by Jade Mere
“What is that?” Tahki said, holding his nose. Rye roasted what looked like black carrots over the fire.
“Cho root,” Rye said. “You can dig for it under the soil. It smells bad and tastes bland, but it’s full of nutrients.”
Tahki stuck out his tongue. “No thanks.”
Rye removed the sticks he’d been using as skewers and handed one to Tahki. With a begrudging look, Tahki took it and nibbled on the tip.
“How’s your shoulder?” Tahki said to Sornjia.
“Fine,” Sornjia said.
Rye smirked.
“What’s so funny?” Tahki said.
“You two look alike, but you aren’t very similar,” Rye said.
“Why do you say that?”
“If the situation were reversed,” Rye said. “You wouldn’t stop complaining until the whole country knew you’d been shot.”
Sornjia smiled. Tahki didn’t.
“Your smile is different too,” Rye said.
Tahki watched Rye observe Sornjia, and the most ridiculous feeling of jealousy overtook him. He and Sornjia were identical. If Rye was attracted to him physically, he would be attracted to Sornjia too. And personality wise, Sornjia had always been the more likable one.
“But Tahki has something I’ll never have,” Sornjia said.
“What’s that?”
“Ingenuity.”
At that, Rye smiled. “I guess he can be clever, when he wants to be.”
Tahki felt his face flush. “Where’s Pooka?”
Sornjia gestured vaguely.
“Does she listen to you?” Rye said. “I mean, she can understand you, can’t she?”
“I have no idea,” Tahki said.
Rye leaned forward. “Because we could really use her to get inside the castle. She could scare away Zinc’s men.”
“She won’t,” Sornjia said.
Rye frowned. “Why not?”
“She knows you want to reason with Dyraien,” Sornjia said. “She wants the castle destroyed. You have other plans.”
Rye chewed his root slowly.
“Rescuing Gotem is our priority,” Tahki said. “Dyraien can’t open the Dim without him. Once Gotem is safe, we’ll figure out what to do about the castle and Dyraien.”
“We should get moving,” Rye said. “Sending some of Zinc’s men to Edgewater will have slowed the installation, but even at half staff, they’ll complete it today.”
Tahki nodded and stood. He went to the river and splashed his face, the cold water waking him up. He felt better after eating the root, more alert. When he returned, Rye spoke lowly with Sornjia.
“Are you ready?” Tahki said.
Rye glanced up. “Yes.”
“You’ll be fine here, won’t you?” Tahki said to Sornjia.
Sornjia touched his middle finger to his thumb, the sign for everything is all right, a common Dhaulenian gesture Tahki hadn’t seen since leaving home.
With that, they departed for the castle, the sun draped across them. It felt strange for the day to be bright and beautiful when such a dark task awaited.
“What did you and my brother talk about?”
Rye glanced at him. “Dyraien, mostly. I talked about our life together. All the things Dyraien did for me.”
“And just now? What did my brother say to you?” And then he felt the need to add, “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want.”
Rye smiled. “I think he told me to keep you safe.”
“You think?”
Rye shrugged. “He says things in an odd way.”
“Well, you did a better job deciphering him than most people do.”
THEY FOLLOWED the lower road and scaled a small part of the cliffside when they neared. Rye had to help Tahki several times when they came to a particularly steep area. Tahki wasn’t afraid of heights, but the river raged below them, and he couldn’t help but look down with every step, despite Rye telling him not to.
When they breached the top of the cliff and the black spirals came into view, Tahki felt a strange draw to the castle, a kind of addictive pull. He hadn’t built her, but he felt a connection. For the last month she had filled his mind. An odd sense of possessiveness fell over him as they crept closer to the obsidian walls. He felt like he was betraying an old friend.
They snuck around to where the waterwheel turned. The wheel collected water from the river and deposited it to a funnel that carried it into the castle.
“Look,” Rye said. He pointed to the kitchen door. A man stood, arguing loudly with a short old woman.
“Gale,” Tahki said.
