The Rage of Dragons (Book of the Burning)

by Evan Winter

  He was on his back, near the cliff's edge and The Roar was loud enough to set his teeth chattering. He glanced back and down. The ocean roiled like boiling water, crashing against itself and spewing froth. Tau knew falling into it was death.

  "Get up!" His father said and Tau scrambled to his feet.

  "Look," Jabari said, pointing down.

  Tau lowered his sword and moved closer to Jabari. From his back, he'd missed the boat.

  "Are they mad?" asked Jabari.

  "What's this?" Tau's father said.

  Jabari pointed again. "Boat."

  Aren Solarin, Tau's father and the man in charge of Petty-Noble Jabari Onai's training, walked over. The three men watched the small watercraft bob up and down in the churning waters. "They'll be lucky if they don't drown," Aren said.

  "Can you tell who they are?" Jabari asked Tau.

  Jabari was taller, stronger, and faster than Lessers like Tau, but Tau was known for his sharp eyes. "Doesn't look like one of ours..."

  Aren looked closer. "Xiddeen?"

  "Maybe," Tau said. "I don't see anyone on it. It's heading for the boneyard..."

  Waves drove the small ship against the group of rocks and it was dashed to pieces.

  Jabari shook his head. "How did we do it?"

  "Do what, Nkosi?" said Aren, eyes scanning the sinking wreckage.

  "Cross it," Jabari said. "No ship we make now can sail more than a few hundred-strides from shore. How did we cross all of it?"

  Tau wasn't listening. Handmaiden Anya had crested the hill, arm-in-arm with Handmaiden Zuri, and he was caught in the sway of Zuri's hips. It didn't hurt that the knee-high slit in her dress offered glimpses of calf. Tau smiled at her and Zuri's brown eyes danced, as she raised a questioning eyebrow at him. Anya squeezed Zuri's arm and giggled.

  Aren stepped back from the cliff's edge, waving for Jabari to join Tau in the ring. "Nkosi, save the deep thinking for your tutors. My concern is your sword-work." Aren raised his arm. "Fight!"

  Tau, wanting to impress Zuri, launched himself at the Petty-Noble. Jabari rose to the challenge and soon both men were sweating in the heat. Jabari went high, too high, and Tau found his opening. He lunged, aiming for Jabari's mid-section with a strike that would have disemboweled the taller man, if their blades were anything but dulled practice swords.

  Tau squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for an impact that never came. He snapped his eyes open. Jabari had baited him. He tried to defend, but Jabari's sword slapped him in the armpit, where his gambeson had the least padding. The blow drove the air from Tau's lungs and he tumbled to the ground in a heap, ears full of Anya's tittering.

  Embarrassed, Tau looked up to see that Zuri was hiding a smile behind her hand. Worse, his audience had grown. A High-Harvester was standing with the handmaidens.

  "Nkosi Jabari," said the Harvester. Tau thought this one's name was Berko. He was from the mountain hamlet of Daba, where they grew potatoes, tiny misshapen potatoes. "I've come from the keep. Umbusi Onai, as well as your father and brother are looking for you."

  Jabari grimaced at mention of his older brother. He wasn't close with Lekan and Tau couldn't blame him.

  "I'm training," Jabari told the Harvester.

  "Nkosi, I was sent because of news from The Palm."

  That caught Tau's attention. News from the capital was rare.

  "From the Palm?" asked Jabari.

  "Yes, Nkosi. The Queen... The Queen is dead. Queen Ayanna has... well, she died."

  Anya gasped, Zuri covered her mouth, and Jabari looked dumbfounded. Tau looked to his father. His father's face was no comfort.

  "Who leads the Chosen now?" Jabari said.

  Berko, rail-thin but paunchy with a patchy gray beard, stepped closer. "Princess Tsiora, the second, will be Queen."

  "Then, The Palm seeks ratification for her ascension," said Jabari.

  Tau had heard of this. New Queens asked the Petty-Nobles, Greater-Nobles, and Royal-Nobles to accept their rule. It was a formality. The Omehia line had ruled since before the time of the Guardians.

  Jabari inclined his head in a sign of respect to Tau's father. "Inkokeli Solarin, duty calls."

  "Of course, Nkosi. Goddess guide you."

  Jabari marched for the Keep and Anya, eager to hear the gossip, rushed off after him, dragging Zuri with her.

