by Devin Madson
Hope was with him.
‘You’re late, yes?’ Malice said as we approached through the thinning trees. Just the two of us, as Katashi had sent his guards back to the camp with his horse.
‘You’re in a hurry?’ the Pike retorted. ‘Do you have somewhere important you need to be?’
‘As a matter of fact, I do.’
We had kept to the forest and circled around the castle, Koi’s lantern-lit walls visible as flashes of gold through the trees. Now we stood beyond the north wall. The Keep loomed above it, a silent beast in the night. A flotilla of outbuildings filled the grounds, but the size of the Keep dwarfed them all. Level after level it rose above the rest, its roofs jutting like wings. More than anything it was a symbol of power, and the proud northerners were quick to remind anyone who might mistake, that the throne room in Mei’lian was only a replica of the one built at Koi.
‘And your payment?’ Malice said, shadows dancing upon his face.
‘Coming.’ Katashi scowled. The meeting with Kin had left him furious, and for the first time I could feel him trying to bury it. He was trying to hide the trouble that knitted his brows, but the world went on sucking in its breath when he did, its very threads responding to his strength.
We waited beneath the last of the trees like a small group at vigil, listening to the sounds of the night – the bark of night herons and the unceasing chitter of insects in the heat. Hope was watching me, and deeper into the shadows, Avarice. Run, Hope had said. Don’t stop running and never look back.
I felt souls coming before I heard the dull thud of hooves. We all looked up, heads turning as shadowy figures appeared through the trees. I recognised Katashi’s horse as it drew close, but the small figure riding it was no Pike. Shrouded in a dark cloak she might be, but there was no mistaking that mess of wild curls. And Captain Tan. Wherever she was, he was never far behind.
Katashi had crouched in the grass, but rose at their approach, stepping forward as his sister reined in his great mount.
‘Katashi, what’s going on?’ she asked, sliding from the saddle. ‘Tan said you need me.’
She looked up into his face and touched his arm, but he did not speak, just patted his horse’s neck.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Do it,’ he said.
‘Do what? Katashi?’ Kimiko scanned the shadows, suddenly afraid, and her eyes found Malice waiting beneath the trees. ‘Why is he here?’ Her panic flared bright, but Katashi shook her off. Even Tan would not meet her gaze.
It was Malice who broke the fearful silence. ‘Your brother has sold you, my dear,’ he said. ‘There is no need to be afraid. I am not going to hurt you, yes?’
‘No.’ Kimiko tried to grasp Katashi’s arm, but with a snarl he stepped away, leaving her standing alone in a circle of unfriendly faces. Unflinching, she glared at each of us in turn, but when she directed those large blue eyes at me, I felt her fear flutter my heart. I wanted to be sick. Only Hope was looking at her, the pain on his face impossible to escape. Run, run as fast you can and never look back.
‘The deal has been struck.’ Malice stepped forward, holding out his hand. ‘Your brother needs a way into the castle, and you are to provide it.’
‘That’s it? That is what I have paid for?’ she seized Katashi’s hand and looked up to his face. ‘Don’t sell me for revenge, brother, to avenge a man long dead, and good riddance.’
‘That man was our father,’ Katashi snapped. ‘He deserves vengeance. Kisia deserves vengeance.’
‘Oh shivatsa it does!’ Kimiko spat. ‘This obsession will kill you, and for what? A throne that isn’t even yours? It belongs to Takehiko and you know it.’
My heart hammered uncomfortably at the sound of my name.
‘Takehiko is gone.’
‘Much to our good fortune,’ she said. ‘That is all we need, another Otako clogging the drain.’
‘I know well what you think, Kimiko,’ Katashi said. ‘But the empire belongs to us and we will take it back.’
‘You are a fool, Katashi!’
‘And you are a whore. I hope you made Tan pay for your royal treatment. Fortunate for him to find a woman in these wilds who suits his snobbish taste.’
Kimiko’s hands curled into fists. ‘I am what life made me,’ she said, her quiet voice vibrant with anger. ‘At least I accept that. It is you who needs to open your eyes and see that our time is over. The Otako name is nothing, our glory long since buried, and every step you take toward war will only end in suffering. Send the stinking Vice away and let me go home.’
