Abi had been plotting her next ascension after wringing what life she could out of the gathering on twenty-nine when Yamar had appeared, informing her of Kay’s social peril at the Dynasty dinner on twenty-one.
As a group, the Dynasty had descended lower than typical for the early evening, a dinner with guests of minimal relative importance, and Enos, for some asinine reason, had roped Kay in. It cost Abi two floors to get a note and some help to Kay through one of the servants she’d befriended. Yeni had promised to support Kay any way she could and Abi had turned from that situation to gauge her suddenly worse prospects for the evening. She was on twenty-seven.
It took Abi nearly three hours to make it back to twenty-nine, carefully weaving through the traps and openings the Game provided, finally catching a break when she ran into the mother of a good friend heading upwards. Quill was gone from twenty-nine and Abi’s early disappearance made attempting to follow her impossible, even assuming she’d gone up rather than down, or worse, home. The young Lord Sen was nowhere to be seen. Abi wouldn’t make thirty-two, which would leave Hammond exposed to other suitors and threaten her place at the table. The night would be wasted. She swore quietly.
Abi found herself fussing with her silken dress sleeves, for her a frustratingly persistent habit amidst uncertainty. She quickly stopped. Fidgeting signified weakness, and this crowd sharpened their blades on weakness. Her absurd life suddenly felt confining. Kay would get out of the Palace as swiftly as possible in order to return to her hunt for the missing girls. Abi still helped her where she could, but the Palace had become the center of her world. She was compensated by numerous entities for information trade, and she had the autonomy to work to shift the politics of the Dynasty where she chose. She’d done some good. But nothing like what she’d done standing beside Kay.
If they’d formed a committee to address the rash of missing children, really young adults, it was unlikely to do Kay any favors. They’d set her up to take the blame for any delays. And Enos would use it as a chance to set his slimy hands on Kay. Abi would have to think about how she could shape it. The roster may be set, she’d get her hands on it tomorrow, but maybe some well-placed whispers could shift any undue blame from her friend and former employer.
Abi smoothed her skirt to give herself something to do with her hands. She looked around the room. Doubts aside, there was little else to do tonight beyond the Game. The Game paid her bills. But perhaps there was another way to advance the cause. Yeni had given her Kay’s reply note, and as Abi stared across the room, she saw a prospect to accomplish both of her evening’s goals in one shot. It was risky, but so was standing in one place. Rei Kapin was here, seated by the fire.
They hadn’t spoken since the powerful woman had summoned Abi for an insultingly cold cup of tea, served with a threat to stay away from her interests, several weeks ago. Her insistence on Abi debriefing with her after Abi’s initial dates with Hammond had vanished, leaving Abi to believe Rei had better positioned spies and was waiting to lean on Abi for something else. They had carefully avoided each other at social gatherings, both waiting for the right time to use the other. Perhaps this was that time, though it may cost Abi dearly if she didn’t play it right. She approached Rei and gave her a bow, a warm smile on her face.
“This had better be good,” Rei muttered, before setting her tea down and returning the smile for the sake of the nearby crowd.
“Hammond has been asking about the Gyudi Dynasty,” Abi said quietly.
Rei studied her, considering. “Never a student of history, that one. And what do you know of them?”
“Next to nothing. But I’ve done well feeding Hammond information. I’d like to keep his ear.”
“And what do I benefit from you having Hammond’s ear?”
“Access.”
Rei gave a soft laugh. “You think I need access from you?”
“Perhaps access is not the right word. Perhaps another set of whispering lips that few can tie to you is a more accurate turn of phrase. Surely there are some things you wouldn’t mind finding their way to Hammond’s ear?”
Rei grunted. Her eyes were on the fire before her. “Lips that can’t be tied to me shouldn’t be speaking to me at a Palace party.”
“It is time I spoke to you. I’ve found opportunity to speak to nearly every other member of the Dynasty’s inner circle. A focused observer might notice you and me always on the other side of the room. One conversation, tonight, then back to frosty avoidance.”
