Nightfall

by Den Patrick

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said the captain, getting to his feet with a wary look in his eyes. ‘All the Vigilants on Arkiv were killed when Bittervinge escaped the Great Library. That’s what we heard.’

  Kimi began to pace through the knots of passengers, casting her eye over the huddles of men and women. The soldiers scowled at her while the dignitaries shrank away or pretended indignant outrage to cover their fear.

  ‘You,’ said Kimi to a man in a faded blue cloak with the hood up. Kimi eyed the two-handed sword that was strapped across his back. He raised his head and pulled back the hood, revealing the face of a young man. He was handsome, she supposed, if you liked white men.

  ‘Everyone else discarded their weapons when they came ashore.’

  ‘I, ah, I forgot.’ He set down a small pack he was clutching before reaching for the straps that held the weapon in place. Kimi knelt down so she was eye to eye with the man. He had to be a soldier, though, if she had to guess, she’d say he wasn’t in the best health. He fumbled with the straps with a wounded hand.

  ‘What’s in the pack?’

  ‘An urn,’ said the soldier, setting the great sword down slowly. ‘It contains the ashes of my master. He was slain on Arkiv fighting Bittervinge. I’m taking him to Khlystburg to his final rest.’

  Kimi frowned. He was telling the truth as far as she could tell, but in times like these who could tell fiction from falsehood? He seemed nervous, but that might just have been a product of Stonvind’s growling on the cliffs above.

  ‘You fought at Arkiv?’

  ‘I was in the Great Library when it fell.’

  ‘When Bittervinge escaped?’ asked Kimi. The soldier nodded. Small wonder he was so anxious.

  A scattering of rocks rattled down the cliffs behind them and everyone looked up. Flodvind had ceased her gliding over the sea to take a perch above them. Stonvind had stopped growling at last.

  ‘You found him then!’ shouted Taiga cheerfully. Kimi stood up and gestured her confusion. ‘Silverdust,’ called Taiga.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ yelled Tief. ‘This is just a soldier.’

  Flodvind snorted an impatient plume of soot. He is in the urn, you fools.

  ‘Of course he is,’ muttered Tief. ‘Where else would he be? It’s so obvious.’

  ‘Captain Hewn,’ said Kimi. ‘You’re free to go, and your passengers along with you.’ She turned to the cloaked man. ‘But this one stays with me. Him, the sword, and his urn.’

  ‘What do I call you?’ said Kimi after the ship’s crew and passengers had departed. Most had found a way up the cliffs and made camp just half a mile away. Tief had made a passable fish stew and Taiga was on hand with tea, as was her custom.

  ‘My name is Streig.’ The soldier looked down at the urn as if listening, then nodded. He reached forward and lifted the lid. Inside was a plume of slowly rotating smoke with two fireflies hovering inside.

  ‘That’s Silverdust?’ said Kimi.

  ‘What the Hel happened?’ said Tief with a look of disbelief etched on his grizzled face. ‘Where’s the rest of him?’

  We had to fight Bittervinge in the Great Library. Silverdust’s words appeared in their minds gently, no more than a whisper. It was hard to pierce his skin and he consumed me. I expended much of my essence burning him from the inside out. I am much reduced.

  ‘I’m trying to get back to Khlystburg to find someone to restore him,’ said Streig. From his tone Kimi guessed he didn’t hold out much hope. Tief smiled and chuckled for a moment.

  ‘I know you hate the Empire, Tief,’ said Kimi. ‘But now isn’t the time to crow over your enemies’ misfortunes.’

  Tief set down his dinner. ‘I’m not laughing because the cinderwraith was eaten, I’m laughing because I know how to help him. I’ve done it before, on Vladibogdan. You should remember: you kicked a bucket of water over one of them. I had to coax the spirit back into being.’

  ‘I don’t remember,’ admitted Kimi.

  ‘Well, that doesn’t surprise me. You’d had a big fight with Steiner.’

  ‘You know Steiner?’ said Streig.

  Of course they know Steiner. Silverdust sounded impatient. Could we progress to the part where I am restored? You can exchange war stories later.

  ‘I don’t remember Silverdust being so surly,’ said Tief, lifting the urn gently and carrying it to the fire.

