Woman of Silk and Stone

by Mattie Dunman

  The smoke is there, though.

  For a moment, it surrounds me, blinding me to everything but its presence. I feel it trail along my skin, warm lips brushing against my neck, fingers stroking my lower back and around my hip. My head falls back and a sense of warm contentment rolls over me, the scent of cardamom and coriander seeping into my skin and burying itself there like a brand.

  "Open your eyes, ti summu," a dark, rich voice murmurs and I do, momentarily stunned by the beauty of the vista before me.

  What once was a barren field now is a verdant valley between gently rounded hills; tall stalks of grass in kaleidoscopic colors of orange, yellow, blue, green, and purple wave gracefully with a faint breeze. The music of swiftly moving water dances on the air, and in the distance, I can see a vast, shining sea glimmering on the horizon.

  "Soon, ti arrami," the voice whispers, "soon."

  Chapter XI

  Come On Baby, Light My Fire

  Two days passed in relative calm.

  That sounds a lot more peaceful than things actually were, but judged against my disastrous first day in Solis, things were downright placid.

  Since the attempt on my life, I was virtually never left alone. Hamsum dogged my every step, and while I'd actually grown rather fond of the hulking, monosyllabic fellow, I hadn't learned much more about him or his pledge. He refused to explain his reasons for abandoning his previous post, which I had since learned was with the highly respected Litum, the same division as the man who had tried to kill me.

  While I couldn't know for sure, I figured that Hamsum most likely felt some sense of responsibility for my attack; a fellow guard, one he had known and worked with, had slipped past him and tarnished the name of Litum everywhere by trying to assassinate a "treasured" guest. Becoming my personal shadow was probably a means of recovering some perceived loss of honor. Either way, annoying as it could be to have a less than talkative moving hulk of muscle at my back all the time, I was secretly grateful for Hamsum's presence, knowing a second attack on my life was unlikely with him always hovering nearby.

  I spent hours each day with Tam, learning about his world and telling him about my own. Probably I should have spent the time trying to get a better grasp of the politics and culture during out little discussion, but Tam and Hili were an insatiable audience as I described cars, the Internet, and The Avengers. Although I knew they couldn't really envision what I was talking about, they seemed to view Earth as a magical realm with limitless wonders. Oddly enough, while there was a lot I missed about home, I was adjusting to my new surroundings with more alacrity than I'd expected.

  The Golden City was a perplexing blend of the familiar and the fantastic. I wasn't exactly accustomed to it, but everything seemed to run on a fusion of burgeoning technology and what I could only think of as magic. Of course, cell phones seemed like magic to me, and I used to carry one with me every day, so it's all a matter of perspective. Certain things, like showers, furniture, and even the outdated clothing were similar to what had once been on Earth, but there were times I'd get smacked in the face with something completely alien; like the energy rocks they used for light, or the way Zagmi Hilmun, with a few words in the Old Tongue and some fancy arm waving, could make it rain for three hours straight when people were complaining that the riverbed was growing dry.

  The food was an adjustment; everything was familiar and yet just a little bit off. The primary meat source was a beast that looked pretty much like a cow, apart from it being furry and yellow, and yet it tasted more like venison than beef. Nothing was unpalatable, but everything was foreign. The worst of it was that I discovered early on that while there were several fruits and veggies that didn't approach anything I'd seen on Earth, there was absolutely nothing that bore any resemblance to coffee or chocolate.

  A hard pill to swallow.

  Despite all this, and the fact that I'd obviously never lived in a culture that compared, human nature can always be counted on, and I wasn't as rudderless as I'd feared.

  The government was a pretty standard monarchy; a king with a high council of advisors that made most of the decisions and waited for the royal stamp of approval. A lot like Game of Thrones without all the slapdash murders. Tam had to be the most easygoing king of all time; anything his aunt agreed with, he did as well. I knew it was his youth and inexperience that kept him from making any decisions on his own, and I rather respected the kid for not trying to take on matters that were simply too mature for him to grasp, but I was bothered a bit by his blind deference to Ninna. Thus far she hadn't made any recommendations that seemed harmful to me, but I couldn't help but wonder what Tam would do if she ever proposed something morally objectionable.