“I think I tire of your aggressiveness, child. This is no place for discussion of the Gyudi Dynasty.” Her gruff tone was contradicted by the eagerness in her eyes. She was intrigued.
“Then we discuss it on the stairs,” Abi pressed. “And part ways at the top. Then you can tell everyone what a distasteful little tart I am, and I can tell everyone how enamored I am of your kindness in speaking with me.”
Rei sighed. “And what floor do you aspire to, my little stairclimber?”
Abi pretended to think about it. “If you would be so kind as to escort me to thirty-three…”
“You try me, child.” She rose to her feet, exaggerating her age as she reached for a nearby cane. “You are lucky I was shortly headed that direction regardless. We part ways on thirty-one, and I will see returns for this, and soon, or you’ll find yourself wishing you were on a lower floor rather than a higher when I have you thrown from a balcony.”
A quick walk across the foyer and they were at the relative privacy of the central stairwell. Rei climbed slowly up the wide, red-carpeted stairs, Abi matching her pace. As they rose above the level of the party, Rei made a gesture out over the crowd. “They dance, they celebrate. So few of them understand how delicate their position is.”
She glanced at Abi. “Especially those of your age. They have no recollection of life before the Melor Dynasty. They have no concept there may be life after. Sometimes I think the Melor don’t either. My marriage took me outside the Palace for a time. That space enabled me to see better. To see that not all nobles suffer obedience so readily, though that is a subject for a different time.”
“Nobles like the Devero family?” There were other families that drew suspicion of less than total devotion to the Dynasty, but none so wealthy and potentially dangerous as the family housed in the Devero Tower, one of the few structures in Celest to rival the Palace.
“I have agreed to swallow your hook on one subject, Abi Yellen. Do not bait me further, lest you tire an old lady and are forced to see her unhappy side.”
Abi silently accepted the rebuke and took Rei’s arm, guiding her up the stairs. “So you wish to know more of the Chosen Dynasty?” Rei said. “That’s what they called themselves. The Gyudi were a nasty lot. They ruled Celest for approximately thirty years, a relatively short duration for a Dynasty. To put it in context, the Dynasty prior them is estimated to have ruled for over three hundred. The Gyudi destroyed all official histories of that Dynasty when they ascended, as of course we did the same once rid of the Gyudi. The Gyudi were not terribly difficult to displace, in an uprising which Yostre’s father and my grandmother led nearly seventy years ago. The Gyudi were wildly unpopular.
“The biggest difference between the two Dynasties, or at least a guidepost discussed often by the few people allowed to study the history of the transition, relates to that.” As they reached the landing for thirtieth, Rei stopped and pointed across the grand room, where a high window framed the Fire Eye. “The Melor view the Fire Eye as a sort of blessing for the Dynasty. It shines down upon us to reflect the world’s favor, Celest’s unique position, and the Dynasty’s benevolent rule.” She smirked at her. “I trust you are worldly enough to recognize how convenient that is. It was here before us and it will be here after. But opportunity is opportunity and power is power. So we hold these parties, we harness the popularity of the Fire Eye, hitch it to our status and the status of our loyalists, and hold tight to our position. As well we should. The Gyudi had a different approach
.”
She resumed her climb. “The Gyudi believed the Fire Eye was intended exclusively for them. They were chosen by its light. They declared it treason for others to look at it. Guards roamed the city and if someone raised their eyes, they would take them. The left eye on the first offense. Their right on the second. That level of callousness carried forward into all manner of life under the Gyudi Dynasty. An atmosphere of violence and tension extended far beyond the time of the Fire Eye. That was their calling card. The very tradition of Celest’s Dynasty rule was deeply challenged by the oppressive tendencies of the Gyudi. It took tireless efforts to restore faith when they were ousted.”
She fell silent for a moment, and Abi felt compelled to spur her on. “How do you prevent an entire city from looking at the sky?”
