Woman of Silk and Stone

by Mattie Dunman

  Around me, the council members and remaining guards shifted on their sisu uncomfortably, clearly eager to be off. "So where do we meet with the Horde?" I asked, ignoring the voice inside my head telling me I was fool to send Adar away, that no one would take me seriously now.

  "We are here, beautiful goddess," a familiar voice called, sparking a grin. I squirmed around until I could see them approaching from the opposite direction.

  So, they were called a Horde for a reason.

  A sea of giant, blue painted warriors on sisu stretched out like the grasslands I'd been found in, the sound of hoof-beats nearly deafening as they drew closer. And out in front were my Easter Island buddies, Temuk and Khenti.

  Despite the severity of the situation, I was so delighted to see them again I waved like a little kid spying the ice cream truck and nearly bounced out of my saddle. "You guys came!" I shouted, irrationally believing that everything was going to be fine now.

  I mean, there was a freaking Horde on our side.

  As soon as they caught up to us, we began to ride in earnest. Temuk plucked me off my mount and dropped me in front of him; I was thankful, since it was pretty unlikely I would have been able to keep up on my own.

  "I see you wasted no time fulfilling your destiny," he said as he leaned forward, urging the sisu to move faster over the flat, sandy wasteland than I imagined possible. I laughed, caught up in the sheer thrill of the moment, and I even managed to catch the flask that Khenti threw my way, taking a deep slug of the fiery liquid, allowing it chase away any residual doubts that I had chosen the right course.

  "I'm so glad you came," I said again, suddenly giddy. "I wasn't sure what the Horde's politics were, but I knew you wouldn't want Tam hurt."

  He gave me an odd look, which, for a blue-faced Easter Island head, is saying something. "Of course we came. The Horde is the Halqu's to call on. And to find out that you are Sarrim Adar's arrami merely adds to our duty. We are the army of the Darisam, if they ever need one."

  "Historically, not so much. It's more an honorific title than anything because the Darisam are indestructible," Khenti added, tossing his stoic version of a smile my way. I shook my head and tried to get my mind straight.

  "So, basically you're saying you work for me?" I asked impishly, so glad to have the two of them back I could have danced.

  Temuk laughed out loud and nodded his giant head. "More or less. Definitely more on the less side. But we are bound to aid any halqu. Besides, we don't wish to see Ensi Tam hurt. His father was a good king, and had good relations with the Horde. We will protect his son if we can."

  I sighed in relief, feeling as though a huge weight had been taken from my shoulders. There were people here now that knew what they were doing, and I didn't have to try to fight for authority with the council. The Horde was a pretty big stick to throw at them.

  "Adar's indestructible?" I asked, now shifting to my other concern. It was hard to imagine anything that could hurt him; he was so big, so forceful in presence that I couldn't picture anything less than a hurricane taking him down, but I was still apprehensive.

  Temuk looked down at me incredulously. "Honey, he is immortal. He can't be killed or harmed. You could swing an axe at his neck and it would simply pass through without drawing blood."

  There was a strange mixture of emotions going on my head at hearing Temuk's assurance; on the one hand, yay! He'd be fine and I didn't have to worry about him getting hurt when he went in after Tam. On the other hand, the whole concept of immortality took on new connotations. Back home, in popular literature, immortal meant the vampires lived forever, not that they were completely invincible. There was always a weakness, a vulnerable spot. Always.

  And Adar had said I was his only weakness. So what exactly did that mean about my new status?

  I didn't get a chance to ask. There were shouts ahead of us and I looked up to see a fire in the distance, a blaze of color in an unrelieved vista of sand. Dark specks were moving away from the flames, so I assumed that something had gone wrong and Adar had been forced to set fire to the outpost.

  I just hoped it wasn't in retribution because he found Tam already dead.

