The road ahead was now well-travelled, the snow packed hard. Each side of the snowy road was lined with markers of grey stone, and Ella realised she wasn't aware of where the markers had begun.
"Useful in a whiteout," Ada grunted, noticing Ella's attention.
Ella wasn't sure if she wanted to know what a whiteout was.
"We're here," one of the brothers said.
Ella squinted but the sun was shining on the ice, reflected into her eyes and dazzling her. She tried to look ahead but tears formed in her eyes.
Still ungainly on her skis, she stumbled and blushed when she heard one of the brothers snort.
"Leave her alone," Ada said.
Ella waited a few more minutes, and then she looked up again. She gasped.
Two fragile towers of ice stood on either side of the road, beautiful and imposing in a way no structure of stone could be. Each tower had a ring of points on top and was somehow designed so the weight above tapered to a slender base. On the left was the word "Ku", while the right-hand tower bore the second word, "Kara."
"Well done, Enchantress," Ada said. "You've made it when not many outsiders have."
"With your help," Ella said. She looked at the brothers. "All of you."
One of the brothers, Ella thought it was Doelan, laughed. "I hope you were paying attention."
"Why do you say that?" Ella asked.
"When you leave, it'll be on your own."
~
ELLA wondered if they would be met once inside the city, but it seemed the Akari weren't overly preoccupied with ceremony, treating each other more like a large family than anything else.
Ahead, Ella could see wide avenues filling the spaces between single-storied houses made of ice. Some were larger, others smaller, while some appeared more functional: perhaps storehouses or places where men worked at manual labour.
The brothers, Doelan and Straun, whooped and set off, bidding farewell to Ella with little more than a wave. Ella felt a little let down after their journey together, but she knew the two men were happy to be home.
"Come with me," Ada said. "We don't have inns like your people, but I know where you will be welcome."
Ada led Ella down one straight road and then another; unlike Seranthia, at least this city was laid to a grid. Ella was confident she'd soon be able to find her way around.
Tall Akari nodded to them as they walked past, some alone, others in groups of three or four. Ella saw men carrying children in their arms — rearing a child here obviously wasn't just a woman's responsibility — and women carrying fish in baskets, fresh from the catch.
Ada stopped them at a house with a door of dark wood, no different from many others they'd passed. She knocked.
"Yes?" an old woman's face poked around the door. "Ah, Ada! You're back, are you?"
"Only just now," Ada said, smiling. "It's good to see you, Oma Jen."
"And you're seeing me before paying respects to your father?" Oma Jen frowned, but Ella could see the woman's eyes sparkle. "Off with you, and not another word!"
"Oma Jen, this is Ella. She's a guest of my father's."
Ella opened her mouth to disagree, but closed it again. She'd come to Ku Kara uninvited, but Ada probably knew what she was doing.
"A foreigner, are you?" Oma Jen regarded Ella, her wrinkled features peering through thin white hair.
"From Altura," Ella said.
"I have absolutely no idea where that is," Oma Jen said. "Come in, I'll give you a room and you can refresh yourself after your journey. The hearth's warm and you look pale as a ghost. Then, once you're defrosted, you can tell me where Oltoorah is."
Ada grinned at Ella. "My father will no doubt host a feast tonight, at the palace. Rest yourself, Ella. I'll send someone to come and get you."
"Thank you," Ella said.
She watched Ada go with a sense of loss. She was in a strange land far from home, and Ada was the closest thing to a friend she had here.
"Are you coming in?" Oma Jen said. "You're letting the cold air in."
"Of course. I'm sorry," Ella said.
"Call me Oma Jen," the old woman said.
"Thank you for having me, Oma Jen," Ella said.
"Now that's more like it. Are all Oltoorah girls so pretty?"
Ella smiled as Oma Jen fussed over her. Perhaps she would like Ku Kara after all.
