by Jon Skovron
Hope stood next to him and said nothing, her face set.
Red didn’t know what he’d expected it to be like. The great capital city of the Empire of Storms, its largest and northernmost island, nothing beyond but the endless expanse of the Dark Sea. It was said to have the highest mountain in the empire, and the imperial palace was at its peak so that the emperor could literally look down on all of his subjects. But beyond that, Red knew nothing. If he’d given it any thought, it was just to imagine it as New Laven, but with a big mountain plopped in the middle. Maybe with fewer neighborhoods like Paradise Circle and more neighborhoods like Hollow Falls.
He’d been right about the mountain, at least. A mass of jagged rock sat right in the center of the upper half of the island, its base taking up nearly a quarter of it. But the rest of the city didn’t look anything like New Laven. Or no, maybe there was one neighborhood that it looked like. Keystown. Stonepeak appeared to be one vast Keystown, just as orderly and clean, but on a scale Red couldn’t quite believe. The midday sun gleamed off its beige walls and polished windows with a harshness that made Red wince even while wearing his dark spectacles.
“Piss’ell but that’s a lot of drudgery,” he said.
“Looks like,” said Missing Finn.
Hope still said nothing, but Red noticed her knuckles were white as she gripped her sword.
“We’ve nearly got him,” Red assured her. “It’s almost over.”
“Really?” she asked. “As far as I can tell, we’ve nearly lost him. There’s only one place a biomancer running for his life is likely to go on Stonepeak.”
“The Council of Biomancery?”
“Which is behind the palace walls. If we don’t get to him before he gets there…”
Red understood. Behind those walls lived nearly every biomancer in the empire. And, of course, the emperor’s personal honor guard. Once Teltho Kan reached that haven, he would be untouchable.
“I should have guessed this is where he would go,” she said quietly.
“And how would that have made any difference?”
She didn’t respond, but he knew her well enough now to guess that she was silently berating herself for her “laxness” or something like that.
As soon as they were at the dock, she called, “Sadie, you have command of the ship!” Then in three long, graceful strides, she was over the side and running down the pier.
“Hope! Wait!” called Red as he took off after her.
It was clear she was not waiting for him. Or even slowing down. She sprinted through the streets, which were crowded with carts, horses, and people. She dodged and shifted around them effortlessly, like it was a dance. But Red was keeping up just fine. In fact, he found it surprisingly easy to follow her. It was as if he could see everything at once, take it all in, and make his decisions in a split second. He’d always been coordinated, but this was something new.
He chased her for a while through those crowded streets. He wondered how any city could be this busy. He didn’t have much opportunity to examine it in more detail, though. He had to stop Hope from doing something slippy.
He finally caught up with her at the palace gates. She was on her knees in the middle of the street, her head bowed, her sheathed sword pointing unwaveringly toward the high white walls before her.
“I failed them,” Hope said quietly as she stared at the sword in her hands. “I swore vengeance on the man who murdered my village. And now he’s beyond my reach.”
Red crouched down next to her, keenly aware that a guard on top of the palace walls was watching them, a rifle in his hands. “Maybe we can…sneak in somehow?” he whispered. “Get some disguises and slip in through the kitchens like we did at Bayview.”
“This isn’t an art gallery, it’s the imperial palace.”
“Okay. Well. Then we’ll wait until he comes out.”
“If he comes out.”
“Of course he will. He can’t stay in there forever.” Red looked up at the massive palace. There was an outer wall, then an open garden courtyard space of some kind, then the palace proper, which rose up slowly as it clung to the mountain. It soared higher than any building he had ever seen. Higher even than he’d imagined a building could go. “Uh, can he?”
“Have you never read the histories of the emperors? That palace could outlast a ten-year siege.”
“Come on, Hope. There has to be a way,” Red said desperately. The look in her eye was one he had seen only once before. When he’d talked her out of falling on her own sword. “We always find a way.”
“Do we?” she asked, still staring at her sword.
“Of course we do! Me and you! Red and Hope! We’re unbeatable!”
“We just got beaten.”
“No, don’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s true. Another one of my true stories you’d like to make into one of your tall tales.”
A desperate thought popped into his head. It was at once crazy and the most reasonable thing he’d ever considered. “What if…we chose to walk away from all this? Start a completely new story.”
“What?” Hope looked up at him for the first time. He took that as a good sign.
“What if we let go of vows and vengeance and all that rot and started fresh?” The more he said it, the more he liked it. “Stonepeak seems like a nice clean place. A place where we could start nice clean lives. Proper lives that don’t involve killing or stealing or anything like that.”
“Proper lives?” Hope looked bewildered.
“Or, hey, if that doesn’t suit your fancy, we could go somewhere else. Anywhere else. We have our own pissing ship, after all. We could be whatever we like.” It was all so clear to him now. They didn’t have to be a thief and a warrior. They could be anything they wanted. “The only thing holding us back is our past. But what if we just chucked the whole thing? No revenge, no biomancers, just you and me. Together. Forever.”
His hand reached out to her. “There is only one thing in this whole world I want. And that’s you.”
