Hero at the Fall

by Alwyn Hamilton

  ‘You’re not real.’ She shut her eyes. ‘You’re not real. You’re not real.’ She said it over and over again.

  ‘Come on.’ I forced lightness into my voice. ‘You know I wouldn’t lie to you.’

  ‘Prove it,’ her voice rasped, and she tucked her head further into the crook of her arm.

  ‘Will you believe I’m real if I can get us both out of here?’

  Finally she opened her eyes, though they seemed unable to settle wholly on me, dancing unfocused across my face. ‘It would be a start.’

  I glanced up at the opening far above us. I couldn’t see it through the inky blackness, but I knew we couldn’t be that far away. I wasn’t sure they would hear me if I shouted, though. And if they did and tossed us down more rope, what good would it be?

  I only had one other idea. And it was an impossible one. Even if it was our only hope. I silently prayed that I had enough of my Djinni gift left.

  ‘Hang on to me,’ I urged Shazad. I closed my eyes, pouring all my concentration around me. There wasn’t much in this mountain – I could already tell. In here, stone had been melted hard and the dust was made mostly of iron. The desert was far away.

  But sand got everywhere. It came with me all the way from the desert, through the mountain, stuck to my skin and in the folds of my clothes. It came trapped in the hair of the other prisoners and on the metal soles of the Abdals’ feet. There was no escaping it.

  I took a slow, deep breath, fighting through the pain in my side. And I called it to me. All of it. Every single tiny grain of sand I could reach. I felt it start to shift above us, stirring and then scuttling towards me like hundreds of thousands of tiny insects moving across the cave floor.

  It started to rain sand. Slowly at first, then more quickly, and suddenly sand was pouring in around us. I didn’t stop. I was too afraid to take a moment to breathe through the pain, too afraid that if I let it go I would lose it.

  I gathered the sand up below us. I tried to think of water, the way Sam and Jin swam, the way they were able to make water lift them up when it seemed to want to drown them instead. I gathered the sand, surging it up around us with everything I had in me.

  I felt the sand shift, and I doubled over in pain, gasping. But I knew I couldn’t let go, that if I did now, we would drown. I had to keep going. I had to. The sand poured in around us, lifting us higher and higher. I could see a sliver of light. I reached up, trying to grip the ledge, trying to find an escape from this place even as I felt the sand begin to drop away below me.

  Then hands were on my wrists and on Shazad’s arms, pulling us out, and we collapsed on the ground. Solid ground.

  I saw Shazad lying there, breathing hard, Rahim lifting her up even as Ahmed did the same for me. But she never looked away, her eyes locked on me, blinking blearily in the light.

  ‘All right,’ she conceded, ‘you’re real.’

  I started to laugh. But instead I burst into tears. And I was embracing her and we were both talking at once. Spilling out weeks of words we’d been saving for each other.

  I was so close to getting them to freedom. There were only two things standing between us and escape now: Ashra’s Wall and, according to Ahmed and the others, the soldiers on the other side.

  Shazad filled me in as she led the way out of the tunnels.

  ‘There’s a small army camp just beyond Ashra’s Wall,’ she told me as we worked our way over unsteady ground. ‘That’s where they control the Abdals from and keep an eye on things.’ She was walking slowly, breathing hard, like she was already tired from the short walk. ‘We’re supposed to clear the debris of rocks that comes from hacking our way into a mountain, and empty them at the border of Ashra’s Wall where the soldiers can keep track of us. They’ll be suspicious that no one has come out in a while.’

  ‘I reckon they’ll be more than suspicious when everyone appears unchained,’ I said, casting around for Delila. She was walking with Ahmed and Rahim, both of them keeping a close eye on her. ‘Can Delila cover our escape?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Shazad was nothing if not honest. She pulled herself up the slight incline, hanging on to the wall. ‘Everyone is a little worse for wear.’ She glanced over her shoulder. Zaahir was trailing far behind everyone else. ‘Your … new friend. He can help us, can’t he?’

  He could, if he was so inclined. But getting Zaahir to cooperate was easier said than done, no matter what he’d promised. I slowed my pace, letting the rest of the prisoners draw ahead of me, until I’d fallen into step with Zaahir.