Her words ended in a plea. She dug her fingers into Katashi’s arm, but he turned away from her. ‘I have no choice, Kimiko.’
‘There is always a choice, Katashi. Come with me. There will be another way.’
‘There is no other way, you said so yourself. I sit on that throne at dawn or the Otakos die here, bettered by a commoner.’
‘Then let us die!’
‘You are the fool, Kimiko,’ he said, tearing his hand away. ‘Our name is all we are, all we have. We are the divine Otakos, and by the gods we will have vengeance for what was done to us.’
Tears stood in her eyes. ‘And you will sacrifice every honour to achieve it. I weep for you, Katashi.’
He turned his back on her, scowling upon the audience that watched on in silence. ‘What are you waiting for, Vice?’ he demanded. ‘I have brought your payment.’
‘And a charming payment she is, yes?’ Malice held out his hand, beckoning to her. ‘Avarice.’
The taciturn Vice came forward with his heavy steps. Kimiko stood her ground, alone. ‘What will happen to me?’ she asked, watching Avarice warily.
‘I am going to mark you,’ Malice said, stepping into the circle. ‘You will take on our collective strength, and a new… aspect of yourself.’
‘And my name?’
‘Will be what you make it.’
Kimiko turned to her brother, but Katashi seemed not to feel her scrutiny. He kept his eyes on the mane of his horse, curling its long hair around his fingers. Tan stared away into the darkness.
‘I hope this is worth it, brother,’ she said, stepping toward Malice. She was breathing quickly. Fear leached from every pore, but that chin jutted proudly and she did not run. Behind her Avarice’s hulking form eclipsed her tiny frame, but it was Malice she watched, Malice whose stare she returned with pride.
Hope looked away. Only I watched, curiosity turning my stomach. He would mark me next. But I was already as good as dead.
Malice lifted his hand. I expected Katashi to speak, to challenge him, but he kept his jaw set hard. Malice’s hand touched Kimiko’s cheek and she flinched, standing her ground like a determined child. For a moment the night itself seemed to hold its breath. Her blue eyes widened. Her lips parted in a silent scream. She would have fallen but for Avarice, who locked his hands at her stomach and did not let her go.
The trees shivered. An eerie moan parted Kimiko’s lips; a terrible keening. It rose to a scream and Avarice clamped his hand over her mouth, but the muffled cry was no less chilling.
It ended abruptly as Malice withdrew his hand, and like a formless doll, Kimiko slid out of Avarice’s grip.
Hope was the first to move. He stepped forward, holding out a hand to her heaving shoulders. Without looking up, Kimiko backed away, smelling him, sensing him, her feet scattering leaves, animal-like, across the forest floor. Those blue eyes glittered out of the night like jewels.
‘Lady Kimiko?’ Hope held out his hand, each step a light tread upon the grass as he crept closer.
Finding his voice at last, Katashi turned on Malice. ‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘Hush, Otako,’ he said. ‘Your dear sister is in shock, yes? This was once a long process, but fortunately for you we have our dear Hope.’
‘Well, tell him
to hurry. I have to get inside tonight.’
‘Hope cannot be hurried.’
The young Vice ignored this interchange and continued his cautious approach, his hands raised to show he meant no harm. ‘Let me help you,’ he said. ‘Take my hand.’
She hesitated, eyes flicking from Hope to me to Malice, her whole body poised ready to flee. But she let him come, let him crouch before her and take her face between his hands. And there they froze, only the breeze stirring their hair and the loose material of their clothes.
Turning from the strange scene, Katashi strode to where Tan waited beneath the dark canopy. In low voices I heard them speak, before Katashi returned.
‘Endymion.’
It was with an effort that I withdrew my gaze from Hope’s narrow shoulders. Katashi was beside me, Hatsukoi once more upon his back. Another bow was held out to me and I took it, but I had no voice to thank him.