  Temuk let out a wild war cry and the Horde pushed forward, overtaking the council members and Litum, hurtling toward the fire at dizzying speeds. I clung to the sisu's back, lowering my head to avoid the buffeting wind screaming around me, tears pricking my eyes in response to the heated air blowing past. By the time we finally came to a stop, my arms and legs were numb from holding on, and my right hand had pulverized the edge of the saddle. Releasing the crumbled leather, I shook out the hand, glad I hadn't been gripping onto the poor sisu with it.

  Temuk lifted me down into another Horde member's arms, and then he and Khenti went charging forward after the disappearing Litum that were still fleeing the burning outpost. My heart was lodged somewhere in the center of my throat as I took in the devastation.

  The outpost had stood on a small, probably man-made rise in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. It couldn't have been more than a few rooms, one story, but it was impossible to tell now since only crumbling walls still smoldering remained. We were still about half a mile away, but I could see clearly enough that there were several bodies scattered around the ruins.

  Feeling sick, I simply waited, knowing there wasn't anything to do until Adar brought Tam to me. I needed to be strong and ready to comfort the kid, since he undoubtedly wouldn't understand why his aunt was trying to kill him.

  The council finally caught up to us, and I could hear them calling out in distress over the state of the outpost, demanding to see Tam, but I didn't know what to tell them. I didn't see Adar anywhere, and although there was plenty of smoke billowing around, none of it felt like him.

  It was then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of color. It almost looked like something was climbing out of the ground about a hundred yards to my left. Squinting, I could just make out the shape of two people, one tall and dressed in long skirt, and the other short and struggling against the woman's grip.

  I realized that there must have been an underground escape tunnel or something similar that led away from the outpost, and that Ninna had somehow bolted. My eyes darted around the landscape, searching for Adar, for any sign that he was in pursuit, but nothing appeared, just the steady burn of the building in the distance.

  Gripping the arm of the Horde member next to me, I pointed frantically at the escaping figures. "She's out! She's still got him! Where's Adar?"

  He called out a warning and men all around me took to their sisu, hurtling after them, but I knew they wouldn't make it in time. Ninna had heard them and was standing stock still, holding a long, thin dagger above a clearly terrified Tam.

  Without thinking, I ran. I ran the way I had when I first arrived and was fleeing from the Horde, when I flew over fields of blue grass, feeling the power in my legs, the strength of my muscles propelling me beyond human capabilities. Now I flew over sand, moving so quickly I could hear nothing but the sound of air rushing past my head, feel nothing but the silky spray of sand kicking up behind my heels, see nothing but the small, terrified boy who needed me.

  When I crashed into them, I thrust my right fist against Ninna's abdomen, catapulting her twenty feet backward. I clutched Tam to me as I rolled to the ground, trying to shield him from my hard landing. If I was going to run like that again in the future, I really needed to work on my ability to stop without crashing.

  He was weeping desperately, as if his heart was broken, and probably it was. The only mother figure he'd had for most of his childhood had just held a knife to him, and there was no way I could shield him from that knowledge.

  "Shh, shh, you're okay, you're going to be alright," I murmured, trying to calm him down, checking him over for any sign of injury. Apart from a bruise on his cheek, he appeared unharmed, but he definitely needed a healer. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the riders who had taken off before me finally approaching, and thankfu
lly Tilmun was on a sisu not far behind.

  "Where is Adar?" I asked the group, not really expecting an answer anymore. Something had gone terribly wrong, because I couldn't imagine what was keeping him from me.

  As expected, no one answered, but Tilmun finally reached us and dropped down to Tam's side, taking the boy's head in his pudgy hands and bowing over him, chanting quietly but firmly. Shuddering with the excess of adrenaline, I stood up and walked toward Ninna's collapsed figure.

  She was alive, but I could tell my strike had damaged her badly; she was clutching her stomach and moaning, her once-pleasant looking face drawn in pain and streaked with tears. For a moment, one vivid second, I felt sorry for her, guilty that I had hurt her so badly when all I wanted was to save Tam.

  And then she turned her hate-filled eyes to me and smiled.