  ‘There are soldiers waiting on the other side of that wall. When we get through, I need …’ I stopped myself, choosing my words more carefully. ‘I want you to get us past them.’

  Zaahir was watching me with those uncanny, inhuman eyes as I spoke. ‘I believe we had a deal, daughter of Bahadur: your people freed from Eremot for my freedom from you. Once all of them are through Ashra’s Wall, our deal is done.’

  ‘I’m planning on keeping my side of the bargain. But our deal isn’t done until they’re safe.’ I could see a light up ahead. Daylight. We must be almost out of the mountains. Or maybe it was just the light of Ashra’s Wall. But either way, we were close. ‘We’re not done yet.’

  ‘Ah,’ Zaahir said, cocking his head in that curious way, looking at me. ‘I see. And even after you are past those soldiers, we will not be done yet, will we?’ I didn’t say anything. He wasn’t wrong. After these soldiers on the mountain, there would be other fights to win. Other chances to lose everyone we had just saved. Fighting with a Djinni on our side … I wasn’t sure I could pass that chance up. ‘You want more.’ Zaahir nodded knowingly. ‘I believe you call that greed, don’t you? It’s the downfall of many, from what I hear. We never wanted anything before your kind came to this world, you know. We just had. But you take and you still want. You want your prince to take the throne, don’t you?’ I did. And I had made him swear that he would do what I wanted. And I wanted his help in this. I needed Ahmed to sit on that throne. I had given up too much for us to lose. We all had.

  ‘There is still a great battle ahead of you, isn’t there?’ Zaahir said. ‘One stray bullet, one blow, and your prince could be gone. And all this could be for nothing. Every single death. For nothing.’ Everything he was saying was everything I was afraid of. His words made me feel suddenly frantic. That we might have fought this hard but still lose Ahmed. That the whole of this rebellion rested on one very mortal man. ‘You want to save him. That is why you want to keep me imprisoned,’ Zaahir said. ‘Well, I can give you what you want.’

  Zaahir pulled a knife from the sleeve of his shirt, making me draw back quickly. But he didn’t make a move to kill me. Instead he turned the knife over, extending the hilt to me. ‘Take it,’ he instructed.

  ‘I already have a knife,’ I said carefully. We were getting closer to the light, headed for the soldiers waiting on the other side. I needed to play out this game with Zaahir before we reached them, even though I didn’t understand it yet.

  ‘Ah, but this is a knife that can save your prince’s life.’ Suddenly the air itself seemed to close around my hand, leading my fingers to the hilt. ‘Use this knife to take the life of another prince, and I promise you that your prince will live through the battle to take the throne.’

  I would have dropped the knife instantly, except the air was still tightly wrapped around my hand, forcing it to clutch the blade. ‘A prince’s life for a prince’s life.’ Zaahir didn’t laugh, but I could tell he was mocking me. A prince’s life. He meant Rahim’s or Jin’s life. They were the only other princes here. ‘Or –’ the air finally stopped gripping my fingers – ‘you can cast the knife down. And maybe he will live, or maybe he won’t. It will be in the hands of fate,’ Zaahir said simply. ‘But I have never known fate to be all that kind, have you?’ I hadn’t, but I didn’t reply.

  In the space of a breath, he was standing in front of me instead of beside me, like a flame jumping from one roof to another in a
burning city. I staggered to a stop. He was so close that I could see the violent colour of his eyes as he hissed the next words at me. ‘It is a mistake to try to outwit me, daughter of Bahadur. I have been helping you thus far, but I can make things very hard if you don’t release me right now, no matter what you made me promise. You have a confused heart, just like every human. You want too many things. I can turn those things against each other like animals in your chest. I can destroy you from the very inside of your soul.’ He drew away just as quickly as he’d descended on me.

  I realised that everyone else ahead of us had stopped, too. We’d reached the mouth of the tunnel. Shazad had paused by the entrance, holding everyone back. But Zaahir didn’t stop walking. The former prisoners moved out of his way as he strode forwards. I trailed behind. Shazad looked at me expectantly as I drew level with her. I didn’t have an easy answer to give her. I didn’t know what Zaahir was up to. He moved past her, out into the open. And I followed.

