Archon Thenody rose, his golden robes disheveled, and moved toward Madeline, who was gasping, her face bright red.
Hanali fell to his knees and bowed his head. “My lord. Surely she has learned her lesson.”
“Not yet,” the archon said, his voice expressionless. He turned toward the knight. “What of you? You did not move to protect my person?”
The knight didn’t look up from his mirror. “I am sworn to fight the Scim. I do not fight my own kind.”
The archon drew a furious breath and unleashed a torrent of abuse on the impassive knight. Madeline lay on her back now. Jason had to do something. The archon was going to let her die like a fish, flopping around on the ground, breathless. He couldn’t attack Archon Thenody, not directly, because Tirius claimed he would kill Madeline himself if Jason made a move.
He heard the guttural laughing of Break Bones close behind him. He turned away from the furious monologue of the archon. “What are you laughing at, Break Bones?”
“Your friend dies, and the Elenil war amongst themselves. They brought me here to show you the terrors of the evil Scim, and instead they entertain me.”
A way out, or at least a chance at a way out, opened up to Jason. He would have to play it just right, though. “I took you to be a person of honor. How disappointing to be proved wrong.”
Break Bones stopped laughing and leaned his wide face closer. His rotten breath, hot and foul, washed over Jason’s face. “What mean you by this brave insult, Wu Song?”
“You told me you were going to kill Madeline and bring me her body. But here you sit, letting the Elenil make a liar of you.”
The smile faded from Break Bones’s face. He glanced at Madeline with sudden concern, then to the archon. He shook the chains on his wrists. “These chains prevent me from my oath.”
Jason frowned. “I didn’t realize the word of a Scim was worth so little.” He pulled the dial out of his pocket. “I’m wondering if this magic dial works on people.”
Break Bones grinned. “Ah, boy, I will rue the day I feast upon your bones. But do not use the magic upon my flesh, but rather these chains. I will save the girl, so that I may slay her later.”
“It only works on animals, you know, not on chains,” Jason said. But he touched the dial’s casing against the chains and turned the dial to the right. The chains grew larger, and Break Bones slipped his hands free. Jason looked at the dial and the newly gigantic chains. “Huh. What do you know?”
Before standing, Break Bones slammed one massive fist into Sun’s Dance’s knee, sending him sprawling to the ground. He leapt to his feet with astonishing speed, and bounded to Thenody’s side, wrapping his great, tattooed hands around the archon’s neck. The sheet bunched above the archon’s head, then flared out over his body, making him look a lot like a badminton shuttlecock. The archon’s tirade cut off mid-word.
The Knight of the Mirror drew his sword.
“Ah, have a care, Sir Knight, lest I squeeze the archon in fright,” Break Bones said. He shook the body beneath its golden sheet. “Release thou the girl, O valiant soul.”
The archon, trembling, twisted his hands. Madeline gasped as air flooded her lungs again.
“Leave the magistrates unharmed, and I will allow you a five-minute lead,” the Knight of the Mirror said. “Then I must follow and destroy you.”
“Sporting, sir,” Break Bones said. “Sporting indeed. In five minutes I could not even exit this grand building. No, I think another plan will be necessary. First, throw your sword from the tower.”
The knight hesitated, then did as he was told. The sound of metal clanking against stone echoed up to them as the sword bounced against the tower, and then silence. “Nothing can be taken from my hand unless I allow it,” the knight said. “It is a boon granted me some years ago.”
Break Bones nodded. “I have heard tales of that magic.”
“I give my word I will escort you safely to Scim territory. I will put my hand upon your arm. Your life will be in my hands, and none but I could take it. Only release Archon Thenody.”
Break Bones grinned. “Your word I trust, sir. And Wu Song’s. Perhaps the girl, should Wu Song vouch for her. The rest of these here—I would sooner trust a hungry wolf to guard my pigs. No, I have a plan in mind that will serve me better.” He pulled the archon close against his chest, and there was a distressed yelp from beneath the golden sheets.
Madeline, still gasping and on her knees, looked up. “What are you going to do, Break Bones?”