  Ninna and Efrim butted heads at every opportunity, and while it was fun to watch them go at it, I had a difficult time determining whether it was a good thing. Because of my status as Halqu, and my own idiotic declaration that I had advised the rulers back in my own world, I was afforded a place on the council the very day after my attack, and quickly learned the intricacies of ruling what was essentially a nation-state like Solis. And so I was present for a few knock-down, drag 'em out brawls between the king's aunt and top advisor. There was a rivalry that went far beyond political differences; unexpectedly, Ninna tended to be a bit harsher in her views, while Efrim always advocated for the most practical route. They should have balanced each other out, but it simply caused a troublesome division on the council.

  One that was reflected in the overall state of the kingdom.

  I don't know why I expected that Solis would be some kind of enchanted realm where the bluebirds did the housework and rodents were tailors, and everybody got along, but clearly my expectations had been skewed by every Disney movie I'd ever seen.

  In reality, since Tam's parents' death nearly ten years before and he took the throne at the tender age of twenty - or by my calculations, seven or eight - the kingdom had been in a state of resentment and disharmony. Taxes were higher, unemployment was up, and the economy was on a downward slide. The brightly colored townhouses and clean streets I had seen on my way in were only a small portion of the city; the poorer section of town where the laboring class lived in row-houses was slipping away from the white picket fence level of charming and heading more towards the projects.

  What most shocked me was the fact that the kingdom of Solis was not some huge, sprawling realm with overpopulation problems; rather, it was more like the kingdom of Monaco back on Earth, even if the actual land space was larger. From what little I managed to glean about Edin's geography, there were three major kingdoms on a single continent. If there were other land masses on the planet, no one knew about them yet, and all of known Edin was a little smaller than the continental U.S.

  The kingdoms were divided evenly, each with the population of a small city back home. In Solis, there were about 35,000 people. Total.

  Today, as I sat in yet another council meeting, listening to the members arguing over yet another pointless tax hike, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to keep quiet. Until now, I hadn't spoken up much during council, knowing I still needed to understand more of the intricacies of the culture before casting an opinion; but I was beginning to get fed up.

  While there wasn't a huge disparity between the Haves and Have Nots in Solis, the gap was beginning to expand and I had no doubt it was due to the increased taxing over the past ten years. What was most troubling was the lack of explanation regarding where the extra revenue was going. The royal exchequer didn't seem to be bloated, the court wasn't throwing lavish balls or banquets, and Tam certainly wasn't spending the extra cash on booze and women. So the only explanation was that someone high up was cooking the books and storing up a nice little nest egg at the expense of the kingdom and Tam's reputation as king.

  Efrim seemed a likely candidate; the man wore some of the most elaborate robes I'd seen yet in Solis, and he seemed to have a few more personal servants than anyone else, including the king.

  But frank
ly, painting Efrim as the villain was beginning to bug me. It just seemed too easy, too textbook to be real. Although Occam's Razor suggested that yes, the guy who looked like Disney's favorite evil sorcerer and who sniped at me with his every breath was the clear choice, I couldn't help feeling that somewhere deep down - deep, deep down - he meant well.

  This was one of those moments. For the past hour, the council had been arguing about raising the taxes on blown glass. Interestingly enough, glass-making was the primary export for Solis, making it the most profitable industry in the kingdom. So, raising the taxes on the owners of the glass factories made some sense; they had a surplus, and it was a renewable resource, so if it had to come from somewhere, at least the tax wouldn't be a hardship.

  But the council wasn't talking about taxing the wealthy owners and merchants; they wanted to increase the tax on the status of journeymen, affecting the laborers who had to buy a license to work as a glass-blower. These were the people who had looked so disgruntled on my first day in the city, the ones who probably viewed the sudden appearance of a Halqu as yet another reason for their taxes to go up.