  "She's a child," said Berko.

  Aren gave the man a look. "What?"

  "Queen Ayanna's granddaughter? She's a child."

  "Princess Tsiora is of age," Tau's father said.

  "Cancer." The Harvester hawked and spat on the packed dirt of the fighting circle. "Hard to believe things like that can kill royalty. First Princess Tsiora's mother, now her grandmother. The line grows thin and the princess will need an heir or it'll be the end of the Omehians."

  Tau spoke up. "There's her older brother and younger sister."

  "Brother doesn't count and Princess Esi is fey," Berko told him. "Add the constant raids to the balance and it's not a good time for a child-Queen." Berko lowered his voice. "The Chosen are strong because of our Gifts and it has been a long time, too long maybe, since our Queens have had it." Tau had to lean in to hear the last part. "A bit strange the Omehians can no longer call the Dragons themselves, neh?" Tau saw his father stiffen. The Harvester saw it too. "I'm just saying, is all." He turned and called to the two Drudge further down the hill, near the ration wagon. "One Low-Common portion and one for an Ihashe."

  "I'm High-Common," Tau said, annoyed he had to correct the man.

  The Harvester shrugged and changed the order. "High-Common portion!"

  One of the two Drudge, who pulled the wagon, took two sacks from it. He ran up the hill with them. Tau stared at the scrawny man, dressed in little better than rags. He couldn't understand why anyone would live that life instead of choosing to fight.

  The Drudge placed the sacks by Tau's feet and waited, in case the Harvester had further orders. The Drudge kept his head down. Tau knew he'd be beaten if he met the eyes of his betters.

  The man's skin was dark, almost as dark as Tau's and his head was a mass of kinked hair. It was forbidden for Drudge to shave their heads like proper Chosen men and the man's poor state made it hard for Tau to tell what Lesser Caste he'd been from.

  "Tau," his father said.

  Tau gathered up the two sacks, making a show of examining their contents. When the High-Harvester looked away, Tau placed two potatoes near the Drudge. The man's eyes widened at the unexpected offering and, hand shaking, he snatched them up, tucking them under the folds of his rags.

  "Coming," Tau said to his father. He shouldn't have done it. He trained most afternoons and needed the food. Besides, the man's lot was his choice. He had decided he wouldn't fight. Tau pushed the thought away. The man looked half-starved, and what was done was done.

  As he walked past, his father put a hand on his shoulder. "Kindly done," Aren whispered, little escaping his notice. Then, louder, he said, "Take the rations home. I need to see Umbusi Onai. I want to add more patrols."

  Tau nodded and went to do as he was bid. He made it three strides when he heard Nkiru, his father's Second, shouting from down the mountain. The muscular Ihagu, along with a full unit of Ihagu soldiers, was running. Nkiru was drenched in sweat, his sword's scabbard slapping at his thigh. It would have been humorous, if not for the look on his face. Nkiru was frightened.

  "Raid! Raid!" Nkiru yelled, struggling to be heard over The Roar. "The hedeni are raiding!"

  VIOLENCE

  Tau moved to his father's side as Nkiru arrived.

  "Signal smoke, near Daba," Nkiru said, blowing hard.

  "Daba?" said Berko. "Daba?"

  Nkiru ignored the Harvester. "'Hedeni crossing fields', that's the message. The Xiddeen must have landed a war party and climbed the cliffs. If they're in the farming fields it won't be long before they're in Daba."

  Tau thought about the wrecked boat. It had been Xiddeen. He wondered how many ships and people the savage
s lost, mounting this raid.

  "Did the message say anything about numbers?" Tau's father asked.

  "No," Nkiru said. "But, if they've come this far—"

  "Send men," Berko pleaded. "You can't let them reach Daba."

  Aren gave his orders. "Nkiru, Ekon, take the men you have and head for the mountain barracks. Empty it out."

  "Yes!" said a frantic Berko. "I'll go too."

  "I'm for the Keep. I'll gather the men there and ask Onai's Gifted to send an Edification. We're calling for the military," Aren told Nkiru. "This isn't a normal raid. They've come too far into our territory." Aren paused, looking into the faces of his men. "With the Goddess' strength, we'll get there in time and be able to hold until the Ihashe and Indlovu arrive."

  Nkiru turned to the men he'd been assigned, doing his best to sound eager. "You heard the Inkokeli. Move!"

