Spellslinger 6: Crownbreaker

by Sebastien de Castell

  ‘You planning on getting better any time soon?’ I asked, noting her unsteady grip on the cane. ‘Or am I going to have to rescue your sorry arse again?’

  She leaned all her weight on the cane and with her free hand touched my cheek. ‘Always, kid. Always.’

  The Path of Emerald Steps clucked disapprovingly. ‘Sentimentality will not stay a god’s hand if he seeks the conquest of this continent.’

  ‘Neither will tryin’ to whip him into submission with some ratty piece of old rope,’ Ferius replied. She turned to the others. ‘Listen up, people. We Argosi don’t got no generals. We don’t follow no rulers. Ain’t got no books of laws and never needed any either.’ She took her hand away from my cheek and clapped it on my shoulder in a companionable gesture, but I could tell right away she was trying to hide the fact that she needed to lean on someone. ‘Now the kid here is the only one this “god” seems interested in talkin’ to. His path, winding as any I’ve ever seen, has taken him from the Jan’Tep territories to everywhere from Gitabria to Darome and even to the Ebony Abbey. Everywhere he’s gone, he’s found some connection to whatever it is that’s been setting this continent on the path to war.’

  A prickling itch around my left eye made Ferius’s words more ominous. She was right; every disturbing discovery I’d made in the three years since leaving my homeland seemed to be connected: the onyx worms she and I had encountered at the Academy of the Seven Sands, the mysterious abilities wielded by the monks of the Ebony Abbey, the power of the white binder who’d taken control of me in Darome. My fingers reached up to trace the winding lines that began just above my left cheek, banded upon me by my own grandmother when I was just a child.

  It’s like I’m staring down at the pieces of a puzzle but I can’t make out the picture because one is still missing.

  ‘What’s your point?’ the Zhuban girl next to Emerald asked, ignoring her mentor’s frown.

  Ferius gave her a friendly grin. ‘My point, sweetheart, is that the kid here’s gonna be the one who decides what path he has to follow now to get us all out of this mess. Anyone has the notion to get in his way is gonna have to wrastle me first.’

  This elicited a light-hearted chuckling that began as respect and ended as acquiescence. Unfortunately the sentiment wasn’t shared by everyone.

  ‘Who are you to decide the future of the Berabesq nation?’ asked a thick-set woman whose colouring and hawk-like features hinted she herself came from this region. ‘The scourge is an ancient artefact of my people. The god, real or not, is of my people.’

  Ferius rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah, and right now your people are lookin’ to spill everybody else’s blood. Besides, you stopped bein’ Berabesq the day you chose the Argosi ways, Lily.’

  ‘Path of Floating Lilies,’ the other woman corrected, the edge to her voice making my powder fingers twitch. ‘Not “Lily”, not “sweetheart”, not any of your other nonsense.’

  Ferius gave no sign of even noticing the threat. ‘Whatever, buttercup. You want to return to your people? Go find yourself a copy of the clockmaker’s codex or the warrior’s or whichever one suits you best. There’s a path right there waiting for you, all laid out in them pretty verses.’

  The Path of Floating Lilies approached us, her movements as fluid as water gliding over river rocks, and more unnerving to behold than a rattlesnake slithering along the sand towards you. ‘It is not my choices that are in question, so perhaps I should simply “wrastle” you instead, Path of the Wild Daisy.’

  A chorus of mutters rose up from the other Argosi, some arguing for peaceful discourse, others already stepping aside to make room for the two women to duel. All of it came to an abrupt halt when a deafening explosion boomed through the cavern. A burst of red and black flames scorched the stone floor an inch from the Path of Floating Lilies.

  I flipped closed the clasps of my powder holsters and did my best not to let anyone see how badly my hands were shaking.

  ‘You threaten me, teysan?’ the Path of Floating Lilies asked.

  Despite all the duels I’ve fought against mages, marshals, soldiers, spies and the occasional flying snake, I’ve never actually had to face off against an Argosi – someone who knew more about defeating an opponent through trickery than I ever would. I didn’t like my chances.