  ‘You can’t blame him,’ said Streig. ‘He’s been in there a while.’

  ‘Are you’re sure about this?’ said Taiga. ‘Using the arcane like this …’ She pursed her lips. ‘It comes at a cost.’

  ‘I know,’ said Tief. ‘But he’s one of us. He wants the Emperor dead just as much as we do. And we need all the allies we can get since we lost Marozvolk.’

  That is unfortunate. I liked Marozvolk very much.

  Stonvind prowled down the cliff face, huge talons gripping the stone. The dragon skidded and dropped the last dozen feet, feet crunching on the shingle. Streig flinched and looked as if he might run at any moment, but there was nowhere to go.

  Tief. Stonvind’s words appeared in their minds. I will not let you harm yourself. Fire is the domain of dragons and you will poison yourself remaking the cinderwraith.

  ‘I said I’d do it,’ replied Tief, frowning. ‘I know the cost and I’m willing to pay it.’

  That which Bittervinge has wounded, I will make whole.

  ‘Far be it from me to argue with a dragon,’ said Tief. ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’

  I can sense enough of your mind to see what needs to be done.

  The dark grey dragon plucked the urn from Tief’s hands with the points of his talons, the gesture precise and gentle given the size of the claws. Silverdust, in his confinement, was held above the campfire and Stonvind closed his amber eyes to concentrate. A deep rumble sounded around the cove and Kimi shrank backwards on instinct. Stonvind breathed a sooty breath that mingled with the smoke from the fire. A silhouette appeared – gradually at first; an apparition of smoke. With each passing moment the form became darker, gathering every particle of soot until it was a jet-black phantom. Two golden eyes of fire blinked open as the cinderwraith was made whole.

  Thank you. My name is Silverdust and I owe you a debt of gratitude.

  I am Stonvind. This debt and all debts were paid the moment you freed us from Vladibogdan. The dragon climbed the cliff face to resume his perch. Streig took off his cloak and offered it to Silverdust.

  ‘You should take this to protect you from the rain.’

  The cinderwraith grasped the cloak and concealed himself as best he could.

  You have done well, my friend. Thank you.

  ‘So we have three dragons, an Exarch, a high priestess and a dragon-slaying Yamal princess,’ said Tief, counting them off on his fingers.

  Kimi laughed at Tief’s persistent optimism but realized she didn’t share it. A pervading sense she was outclassed and outnumbered remained and gnawed at her as she tried to sleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Silverdust

  Bravery, leadership, selflessness, a willingness to try the unthinkable. Heroes are expected to display all of these traits without question. Perhaps we have heard the tales so often that we forget the names represent real people? Fear of dying, indecision, protecting one’s own needs, performing distasteful deeds to achieve one’s ends. These are weaknesses real people are mired in, but they have no place in heroic tales, and that’s the shame of it. The interior battles are just as hard as the exterior ones, if not more so.

  – From the memoir of Drakina Tveit, Lead Librarian of Midtenjord Province

  Silverdust lifted the mirrored mask to his face and arranged the hood of the black robes. Black leather gloves were pulled on to amorphous, smoky hands. Finally the cinderwraith was covered in a way he was accustomed to, but no longer adorned in the cream and blood-red of Imperial vestments. No proclamation of his loyalty remained. He was at last his own man, in a manner of speaking.

  Y
ou have done well, Streig.

  They were standing in the captain’s cabin of the Eastern Star, the ship that had brought them from Arkiv.

  ‘Black is your colour,’ said the soldier, admiring the garments he’d stolen. ‘I didn’t think I’d enjoy rifling through the luggage of all those dignitaries.’ Streig shrugged. ‘But if I’m going to be an outlaw I may well as well go all in.’

  ‘Be sure you only steal from the Empire,’ said Kimi with a note of warning in her words. She stood near the window at the back of the cabin, gazing at the rise and fall of the midnight-blue seas. Silverdust could sense the princess’s feelings were as dangerous as any undertow or riptide.

  ‘I’m going to step out and see if I can find more coin,’ said Streig. ‘We might have need of it for the next part of the journey.’ He dared a furtive glance at Kimi, then departed, keen to be away. The soldier didn’t need the foresight or sensing powers of Academy Vozdukha to know when to make himself scarce.