  The fighters, High-Harvester, and the two Drudge went up the mountain, making for the Taala path. It was the quickest way.

  "Go home," Aren told Tau. He looked grim. "I'll see you, when this is done."

  Tau watched his father run down the mountain, racing against what little time the people in Daba had before the raiders were among them, and he knew he couldn't stay behind. Tau Tafari was no Drudge. He would not place the responsibility of his safety on the shoulders of others.

  Moving fast, he hid the ration sacks and his practice blade. Then, he belted on his sharpened bronze sword, the one that had belonged to his father's father. He gripped the hilt, feeling the etchings his grandfather had made, spelling out the family name in a spiral that wound its way from pommel to guard. 'Solarin' it read.

  Tau ran after his father, knowing he wouldn't catch him and not wanting to. His grandfather's sword would see battle again, he thought, as he went to find Jabari. They'd go to Daba together, to fight the hedeni with the rest of the Ihagu soldiers. His father wouldn't agree, but Tau felt this was his duty. He was almost a Chosen warrior. He needed to act like one.

  It wasn't long before the Onai's Keep, the largest building in Kerem, came into view. It was two floors tall, had a central courtyard, and was surrounded by an adobe wall that was nine strides high. The adobe was smooth and that spoke to the Onai's wealth.

  Seeing the Keep, Tau felt a twinge of jealousy. This was Jabari's home. Tau's mother was High-Common, but he lived with his father, a Low-Common, and they shared a single room hut that was more mud than adobe.

  "Eh, what're you about, Tau?" a raspy voice asked from above.

  Tau looked to the top of the Keep's fortifying wall. It was Ochieng. Ochieng had always been a blustering oaf and, a full cycle older than Tau, he'd already reached manhood. He hadn't passed the test for the Ihashe though, and he'd come back from the Southern Capital with his head low.

  In truth, Ochieng had been fortunate. Tau's father had spoken on his behalf to the Keep Guard. They respected Aren and had agreed to take Ochieng on as one of their men. Many of Ochieng's family were already Drudge and, if Aren hadn't vouched for him, Ochieng would be one too. As it stood, Tau felt Ochieng owed him.

  "Open the gate, Ochieng. I don't have time."

  "Don't have time, neh? Where's your hurry?"

  "Hedeni raid," Tau said, hoping the news would shock him into action.

  "Just heard. In Daba. What's it got to do with you?"

  "I have to see Jabari."

  "He know you're here?"

  "What do you think?" Tau said.

  "Don't know what you're fooling about," Ochieng muttered, disappearing behind the wall. A moment later, Tau heard the heavy latch on the bronze gate swing up and away.

  "Hurry. In you get."

  "Thanks, Ochieng."

  "Didn't open the gates for you."

  Tau rushed past. Ochieng still felt he owed Tau's father. He should know Aren didn't consider owing and owed, when he did a thing. Aren Solarin simply tried to do what was right. And that, thought Tau about himself, was exactly what he was doing.

  With his head down, he moved through the Keep's yards as fast as he dared, hoping not to draw attention. The Lessers in the Keep tended to be High-Commons or up. He saw a few Harvesters, though they were rare, so far from their farms. More often, he came across women from the Governor's Caste going about their administrative duties.

  Tau was headed for the bathhouse. He hoped to find Jabari there. Jabari loved his baths and always said that spending time with Lekan made one feel necessary. Tau figured Jabari wouldn't have heard about the raid yet and, if he was done dealing with his mother, father, and Lekan, the bathhouse was where he'd be.

  He sped up, eyes on the dirt, which was why he came near to knocking his younger half-sister on her ass.

  "What in the Goddess'... Tau?" said Jelani, unable to keep the surprise from her face. "Why are you here?"

  "Hello Jelani."

  "Don't 'hello' me."

  "How's mother?"

  "That'll depend," Jelani said, glaring at Tau like she'd found a maggot in her rations, "on what I tell her about seeing you here."

  "I'm looking for... Jabari asked to see me."

  Jelani squinted at him. "Jabari?"

  "Yes, there's a raid in the mountains... the hedeni—"

  "He's in the bath house. Find him and leave, before I tell my mother."

  Our mother, Tau thought, inclining his head and walking away. He swore he could feel Jelani's beetle-black eyes on his back as he went. She hated having a half-low as a sibling and that's how she thought of him, as a half-low.