  ‘Ferius is my friend,’ I declared, loud enough for everyone to hear. ‘She’s my family. So yeah, Lily, take that first shot as a warning, cos it’s the only one you’re gonna get.’

  Arta valar. My best Argosi talent. I was pretty sure it was going to get me killed one day.

  ‘You’re sweet, kid,’ Ferius whispered to me. ‘But you know I can take care of myself just fine, right?’

  ‘You can barely stand,’ I whispered back. ‘So unless you’re planning to fall and squash her to death, just leave it to—’

  I caught the subtle flick of Lily’s right wrist. A weapon hidden in the cuff of her sleeve slid down to her palm. With the toe of her boot she rubbed away the scorch marks on the floor in front of her. ‘The first principle of the Way of Thunder teaches never to reveal your most powerful weapon until you actually intend to use it, teysan. It is a fine thing to want to protect others, Kellen of the Jan’Tep, but this city is filled with soldiers, the temple is guarded by the Faithful and the spire within by viziers whose abilities rival that of your own people’s lords magi. Who will protect you from them?’ I heard a click come from the metal object hidden in her hand. ‘Who will protect you from me?’

  I wasn’t sure what weapon she was holding, but I was willing to bet she could take me out with it before I could pull powder a second time. I guess that’s why she looked almost as surprised as I was by the second explosion that was so loud it kept reverberating throughout the cavern even after it had left the smell of lightning in the air and a crack in the stone floor at Lily’s feet.

  The Path of Floating Lilies gazed at me, eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out how I’d pulled off the spell without her seeing. I was wondering that too, since I hadn’t even touched my holsters.

  Someone else had fired the blast.

  ‘That would be my job,’ a voice called out from behind me.

  I was so deafened by the blast I couldn’t make out who had spoken. Everyone else was looking up at the gallery, so I turned to follow their gaze, and there she was.

  Happiness, it turns out, is the sight of a dust-covered woman in a long blue travelling coat so caked in brown and gold sand she might as well be wearing the desert itself. The three fingers of each hand were closing the lid of a small iron box that hissed and sparked from the caged storm contained inside.

  Nephenia, the errant charmcaster whom I was pretty sure I’d loved long before I had any real comprehension of what that word meant, caught my beguiled stare and winked.

  ‘Miss me?’ she asked.

  44

  The Protector

  Nephenia descended the stairs from the gallery, unhurried steps testifying that she had no intention of rushing for anyone. Ishak, her hyena companion, followed behind, stubby tail held high and looking very dignified apart from the fact that a scruffy squirrel cat was sitting atop him as if he were a pony.

  ‘For future reference, Kellen,’ Reichis said, ‘that’s how you make an entrance.’

  ‘Ferius is right,’ Nephenia said as she reached the bottom of the stairs. ‘Whatever’s waiting at the top of that spire, Kellen’s path leads there. I’ll get him inside the temple.’

  Ishak offered up a rather stern yip. Nephenia reached down and patted his head. ‘We will get him inside the temple.’

  Reichis made a series of growls at her. I decided not to translate, but she smiled. ‘With the invaluable assistance of a certain devilishly handsome squirrel cat, I meant to say.’

  While the rest of the Argosi seemed at least open to the idea, the Path of Floating Lilies didn’t appear impressed. She turned to the others. ‘Two starry-eyed, barely trained teysani and a pair of unruly animals? That is who the Pa
th of the Wild Daisy would have us send to face a god?’

  ‘If he’s really a god,’ Ferius said, ‘that’s exactly who I’d send.’

  ‘As would I,’ the diminutive woman with the jet-black hair added. The Path of Emerald Steps began to walk around Nephenia, Ishak, Reichis and me, as if the four of us were some kind of experimental contraption. ‘A little power, a little trickery and something else – something unpredictable.’

  ‘The word you’re looking for is friendship,’ I said.

  It had never occurred to me before, but the Argosi don’t really make friends. Even Ferius, affable as she was, kept a kind of distance between herself and the rest of the world. I found myself catching her gaze, and being more aware than ever of how precious and unexpected the friendship between us had been.