  "Why wouldn't you just die?" she croaked, her previously smoky voice now harsh and guttural, like she'd swallowed razorblades. "All of this..." she coughed, her entire body writhing in agony, sweat beading on her forehead. "So unnecessary, if you'd just fucking DIED!"

  I stared down at her, pity and revulsion mixing in my gut to form stony resolve.

  "So Tam would have grown up just fine, then? Lived a long and fruitful life?"

  She laughed, and it was the sound of dry, crackling leaves, a hollow, desolate noise. "Well, maybe not, but he would've lived a while longer. He was easier to manage than his father; I might even have let him live if he'd passed the crown to me," she whispered, the light starting to fade from her eyes. I felt the presence of others behind me and hoped someone had the sense to get Tam out of hearing range.

  "Kashaptu! Idimmu! What have you done?" Tilmun stood beside me now, his normally jovial face ruddy with rage, his fists clenched and shaking. "Did you...did you murder your own brother?"

  Ninna smiled faintly, almost as if caught in a fond memory. "Oh yes. He had discovered my growing army of loyal soldiers, my secret funds. He would simply have banished me, but the halqu managed to cast a spell and made his heart stop; his wife too, when she came to see what we were fighting about."

  She dissolved into another fit of coughs, blood trickling from her lips, and I knew we wouldn't get much more from her. I knew someday soon this would hurt, the knowledge that I'd ended a life, but just now, I couldn't drum up much guilt.

  Everyone had paled at the mention of the halqu, and I remembered I had been told the last one left the kingdom, but not where or why.

  "The halqu did this? But why?" a Horde member asked, sounding stunned. Ninna wheezed out what I thought was a laugh.

  "He loved me. The only one who ever did. And now he is gone," she moaned, closing her eyes, and for the first time, I thought she might be feeling true emotion. Her entire body shivered and trembled, and then suddenly went still. Startled, I stepped forward, not thinking, only wanting more answers.

  Just as I knelt by her side, I heard Adar's voice, at last. I turned to look for him and saw black smoke hurtling towards me, and heard his voice on the air, crying out, "Honey-sa, NO!"

  And that's when the knife plunged into my chest.

  Chapter XVI

  Can't hold a good woman down

  Well, that was pretty anti-climactic.

  All that build-up; Ninna saving her last bit of strength to stab me as a final revenge, Adar screaming out in despair, everybody running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

  It was just a little-bitty stab wound.

  As Ninna stared up at me, satisfaction blazing in her glazed eyes, I pulled the knife out of my chest and grinned.

  It had barely gone in, just parted the flesh and then stuck in the impenetrable petrified wood shield around my heart. Within seconds of the dagger's removal, my skin closed and I simply wiped away the blood.

  The light died out of Ninna's eyes and her lips parted on a final gasp as her body went truly still for the last time. Glad I could take away even that small triumph, I turned to look at Adar, whose skin was blazing, his entire body coated in flames.

  "Where the hell were you?" I demanded sharply, secretly happy to see that he appeared unharmed.

  He simply stared for a moment before lunging and swooping me up in his great, sinewy arms. I shrieked as I came in contact with the fire still rolling over his skin, but it merely tickled at me, almost playful, so I just let him hold me while my clothes burned away to ash.

  After a few minutes, he calmed down enough to douse the flames and then growled at the man closest to us to give me his cloak. Once I was wrapped up and sufficiently shielded from any unwanted gazes, Adar shifted me in his arms so he could look into my eyes.

  "Ti summu, I thought I'd lost you. I told you that you are my one weakness! Why did you put yourself in danger?" he asked, his voice relatively calm despite the reddish glow of his skin.

  "I thought we were immortal. Temuk said nothing could hurt you," I answered, confused. For that matter, how had the stupid woman been able to stab me? Shouldn't the knife have just passed through?

  Adar nodded, looking exhausted. "It is true that I am impervious to harm; but you are not. It is difficult to kill you, but if your heart is destroyed, then both of us will perish. My soul is tied to yours, as yours is to mine."