~
AT THIS time of year and so far north, it stayed light late into the evening, and Ella had difficulty knowing what time it was. She made herself ready early, not wanting someone to show up and be waiting for her, and now she sat in the bedchamber Oma Jen had given her, staring into the mirror.
Ella was wearing a thick dress of dark silver; grey was the chosen colour of the Akari, and she wanted to make a good impression. Killian's pendant on its silver chain sparkled on her neck.
She regarded her green eyes seriously.
Ella was nervous.
This was a situation Miro was more experienced with. Ella had only met Dain Barden twice, once inside the chamber in the Sentinel's body and again at Miro's wedding, which obviously hadn't ended well.
There was a soft knock on the door and Ella stood up. She opened the door, expecting to see Oma Jen standing on the other side, and drew back in shock.
She faced the white-eyed stare of a revenant. He had died an old man, and most likely died recently, for his flesh hadn't yet begun the process of decay. His back was hunched and he had a small white beard. The revenant looked at Ella and spoke.
"Summons," he drawled.
Ella wondered what he would do if she said no. How much of the creature's thought process remained? Could it think independently? It must possess some of its old character. Perhaps he had been a servant in life.
Even as she was repulsed, Ella was fascinated by the lore of the Akari. She was here to ask Dain Barden about his essence; the Akari possessed the only replenishable supply, and if one of the Evermen crossed, he may have come this way. But she was also here on her own, private quest.
Ella's kernel of an idea involved learning the Akari's secrets, and discovering how the Akari managed to animate the dead.
It was her only chance of bringing Killian back home.
~
THE REVENANT led Ella to the Dain's palace, a sprawling structure with a grand entrance of wide steps. The entry hall's roof was supported by hundreds of pillars of ice, a forest of crystalline trees each as thick as Ella's arm.
Ella was welcomed by a living seneschal, while thankfully the revenant disappeared. The seneschal was a thin man with a sepulchral voice.
"Welcome, Enchantress Ella," he said. "The Dain is celebrating the return of his daughter, and is pleased to invite you to feast, however unexpected."
It was a subtle way of reminding Ella she had come to Ku Kara uninvited.
"I'm not here in any formal capacity," Ella said. "I'm just an enchantress. My brother is the Alturan Lord Marshal but he never gets me to act on his behalf."
The seneschal smiled. "Please, let me lead you into the reception hall."
Revenants played music, served food, and poured drinks, while guests mingled as naturally as at any social gathering.
Ella saw a female revenant offer a tray of small glasses to a man, who took one without a word, his eyes saying enough. The serving women had obviously been chosen for their beauty, and wore diaphanous gowns with nothing underneath. Ella blushed. She knew the women were dead, but the men could see everything.
Ella's heart raced as her nervousness increased. Here she was, uninvited, at someone else's party. She wondered how she would last the night. Who would she talk to? She didn't know a single person here.
"I'll leave you here," the seneschal said.
Ella nodded and gulped, wondering what to do next. Should she take one of the small glasses? The liquid inside was clear. Was it water?
"Look who it is," a guttural voice said. "On a list of the last people I expected to see here, you're close to the top."
/>
The voice took Ella back to a tent in the Hazara Desert, when she had first met the trader who could often be found with those the houses shunned.
"Hermen Tosch," Ella said, turning and smiling as she greeted the free cities native. "What in the Skylord's name are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Hermen said.
Hermen hadn't changed. His hair was still cut short and he had the same stocky build. Ella remembered him as an unassuming man who rarely smiled, strange qualities for a trader, yet he must possess a strong talent for commerce to even be here.
"I'm sorry, but I can't say," Ella said.
Hermen raised an eyebrow. "Sounds ominous."
Ella shrugged. "Not ominous, just boring," she said in a way she hoped was disarming. "Lore and essence, you know how it is."
"Not particularly, no," Hermen said. "But I'll leave you to your secrets. I generally get to the bottom of these things, at any rate."
"Why are you here, then?" Ella asked.
"The Akari are once again trading with the Empire," Hermen said. He grinned. "I'm here to make sure things go as smoothly as possible."
