Kingmaker

by Eric Zawadzki

CHAPTER 31

  “How do you feel?” Lujo asked.

  “Better,” Butu said cheerfully. “I’m ready to dodge your helpless swordwork.”

  Nolen snorted. “I still don’t think I could pick up a sword.”

  “Good magic, there,” Tirud said. “A slashed arm doesn’t just heal itself, once you’re an adult. Well, not overnight.”

  “It could’ve been much worse,” Blay said, but he sounded proud. “You two fought for your lives and won. If you had lost your nerve or forgotten your training, that wouldn’t have happened. Fast healing aside, that makes you more than just lucky. It makes you experienced sordenu.”

  “He’s right,” Phedam said. “We ran away, and Retus still nearly got killed.” He glanced at Retus, who looked pale but was upright, devouring a meal.

  “Only because they were mounted and outnumbered us,” Lujo said.

  “I still want to know what the Zhekara were doing out here,” Nolen said.

  “Blay said they were Clanless,” Butu prompted.

  Blay simply pointed at the tent where Amber slept.

  “We ran into a pair of Akdren, alone in the shanjin,” Nolen continued. “And there’s another clan, on horses, in the shanjin. Why is everyone here?”

  “Come on, corp,” Lujo said. “You have to tell us, now.”

  “I had orders to keep it a secret for as long as possible, but it’s not possible anymore, is it?” Blay said.

  “There was no reason to keep it quiet from the squad at all,” Tirud muttered, arms crossed. “I knew from the start, and Jani figured it out before we even left Gordney. As long as one of us knew, the curse would keep us all away, and if the curse is breaking, it doesn’t matter if we all know.”

  Butu mouthed “curse” but waited for Blay to explain.

  “I still don’t think this curse of yours has anything to do with it, Tirud,” Blay said.

  “The Akdren, Nankek and Zhekara already have troops in the shanjin, and the Ahjea and Kadrak are preparing for war,” Nolen said angrily. “Why are we here? What are we looking for?”

  Blay stared at the stars, avoiding the questions again. Tirud stood as if to walk away. He stopped, staring at the tent where Amber slept. Jani crossed her arms, gripping her shoulders as if cold. Everyone else watched Blay. Butu’s mind played hide-and-seek with the answer.

  There must be something I haven’t seen, he thought.

  “Pisor,” Phedam blurted, and they all looked at him except Blay. “Everyone’s here to find Pisor.”

  Heads slowly turned back to Blay, who had ceased his study of the stars.

  “The Nankek have found Urgaruna,” he said gravely.

  “So?” Nolen demanded. “A thousand lost Turu have found it, but few ever find it on purpose, and no one finds it twice.”

  “I was told that Nankek scouts found it not once, but five times in the last year.”

  Nolen cursed. Jani frowned. Tirud seemed unimpressed. The others gasped in amazement. And then, “What’s Urgaruna?”

  Shocked faces turned to Retus, who looked embarrassed. Phedam and Lujo burst into laughter.

  Jani answered first. “Urgaruna was once a great city at the heart of what is now the shanjin — built inside a huge, free-standing rock nowhere near anything else. Stories say the Urgarun, master artisans of stone and metal, carved out its heart and sculpted a magnificent city made of diamond deep underground. The clan, which was not as loyal as it pretended to be, forged Pisor for the sordellas, the king’s child soldiers.”

  Lujo scowled at her, tossing sand on her lap. Jani brushed it off and kept talking.

  “After Dinal pi’Kanjea slew the first kingmaker and died himself, his successor sent sordenu to Urgaruna to find a way to free himself of the kingmaker’s power. The Urgarun would not break the bond between king, kingmaker and Pisor. The king ordered the Massacre of Urgaruna. As the Urgarun first-cyclers watched their families butchered by the king’s soldiers, they unleashed the Urgarun Wail. As the king used Pisor to kill the Urgarun children, the first-cyclers levied a great curse that sank the river and raised the sands, creating the shanjin.”

  Lujo spoke into the silence. “The curse killed all the king’s soldiers, and only he returned to tell the tale. Part of the curse makes it almost impossible to find Urgaruna, and even those who find it by accident can never find it again.”

  “That story is a thousand years old,” Blay said. “And even the curse of a thousand slain first-cyclers must break eventually.”

  “When Mnemon fled with Pisor, he fled into the shanjin,” Jani said, snatching the story back. “Some think his destination was Urgaruna. He hoped the curse would keep anyone from finding Pisor.”

  “The quest for Urgaruna is the quest for Pisor,” Phedam said. “Whoever finds it has the power to make a new king.”

  “And whoever is king gains the magic of a first-cycler, including miramani,” Lujo added.

  Blay nodded.

  “It would mean an end to the Treaty of Mnemon,” Tirud said, looking grim. “Whether what replaces it is better or worse depends on a king who can impose his vision on everything and everyone. He could be a benevolent lawgiver or an all-powerful tyrant.”

  This fearful vision made them all take a breath. Nolen broke the silence.

  “What’s our part in this? They don’t expect us to find Pisor and bring it back to Jasper, do they?”

  “No. Our orders are find out which clan claims Pisor and bring word back to Jasper. And, if possible, make sure the Akdren and Nankek don’t find the Sword of Kings,” Blay said. “Or any other clan, for that matter.”

  “That’s it?” Nolen asked. “We just have to keep all the other clans in Turuna from finding the one thing they want most. Shanubu, we could probably manage that with just half our squad!”

  “Where an army fails, send an envoy,” Lujo murmured, quoting a Turun proverb.

  “Why not send an army? Why just a squad?” Butu murmured.

  “The army is behind us,” Blay said.

  “Jusep is no fool,” Jani said suddenly before Blay could flesh out his excuse. “He’s not going to send his entire army into the shanjin to bleed in a free-for-all war between the clans.”

  “Then why send us at all?” Nolen asked. “If the mission is strictly recon, why the impossible order to keep the other clans from finding Pisor?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Jani asked. “The kluntra wants us to steal it for him.”

  “This keeps his hands clean if we get caught,” Tirud said. “Zhek surely told the rest of our company we deserted during our watch.”

  “Whichever of us gives him Pisor becomes the kingmaker,” Phedam observed so softly Butu barely heard him.

  “Very clever,” Lujo said. “And if we’re deserters, the Treaty of Mnemon doesn’t apply to us.”

  Blay fidgeted in obvious discomfort. “Technically, we’re still bound by the treaty. If one of the other clans catches us using magic, they’ll kill us horribly. If we somehow succeed and bring Jusep the Sword of Kings, it won’t matter if we used magic to do it.”

  “We’ll just have to be subtle,” Nolen said.

  “But we don’t even know where Urgaruna is,” Retus objected. “Even if the curse has broken, we can’t search the entire shanjin for it.”

  “Tirud knows the way,” Blay assured them.

  “How?” Retus asked.

  Blay hesitated as if considering how little truth he could reveal to them, but Tirud spoke first.

  “I was spying on the Nankek’s second expedition to Urgaruna. As soon as I found out the curse was breaking I came back to Gordney to warn Jusep. I’ve been there before, and I can lead us there again.”