The Blood of Whisperers

by Devin Madson

  Again I felt eyes on me. ‘A healthy boy, Excellency?’ Master Kenji enquired.

  ‘As far as I am aware,’ I said. ‘He came from good blood. A weak leg, but that should hardly have killed him.’

  General Ryoji crossed his arms. ‘Are you saying his murderer bled on him, Master Physician?’

  ‘I am saying the presence of the blood is odd, General,’ Kenji said, pursing his lips. ‘We make no wild summations in my line of work.’

  The general flushed, taking the point. He bowed to Kin. ‘We will search the palace from ceiling to cellar, Your Majesty. If the intruder is still here we will find him.’

  Master Kenji straightened from his examination of the boy’s scalp. ‘And I will get one of my apprentices. We must move the boy and examine him properly to find out what happened. With Your Majesty’s permission.’

  Emperor Kin grunted, looking at neither man. Taking this as assent, both bowed and left about their business. Once they had gone, Kin leaned against the windowsill, one sandalled foot peeking from beneath his great crimson robe. My gaze slid back to the dead boy kneeling in my place. Master Kenji would find nothing. The only message here was even now drying upon Kun’s clothes.

  All it took was a touch.

  My heart beat loudly in my chest. There was a drop on the boy’s hand. Wet. I pressed my finger to it, every muscle tense.

  Darius.

  I snatched my hand away, leaving a fingerprint on the sticky blot. It had been years. Why now?

  I sought the blood again, like a man already cut wanting to be sure, doubly sure, that the blade was sharp.

  I hope you haven’t forgotten me.

  ‘The eye.’

  My heart leapt into my throat. Kin was standing beside me.

  ‘What about it, Majesty?’ I said, habit alone producing my usual dispassionate tone.

  ‘Your father wore a symbol very much like it.’

  ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘He did. But he has been dead these thirteen years, Majesty. And an eye is only an eye, after all.’

  There was another blot upon the boy’s neck.

  ‘Interesting, this pattern of blood drops,’ Kin said.

  ‘Certainly strange,’ I agreed, and reached out to touch it.

  I haven’t forgotten you, it said. Sunset tomorrow. You know where I’ll be.

  Kin touched the blood on the boy’s hand. ‘The blood of our killer, do you think, Darius?’

  ‘I couldn’t say, Majesty.’

  A meeting. And who would be next if I did not go?

  ‘Is something amiss, Darius?’

  ‘Nothing at all, Majesty,’ I said. ‘I was just trying to divine some sense of why. Why this boy? Why the markings?’ I threw my shoulders into a shrug, forcing the cold tone to my lips. ‘Servants are numerous. Even if they can count.’

  ‘Perhaps, but most people look with their eyes.’

  ‘I am not most people, Majesty.’

  He grabbed my wrist as I moved, and I had to fight the urge to pull away, his grip uncomfortably strong. ‘I trust you, Darius,’ he said, his low voice for my ears alone. ‘That’s why you’re still alive. Don’t give me reason to change my mind. I will see you suffer for disloyalty the same as any other, do you understand?’

  ‘Perfectly, Majesty. An emperor is only as powerful as the men he can behead.’

  For a moment his grip tightened. The flash of a snarl crossed his features and I knew he was fighting the urge to hit me. But I had measured my response well. He let go. ‘I’m not cruel,’ he said. ‘Go. I have had enough of you for tonight.’

  I bowed. ‘Then I will wish you a good night, Majesty.’ And with one last glance at the boy I left, swallowing the bitter tang of guilt.

  Chapter 3

  I tugged the laces and the bind sprang loose, releasing my breasts. The relief was not untouched by pain, and for a moment I crouched with my forearms pressed to my chest, staring absently at the forest floor. When the sting had subsided, I began to wash, dunking the cloth into the bucket and running it over my body – underarms, breasts, neck, back – wherever I could reach without removing my breeches. But I’d had to loosen them, and they slipped as I crouched to slurp water from cupped hands.

  A footstep, barely audible. I spat the water back into the bucket and turned, yanking up my breeches, heart hammering. I folded my arms across my chest. Monarch was there. The day had all but drained away, but there was light enough to gild the tips of his dark hair. He stood between the trees, fingers curled around his great bow, “Hatsukoi”, his thumb thrumming the string.