  It made Tau want to yell that he was as High-Common as she was. Status came from the woman who bore you, and his name was Tafari, just like hers. It wouldn't have done any good. Jelani knew their mother wouldn't have anything to do with him, or Aren.

  Pushing Jelani out of mind, Tau stepped up to the bath house, opened its door, and was hit by a blast of hot scented air. "Jabari?" he said into the fog. He didn't dare go in. "Jabari?"

  "Tau? That you?" said Jabari's familiar voice. "What are you about?"

  "Violence," Tau told the son of his Umbusi.

  RAID

  "There," Tau said, pointing at a flickering light in the distance. "Do you see it?" The light was bright against the evening's darkness, but he was never sure how far Jabari could see.

  "I see it," Jabari said. "They're burning Daba."

  Jabari picked up the pace and Tau, lungs burning, did his best to keep up. He tried not to think about what they'd find when they got to there. He'd trained his whole life with his father, and his father was the best fighter in the fief, but Tau had never been in a real battle.

  "Swords out!" Jabari ordered as they came over a hill. Tau pulled his weapon free, looked down on the hamlet, and froze.

  Daba sat on a plateau that had natural borders. Four hundred strides in front of Tau the mountain continued clawing its way to the clouds. On his right, twice as far away, was the hamlet's central square and, beyond it, the plateau ended in a series of steep but scalable cliffs that faced the valley. On Tau's left were the raiders. They had come from the paths leading to Daba's growing fields and they had burned half the hamlet already.

  The flaxen roofs of the larger houses were on fire and, in the night's dark, the flames silhouetted the fleeing men, women, and children of Daba. The Ihagu, Aren's men, were doing their best to defend the villagers, but they were outnumbered and fighting a series of running skirmishes between Daba's tightly packed homes and storage barns. They were retreating, but there was nowhere to go. The hedeni were herding the Ihagu and villagers to the cliffs.

  Tau didn't know what he'd expected, but this wasn't it. The hedeni, filthy and scarred by the Goddess' Curse, threw themselves at the Ihagu. They held either bone spears or bone-and-bronze hatchets, which they used to chop at the Chosen like woodcutters. They didn't use fighting stances Tau could recognize and their attacks followed no rhythm or sequence. Worst of all, the Ihagu had been reduced to fighting as savagely as the hedeni. Both sides stabbing at each other and, every so ofte
n, someone would fall back, dead, wounded, or maimed.

  "What is this?" Tau asked, his voice too low for Jabari to hear.

  "There," Jabari shouted, running down, not waiting to see if Tau would follow.

  Tau tracked Jabari's path and saw three hedeni harrying a woman and child. Jabari yelled a battle cry. Tau, having trouble remembering why he'd come, lifted his sword, shouted as loud as he could, following the Petty-Noble into battle.

  When Tau reached the flats, Jabari had already engaged two hedeni. The savages had serrated spears and were trying to circle to his sides. Jabari stood between them and the Lessers.

  Tau went for the third savage, arcing his sword in a blow meant to decapitate, but the wretch brought up a hatchet, blocking his strike. The raider, a mass of dirty hair and mud-caked skin, surged forward, swinging their weapon low, aiming for his thigh.

  Tau leapt back, fear lending him speed. The hatchet's blade hissed past and Tau attacked, desperate to shift the battle's momentum. He lunged, aiming for the heart and, as he'd been taught, he kept his eye on the target, ready to react when they dodged. The collision, then, was a surprise. Tau's blade plunged from tip to hilt, in and through his opponent's chest. The savage had not dodged, had made no move to avoid the sword's point at all.

  Tau didn't understand. The lunge had been obvious. It wasn't a serious killing blow. Anyone with decent training could have avoided it.

  Tau looked up and into the face of the person he'd stabbed. The eyes were big and wide, staring off at something in the distance. The mouth, full-lipped, formed a gentle 'o' and the raider's hair, dreaded by lack of care, hung down her face. Tau pulled back in revulsion, but his blade wouldn't come free. The woman, or girl, he couldn't tell, cried out as the bronze ripped her insides.

  She reached for Tau, perhaps to hold him close, hoping to halt the blade's bitter exit. Her fingers, bloody already, touched his face. She tried to speak, lips flecked with spittle, but her life had run its course and she sighed, as if with relief, before the weight of her lifeless body pulled Tau to the ground.