"And make some gilden along the way, I'm sure," Ella said, grinning along.
"I regret I must leave you," Hermen said, suddenly bowing and withdrawing.
Ella wondered what had caused Hermen to leave, when she saw a tall couple regarding her seriously.
"Thank you for inviting me tonight, Dain," Ella said. Not knowing what else to do, she touched her lips and then her forehead in the Alturan manner.
Dain Barden Mensk was tall, even for his race. He towered over Ella and regarded her with brooding eyes somewhere between blue and grey. The Dain's long ice-white hair was braided at the back of his head and his forked beard was woven with silver chain. His face was unlined and his age indeterminate, but his brow was cruel, lips turned down in a perpetual scowl. A mantle of silver fox fur lined his broad shoulders and the muscles in his arms bulged as he looped his fingers in his belt.
"Ella," the Dain said, neglecting any title. "My daughter says you wish to speak with me, but that you would not say what you wish to speak about."
"Barden," the woman at the Dain's side smiled, "the girl only arrived today. Perhaps it can wait until later?"
"This is my wife, the Daina," the Dain grumbled. "Mara, this is Ella, an Alturan enchantress."
Ella dipped her head while the statuesque woman smiled and nodded. Daina Mara's eyes sparkled with intelligence. She would have been beautiful as a younger woman.
"How are you enjoying Ku Kara, Ella?" Mara said.
"It's incredible," Ella said. Dain Barden frowned. "Your people make living in the cold look not only easy, but enjoyable."
"It's not as simple as it may appear," said the Dain.
"Yet we love our homeland nonetheless," the Dain's wife followed, looking at the Dain fondly.
"I can see why," Ella said. "We're fortunate to have you part of the new Empire."
"I must check on the dinner preparations," Mara said. "Please, excuse me."
"My wife seems to have taken a liking to you," Dain Barden said. "Tell me, the attack on your brother's wedding. What progress has been made?"
"Little, I'm afraid," said Ella. "However the attack is part of my reason for being here."
Dain Barden scowled, and Ella realised what she'd said. "Not that there is any suspicion on the Akari. It's not that at all." Ella wished she had Miro by her side.
A bell tinkled, announcing that dinner was being served. Guests began to leave the reception hall, the revenant servers melting to the sides.
"We'll discuss it after dinner," Barden said.
~
ELLA found herself sitting next to Hermen Tosch. She was relieved to have someone she knew to talk to.
"What's the food like?" Ella said.
Hermen paused, gathering his thoughts. "Let me simply say, you may wish to taste a small amount, before taking a large mouthful."
"That good?" Ella grinned.
"The Akari diet consists of fish, seal, walrus, whale and white bear." Hermen sounded as if he was reciting a trader's guide.
"White bear?"
"It's a species of bear that lives up here in the cold. Terrifying creatures, bigger than any other bear."
"Go on."
"Sometimes the Akari cook their food, but much of the time they simply salt it and let it dry. For a change in texture, they keep it warm and let it fester for a time. You might like to use the word 'rot'."
"Lord of the Sky," Ella muttered. She was in for a treat. "Have you ever been to an eating house called Barlow's, in Seranthia? It's in the Fortune district."
"I should move tables if you keep on like this," Hermen said, raising his hands in mock horror. "How dare you mention Barlow's here? Do you have any idea how long I've been in Ku Kara?"
"How long?"
"Too long!"
"Those little coloured pastries are incredible," Ella said.
"And the hand-made chocolates," Hermen almost moaned. He obviously had a sweet tooth. "That's enough!"
Ella looked around the long table of bleached wood, curious to get her first good look at the other guests. They were all Akari; she and Hermen appeared to be the only foreigners here, which probably explained why they had been seated together. There were perhaps eighty or more guests, all invited because Ada had come home from Tingara. The Dain obviously doted on his daughters; Ada had been given a place next to her father, with his wife on his other side. He laughed at something Mara said and clapped his hand on top of hers on the table. The Dain evidently doted on his wife, also, Ella noted, when she saw the way he looked at her.