  ‘I didn’t hear you coming,’ I said, horribly aware of the spit dripping down my chin. I wiped it with the back of my hand.

  Monarch frowned, his eyes travelling from the pile of armour at my feet then up my body in the half-light. ‘You should be more careful.’

  ‘And you shouldn’t sneak up on me.’

  ‘What are you doing out here anyway? We’re leaving as soon as it’s dark.’

  ‘What does it look like I’m doing?’

  His eyes dropped again to the pile of clothes, and a reluctant smile carved a single dimple from his cheek. ‘Preparing to sacrifice yourself to the water goddess?’

  ‘Funny.’

  ‘As funny as it would be if one of the others happened upon you flashing your cunt to the world?’ He must have seen my expression. ‘Excuse my Chiltaen, we weren’t all brought up by pious old farmers.’

  ‘Would you rather I never washed?’

  ‘We’ve been through this before, Hana. You wash where no one can see you. You piss a mile out in the woods and you do it standing up. They won’t fight with a woman, even if you are my cousin.’

  ‘I am a mile out in the woods,’ I said.

  ‘Then go two miles next time.’

  Wishing he would go away, I snatched my tunic from the ground, the tangled knot of my bind caught through its sleeve. I tried to untie it, all too aware of Monarch’s eyes on me.

  ‘Give it here,’ he said at last, shouldering his bow and holding out his hand.

  I passed it over and he untangled it easily. Twirling a finger in the air he indicated that I should turn around. ‘I can do it myself, you know,’ I said, turning my back.

  ‘Yes, it just takes longer.’

  Passing the bind around my chest, he began lacing it. It was much faster with a second pair of hands, but I did not like to ask him for help.

  ‘I’m not a child anymore,’ I said when he ordered me to stand still.

  ‘Evidently. That’s part of the problem, isn’t it?’

  My cheeks grew hot. A year of living among men hadn’t weaned me from a tendency to blush. ‘It’s a problem that I’m not a child? Because you can’t send me home?’

  ‘No. I could send you home if I wanted. One word to your noble guardian and you’d be locked in a cellar somewhere until you’re old and grey.’

  ‘You wouldn’t!’

  ‘Obviously not.’

  ‘Then what’s the problem?’

  He was silent for a moment, pulling the knots as tight as he could. ‘That you’re not a man.’ There was a note of impatience in his voice. ‘I suppose you expect me to marry you.’

  I knew he was finished when he tucked in the strings, but I didn’t dare turn around. ‘Of course not,’ I said. ‘What a stupid idea.’

  ‘Is it?’ Monarch bent and scooped up the rest of my clothes, shaking them free of clinging burrs. ‘Catch up with me when you’re ready,’ he said, handing me the heavy bundle. ‘I remember being taught that a gentleman shouldn’t infringe upon a lady’s privacy.’

  With a few long strides he had disappeared into the coming night, leaving behind only his unique smell. It was a mixture of leather, wood smoke, and the wax he used to care for his bow. I breathed it in, annoyed that just when I felt we were f
inding an even footing, he was back speaking to me like I was a child, or worse, a girl.

  Wanting no more of Monarch’s lecture, I took my time dressing, adjusting the straps on my leather armour as I wound my way through the trees. The tail of my black sash was beginning to fray, and I fiddled with the threads, thoughts wandering.

  By the time I reached camp the sun had long since set. The men were awake. They were nocturnal by habit and were busy packing the tents and supplies into the old hay cart, there to wait until we returned.

  The Pikes had grown accustomed to quick changes of camp, but the scene lacked all the usual noise. There was no laughter, no jibes, no screeching as whores were sent scurrying into the night, skirts held high. Absent was the clunk of wheels and the vociferous swearing as carts got bogged in mud, nothing but a nervous hush upon the air.

  Monarch was waiting.

  ‘What kept you?’ he said, leaning against a tree and watching his men.

  ‘Are we in a hurry?’

  ‘Are we in a hurry?’ he repeated, turning on me. ‘Hana, I have been planning this for months. We get into the city tonight or we miss our chance.’