‘Wear these,’ he said, thrusting a holster and a ball of black clothing into my arms. My instinct was to refuse them, to throw them back in his face, but vengeance waited beyond these walls.
I went into the trees, far enough from the group to be alone with my thoughts. There, I changed as quickly as Malice’s complicated knot would allow, and gathered his fine robe into my arms.
When I returned, Kimiko was sitting up, hugging her knees and scowling at the ground. Hope had moved away and was leaning against a tree, a hand pressed to his head. Avarice took Malice’s robe from me without so much as a grunt.
‘I don’t need any help,’ Kimiko snapped, pushing away the hand Malice held down to her. ‘I can stand on my own.’
‘As you wish, my dear. I am quite sick of your brother’s face, so to the wall, I think, yes?’
‘No. You have done what you wished with me, but I will not be your slave.’
Avarice froze, thick fingers clasping silk. Moonlight dusted Malice’s face. ‘Won’t you?’ he asked, his lips faintly smiling. ‘Go to the wall.’
‘No.’
Hope’s shaking hand covered his eyes.
‘I have commanded you and you will obey.’
‘No, Vice, I won’t.’
Malice didn’t speak, didn’t move, but like an elusive tang on the air the pain began. Starting as a dull ache it grew, an ever-increasing agony in the night. Kimiko winced. She doubled over, pale, her arms clasped across her stomach as the disobedience stirred her gut like knives.
Malice crouched beside her, his whispered words barely caught on the breeze. ‘It is not me you should hate, yes?’ he said. ‘I am your master now, and you will do as I say. Do you understand?’
Those pretty features crumpled. ‘Yes, Master,’ she gasped.
‘Good.’
The pain eased, flowing back into the night.
Malice straightened. ‘We go to the wall. Avarice, Hope, stay here and wait for me.’
‘Yes, Master.’
‘Yes, Master.’
Holding tight to her pride, Kimiko got slowly to her feet, her legs a little shaky. She steadied herself on a tree trunk and turned her back on all of us. Malice followed, their destination the castle wall rising at the base of the hill.
‘Come on,’ Katashi said, brushing past me. ‘We’re running out of time.’
Shaking all over, Hope slumped to the ground. Avarice gripped the back of his tunic. ‘Pull yourself together,’ he growled. ‘We aren’t alone yet.’
The boy looked barely conscious, little more than a black heap on the grass.
‘Quit staring and get on,’ Avarice said, jerking his head at me. ‘He isn’t dead yet.’
Katashi was waiting at the southern edge of the copse, crouched in the shifting shadows. Moonlit grass stood between him and the long shadow of the castle wall. Malice and Kimiko were barely visible in its depths, but along the lantern-lit battlements a guard was making his rounds. The Keep rose behind him, its narrow windows like slitted eyes that watched all.
I could sense life. There were a dozen men in the outer gatehouse, twenty-one on the outer wall, fourteen in the grounds and another twelve upon the second wall – one of them fast asleep. Stretching myself thin I could reach the Keep, there another two-hundred and fourteen souls, each a small flame in the sea of light.
Katashi watched, waiting. Thick bands of umber cloud drifted across the moon, their patchy shadows crossing the ground. The single guard continued on his way. There was no gate to guard here, no reason to fear intrusion, for there was no weakness in these thick walls.
The man disappeared, and keeping low, Katashi scurried from the trees on quick feet. I followed, skimming through the grass. No shout came, and I slid from the mottled ground into the deep shadow of the wall, my heart pounding.
Malice was waiting.
‘Are you ready to show them your new skill, my dear?’ he said, his voice a silken whisper.
Kimiko did not look at us. ‘I am not a freak to be stared at.’
‘No, you are my Vice and you will do as I command.’
She hesitated, but only for a moment. Against the rough stones her hand looked small and pale, like the hand of a child touching eternity.
Kimiko closed her eyes. Sadness grew. The air stank of it, of such great despair that I wanted to retch. Then, as though her flesh was as insubstantial as smoke, her hand slid into the wall.
‘Well, brother,’ she said, drawing it back out. ‘Are you ready to go?’
‘What have you done to her?’ Katashi hissed, turning on Malice.