“Many of their guards wore no uniform or traveled undercover. Neighbors were encouraged to rat out their fellows. Children their parents. No one could be trusted. And so paranoia and fear ran rampant. Their concession was that they would have images of the Fire Eye painted on public spaces. People were allowed to look at them.” She glanced at Abi, a gleam in her eye. “Is it really so silly? A world in which a city stares at its feet for a week every year? After all, now we climb stairs and worry our hair grey over what balcony holds our rivals. Power shapes the world. We all follow it. And it answers to no one, not even the skies.
“The subject of the Gyudi Dynasty has been forbidden. You’ll find no mention of it in the Palace library or any other library in Celest. History has been cleansed of the Gyudi. Yet Hammond asks about it at an interesting time. The name has been on many lips, whispering in many ears. You will report Hammond’s reaction back to me. And if you learn anything of the Gyudi, from him or elsewhere, you will give it to me immediately. This is no topic of idle gossip, for the maneuvering and securing of pointless privileges. It is a topic that may threaten everything we have worked for. It is, in a word, the leading indicator of rebellion. I’m not such a fool as to believe the Gyudi Dynasty lives on. When my ancestors put down a Dynasty, they did not leave survivors. But the name can become a symbol, a rallying cry. Only a fool doubts the power of such symbols as we stand underneath one.
“You are lucky you are so closely tied to Hammond. I believe you have as much to lose as anyone else in this building. If that were not the case, if I believed there was any chance you had approached me on behalf of an entity donning the Gyudi name as a mask for rebellion, I would have you tortured and killed.”
She stopped, catching her breath, and glanced upwards. “I still might, just for making me take all these stairs.” They fell silent, lost in their respective thoughts, slowly making their way higher up the Palace.
Chapter 11. A Kind of Rescue
Consciousness came back to Kay swift and unwelcome. One moment, she was high over Celest, watching the city fill with smoke. Two towers rose above, standing over the sea of black. A voice whispered questions into her ear, prying, tugging at her secrets. The next she was lying on a hard, stone floor, her body cold and aching.
There was an orange glow far off in the distance, no other light. Kay was alone in a long, featureless tunnel of square walls. She climbed to her knees, her broken arm protesting as it left the floor. For a moment she sat in the quiet, something reassuring about the clean pain that raced through her. Her hand stung, sticky with blood from cuts that her fist to the jester’s mask had opened. The drug’s influence had retreated, hopefully out of her system, but her head felt like a storm had passed through it, leaving her senses battered and unbalanced. She blinked, staring at the light in the distance. She was relieved to see again, and especially to see what might be a way out of this seemingly endless underground. The blindness the drug had visited upon her in the Court of the Gyudi had been terrifying despite its short duration. She stood, smoothing the skirt of the tattered dress she’d worn out of the Palace lifetimes ago.
Kay thought about trying to summon a spark to better light her steps, but she didn’t trust herself. And she didn’t want to reveal her talents in case the Gyudi had someone monitoring her. She’d revealed too much by moving the smoke, though she had no idea how real that had all been.
It was a long, lurching walk to reach the light. Kay fought visions of Jyurik lurking behind her, more than once turning to face an enemy who wasn’t there. The darkness of the tunnel seemed to form threads of smoke, passing across her vision. The drug was not totally finished with her.
The orange light grew slowly in the long hall, finally taking shape to reveal itself as the outline of a door. After staring at it, dumbfounded by its mundane appearance here in this strange place, Kay reached out and turned the knob. The door opened out into daylight, which flooded the tunnel and drove her to her knees. Her hands flew to her eyes, seeking to protect them from the bright pain the sunlight generated. In her panicked reaction, she forgot about the broken arm, twisting it to bring her hand to her face. The pain washed over her like a strong, cold wind, pushing her back into the darkness, and her head hit the stone floor as consciousness fled again.
…
Smoke filled the city. Two towers stood above the black, one on each side of the cold vista of Celest. Kay watched, somehow knew in a moment one would light up like a torch. “Kay, can you hear me?” The sense of dread was palpable. When it burst into flames, she would hear the screams of everyone inside.