  ‘And you think it’s going to be my fault if they find out who I am?’ I hissed. ‘I thought we had agreed not to use our names.’

  He grunted. ‘They all know who I am. That’s why they follow me.’

  ‘So why does it matter if they find out who I am?’

  Monarch stared at me, his sneer cut by the shadows. ‘Because you’re a woman,’ he said, voice barely above a whisper, his eyes darting toward the camp. ‘I told you they won’t follow a woman and I meant it. Perhaps you were valued by your farmers, but here you are nothing but meat, and out there–’

  ‘I’m dead.’

  He paused, shadowed gaze considering me. ‘Yes. If Kin found you, you would be.’

  With his thumbs hooked into his black sash belt, Monarch turned back to watch the Pikes clearing all signs of habitation. I knew there was more he wanted to say, some words yet stuck upon his tongue. His fingers traced the name branded onto Hatsukoi’s lower limb.

  ‘You should leave,’ he said abruptly.

  ‘Leave?’ I said. ‘Are you serious? Where would you have me go? Back to Nivi Fen to watch Tan strut around?’

  ‘Captain Tan. Be careful what you say.’

  ‘Am I not your captain, too?’

  He looked back at me then, his smile twisted. ‘In name perhaps, but the men talk about you. It’s getting too dangerous for you here. You won’t be the only one to suffer if the world finds out that Captain Regent, one of the most notorious rebels in the empire, has no cock to excuse her brutality.’

  ‘I have done everything you asked of me,’ I said. ‘You took me in and taught me how to fight. You taught me how to slit a man’s throat. You think I don’t want revenge as much as you do? I lost everything to Kin and I will prise the crown from his dead fingers if I have to. You will not send me away.’

  ‘That crown was hacked from my father’s head.’

  In the knitted shadows we stood glaring at one another, my heart beating hard. This was my war as much as his, but I would have to fight to even be a part of it.

  Lantern light edged between us, pulling our eyes from one another. A man stood watching. Lit from beneath, his face was touched with gold, a long scar carved from eyebrow to chin.

  We both looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

  ‘We’re ready, Captain,’ he said, his voice a reluctant growl. ‘Orders?’

  Shin had been with the Pikes when I joined. He was a silent figure, respected by the older men and jeered at by the younger. They called him “Monarch’s Arse” for following our leader so closely. A name he accepted in silence.

  Now he was addressing only Monarch, and I felt my bile rise.

  ‘Hey, Arse,’ I said, too angry to let his disrespect pass. ‘I’m your captain, too.’

  That long scar that bisected his eye left it lidless and unblinking, and he turned it on me now. I fought my shudder.

  ‘You’ll call me “Captain”,’ I said.

  Shin’s arm shot out. Silver flashed in the lantern light and I felt the thin blade press into my neck, so sharp it sliced into my skin. I did not move, did not dare show any sign of fear.

  ‘Leave him alone, Shin,’ Monarch said.

  ‘I can fight my own battles,’ I snapped.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Monarch shrug.

  ‘Well, Shin?’ I said.

  The man stared back, dagger steady. Then: ‘We’re ready to go, Captain and Captain.’

  ‘Good. Now put it away.’

  I held his gaze, calling forth the look my foster mother had so often used against me. Shin’s lip twitched. With a grunt he retracted the blade, allowing me to breathe again. The lantern barely swung.

  Drunk with victory, I grinned at the old Pike and patted his scarred cheek. ‘Good boy, Shin,’ I said. ‘We’re coming, so why don’t you go away now.’

  I felt sure he would strangle me, but his upper lip curled. ‘Captain,’ he said, nodding to me before walking away.

  Monarch moved into the receding light, a reluctant smile upon his handsome features.

  ‘Perhaps you will pass for a man a bit longer,’ he said. ‘You’ve got balls enough.’

  With that, he stepped into the camp. The Pikes were waiting. These thirty men were all we had brought with us; thirty of the smallest and the fastest, a select group for an important mission. Now, they were joking loudly, but Monarch did not need to speak to silence them. He stood before them, a grand figure with squared shoulders, and their words died.