Revenant servers, this time dressed in tailored grey suits, moved down the table. At each place they placed a short glass containing clear liquid in front of the guest. Ella looked over at the Akari to see what she was supposed to do. She copied the woman across from her, picked her glass up, and tilted the contents back into her throat in a single gulp.
Acid burned her mouth, etching its way painfully into her throat and down. Ella gasped and coughed, she could even feel it enter her chest, descending further into her stomach.
"Well done!" Hermen laughed beside her.
Looking across the table, Ella saw Daina Mara nudge her husband and whisper something, meanwhile looking at Ella. The empty glass in front of Ella could only mean one thing.
"What was that?" Ella asked Hermen, placing her hand on her lips and feeling warmth come to her cheeks.
"The Akari call it 'water of life'," Hermen said. "They ferment rye and distil it, before filtering it through charcoal." He rubbed his hands. "What I wouldn't give to sell bottles of it in Seranthia."
Ella wasn't sure if she liked it, but it certainly was strong.
A plate of black strips was placed in front of her.
"Salted seal liver," Hermen whispered. "You won't like it, but you should eat it anyway."
Ella put one of the pieces in her mouth. The texture was firm and rubbery. An oily liquid came out of it as she chewed. Her senses told her she was eating bad meat, while the taste was nothing short of awful. She swallowed and looked around for something to wash it down with.
A revenant placed another small glass in front of her.
After Ella had two more of the strips, fighting the urge to gag, she drank the glass of clear liquid down.
"Just like one of the Akari," Hermen said, grinning.
"Why aren't you eating them?" Ella asked.
"I don't really like them."
"But you said I should eat them!"
"Do you always do what you're told?"
Ella frowned as she realised Hermen had been making sport with her. At least the Akari across from her nodded approvingly.
The dish was finally taken away.
"Have you heard the news from the Hazara Desert?" Hermen asked.
"No?" Ella asked.
"Ilathor's father is dead. He is now Kalif."
El
la remembered Rogan telling her Ilathor's father was ill. "I hope he didn't take it badly," she said. She thought about the proud desert man. Knowing him, he wouldn't have shed any tears, but the way he had spoken of his father told Ella he would have strongly felt his father's passing.
"Now that he is Kalif, he can no longer help Rogan Jarvish with the regency. His new responsibilities are great. He is fortunate to have Jehral by his side."
"That's good," Ella said. "Jehral is a good man." Hermen laughed, and Ella frowned. "What?"
"I'm not laughing at what you said," said Hermen. "I'm laughing because I remember saying the same words to your friend, Bladesinger Bartolo, when he was hunting you down after we… borrowed you… from your brother."
Ella grinned. Now it was her turn to take pleasure from Hermen's discomfort. "I'll bet he didn't take that well."
"No, not well at all. As I recall, in front of Castlemere's city watch he pinned me up against a wall and put his zenblade to my eye."
Ella laughed heartily. "That sounds like Bartolo."
Hermen's face clouded. Ella wondered if perhaps she shouldn't have laughed so loud. Then she remembered the taste of the seal livers. She also remembered her captors being less than gentle with her.
Ella laughed some more, while Hermen's expression grew more pained.
~
AT THE end of the meal the guests dispersed one by one. A revenant in grey came over to Ella, saying nothing, just staring at her with sightless white eyes.
Ella knew when she was being summoned. She bid good night to Hermen and followed the revenant to a smaller chamber nearby.
Dain Barden was crouching in front of a hearth, holding his hands towards the embers.
"I'm a plain-spoken man, Ella, and I will appreciate it if you are direct in return. Why are you here?"
Ella gathered her thoughts, wondering where to begin. "We think the attack may have been directed by an ancient enemy of all of us."
The Path of the Storm (The Evermen Saga, Book Three) Page 12