  I glared up at him, thinking this was information he should have shared earlier, but with effort, I let my irritation go. There was enough to worry about at the moment. "Well, lucky for us, I have a wooden shield around my heart," I told him, grinning at his baffled expression.

  Before he could start getting into details, I smacked his shoulder. "And you didn't answer my question! Where were you? I thought you would be with Tam?"

  Adar sighed and frustration passed over his beautiful features. "I was foolish and overconfident. I underestimated the woman. When I arrived at the outpost, they were nowhere to be found, and I...questioned..." he paused, and I knew that he had done a lot more than simply question the unlucky soul; "one of the renegades. He told me they were only there as decoys, that Ninna had taken the king to the grasslands outpost. So I set this one ablaze and flew to the other location, only to turn back halfway because I felt your distress."

  Shame looked strange on his face; it wasn't built to carry that particular emotion. I didn't like it.

  "It's not your fault, Adar. We had a pretty half-assed plan. We were very, very lucky." Now that I knew everything was settled, and the danger had passed, I was ready to collapse. Glancing over to where Tilmun stood watching us with a bemused expression on his face, I gave him a wan smile. "Is Tam doing any better?"

  He startled out of whatever thoughts in which he had been lost and focused on me. "Yes, Honey. He is understandably distraught, but he will recover."

  Grateful for that reassurance, I looked up at Adar and gave him an impetuous kiss. "I'm done now," I stately plainly, and then promptly passed out.

  Epilogue

  Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be

  Two months had passed since the attempted coup, and things had finally settled down.

  Tam was hard to console; he had loved his aunt deeply, and finding out that not only had she intended to kill him and take his throne, but that she had been part of his parents' death, which no one had ever suspected, hit him pretty hard. For three days, he stayed in his room, curled up on his bed, refusing to eat or bathe.

  And I stayed with him.

  Those days bonded us in a way that I think would have normally taken years, if ever. I held him through his devastated tears, through the rages and temper-fueled fits over what Ninna had done, through the agonized realization that he had been betrayed on the most fundamental level, and finally, I held his hand when he left his room to address his people.

  Things in Solis had actually gotten a lot better. Ninna's secret funds were discovered and redistributed to the journeyman's guild. Shakar was removed from the council when it was discovered he aided her theft in return for a kickback. The renegade Litum were stripped of their positions and were sent
enced to hard labor in the desert for life. Frankly, I thought they were getting off easy, but whatever. Not my kingdom.

  The people of Solis forgave their young king, and based on my suggestion, the council was expanded to include leaders from every class: merchants, laborers, women. Yeah, I totally sneaked the woman's vote in there on everyone, and it was so worth it to see the expression on Efrim's face when he realized he had to work with Mistress Damki, who represented the working ladies of Solis.

  There were some less than pleasant repercussions, however. Hamsum was absolutely shattered that he had, in his own mind, failed me, and he withdrew his vow, which apparently was a major dishonor. I tried to forbid it, and refused to accept, but he simply walked away and left to ride with the Horde for a season. Adar assured me that Hamsum would get over it in time, and to give him the chance to regain his honor. I'm still hoping to see him ride through the gates, but I know Adar is right.

  Halqu were under some scrutiny now as well, after the news that the previous halqu, who had supposedly traveled to Shuru ten years ago, had actually murdered the king and queen, and had been living in the Golden City all this time. He was the old man who tried to kill me in the great hall, which was a shock to everyone. After Adar had knocked him out during the attack, he had simply never woken up, his heart stopping; which was some kind of poetic justice, even if it wasn't very satisfying.

  Somehow, I came out of the whole thing as a hero, a warrior woman. Plus, I was mated to a Darisam, which apparently carried some cachet.

  Which brings me to now.

  I lay in the middle of the blue fields of silk-grass, feeling the wind dance over my skin, the warmth of the sun melting into my bones like an old friend. There was no sound but the whisper of the breeze passing by and my own breathing.

  And then the smoke came.