“Wait here.” Rye moved from their spot before Tahki had time to question him. He darted quickly and knocked the man in the back of the head. Gale gaped as Rye beat the man until he stopped moving. From books, Tahki always thought a man could be taken down with a single blow, but the reality was much more gruesome. He moved to Rye’s side.
“What in the hells are you doing?” Gale said, and narrowed her eyes at Tahki. “Do you have any idea what Dyraien told me about you?”
“I’m sorry, Gale,” Tahki said. “Dyraien killed the queen. He tried to kill Sornjia too. He lied about the castle, about everything.”
Gale looked to Rye, who nodded.
“You really are going to be the death of me,” Gale muttered.
“You should get out of here,” Rye said.
“And go where?”
“Find Hona,” Tahki said. He ignored the look of disgust Rye gave him. “She knows what’s going on. Get her to talk.”
Gale covered her eyes with her hand and sighed. “They’re looking for you. Both of you. Dyraien gave orders to bring you to him right away. The inside is crawling with Zinc’s people.”
“Then we’ll have to find another way,” Rye said. He headed toward the north side of the castle.
“I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you,” Tahki said before sprinting after Rye. He followed him up the road a little way, far enough they’d be out of sight, until they stopped near the river. Tahki shook his head, dread filling every part of him. Water sloshed over the bank, flowing down. Mist beaded on his face.
“This can’t be the only way in,” Tahki said.
“It is.”
“I don’t think I can do it.”
“Tahki.” Rye grabbed his hand. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Tahki’s body shook. “What if we go over the waterfall instead?”
“We won’t.”
Tahki tried to step back farther, but Rye held him.
“Close your eyes,” Rye said.
“No.”
“Close your eyes, count to ten.”
“No.”
Rye pulled him closer. “Trust me.”
Tahki thought back to the conversation he’d had with Sornjia after Pooka had attacked him. Sornjia had said trust was a feeling of wholeness, a feeling of control even when you had none.
Tahki put his hand on Rye’s chest and took a deep breath. “Don’t let me drown, or I swear I’ll come back as an evil spirit and haunt you.”
Rye smiled but didn’t reply. Instead, he grasped Tahki’s hand so tight it felt like his finger bones might bruise. It happened fast after that, so fast Tahki didn’t have time to contemplate his decision, which was probably what Rye had intended. Rye pushed Tahki in and held on, and they both remained submerged a moment as they drifted under the castle. The cold knocked the breath out of Tahki, but Rye’s arm drew them to the surface and kept them afloat. It was dark beneath the castle. Tahki didn’t know how Rye managed to find the bank and pull them out, but he did, and they rested in the dirt on their backs, taking deep breaths.
“Eleven,” Tahki panted.
“What?” Rye said.
“You said count to ten, but it took eleven seconds.”
Rye shoved Tahki’s face gently away with a wet hand and smiled. He looked like he was about to say something when a hard hand struck Tahki’s shoulder, and then he was fl
ying upward, out of control. He flailed and stumbled, his arms twisting so painfully behind him he feared they might break.
“Dyraien said you might try something like this,” Zinc said. “I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough.”
They fought to break free. Rye, too, had been restrained. It took two men and a woman to hold him back. Tahki couldn’t believe he’d risked jumping in the river only to be caught immediately.
“After you,” Zinc said with a bow. He shoved them down the dark tunnel lined with lightning roots. Zinc breathed heavily. He walked with a more pronounced limp, and his sides had been bandaged where Pooka had bitten him. The only way he could possibly stand would be if he’d taken drugs to ease the pain, which meant they might be able to overpower him.
But when Tahki glanced to Rye, he didn’t appear to struggle, and a moment later they found themselves behind the black gates. This time, instead of Nii in the black pool, Gotem sat tied and gagged. Water came up to his chest. The monk’s eyes were only a sliver, but when he caught sight of Tahki, they opened wide in fearful recognition.
“Gotem,” Tahki said. If he hadn’t run away, if he hadn’t completed the castle for Dyraien, Gotem would be safe back home, meditating in a temple.
“Let him go,” Dyraien said to the three holding Rye. He stood a few feet away from Gotem.