  Ashra’s Wall stood a hundred feet or so from the mouth of the tunnel. And just beyond that, through the shifting light of the wall, I could see the soldiers. There were lines of military tents along the slope of the mountain, supplies stacked between them, and soldiers milling around. But more importantly, I saw the glint of sunlight against metal heads.

  Abdals. They had more of them outside the wall. Soldiers, we could fool. Hell, our numbers were good enough that we might even be able to take them in a fight. But not Abdals.

  ‘Zaahir, wait.’ I could feel my breathing coming ragged now.

  He came to a stop, right by Ashra’s Wall. ‘Freedom for freedom, daughter of Bahadur. You made a promise.’ And then his arm lashed out violently towards Ashra’s Wall. But when his hand met it, he didn’t burn.

  Instead, the barrier of light shattered.

  It reminded me of the glass dome over the Sultan’s chambers, breaking apart into stars. Except these didn’t fall to the ground. Again, Zaahir seemed to draw the light into himself, like a hungry fire swallowing kindling. It was like watching what he had done with the Abdals, only a thousand times greater.

  And then, just like that, Ashra’s Wall was gone. No, more than gone. Ashra was dead. That was what he had done. That was how he had granted us our freedom from Eremot. He’d destroyed the soul that had been protecting the entire world from what was inside that mountain.

  And now we were left exposed, as from the other side of where the wall had been, a dozen startled soldiers’ faces turned in our direction. And a dozen more blank Abdal faces stared at us.

  And then they raised their hands.

  Chapter 26

  I dived towards the shelter of the tunnel even as a wave of heat and fire poured out of the Abdals, flooding in behind me as people screamed and retreated back into the mountain.

  Shazad grabbed me, yanking me in as I searched for my Demdji power, dragging on any dust I could find, trying to shore up the mouth of the tunnel. But whatever strength I’d had I’d used saving Shazad, and my power seemed to slip away, tumbling useless out of my grasp, abandoning me.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one person burn, turning to dust before the fire abated as quickly as it had come, leaving my skin feeling raw from the heat and my lungs scorched.

  ‘We should retreat,’ Shazad said, breathless. Behind us, Rahim and Ahmed were trying to return some order to the panicking people in the tunnel. The rebels who had seen Abdals before were more level-headed, but the other newly freed prisoners had never faced anything like this. They were running for anywhere that might be shelter, back into Eremot.

  My mind tripped over itself looking for a way through this. We had a few hundred recently freed prisoners in no shape for fighting, a Djinni who had turned our little game on its head, and two worn-out Demdji.

  Outside, I could hear the metallic steps of the Abdals moving towards the mouth of the tunnel. Coming to finish us off, forcing us back into the dark of Eremot, where they would pick us off easily.

  I traded a look with Shazad and saw the same naked fear on her face. That was when I knew we were in trouble. I’d never seen Shazad run out of ideas before. We were done for. I had got everyone this far only to lose them on the edge of freedom.

  And then the metallic footsteps stopped.

  I stilled, feeling my heart’s panicked timpani in my chest. I could almost hear it now in the sudden silence. And then a voice from outside, too distant to make out any words. A voice I knew, though it took me a second to place it.

  Noorsham.

  I was moving before Shazad could stop me, rushing back towards the mouth of the tunnel. I burst out into open air. Zaahir was nowhere to be seen. But there, standing behind the Abdals and the Sultan’s soldiers, was Noorsham. Further behind him I could make out Jin, Sam, Tamid and the twins.

  How the hell had they found me?

  Ahmed’s compass. My hand drifted to my side, feeling the weight still there. I’d forgotten. It was still in my pocket. I should’ve known better than to think Jin would just wait patiently for me to return. He’d tracked me down once from Sazi, a long time ago. And now he’d done it again. Relief and fear warred inside me. Even if this was the end, at least we were back together. Either we all survived or we all died here.

  Noorsham looked terribly vulnerable next to the army of Abdals. He wasn’t clad in bronze armour like they were. He was wearing nothing but simple desert clothes, standing with his hands extended as he had yesterday over the people of Sazi. And he wasn’t wearing the iron shackles I’d put on him either. His power was running free.