  The Path of Floating Lilies glanced around the room. I guess she was taking stock of where the others were in terms of what would happen next. Finally she threw up her hands. ‘So be it. Let us put our hopes on the Path of Endless Stars. The worst that can happen at this point is that he dies and then the rest of us can find some other way forward.’

  The place cleared out pretty quick after that. I tried to get a moment alone with Nephenia, but she and Ishak had other business first.

  ‘I haven’t bathed in weeks,’ she said, then abruptly jabbed a finger at Reichis. ‘And no comments from you, mister.’ The squirrel cat looked so shocked he actually stayed silent for once. She pressed her hands against my chest. ‘I know we haven’t seen each other for a long time, Kellen, and this is awkward and … Oh, the hells for it.’ She reached behind my head and pulled me into a kiss.

  She did that sometimes. Just kissed me out of the blue with no warning, no explanation and definitely no promises. She used to be such a shy girl back when we were both Jan’Tep initiates. I found myself entirely supportive of her more recent demeanour.

  Someone behind me coughed, which at that precise moment constituted a hanging offence to my way of thinking.

  ‘Forgive me,’ said the tall, unpleasantly handsome fellow who called himself the Path of Mountain Storms. ‘I was hoping the Path of Endless Stars and I could talk.’

  Nephenia gave me a peck on the cheek. ‘I’ll see you in an hour. As soon as it’s full dark we should be on our way.’

  And with that she was gone again.

  ‘Sorry about the interruption,’ the Path of Mountain Storms said, doing a poor job of hiding his smirk.

  ‘What can I do for you, Stormy?’ I asked, gesturing for him to join me at one of the tables.

  He winced at the nickname. ‘Guess I had that coming.’ He reached into the inside pocket of his coat and removed a playing card. ‘You’re going to need this.’

  ‘A discordance?’ I asked.

  He slid the card across the table to me. ‘Not exactly.’

  I flipped over the card and found an elaborate drawing made up of six circles, each a little smaller than the other and filled with intricate lines that turned this way and that, almost like a maze. It took me a second to figure out what I was looking at. ‘You have a map of the temple spire?’

  ‘In theory.’

  I looked across the table to see if he was joking.

  ‘The spire hasn’t been open to worshippers for centuries,’ he said. ‘Only the high viziers and their Asabli – those are the blind servants who carry their holy texts and turn the pages for them.’

  I’d forgotten the viziers were forbidden from touching the pages of their own codexes for fear of defiling them. ‘Aren’t the Asabli recruited from those Berabesq who are born mute as well as blind?’ I asked.

  Stormy nodded, then grinned. ‘But they sure do like to drink, and while you couldn’t say their tongues wag when they do, the Asabli have a language all their own.’

  His fingers twitched in a series of subtle gesticulations that had my own hands reaching for my powder holsters until I realised he wasn’t casting a spell.

  ‘So you found a servant of the viziers willing to betray the secrets of their most sacred temple?’ I asked.

  Stormy laughed at that. ‘You think it took only one? Kellen, each vizier is only allowed entry to one of the floors, and if I’d tried to get even that much out of one of the Asabli, he’d’ve figured out what I was doing.’

  ‘So how did you—’

  ‘I’ve been at this for almost two years now. Different disguises, different contacts.’ He reached over and tapped the card. ‘Sometimes I’d spend weeks just trying to discover a fraction of a fragment of a detail. Even then, it’s not like anyone would intentionally reveal the location of a hallway or passage. I had to get them talking about their duties. Every time they’d describe one, their heads would turn just slightly in the direction of whichever corridor or hallway they had to go through.’ He leaned back in his chair. ‘Worst assignment the Path of the Wild Daisy ever gave me.’

  ‘Ferius was your maetri?’

  He tilted his head quizzically. ‘She never mentioned me? I was her teysan before you.’

  I felt that familiar stab of resentment whenever I discovered another piece of Ferius Parfax’s past that she’d made sure to keep from me. I pushed it aside though. When you owe a person as much as I owed Ferius, you have to accept the limits they choose to place on that friendship.

  Reichis sauntered over and hopped up onto the table before sniffing at my face. ‘Ugh. Jealousy again?’

  ‘Shut up, Reichis.’