Break Bones looked to the knight. “Give me your word that neither you nor any here shall leave this tower until I am safely outside the city walls.”
“You have it,” the knight said. “So long as you promise, on your honor, not to murder any citizen of the Elenil nor any human on your exit.”
“Done,” the Scim said triumphantly. “Now, Wu Song, lend me that bird you have shrunk, that I might send word when I am safe.”
“It’s not my bird,” Jason said. Jason noticed Tirius shake his head, fast, when Break Bones wasn’t watching. Tirius was meant to be the head of the Elenil army, but he hadn’t done anything to help so far.
The bird said, “I will not help you, Break Bones. Indeed, as soon as you leave this place, I will fly to find the guardians of the city, and we will fight you from here to the city wall. If all goes well, you will be in chains again in an hour’s time.”
“I feared you would make some foolish speech,” Break Bones said. “So I am forced to make a hard choice.” He looked around at the gathered magistrates, the archon struggling weakly in his massive hands. “Are there no healers here on this tower top?”
The girl in the blindfold spoke. “None, save Madeline, and she has not been trained.”
Break Bones turned his back to the Elenil, and with swift motions he folded Archon Thenody in unnatural directions, snapping appendages and collapsing ribs. He dropped the magistrate’s still form in front of Tirius.
Jason’s stomach lurched. He was thankful, suddenly, for the sheet, but even so he could tell what lay beneath was piled in a horrible shape. A keening cry came from beneath the golden covering.
“He will not die,” Break Bones said, “so long as the bird goes for a healer rather than for the army. So I have kept my word.” He bowed to Madeline. “You I shall see again.” Then to Jason, “You have the heart of a Scim warrior. I give you humble thanks for my release.”
He leapt from the side. Jason ran to the edge in time to see Break Bones grab the tower, his thick arms straining as they arrested his descent. He climbed down with unbelievable speed then loped across the plain below.
“Fly and warn the army,” Tirius shouted to the bird.
“Shame,” the knight said. “Shame on you and all the magistrates if the life of one Scim is worth more than the life of the archon, first among equals. The city will hear of this. They will speak of it for decades to come.”
Prinel put his hand on Tirius’s arm. “It is true, Tirius. The archon must come first.”
Tirius shouted in rage. Break Bones was nearly to the exit now. “A healer first, and then the army. Fly with all speed, bird!”
The bird fell like lightning from the tower, then extended its wings and flew.
“Now there is nothing to do but wait,” Prinel said, crouching beside the archon. He reached out a hand toward the golden cloth, then withdrew it.
Hanali cleared his throat. “If I may be so bold, it makes a great deal of sense to me that Madeline Oliver go to live with one of the nine magistrates.”
Tirius barked a laugh. “Will you send the human traitor with her too? He released a Scim upon us!”
“He was killing my friend!” Jason shouted. He wasn’t going to let that happen. He wasn’t going to stand by and wring his hands when Madeline was in danger. If that meant folding the archon down small enough to fit in a suitcase, so be it. If that meant unleashing Break Bones on the world, that’s what he would do. He didn’t regret it for a moment.
“He is the lord of the Elenil and thus, your master. He can do as he pleases,” Prinel snapped.
“My master?” Jason stalked over to the pile of golden sheets and, before anyone could stop him, grabbed hold of the fabric and prepared to yank it off. “I’m not anyone’s slave! I’ll throw him off this tower before I’ll—”
“Jason, stop!” Madeline shouted.
Her voice stunned him. Her face was pale and creased with worry. He wouldn’t really have thrown the archon off the tower. At least, he didn’t think so. He had been doing the right thing, protecting Madeline. It infuriated him to have that questioned. He wouldn’t have thrown him off the tower, though. They shouldn’t have said the archon was his master. He wasn’t some slave. He wasn’t here to serve the Elenil. He was here for Madeline, pure and simple. But it was Madeline telling him to stop now.
He dropped the sheet. “He’s not my master,” Jason said. “Also, he better turn my pudding delivery back on, or I will drop him off a tower.”
“Well,” Prinel said mildly. “It seems clear the archon’s estate will not be a safe home for these humans.”