  I understood what he was about to do a second before the Abdals turned to face him, summoning their own fire against his.

  ‘No!’ The scream tore out of my throat. But I was too late. Noorsham’s power swelled to meet that of the Abdals even as they flooded the mountain. Man-made stolen Djinni fire rushing to meet Noorsham’s Demdji-given gift of destruction. I ran towards him, knowing there was nothing I could do. No way to stop what was going to happen.

  It was as if a new sun were being born.

  The explosion bloomed bright and violent, invading everything, even the air around it. It slammed into me like a javelin of heat and light, knocking me down, blinding me. But I could still smell the burning. I could taste blood.

  Then, I tasted ash.

  I woke violently out of unconsciousness. I couldn’t have been out long. My ears were still ringing with the aftershock of the explosion, my lungs burning. I pushed myself up agonisingly. The pain was nothing, though, compared to the heat still rising from my skin. Even my Demdji side was struggling to fight off this heat. But I found my way to my feet all the same.

  The battlefield of fire had turned dark and cold.

  The soldiers, who had been flesh and blood, were nothing but dust now. There was no sign of their tents or of the camp they had built here. All of it had been razed. But there were pieces of Abdals left in the wreckage. The bronze had fused to the stones, like shiny scars on the mountain. I saw a bronze face, some of its features still intact, its nose protruding away from the stone, its mouth twisted by the heat into some grotesque scream.

  I half staggered, half ran across the remnants of the brief and bloodless fight to the one body that was not metal or ash, where Noorsham was sprawled amid the destruction he had made.

  I dropped to my knees next to him. His chest was rising and falling with shallow breathing. He was badly burned, half his face blackened and unrecognisable. We were Demdji; we weren’t supposed to burn so easily. But this was Djinni fire, and we were only half-Djinn. Our other halves were terribly mortal.

  He didn’t look anything like the weapon I’d first come face to face with on that train. Or like the man leading all the people in his cult towards righteousness. He just looked like a desert boy, young and helpless and dying. Eyes like the sky stared up at me, wide and scared, like he couldn’t understand what was happening. Like he wanted me to explain, to comfort him. Like he needed a sister.

&nbs
p; ‘What are you doing here?’ My lips were blistered, and my fingertips burned against the heat of his skin as I cradled him. I ought to be screaming. I remembered after Imin had died, Hala’s grief had all come out in one strangled cry that filled the Hidden House. That had been the last noise she’d made before she hadn’t spoken for days.

  ‘We came to save you,’ his voice rasped out, his one good eye struggling to find me.

  Even after I had betrayed him. After we had chained him up. After Jin had undoubtedly dragged him up this mountain as a prisoner. After all that, still, Noorsham had chosen to save us.

  ‘Well, that was stupid.’ I wanted to put my hand against his heart to make it keep beating by sheer will alone, but it was pumping too slow already.

  I couldn’t take this. Not another Demdji burning out so young, like Hala and Imin and Hawa and Ashra. Not my brother falling now in a fight that wasn’t his when he had survived so much.

  A shadow fell across his face. I looked up, expecting to find Jin or Shazad or someone who could help me. Instead, Zaahir stood over me, watching with cruel impassiveness. I wanted to scream at him that this was not fair. But Djinn didn’t deal in fair. They dealt in trades and wants and desires. And the Sin Maker wanted one thing.

  ‘Save him,’ I said. ‘You made a promise to me to do what I want, and I want to save him. Do that and we’ll end this. I’ll set you free. Please.’

  Zaahir watched Noorsham struggle for a moment longer, his breathing coming out ragged from his scorched lungs, each breath counting down to his last. ‘His body is too broken,’ he said. ‘I cannot repair this.’

  ‘I don’t care.’ The sob that tore out of me came from the oldest part of me, the part of my soul that was immortal, that used not to know death. The part that understood what the First Beings had felt when they watched the first of their number die and become stars and meet their own end, when grief and despair and rage and hopelessness were all born in a single moment. ‘I want to save him. Save him and I’ll free you. Save him and we’ll end this here. Please. I’m begging you. Save him and I’ll release you.’