“I…I don’t know if I can do it.” Hope’s deep blue eyes were shot with red veins. “Let it all go? Abandon my vows? My purpose? It’s the only thing that’s kept me going for the past ten years. I can’t just throw it away.”
“But it’s eating you from the inside. This obsession with vengeance. It’s slowly turning you into…I don’t know what, but it’s not too late. I see it in you. The person behind the vengeance trying to get out.”
“That’s what you painted.” She finally took his hand in hers. “That part of me.”
“You are more than a biomancer hunter. You are more than a killer.” He pressed her hand against his chest. “Please, Hope. Let me help you.”
“You want to help her?” came a voice from behind them, feminine but not soft. “Then stop holding her back.”
They both turned to see a woman standing over them. She was taller than any woman Red had ever seen. She had long black hair and piercing brown eyes. She wore a fine white silk dress tight at the bodice, but with long billowing sleeves that hung below her hands, and a white hood thrown back. It was an odd look, but somehow elegant.
“What do you want?” Red asked, his eyes narrowing.
The woman nodded toward the soldiers at the palace wall. There were two of them now, talking to each other. One pointed down at them.
“If you want to get in there,” said the woman, “come with me.” Then she turned, her white dress flaring out, and walked toward a nearby tavern.
Hope stood immediately and followed the woman.
Red was about to call to her, but he glanced at the wall. There were three guards now. So he hurried after them.
The woman led them into the tavern, which was much cleaner and better lit than any tavern in New Laven. The tables were all well scrubbed, with a potted plant in the center of each. She pointed to a table over in the corner. “Get comfortable. I’ll order us refreshments.”
Hope sat down at the table.
“This
seems like a really bad idea,” said Red as he sat down beside her.
“If there is even a chance this woman has a way of getting into the palace, I will hear her out,” said Hope.
“It could be a trap.”
“Set by whom? We are no longer a threat to Teltho Kan, and we don’t know anyone else in this city.”
“Exactly!” said Red. “We don’t know this woman. We don’t know a pissing thing about her.”
“My name is Brigga Lin.” The woman placed three wooden goblets filled with red wine on the table. “And anyone sworn to vengeance against a biomancer is a friend of mine.”
“Why is that?” asked Hope.
“Because,” said the woman as she took a seat, “I have vowed to take revenge on the entire order.”
“You?” asked Red.
Brigga Lin smiled at him, bright white teeth behind red lips. “I don’t look like much, do I?” She took a delicate sip of her wine. “But a master of biomancery can look any way they choose.”
“Wait, are you saying you’re—”
“A biomancer. Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “Or I was until recently.”
Hope frowned. “I thought they didn’t allow female biomancers.”
“And I thought they didn’t allow female Vinchen, yet you certainly are dressed as one.”
“How do we know you really are—or were—a biomancer?” asked Red.
She touched the plant in the center of their table. There had been only one flower in the pot, a wan, semi-wilted chrysanthemum. As she leaned back and smugly took another sip from her goblet, the pot burst with blossoms.
“Okay. If you are a biomancer,” said Hope, “why do you want to destroy the order?”
“Were,” said Brigga Lin. “Let’s not forget the all-important tense, there.”
“Why did they kick you out?” asked Red.
She arched one thin black eyebrow and gestured gracefully to her breasts as if formally presenting them. “Why do you think? Because I’m a woman.”
“But if being a woman is against their laws,” said Hope, “how did you—”
“Become a biomancer in the first place?” asked Brigga Lin. “Simple. I was a man then.”
“Sorry,” said Red. “What?”
“Not the most manly of men, it must be owned. But, I had the proper equipment. I studied and trained for years as a biomancer, and I was…mediocre at best, honestly. But I wanted to be more. So much more. Then a few years ago, I was exploring the ruins of the temple of Morack Tor, where I found one of the original sacred texts. It revealed that there were some branches of biomancery that were completely closed to men, and could only be mastered by women. I thought this was an astonishing discovery. It would revolutionize the order. But I would need to prove that it worked.”
“So you used biomancery to turn yourself into a woman?” asked Hope.
Brigga Lin shrugged. “It was either that or spend years training a real girl in the basics of biomancery. And who has the time or patience for that? Also, and I’ll only admit this to you now after I know better, I honestly wasn’t sure a woman was smart enough to learn biomancery.” She smiled faintly at Hope. “I hope you will forgive that. Like most men, I was an idiot.”
“So it was true?” asked Red. “You can do things the rest of them can’t?”
“Oh yes. That right there?” She pointed to the overflowing pot. “They could never do that. The masculine biomancery can change living matter, but it cannot create it. Only feminine biomancery can do that. And if that’s not a sign they’re doing it wrong up on that mountain, I don’t know what is.”
“And you thought you could convince them of that?” There was sympathy in Hope’s eyes.
“I was a fool.” Brigga Lin’s face grew dark. “They called me a heretic. Spit on me. Cut me. I barely escaped with my life.”