Rye yanked free of their grasp. He stepped forward, his eyes traveling all over the room. Tahki, too, observed the differences from his last visit. He saw the ceiling had been opened up and noticed a brass ring had been set in the dirt, like a giant gaping mouth above them.
And there were other differences. Unlike last time, blue lanterns had been hung all around, illuminating the space in an eerie light. Tahki also noticed a ring of stones in the center of the room. He squinted and discovered they weren’t stones but minerals. A collection of minerals from all over the world. Some he couldn’t remember the names of, and a few he didn’t recognize. Some minerals were the size of Tahki’s head, others the size of his small toe. Some of them gleamed in the blue light; others reflected a dozen colors. A few absorbed light. Others blended in with the dirt. Someone—Dyraien, he guessed—had arranged them in a specific order. The pattern appeared ritualistic. In the center of the mineral circle, pieces of obsidian formed a human-sized X.
“Dyraien,” Rye said. “What is all this?”
Dyraien pivoted on his heels and strode slowly to Rye’s side. He laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I’m not angry with you, Rye. He’s manipulating you, so it’s not your fault. But everything he has told you is a lie.”
Rye glanced to Gotem. “It doesn’t look like a lie.”
Dyraien released his shoulder. “So that’s all it takes? All someone needs to do is spread their legs for you, and you’ll kick me into the gutter and forget all I’ve done for you?”
“That’s not true,” Rye said. “I came back for you. To give you a chance to explain yourself.”
Dyraien laughed. “Me explain? You’re the one who betrayed me, Rye.”
Rye stepped closer. “Did you do it? Did you have your mother killed?”
“Is this how it’s going to be?” Dyraien said. “His word against mine?”
“Answer the question, Dyraien.”
“Tell me where the cat is first.”
Tahki saw him tense as he spoke of Pooka. Zinc and his people also looked around the room, nervous at the mention of the cat.
“She’s outside,” Tahki said. “Waiting for my command to attack.”
Dyraien hesitated and then looked to Rye. “Is he telling the truth?”
Rye said nothing.
“We’re giving you a chance here,” Tahki said. “Let Gotem go, and I won’t call her.”
Dyraien studied him. There was no telling what went through his head. Tahki still wasn’t totally sure what Dyraien wanted from them.
“Call the beast, then,” Dyraien said. “Because I have no intention of letting the monk go. Not until I get what I want.”
“And what do you want?” Rye said.
Tahki looked around for anything that might aid in their escape, but they were trapped. Why would Dyraien humor them like this? Why not just lock them up and do whatever it was he planned to do? Dyraien was intelligent. He didn’t seem like the kind of man to play with his food before eating it.
“Do you ever consider the life you’d be living now if I hadn’t saved you?” Dyraien said to Rye. “You’d probably be sucking on the tits of some woman. And look at all the gratitude you’re showing me now. I thought we were family, Rye.”
“I thought we were too,” Rye said. “You say I’m your brother, but I feel more like a prisoner.”
Tahki had never seen Dyraien look as dangerous as he did then. Dyraien’s jaw clenched, his fists quivered, and his eyes deadlocked on Rye. And that’s when Tahki understood why they hadn’t been locked up or killed.
Dyraien needed Rye.
He wanted him on his side. He’d been deeply hurt by Rye’s actions, by the fact Rye believed Tahki over him. Dyraien saw Rye as his brother. If Sornjia had chosen to believe a stranger he hardly knew over Tahki, Tahki would feel indignation, embarrassment, betrayal.
For years Tahki thought he couldn’t stand his family. But now he realized those feelings of irritation had been a luxury. He had no idea how he would have survived had it not been for his father and brother. Though his father had taken architecture away, it was only because of his father’s love that he’d been able to study architecture in the first place. Most noble borns would force their son into politics or a more respectable field. But Tahki’s father had given him freedom. And Sornjia had always been there for him too. He’d always been on Tahki’s side. Never in Tahki’s life had he ever felt alone. Misunderstood, maybe, but never alone. Even though he was a prince, Dyraien had no one but Rye. Rye knew this too. Even though Rye had Tahki now, he still considered Dyraien his brother.