  Because this wasn't the first time. While the merchants were making money hand over fist, the laborers and lower classes were beginning to feel the pinch, turning what had been a peaceful realm into a state of unrest.

  And it was all being blamed on Tam.

  "Well, and if it does decrease the number of new journeymen this quarter, so what? There is no shortage now, and it will simply make the existing workers more competitive," Shakar, the minister of labor, was maintaining, his face florid with the heat of the argument. He was one of my least favorite council members; he always seemed to be sweating and had a sly look about him, as though he knew something you didn't and was just waiting for the opportunity to use it against you.

  "Yes, and what happens when the only journeymen who can afford to pay the licensing fee are ones who come from the merchant class and are unskilled? You know perfectly well that Shuru has begun developing its own glass factories since the price hike. Do we give them the chance to overtake our industry?"

  This was my problem. Efrim was the one making sense.

  Tam shot me a worried look, clearly not understanding the full financial implications, but knowing that trouble was ahead. "What do you think, Honey?" he asked, his boyish voice shaky with nerves.

  Every eye shot to me and I found myself shifting uncomfortably in my chair. This was the reason my professors always told me not to exaggerate on my resume; someone will always expect you to know what you're talking about.

  "I don't pretend to understand the complexities of the system you've got here, but I do know that based on the history of my world, when the lower classes, the laborers, become too burdened by taxation, rebellion is never far behind," I finally said, hesitant to get too heavily involved. After all, I still didn't know who wanted me dead. No point in giving them more reasons.

  Tam's eyes widened in dismay and Ninna gave me a quelling look. However, the rest of the council seemed interested in my take on the situation.

  "A rebellion? This is common where you are from?" Efrim asked, for once losing the sarcastic tone often present in his voice.

  "Uh, yeah. Pretty common. It's...not here?" I asked, wondering if that was even possible.

  "No, not at all. Since the original division of kingdoms, Solis has never experienced an internal rebellion. Not in five thousand years," Shakar informed me proudly. I just nodded, letting that sink in for a minute.

  I still hadn't worked out the difference in time here. The year was actually longer in Edin, four hundred days long; but the days were shorter, only twenty hours. Of course the hours were measured differently, and equaled about seventy minutes back home. Needless to say, my internal clock was all screwed up.

  "That's...remarkable. I don't think there's a nation on Earth that has gone longer than a few hundred years without some kind of internal conflict." The group pondered that for a moment, seemingly stunned.

  "But most of the conflicts center on money. Who has it, what they're doing with it, and if the people doing without are suffering. For instance, in a country called France a little over three hundred years ago, the aristocracy had become indolent with wealth and decadence while the lower classes were starving to death. There was a revolution, a bloody one, and the monarchy was toppled to form a republic...a nation ruled by its people."

  Shocked faces watched me from around the table, apparently unable to imagine a world where such things could occur. Thinking it was a good time to drive my point home, I continued.

  "That didn't really work out so well either, can't remember why, but the main thing was that most countries learned not to let things get quite that drastic again. From what I understand about the situation here, no one is in danger of starving yet, but it doesn't take as long as you would imagine for that line to be crossed. And it's hard to come back from it."

  The room hushed for several long moments as each member thought it through, hopefully taking me seriously. Efrim in particular studied me intently, his dark eyes swirling with unspoken thoughts and plans, most of which probably didn't bode well for me. At long last, Ninna broke the silence, her eyes sharp with irritation. I was a little taken aback by her expression, and wondered whether she was annoyed with me for bringing my opinion into the mix, or just pissed off at the stubborn men who'd kept us debating for hours on end.

  "We should table this discussion for now, councilors. Let us look into the matter more and determine whether the tax is truly needed before we take the next step," she declared, rather reasonably, I thought. She glanced over at me and rolled her eyes in a distinctly unladylike manner, making me grin. Maybe her butt was as numb as mine was at that point.

  "Very well. Ensi Tam, do you agree?" Efrim asked, completely unnecessarily, since Tam would never contradict his aunt.