  He leaned closer and chittered conspiratorially – even though, of course, no one but me would know what he was saying anyway. ‘Don’t feel bad, partner. I already got revenge on him for you.’ The squirrel cat opened his mouth wider to reveal a slick, wet silver coin with a tiny ruby at its centre. ‘This has got to be worth something, right?’ he mumbled.

  Reichis having stolen something from the Path of Mountain Storms should not in any way have made me feel better. But it did.

  ‘Okay,’ I said, pocketing the card with the dubious maps of the spire. ‘Guess I better gather up Nephenia and Ishak and go. Can’t imagine God likes to be kept waiting.’

  Stormy grabbed my wrist. Reichis snarled at him, but the Argosi ignored him, eyes locked on mine. ‘What are you going to do when you get there?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  There were six good ways I could get him to let go of me. I was leaning towards the one that involved Reichis ripping off a piece of his arm when Stormy abruptly let go. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I just …’ He glanced back at the curtained-off area of the cavern where Ferius’s parents had taken her to rest. ‘She’s going to die, Kellen. You know it and I know it. Just like we both know she’d never want us to kill for her.’

  ‘What would you do in my place?’

  He shook his head. ‘There’s a reason I wasn’t one of the people arguing over who should deal with this Berabesq god tonight.’ He looked down at the table as if he were suddenly too ashamed to hold my gaze. ‘But if it were down to me? If I were carrying that Daroman artefact the Murmurers gave you? I’d forget everything Ferius ever taught me, give up any claim I would ever have to call her my friend and go kill whoever I had to in order to save her life.’

  There was a bitter taste in my mouth. Something about those words, no matter how loyal and determined they sounded, no matter how close they were to the ones I’d said myself just a couple of weeks ago, struck me as cowardly. If Ferius had taught me anything, it was that courage meant seeking the right path no matter how high the cost. Duty could excuse all kinds of atrocities if you let it deafen your conscience.

  ‘What are you going to do, Kellen?’ he asked again.

  I rose from the table. The legs of the chair screeched against the rough stone floor. ‘Assuming I don’t get knifed in the street by some zealot on the way to the temple? Assuming I find the underground tunnel to get inside? That I can even reach the spire before a hundred guards cut me down? And even if I do get inside, that your maps are somehow accurate and none of those guys yo
u talked to just had a nervous condition that made his head twitch? And then, of course, assuming the god doesn’t just strike me down the second I get near him?’

  My fellow teysan looked faintly apologetic. ‘Yeah, assuming all that.’

  I didn’t have an answer. The needle of whatever compass exists inside our hearts to guide our choices was spinning in every direction right now. So I did what I figured Ferius would do at a time like this: I stuck my palm out just below Reichis’s mouth and tickled his chin until, after giving me a suitably dirty look, he coughed up the coin. I flipped it in the air as I turned to go. ‘Reckon I’ll flip a coin.’

  City of Miracles

  Beware those who worship their home as though it were made for them by the gods themselves. Deities almost always make poor landlords.

  45

  The Luminary

  It occurred to me, as Nephenia, Ishak, Reichis and I raced through the streets of Mebab, trying and failing to ditch the pursuers who’d picked up our trail within minutes of our leaving the travellers’ saloon, that I wouldn’t make a very good assassin. Self-criticism isn’t the most helpful activity while trying to elude one’s enemies, of course, but it’s still better than being castigated by a squirrel cat and a hyena.

  ‘You’re not very stealthy,’ Reichis observed, looking behind us while perched on my shoulder so he could spot the shadowy figures chasing us while I did the actual running.

  ‘I know that,’ I said.

  Ishak, loping alongside Nephenia, gave a little yip.

  ‘Ishak says you’re also kind of slow,’ Reichis informed me, before adding, ‘Kellen, these guys are gonna box us in pretty quick if you don’t—’

  ‘I know, Reichis.’

  The hyena yipped at me again. Nephenia shushed him.

  ‘What did he say?’ I asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ she replied.

  Reichis was delighted to translate. ‘He says your last shot missed that guy by quite a lot and wonders if maybe you should practise your aim a little more?’