“My teacher trained me in secret for eight years,” Hope said quietly. “When his brothers found out what he was doing, they attacked us. He made me swear not to fight them. He said it was the natural consequence for his actions, and he accepted it with peace in his heart.” She put her hand on Brigga Lin’s arm. “I am sorry for your suffering. But it was you who were in the wrong, just as I was, by transgressing their rules. And this was your consequence.”
“Transgressing their rules?” Brigga Lin’s eyes blazed. “It is they who have transgressed the rules of life. When I told them women could become even more powerful biomancers than men, it was not a surprising revelation to them. The council already knew. But they would rather forgo that power than let women into the order. The Council of Biomancery is weak and stupid and conscienceless. Surely you know this. You must have seen what they do out there in the world to innocent people, or you would not have sworn vengeance on them. They are a blight on the entire empire.”
“You’re just going to kill them all, then?” asked Red. “Every biomancer in the empire?”
“If that is what it takes to change things,” said Brigga Lin. “Adapt or die. That is the rule of life.”
“And how in hells do you plan to do it?”
“They are all gathered in the palace as we speak for the annual council meeting. That’s why I was here. To present my findings.” She turned to Hope. “The meeting ends tomorrow and they scatter back out into the empire. But if we strike tonight, we have a chance of wiping out every last one of them.”
“Hope, you’re not actually listening to this talk, are you?” demanded Red. But he could see it in her eyes. She was listening.
“Centuries ago, Burness Vee and Selk the Brave worked together, biomancer and Vinchen.” Brigga Lin leaned closer to Hope. “They built this empire. Together, they were unstoppable. Between us, we have a chance to take the palace. To correct the course of the empire. To make it better. Tonight!”
“It’s suicide, Hope,” said Red.
“No,” said Brigga Lin. “At best, it is a chance at glory and righteousness. At worst, it is a just and honorable death. And what do you offer? I heard you trying to convince her to relinquish her vows. You would advise acquiescence to their corrupt power? Or cowardly retreat? Those are but the shadows of a life, base and unworthy.”
“Hope…” Red was losing this argument. Against all reason and logic, the most important argument of his life, and he was losing. “Please… I’m begging you. Come away with me. Come back to the ship with me and Sadie and Nettie and all the rest. We love you. Isn’t that enough?”
Hope stared at him, and her deep blue pools truly opened. For the first time, he saw just how far down they went.
“Red, I know this is hard for you to understand, because this isn’t how it is in the Circle. You talk as though my life were my own. But it has not been mine for many years. I have pledged it to uphold the honor of the empire and the Vinchen order. I must put that honor before my life. Before everything.” She reached out and pressed her hand against his cheek. “And everyone.” She let her hand drop. “I ask you to respect that.”
And that’s when he knew for certain that he had lost her. Or maybe he’d never truly had her at all.
“I have always, and will always respect you.” He forced his voice to be quiet and even. “But I can’t be chum and larder with you walking purposefully to your own death, no matter how just or noble. I won’t.”
He stood up slowly, giving her every possible moment to stop him. To ask him to stay. Or to go with him. But she didn’t.
And really, he hadn’t expected her to.
30
They stood before the white walls of the palace, which shone luminous in the moonlight.
“Do you wish he came with us?” asked Brigga Lin.
“No.” Hope didn’t want to think about Red right now.
“He looked like he would have been helpful.”
“Yes.”
“You care for him that much?”
The question took Hope by surprise. It had been so long since she’d talked to someone who understood her formal code of hono
r. She’d more or less resigned herself to having her motives opaque to everyone she knew. But Brigga Lin understood. The biomancers seemed to have their own code of honor, twisted and poisonous though it might be. Brigga Lin understood why Hope hadn’t asked Red to stay, though she knew he would be a valuable asset in this fight. If she had, and he said no, then she would have lost respect for him. And if she asked him and he said yes, then she would be dooming him to the same dark fate that was in store for her. She would rather reduce her own chances of success than suffer either of those two things.
“Yes, I suppose I do,” she said finally.
They stared at the guards on top of the wall, who were beginning to notice the unusual pair of women looking up at them. One with black hair and dressed all in white, one with nearly white hair and dressed all in black.
“I never asked your name,” said Brigga Lin.
“I don’t remember my real name. My village was massacred by a biomancer. When Hurlo the Cunning took me in as his student, he named me after my village, so that I would never forget it, or the fate that befell it.”
“What was the name of your village?”
“Bleak Hope.”
Brigga Lin laughed, a rich, throaty sound that brought even more attention from the guards along the wall. “I realize this is scant comfort, but I cannot think of another living soul I’d rather die with than someone named Bleak Hope.”
She pulled up her hood so that it shaded her eyes. The guards appeared to be alarmed by that. With the hood up, her flowing gown looked at once like a biomancer’s, and yet not at all. One of the guards said something to the others. They lifted their rifles and took aim at the two women.
“Disperse at once!” one of them shouted.
“They’re preparing to fire,” said Hope.
“I’ll handle it,” said Brigga Lin.
“From so high up? I thought biomancers could only transfer their power through touch.”
“Yes,” said Brigga Lin, a smile flashing beneath her hood. “I remember when that limitation was mine.” She wove her hands in an elegant pattern, the long sleeves swirling almost as if she were dancing.