  ‘It’s time to go,’ he said. ‘Most of us have made this journey before, but for those who haven’t, it isn’t fun. Sometimes you can walk, but sometimes you have to crawl on your belly like a worm. No talking, no laughing, no complaining. Once inside we make for the safe house. If you have any questions, now’s the time to ask.’

  ‘Do we have to wear these eunuch suits?’ a man called out. ‘My balls are going to drop off.’

  Amid the laughter someone else said: ‘No great loss there then.’

  ‘Yeah, you’re the expert on balls, Kai.’

  Looking him up and down, I recognised the complainant as Wen, one of the few men I had recruited myself. The half dozen infiltrators were dressed in woollen breeches tight enough to accentuate the bulge between their legs. Wen was tugging at the fabric, grinning as he drew attention to it.

  Not for the first time I realised how little I understood men.

  ‘Enough.’

  Monarch did not have to shout to cut through the laughter. The men fell silent. ‘Once we’re safe you can check to see if you still have your pair. Let’s go. I want a lantern bearer every third man in the passage.’

  The group broke up, moving forward. I hurried for a lantern, but Monarch took it from me. ‘I’ll be in front,’ he said.

  With a graceful shrug, he adjusted Hatsukoi’s holster and led the way out of the clearing. I sped to catch up, dodging reaching branches and brambles.

  ‘How will Hatsukoi hold up in the passage?’ I asked, trying to break the tension between us.

  Monarch touched his bow at the sound of its name. ‘She’ll hold up,’ he said. ‘She’s never let me down. There aren’t many people who can say that about anyone.’

  I bit back the urge to point out that Hatsukoi wasn’t a person. The argument was pointless. ‘You’ve never let me down.’

  ‘Everyone will let you down. There’s no such thing as a hero, only fools and martyrs.’ He pulled ahead, quickening his pace as we skirted a forest pool. I let him go, wishing I had kept my mouth shut. His mercurial mood was on a downswing.

  Beside me the still water reflected our lantern light like a dozen beacons of hope for a drowning empire.

  Monar
ch stopped at a thick patch of brambles beyond the pool. ‘Everyone shut up,’ he said. ‘Not a word from here on or we’ll have the red belts on us. Anyone who makes a noise will be answering to Hatsukoi.’

  As though in proof, he removed his bow from its holster. The men shifted their weight, but Monarch seemed disinclined to shoot anyone. Instead, he pushed aside the brambles to reveal a narrow fissure between two large rocks. Turning his shoulder he slid through it, careful of Hatsukoi, the light from his lantern making the stone slit glow.

  Leaving Shin to bring up the rear, I followed Monarch, feet sliding on the mud-slick passage. We were at the edge of the fenland, and every breath carried the stink of sodden soil.

  With no space to wait for the others, Monarch walked on, his head bowed against the low ceiling. Loose dirt showered into his hair, tangles of twisting roots forcing him to duck. Drawing closer, I caught his smell. It was a sweet breath amid lungfuls of sour air, and not seeing the sharp drop in the floor, I quickened my pace. My foot slipped. I ran into his back, my cheek hitting his shoulder. Monarch swore as he slid, snatching at a thick root to steady himself. Though he glared at me over his shoulder, he said nothing, his bright blue eyes capable of speaking without words.

  At the end of the narrow tunnel our feet found stone, large slabs weathered by the passage of storm water. Monarch slowed his pace, looking for the ledge. Behind us came footsteps and muffled grunts, while ahead the steady drip of water sounded, disembodied in the darkness.

  Without a word Monarch handed me his lantern, still warm from his touch. He shouldered Hatsukoi, and sitting upon the ledge, he turned to drop into the gloom. I heard his feet hit the stones below and knelt to pass the lantern, its light giving the passage shape.

  I followed, my feet tingling as I landed.

  The passage was broad, its stones faintly green in the shifting light. Each one bore the name of the emperor under whose rule it had been laid: Wei’Li, Tiankashi, Lan the First, and Yosh the Conqueror. The first time Monarch had brought me down here I had stood marvelling at them, at the grand construction of such a tunnel, letting my fingers read the carved characters in the darkness.