  ‘I’m glad Tief and Stonvind were able to restore you,’ said the Yamal princess. ‘How are you?’

  I am feeling more alive than I have in years, if such a thing is possible. A better question is: how are you, princess?

  ‘I wasn’t the one the one confined to an urn for days on end.’

  That much is true, but I have not been disowned by my own brother. Nor has my brother allied himself with the Emperor.

  ‘You don’t know what you speak of. You have it all wrong.’ Kimi took a step closer and Silverdust regarded her properly in the afternoon light. She had always been a tall, muscular woman and the last few months had only served to reinforce this. Even Veles, the most devious and deceitful of dragons, had not been able to reduce the towering physicality of Kimi Enkhtuya. But it was not the physical realm that troubled her.

  Why else would your brother seek the death of your father? Why take the risk of regicide and reprisals? He could have simply waited for your father to fade away.

  ‘Tsen is a murderous, spiteful, selfish …’ She threw up her hands as she failed to find the right words. ‘But he’d never make such a bargain with the Emperor. Never.’

  Silverdust said nothing. People needed time to absorb new information, and never more so when the news concerned family. Kimi paced around the cabin, distracting herself with a dog-eared chart that had been stretched across the table. Her fingertips brushed the surface of the parchment and instinctively wandered to the lower right-hand corner where Yamal had been sketched out in the vaguest terms.

  ‘Tsen,’ she whispered before looking up with an expression somewhere between grief and rage. ‘What do you know, Silverdust?’

  I have heard nothing in the conventional sense, but the arcane allows me to listen in on messages that roam far and wide. The Emperor sends word to your brother. He is desperate, reckless, uncaring of who may listen in.

  ‘What messages?’

  The Emperor is under siege from all of his worst nightmares. Bittervinge attacks from above while Steiner strikes from the shadows, and the Stormtide Prophet is crossing the Ashen Gulf as we speak.

  ‘The Emperor didn’t look so desperate when we attacked him,’ replied Kimi. ‘He bested us easily. I couldn’t take the risk of ordering the dragons to fight to the death. I couldn’t risk losing them.’

  And yet he sets whispers on the wind, desperate that your brother send reinforcements to Khlystburg from Yamal.

  ‘I’ve no reason to disbelieve you,’ replied Kimi slowly. ‘But why would Tsen do such a thing?’

  Only he knows the answer to that question. My guess is that the Emperor offered to stay out of Yamal if Tsen offered certain concessions. Your father’s life appears to have been one of those concessions.

  Kimi opened the door to the cabin and crossed the deck to the railing. She gripped it with both hands and for a moment Silverdust was sure she would vomit over the side. Her head dipped and her shoulders shook with silent sobs.

  ‘I don’t know what’s worse,’ she said finally. ‘That he’d kill to take the title of High Khan himself, or that he’d kill at the Emperor’s bidding.’

  Perhaps he merely saw a way to keep his country safe, though it cost him dearly.

  ‘He disowned me!’ shouted Kimi. She stepped closer to Silverdust, trying to use her size to cow him into subservience.

  And you were allowed to escape. No one came after you.

  ‘We escaped into Izhoria, a country full of Grave Wolves and gholes! Tsen didn’t need to send anyone after us.’

  Even so, it is no small thing for someone impersonating a princess to escape capture. The Emperor would have sent Okhrana after you. The Emperor would have demanded your head as proof.

  Kimi looked away. The waters lapped at the hull of the ship and Silverdust could sense a weary despair settle over her.

  ‘So you’re saying I should forgive him, that he was serving his country?’

  No. I am saying your thoughts linger in the south when your attention should be here, in Khlystburg. You doubt yourself, your leadership, your place in the world.

  ‘Horseshit. I’m a dragon rider, I slew Veles in the swamps of Izhoria. Taiga gifted me with the Ashen Torment.’ She reached into her shirt and pulled out the jade dragon. ‘This marks me as Frøya’s champion.’

  You say the words easily enough, and they may well all be true, but do you believe them? Do you feel them? Do your words dispel your fears and doubts?

  Kimi turned her back on the Exarch, as if an answer might be found on the horizon. In the distance a dark shadow plagued the skies above the city. Silverdust felt a moment of unease as he remembered being swallowed by the father of dragons in the Great Library.