‘But Great Fish, I have made her into what you wanted, yes? Your way into Koi.’
‘You have turned her into a freak.’
‘And what did you think I was going to do? Whore her out to the highest bidder as you have done? Just think, Otako, at least I have relieved you of the necessity of arranging a husband for your sister in such difficult times.’
‘She was not fit to be married to any man of noble blood,’ he retorted with a snort. ‘What man wants a wife so well used she can claim knowledge of every bed in Chiltae?’
‘What choice did I have?’ Kimiko hissed. ‘Would you have preferred I starve to death?’
Someone was approaching along the wall and I hushed them into silence. Brother and sister went on glaring at one another, the moment as intimate as between any lovers. Malice’s lip curled with contempt. And then I understood. He had not marked Kimiko for the joy of causing pain. She was Katashi’s punishment.
‘I hate to interrupt,’ Malice whispered once the guard had moved out of range. ‘But you are fast running out of night, yes?’
Kimiko held out her hand. ‘I am ready when you are, brother.’
He put his hand in hers, their fingers entwining so naturally they might have been one. The sadness returned. Her hand slipped into the stone, her fingers vanishing. She looked a little unsure, but she stepped forward, drawing Katashi into the wall.
Malice scowled at the place where the two ill-fated Otakos had disappeared, his face deeply shadowed. A breeze caught his long hair.
‘Fool,’ he hissed to the night. Two long strides brought him to my side. ‘You understand–’
‘You lied to me,’ I said.
‘Lied to you?’
‘Yes, you said I would not be under your command if you marked me. You said I would still be myself.’
‘And so you will, Endymion. You are no common Normal, yes? Your fate will not be the same as hers.’
I stepped away. ‘I don’t trust you.’
‘It’s too late to doubt me now. Listen, Endymion. Do not be foolish tonight. Come back to me alive, yes?’
‘If the gods have mercy, perhaps I will not.’
Malice snarled and gripped my sleeve. ‘Don’t be such a martyr. You came to me seeking a bargain, not the other way around.’
‘Your word is worth piss. You se
nt your men after me, so you can’t say I came to you.’
‘You–’
Kimiko appeared, stepping soundlessly through the stones. ‘You’re lucky someone hasn’t heard you,’ she said. ‘Are you ready to go?’
I turned my back on Malice and looked up at the stone edifice. It looked solid. When I touched it, it felt solid. If something could smell solid this would; this construction of stone and mortar, centuries old.
Kimiko took my hand. I was growing used to connecting on contact, used to the insight and the whispers, but she almost ripped her hand away. There was horror in her eyes, but there were orders and she had to obey.
He’s just like Malice, her whispers said. Under my skin. But this is worse.
Memories were there and I closed my eyes, trying not to see them. Short. Sharp. Fast like her heartbeat. The smell of parchment and the clink of coins – a merchant’s counting room. Laughter. The kind smile of a golden-haired man. Then the memories turned sour, fuelling her sadness. Rain. Cold streets. The claw of hunger. And Kimiko pulled me into the stone.
The wall did not part, but I did. I felt my skin tingle, felt myself cut open as though every piece of my body separated to pass through it, my pores like a sieve. The pain was everywhere, upon every inch of my body, inside and out. It stung. It burned. And when I parted my lips to breathe, it stabbed into my lungs.
This is so strange. No, Kimiko, don’t think about it or the wall might become solid again. Why does his hand feel so cold? Malice’s didn’t.
Kimiko’s thoughts continued to churn and I wanted to let go, hating the intrusion that laid her soul bare before me, her life one that many would cringe to behold. Unable to free her, I tried to turn it off, to stop the connection, but her voice continued its whispered monologue in my head.
Look what you have done to me, Katashi, she moaned. You are a fool, a stupid, selfish fool. You’re in here, aren’t you, Endymion? Get out of my head!
Emerging the other side, my constricted lungs sucked sweet air and my knees buckled. Kimiko ripped her hand away.
‘Will we have to do that again?’ I asked, the words little more than a drawn breath.
‘There is more than one wall.’