’
A whimper was the only reply.
‘Yes, indeed,’ I agreed. ‘But I know how quickly news of Kin’s mood spreads through the upper echelons, so do not lie and say you don’t know.’
Again no response.
‘You think you’re not going to talk to me, but I can guarantee that you will,’ I said. ‘Because unlike Katashi Otako, I am not going to cause you any more pain. I am the only person here capable of taking it away.’
I touched his wet cheek with the tip of one finger and his pain flowed thick and fast into my body. I threw off as much as I could, casting it to the air like so much dross, but every second I kept it up was more tiring than a mountain sprint.
I pulled my hand away and the man leant his head forward, hunting my touch as pain returned to his broken body.
‘Now,’ I said. ‘You have something to say?’
All was silent around us, no sound but the patter of rain upon leaves. ‘Yes,’ the man gasped.
‘Excellent choice.’ I touched his cheek again and ecstasy shuddered through him at the cessation of pain. I breathed deeply.
‘I was on my way to Koi,’ the man said, licking his dry lips. ‘To announce the marriage of Emperor Kin to Lady Hana Otako.’
‘That,’ I said. ‘Is old news. Try harder.’
‘What?’ Katashi kept his voice low, conscious of his Pike audience. ‘You knew about this?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then we could have stopped them.’
‘No.’
Katashi’s fists tightened, the skin reddening rather than whitening. ‘Damn it, Laroth, are you an idiot?’ he hissed. ‘Her name bolsters his legitimacy.’
‘I told you already that I am not a fool,’ I said. ‘Anyone could have guessed they would take this course. The plan remains unchanged.’
He jabbed a finger in my face. ‘I don’t like your plans. You have seven days to get me The Usurper’s head or I will have yours.’
‘Then you had best let me get on with my job, Your Majesty,’ I said, and turned unceremoniously back to the suffering spy. ‘My apologies, let us try this again.’ I let my fingers hover just above his skin. ‘You were on your way north to spread the felicitous news behind enemy lines, especially to the Duke of Suway. He hasn’t declared for his emperor yet and that must gall, but with Hana at his side he can claim a true right to the throne and turn the tide of support against Katashi. You see? I know this. That is not what I wanted to know.’
The messenger stared at me, eyes begging.
‘I want to know if Emperor Kin has been drinking.’
‘Yes,’ he said, each word a gasp. ‘Yes he is.’
I lowered my fingertips to his skin. The sigh that brushed his dry lips was filled with relief. ‘Thank you,’ he said deliriously as I shed his pain for him. ‘Thank you.’
‘No, thank you for your cooperation. I now know when Kin means to attack Risian.’
His shock was confirmation if ever I had needed it, and he looked into my face, eyes full of horror. I removed my touch and his pain rushed back wrenching a howl from his dry throat.
Katashi stood smouldering behind me, his Pikes silent watchers of my craft.
‘You may finish the traitor in your own time, Your Majesty,’ I said, bowing to Vengeance. ‘And might I suggest sending more men to bolster the force at Risian. That will be Kin’s next target.’
Katashi gripped my arm, his words a growl. ‘You said no one goe
s back to fight over old ground.’
‘It’s not old ground once you’ve been goaded,’ I said. ‘And I doubt even Kin is aware that he drinks once he’s made the decision to send men to their deaths.’
‘And on this circumstantial information I am to base my plans?’
‘It is not circumstantial. And it has worked for you so far, yes?’
I went to pull out of his grip but he tightened it. ‘I don’t trust you. You want Hana to marry your precious emperor, but he will never lay a hand on her. I bedded her and she will be my wife.’
‘Then you should have married her when you had the chance, Your Majesty.’
Steam rose from his skin. ‘Don’t ever think you’re safe, Laroth,’ he said, letting go to touch a hand to his bowstring. ‘I will burn you and your emperor.’
The words pulsed with hatred, each one a promise and a reminder. No matter how tightly I held his leash, there was only so long a tiger could be tamed. But I knew something the tiger didn’t.
Vengeance was dying.
Day Two
Chapter 4
Upon arrival back in Kogahaera, I wanted nothing but sleep. My saturated layers of clothing hung heavily off fatigued limbs, stinking of blood and sweat, but there was no time to wash let alone rest.
When I slid from my horse, Kin had already summoned his council. They would wait for their emperor, wait even for the least important advisor, but not for me. My place on the council was a mere formality.
The tent was stuffy. Kin sat at the head of the table, the only other councillor present being Master Yara.
‘My lady.’ The man recently promoted to the position of Imperial Secretary rose and bowed. ‘I have heard the gods smiled upon your prayers. They are wise indeed.’
‘Thank you, Master Yara, you are most kind,’ I said. ‘Smiled upon the prayers, perhaps, but not upon the journey.’
‘So I have also heard. Terrible that you had to witness such things.’
‘News travels fast, but I assure you I am no weakling to swoon at the sight of blood.’
‘I have always found women stronger than many believe. Any who doubt that ought to witness the birth of a child.’