  ‘Get your soldier,’ said Kimi, straightening up and composing herself. ‘I want to get my feet back on dry land.’

  It will be as you say, Highness.

  The journey back to shore had a silence as stony as the shingle beach that awaited them. Captain Hewn lurked alongside Tief, desperate to know if the Eastern Star would remain in his ownership. Silverdust could feel the question burning in the man’s mind. A few of the passengers had dared to return to the cove from the cliffs above, enquiring after their possessions on the ship. The mood was tense and sour, anger subdued by fear of the dragons.

  Streig dragged the small boat on to the beach and Kimi stalked away, keen to be reunited with Namarii.

  ‘What’s got into her?’ Tief asked Silverdust.

  I had thought to ask you the same question.

  ‘It’s been a rough few months.’ Tief tugged at one earlobe and frowned at the princess, who was doing her best to hide behind the bulk of Namarii. ‘Her brother disowned her, and we thought Taiga was dead.’

  ‘But I recovered!’ said the priestess cheerfully. ‘Frøya be praised!’

  Frøya be praised, indeed.

  ‘Frøya be praised.’ Tief frowned at his sister as if he didn’t fully approve of her enthusiasm. ‘Marozvolk was killed by Veles,’ continued Tief. ‘That was hard on all of us. And, well … Kimi’s never stopped worrying what would happen if the Emperor discovered she’d escaped.’

  Tsen appears to have made a deal with the Emperor.

  Tief took a few moments to absorb what he’d been told; then he nodded and lit his pipe. ‘Hel’s teeth. Makes a certain sense, I suppose. What happens now? Do you and your soldier have a plan?’

  Truthfully, no. I barely hoped to be restored, but now I will venture to Khlystburg. I have my own score to settle with the Emperor. As for Streig, his part in this is over.

  Streig, noticing Tief was looking in his direction, drifted over to join them from his spot by the campfire.

  ‘Something I should know?’

  You have been loyal to me many times over, my friend. The time has come for me to release you. I want you to head back to Virolanti Province. I want you to live a long, peaceful life.

  ‘But there’s still so much to do.’

  There is, but I would rather have it done without your dea
th on my conscience. We are entering a realm of dragons, Vigilants, and holy warriors.

  ‘I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to feeling outclassed,’ replied Streig.

  ‘You and me both,’ grumbled Tief.

  ‘At least you have a dragon,’ said Streig, casting a look over his shoulder at Stonvind.

  ‘There is that, I suppose.’ Tief smiled and blew a smoke ring.

  Go now to Captain Hewn and make the arrangements. Go while you still draw breath.

  ‘Yes, Exarch,’ replied Streig, saluting on instinct before he took off. Silverdust and Tief watched the young soldier pick his way across the shingle beach and address the captain of the Eastern Star.

  ‘You’re a strange one, Silverdust,’ said Tief after a moment. ‘One day I’ll figure you out, but not anytime soon, I suspect.’

  There is a reason my mask is a mirror, Tief.

  ‘That’s as maybe, but you can bet your boots it would make your allies feel a touch better if you were more transparent with us.’

  Kimi approached them, but her gaze was fixed squarely on Tief. It was clear she had no interest in Silverdust or his theories about her brother’s loyalties.

  ‘Get some rest. We fly at dawn.’

  ‘At last!’ shouted Tief. ‘Sounds like you’ve got your balls back!’

  ‘Balls?’ Kimi glowered at him and Tief coughed uncomfortably.

  ‘I meant, you know, confidence.’

  You seek to protect the city?

  ‘Protect? No. We hunt the Emperor,’ said Kimi. ‘Once we’ve solved one problem we can turn our attention to Bittervinge.’

  I also have a personal history with the Emperor, I will seek him out. I do not have the luxury of a draconic steed and I have no wish to fly. I will head to Khlystburg on foot. If fortune smiles I will find Steiner and we can bring an end to this chaos together.

  ‘Find Steiner?’ Kimi shook her head. ‘In a city this big, and in so much chaos? Don’t you think I’d have already tried that if it were so easy?’

  I have certain advantages.

  ‘You’d best get to the Emperor before I do,’ said Kimi, her words quiet and clipped, full of murderous intent. ‘He has my father’s blood on his hands.’