  "Yes," he nodded succinctly. "The council is dismissed for today. Let us meet again in a week to discuss the matter further."

  Ninna patted his hand and gave him a proud smile before turning to whisper to Shakar. Turning to me, Tam gave me a wide grin and scrambled out of his chair to take my hand. The kid loved to lead me around like a lost puppy. It took me almost a week to realize that apart from his aunt, no one else touched the boy in affection, so I submitted gracefully, letting him hug me or hold my hand whenever he wanted.

  "The people of France really got rid of their king?" he queried as soon as we exited the room. I smiled grimly. Figured the kid would latch on to that idea.

  "Yes, Tam. They did. But eventually they had a king again, although he still had to listen to the people more. And the country I come from doesn't have a king at all," I informed him, thinking that as much as I loved Tam, there was something deeply wrong with a society that put the onus of government on the shoulders of a twelve-year old just because of who his daddy was.

  "No king? How do they live?" he asked, violet eyes wide with curiosity. Well, I walked right into that one, didn't I?

  As I attempted to explain democracy to a king, I began to feel strange; a fine sheen of sweat sprang out all over my skin and a tingling heat stretched down my spine, as though it were plugged into an electrical socket.

  We walked into the main hall and I heard Hamsum cry out a warning before I saw a flash of steel and a man in a dark hood fly at me.

  Moving on instinct, I pushed Tam behind me, not sure in that endless second before the assailant reached us if he was after me or the young king. Everything seemed to slow down, sounds were sharper, and my heart was so loud in my ears I could barely focus on anything else. I could feel Tam's fingers digging into my back, hear his frightened shout; I could see Hamsum's shadow at my side as he moved to intercept, but I knew it wouldn't be in time.

  The knife, a shard of gleaming, bright silver, descended toward me, the hand gripping it dark and tattooed. The face beneath the hood was shielded, but I saw the sharp bite of a smile and knew the weapon would strike true.

>   Suddenly all the typical bustle of the castle, the laughter and voices, the sounds of servants going about their duties, the clash of swords where guards sparred; all had died into a silence so heavy I could feel it settle on my shoulders as everyone realized what was happening.

  And then I felt it. My fire phantom.

  The great hall seemed darker somehow, like a cloud had passed over the sun, and the air was thick with tension. A shadow sped into the hall, a cloud of smoke stretching out across the room at lightning speed, touching every corner, brushing over every cheek, hidden fingers drifting over bare skin. The breath stopped in my throat, and my heart began to pound double-time, my every nerve ending screaming out that something drastic was about to happen, something terrifying and marvelous, life-changing and destroying.

  The smoke coalesced in a black wall in front of me, and miraculously, the knife simply dissolved into ash, falling to the floor in a tidy pile. The man in the hood stumbled and cried out, his voice cut off as an insubstantial-looking hand formed from the smoke and wrapped long fingers around his neck. I watched in utter shock, unsure if I had already taken the blow and was experiencing some sort of last-moment hallucination or if events had changed so drastically. Before my mind had time to catch up, the knife-wielder's head drooped and the hand released him, dropping him unceremoniously to the floor. Hamsum appeared at the fallen assassin's side, throwing back the hood as the crowd gave a collective gasp.

  It was an old man, the first I'd seen since coming to Solis. He looked to be in his seventies; here, that had to make him somewhere over four-hundred years old.

  What the hell was an old man, one dressed in servant's clothes, doing trying to kill me?

  Belatedly, I realized I was still blocked from the scene by the wall of dark smoke, in a scene uncannily similar to that of my dreams. As I stared at the center of the smoke, a figure formed, black as the void I travelled through to reach Edin. It wavered and flickered until finally resolving into the form of a man, over seven feet tall and broad at the shoulders. There was no face to make out, no clear features beneath the shifting mass of smoke; but there were eyes, burning emerald and indigo orbs that seared through me, stripping me bare to the bone, as though they were reading my very marrow.