“The cat isn’t here,” Rye said. “That’s the truth. Now it’s your turn.”
Dyraien said in a flat voice, “Yes. I had my mother killed.”
Tahki felt a small relief at the confession.
Rye shook his head, slow and steady. “Why?”
“I saved her,” Dyraien said. “She was suffering. You have no idea the kind of madness that consumed her. It wasn’t the kind of crazy you see on the streets. It was crazy from another world. Inside her mind, she was stuck in the eighth hell.”
“But why now? Why kill her now and frame Tahki?”
“Because I needed her death in order to rule,” Dyraien said. “Tragedy brings a country together. My people will feel sympathy for me. The poor prince, first his mother was murdered by a foreign spy, then the evil council tried to take his country away. I will spearhead an expedition for justice, use her death to rally outrage among my people toward her killer. My people will flock to me like chicks flock to their mother. They will obey everything I say.”
“You did all this because you want to rule?”
“I did all this because I know what’s best for my people. This isn’t selfish, Rye. I’m doing this… all this… for them.” Dyraien turned to Gotem. “My family’s history is dark. But I’m going to change that. I’m going to bring us all into a new age of enlightenment.”
Dyraien walked over to Gotem. He shoved the monk’s head back and cleared gunk from his eyes with his thumb. “You awake?”
Gotem murmured. Dyraien pulled out his gag.
“Foolish boy,” Gotem said. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Dyraien shushed him, the way a mother might shush a finicky child. “You have work to do.”
Rye was at his side. “Dyraien, let that man go.”
Dyraien glanced to Zinc. Without a word, the men and woman who had previously held Rye restrained him again.
“Dyraien,” Rye said. “Don’t do this.”
“You won’t listen to me,” Dyraien said. “Not until you see it with your own eyes. Not until yo
u see what I’m fighting so hard to obtain.”
Rye struggled. “How can you believe in all this? How can you think this place you’re trying to reach is real?”
“Because,” Dyraien didn’t turn to him, “I dragged my mother’s body out of it when she entered ten years ago.”
He took out a knife, and in one swift motion drew the blade across Gotem’s forehead. The monk didn’t cry out like Tahki expected, but he clenched his teeth and cringed as blood covered his face in a red curtain. Tahki felt sick with horror.
“Are you mad?” Rye yelled.
Dyraien ignored him. “All right.” He spoke in an upbeat voice. “We have the minerals. I’ve arranged the circle. The monk’s blood has mixed with sacred water.” Dyraien raised his arms. “Now, open!”
Tahki shut his eyes and held his breath. The entire room fell silent.
Nothing happened.
Tahki peeked out one eye. Dyraien stood wide-eyed and panting. The room lay still. He opened both eyes and stared. Dyraien looked comical standing there, arms raised toward the placid black pool. It felt like a dream, or waking from a dream, realizing that the night’s events had only occurred in your head. Tahki almost laughed at the absurdity of it all.
Dyraien waited another minute before lowering his arms. He stepped toward Gotem. “What is it? What did I do wrong?”
Gotem looked at him and, despite the blood covering his face, answered in a calm voice. “Clearly, the gods don’t want you visiting.”
Dyraien looked ready to punch Gotem, but before he could bring his arm across the monk’s face, a burst of wind erupted from below the black pool. Tahki felt hot and cold air rush over his body, an acrid scent attached to it. The black water ascended, and Gotem’s scream tore through the room. The monk’s body flew upward to the ceiling like he weighed nothing at all. Tahki wanted to cry out, but everything inside his body locked up.
The waters wailed, a grief-stricken sound that devoured all others. A kind of electric current surged through the room. It pricked Tahki’s skin. He could feel the discharge beneath his muscles. It jolted through his bones. He tasted the grit of iron across his teeth and heard a hundred voices cry out in agony. He smelled burnt flesh and felt the sting of bees across his eyelids. These weren’t the same pleasant sensations he’d felt before when he’d seen the cat or spoken with Nii. These sensations were dark.