Tirius watched Jason closely. “He could not have harmed Thenody much. He has the anger of a warrior. Perhaps I will take him on, train him together with Rondelo.”
The girl in the blindfold spoke. “The Scim will target Madeline, this much seems clear. To put her with the magistrates increases the risk to her and to them. The Knight of the Mirror should take her. Nothing can be taken from his hand unless he wills it. She will be safe in his household.”
Tirius rubbed his chin. “An elegant solution, and delivered by a seer. What say you, Sir Knight?”
The knight gazed into his mirror, murmuring to himself. After a long moment he turned his attention to the Elenil. “I will take the girl under my protection. She will serve out her contract with me, in obedience to the Elenil and according to the terms of her bargain.”
“And me,” Jason blurted.
The knight shook his head. “You are too unpredictable and unwise. I cannot take you into my home.”
The blindfolded girl tugged on his sleeve. He leaned down, and she whispered in his ear. His face, stony and impassive, did not change when he straightened. “I will take the girl,” he said, “and also the fool.”
Jason sputtered. “The fool?!”
Hanali whispered in his ear, “Bow, fool, if you wish to stay with Madeline.”
So Jason bowed, and Madeline curtsied, and just then a healer came rushing up the stairs, and the bird told them the Scim warrior had left the city much faster than the city guard could be alerted. Released from the knight’s agreement with Break Bones, Hanali grabbed Jason and Madeline by the arms and pulled them to the winding stairwell that led down alongside the outer wall of the tower. Hanali went first. Madeline descended holding her skirts with one hand and Hanali’s shoulder with the other to keep herself from being pushed off the stairs by her voluminous dress. Jason followed.
“That could have gone worse,” Hanali said when they were at the bottom, mopping his brow with a handkerchief. He gave Jason a dark glare. “It also could have gone much better.”
That seemed like a fitting motto for Jason’s entire time in the Sunlit Lands so far.
18
WESTWIND
Look at the walls, so bright and fair,
each stone placed by a master builder.
FROM “THE DESERTED CITY,” A KAKRI LAMENT
Mirrors stared at Madeline from every room in the knight’s castle. A full-length one stood in her bedroom—a room with a flagstone floor, a fireplace large enough to stand in, and a wide, stone-framed window open to the world outside. A meticulously woven carpet covered the floor beneath her bed and spread out several feet beyond on all sides. The bed itself wore a silk canopy and stood on sturdy legs made of a dark wood unlike any she had seen at home.
To Madeline’s chagrin and, for some reason, Jason’s unending delight, there was no magic bathroom. Instead, they used something called a garderobe. The garderobe, a room scarcely larger than a closet, sat perched over the moat around the castle. A wooden bench with a hole in the middle sat atop a stone floor with a hole in the middle and—well, she missed the magic toilets.
No magic was allowed in Westwind. That’s what the Knight of the Mirror had named the castle, though Madeline wasn’t sure why, because it stood on the eastern edge of the Court of Far Seeing. Out Madeline’s window towered proud, distant mountains, the deep green of a forest at their feet. The blindfolded girl had told her that the break in the mountain range was called the Tolmin Pass. The pass led to the Kakri territories. The Kakri came through once a year to trade stories, if you dared to sit with them. They were a violent and unpredictable people, according to the girl.
The blindfolded girl was named Ruth Mbewe. She had come to the Sunlit Lands four years ago, when she was only four years old. She was the youngest human Madeline had seen in Far Seeing. She wouldn’t answer questions about her eyes, but almost any other thing she would gladly talk about at length. Why wasn’t there magic in Westwind? Because the Knight of the Mirror forbade it. Why? He did not like magic. It had done great harm to his family. Why was there a castle inside the walled city of Far Seeing? The knight had brought it with him. The answers to her questions, delivered so matter-of-factly, often made less sense than the thing being questioned.
No magic meant Madeline did her laundry by hand, with hot water brought up from the kitchen fires. Filling a bathtub with hot water took more work than Madeline cared to do, so she had taken to sneaking out of the castle every few days and bathing in her old room at Mrs. Raymond’s house. Jason had apparently given up bathing, which was doubly unfortunate since the Knight of the Mirror would not allow Delightful Glitter Lady in the house. No magic meant no shrinking Dee, so she had to be kept in the stables at regular rhino size. Jason bunked in the straw beside her.