“Kay,” someone was shaking her. “Kay, wake up.”
Kay slowly opened her eyes, wincing against the daylight. Yamar’s face was just over hers, looking worried. She blinked, then slowly raised her head off the floor to look around. She was outside, but under some sort of canopy of uneven boards. The stall of a street vendor? Yamar was surrounded by Wrang soldiers. They stood facing outwards, providing a screen of privacy. She turned her head the other way and saw Enos Melor staring at her, looking out of place in his Dynasty red robes and sandals. She groaned and lowered her head back to the dirt.
It was quiet for a moment. “Where am I?” she finally asked.
Her anger flared as she caught Yamar glancing at Enos for permission to answer. “You’re in Sellers Pocket, just beyond the Headwaters. Not too far from the Palace,” he said.
“We saved you,” Enos added in his customary arrogance.
“That’s one way to spin it,” Kay said, not looking at him, and rolled onto her side, carefully avoiding her broken arm. “You think you could rig me up a sling quick, Yamar?”
She missed his answer because a thread of smoke suddenly appeared before his face. Her eyes widened in shock and she suddenly knew, absolutely knew, that Jyurik was behind her. Or worse. She turned but there was nothing there but a confused Enos, backed by Wrang guards.
“Are you okay?” Yamar was saying.
“I’m…I don’t know,” Kay said. “They did something to me.”
“What did they—” Yamar started asking, but he was cut off by Enos.
“They’ll be killed, whoever they are!” The little lordling was fired up, posing dramatically with a clenched fist.
Kay gave Enos a long look. “Well, they had a message for you.” She enjoyed the confusion on Enos’s face.
“For me?” His age, which he worked so hard to disguise, showed when he was caught off guard. He looked like a lost little boy.
“For the Dynasty. I was taken by the Gyudi. They said to tell the Melor that they’re finished. Said they will spare the family if you abandon Celest before the Fire Eye closes. And if you refuse, everyone dies. They say it is time for the Gyudi Dynasty to take their rightful place as rulers of Celest.”
Enos was shaken. Yamar came to his rescue. “That same threat has been delivered by other means.”
Kay was too weary to be disappointed. “Glad to know how little help I am,” she replied. “Now, about that sling…”
“You saw them?” Yamar asked. “Where?”
“They nabbed me after that lovely dinner last night. By the way, Enos,” she turned to glare at him, “what was tha
t meant to prove?”
“Kay,” Yamar said, “please stay on point. The Gyudi are serious business.”
“Don’t I know it. They grabbed me in Headwaters. A bunch of men wearing masks with Fire Eyes painted on them. Blindfolded me, sort of, and carried me through a series of tunnels for a long time. They’ve got an underground lair. It’s massive. No idea how they hide it or where it is. They gave me the message, and then did their best to scare me with everything they’ve got. They succeeded and I woke up in a tunnel.”
“That’s where we came to your rescue,” Enos said.
Kay’s voice was hot as she replied. “Finding someone who’s already made her way out of danger on her own is not a rescue, Enos.”
“We received a report. Someone saw the door open and a woman collapse behind it. Anyway, we’d been looking for you. Yamar found your brass knuckles in Headwaters. The Dynasty worries for you.”
She raised a hand to point at him, then stopped, looking at the blood caking her hand. “I forgot about that.” The long cut traversed her knuckles where the flesh had parted against the slate edge of Jyurik’s mask. The blood had spilled across the expensive silks of her skirt. The resulting dark stains looked something like the threads of smoke. As she was watching, one wisped up from her skirt and passed by her face. She reached out with her bloody hand to try and catch it in the air.
“What is going on here?!” Abi strode into the space, the Wrang parting before her aggressive entrance, letting more sun in. Kay blinked, somehow still not used to the brightness. She could hear chatter from the streets, the sounds of passersby. The place Kay had awoken in felt comfortingly chaotic, a world away from the quiet order of the Gyudi court.
The Fire Eye Chosen_Sequel to The Fire Eye Refugee Page 10