Their host, the knight, haunted the halls. He often rode out on his silver stallion, Rayo, in the early mornings, through the eastern gate. He never went as far as the Tolmin Pass, not that she had seen, and she had watched from her window more than once. Sometimes he rode through the heart of Far Seeing. When he rode west, he might not return for several days. He would not answer where he had been, but Ruth said he rode into Scim territories, seeking the captured human soldiers. Seeking Shula.
More than once, Madeline came across the knight in some dark hallway of the castle, standing in front of a full-length mirror and muttering to himself. He carried a hand mirror on his person at all times. For all the time he spent in front of the mirror, he seemed to care little for his appearance. He wore his dark hair long, usually tied into a ponytail, thick streaks of grey painting the sides. The dirt and mud from his long rides sometimes caked his gaunt, lined face for days at a time, as if he couldn’t be bothered to wash with a hot rag. Yet he stared into the mirrors at all hours.
Madeline wanted to escape the mirrors. They followed her like flat silver eyes watching everywhere she went in the castle. Sometimes she would catch movement out of the corner of her eye and turn to find only another mirror, another image of herself staring back. Sometimes she thought she saw reproach on her own face . . . and she knew she must have been thinking about Night’s Breath.
She asked Ruth if she could cover the mirror in her room with a sheet. It was a strange moment, watching the little girl with the blindfold standing in front of the mirror, a sheet in her hands. Her head was tilted to one side, as if listening intently to someone speaking in a far room. Then with one swift motion, she threw the sheet over the tall mirror. “He won’t come into your solar,” Ruth said.
“What?”
“Your solar. That’s what a room like this is called. Here, on top of the tower, your own room.”
“Oh, I’ve heard others say that. I meant, what do you mean, he won’t come in here?”
“The knight,” Ruth said. “But if he does, you must pull the sheet off the mirror.”
“Why so many mirrors? He seems almost afraid to be without one.”
For once, Ruth did not answer. She hesitated. “It is not my story to tell.”
Ruth talked like someone who had been born in the Sunlit Lands, taking on the peculiar formality of the Elenil. It shouldn’t be a surprise, with her having arrived here so young. Madeline had asked Ruth once what she had agreed to in coming here, and she’d said, “A year’s service in exchange for being saved from a massacre in my town.” Madeline had asked what happened at the end of the year. Why was she still here? Ruth had simply put her tiny hand on Madeline’s and said nothing. The knight, she assumed, had taken Ruth in after that.
Madeline couldn’t imagine electing to stay here when her year was up. It was an amazing place, yes, full of strange beauty and terrifying dangers. She missed her parents, though. She missed her parents, and Sofía, and Mr. García. She missed Darius, and now that she could breathe again, she wanted so badly to see him, to be with him. She hoped after she and Jason jumped the fence to go into the drainage pipe that Darius had decided to wait for her. It was only a year, after all. But he had no way to know what was happening here, and she had no way to tell him. She hoped he still felt the same . . . And of course, she had broken up with him, so there was no reason for him to wait. No reason other than maybe he loved her.
She yanked the sheet off her mirror. A flicker of movement caught her eye, but when she focused on it there was nothing there. Since coming to Westwind she had been allowed to wear whatever she liked. But it wasn’t the T-shirt and jeans or her pale hair she noticed. The silver glint of her magic tattoo held her complete attention. In the last few weeks it had spread further. It grew from her wrist nearly to her elbow in a looping, tangled design like ivy. The tattoo snaked across her palm and curled around the base of her fingers. She wore gloves even when she was alone with other humans now. Jason didn’t know, hadn’t seen yet, what was happening. She had tried, ten days ago, to ask Hanali about it, but when she started to tug her glove off, he had averted his eyes and firmly pulled it tighter onto her hand. Her only thought now was to ask Gilenyia, but she didn’t completely trust her, and she wasn’t sure the Elenil woman would answer honestly if it was to her advantage to lie.
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