by Joe Jackson
“So it was your work that came between you,” Erik said.
Corbanis shook his head. “No. It was Kaelariel himself,” he said and let forth another sigh. “Your mother and I were fine with the differences of our work. I always trusted and respected her, my Order and deity’s views of her own deity notwithstanding. Nothing could have ever changed the way I felt about your mother. I love her; she is my soulmate, and she always will be, whether we are ever reunited or not. But Kaelariel drove a wedge between us, and demanded she relocate to DarkWind, knowing I couldn’t follow because of my own orders.”
“Why didn’t the Order just let you return to DarkWind?”
Their father paused and glanced at each of them, then returned to polishing his blade. His brow furrowed after a few minutes, and he shrugged. “I was one of the higher-ranking hunters in the years leading up to the Apocalypse, and I was charged with watching Serenjols and, more specifically, the hellgate for any sign of treachery from Kaelariel or his people. My requests to be reassigned were rejected.”
Erik looked across at Sonja, and could see she was confused and perturbed by their father’s words. The thought that two of the most trustworthy people Erik could imagine – Jason Bosimar and Kaelariel – had turned out to be so stubborn that they tore his family apart was hard to digest. It didn’t look as though his siblings were having any more success in putting what they’d heard in perspective, and a quick glance at Katarina and Gabrius showed they found the story intriguing, at the least. When he thought about them, though, Erik had to remind himself that Katarina was an orphan, and Gabrius had killed his own father. It seemed there weren’t many people he knew that had anything resembling a normal family life and childhood.
“Did you talk to Mom when you stopped in DarkWind?” Erik finally prodded.
Corbanis nodded. “I did. We spoke, but we’ve grown far apart over the years. Don’t expect that things will ever return to the way they were.”
“I should hope not,” Aeligos said. Erik nearly spat again, but the hardness was absent from Aeligos’ expression, and Erik caught on to what he meant after a moment.
Their father stared at Aeligos, a question in his gaze; Erik imagined the same one all of them were wondering. “Why don’t you tell me what your problem is, while we’re clearing the air?” Corbanis asked at last.
Aeligos looked pointedly at Gabrius and Katarina. “Another time,” he said quietly. “It can wait. We have more important things to do and think about.”
Despite all the questions on Erik’s mind, he was able to get a decent amount of sleep. They kept watches through the night, but their quarry made no move upon them, and Erik found he slept especially well when Sonja was keeping watch with her arcane power.
They pushed onward the next morning. Sonja’s eagle eye revealed no sign of the Tilcimer or any carnage. Gabrius was able to track the demon even with its head start, though, and kept them moving steadily westward.
*****
The Silver Chalice was never crowded before lunch. Usually there was only a handful of folks who worked the night having a drink to settle down after their shifts. When Kari entered, the staff was busy putting the finishing touches on their cleaning from the night before. A few people sat at the bar chatting and nursing drinks, but they didn’t even bother to look at Kari. The demonhunter swung her gaze to the corner of the room, where Amastri normally sat, but the half-elven woman was conspicuously absent.
When Kari turned back toward the bar, the innkeeper gestured toward the stairs. Kari wasn’t sure she was glad the man knew why she was there, but then she figured there was no real reason to get antsy about it. The barkeep told her to go to Room 207, and Kari bowed her head in thanks and took to the stairs. Five steps up, she wished she had used the privy first, and she had to laugh at herself. As if on cue, her baby gave her a swift kick, and she decided she’d better go do so before potentially talking to Amastri for a while.
Amastri still wasn’t in the commons when Kari returned, so she mounted the stairs again, being rewarded with a stiff shot to the ribs for her efforts. She ascended only one flight to the second floor, and quickly located Room 207. She knocked three times and then stood back. She could hear voices from inside, but they were speaking a language Kari had never heard before. She had half-expected it would be infernal, but she’d heard enough of that during her sojourn on Mehr’Durillia to rule that out, along with beshathan and syrinthian. She looked around, self-conscious, when she realized she was eavesdropping at someone’s bedroom door.
After half a minute, the door opened to reveal a gorgeous, exotic, black-haired human woman. She met Kari’s eyes and the strength of her gaze was impressive. The human woman said nothing, though, and eventually turned and made her way toward the stairs. Kari guessed they must have been speaking in one of the rare, secondary human dialects, but she didn’t care to speculate on what the woman was doing in Amastri’s bedroom.
“Ah, Lady Vanador, good morning,” Amastri said through the open doorway. She was in the back of the dormitory, inspecting her outfit in the mirror while she hung the tasseled golden jewels from her ears. “Do not be shy, come in.”
Kari stepped inside but kept her distance. The dormitory was lavish, and Kari had to wonder if all of the Silver Chalice’s rooms were the same. Though it was an inn, Amastri’s room almost looked like it was transplanted from a palace. “Friend of yours?” Kari asked with a gesture back toward the doorway, and she wondered why she would even ask.
“Hardly,” Amastri said with a sly smile. “You are not the only one who comes to see me early in the morning, Lady Vanador. Be careful before you make presumptions. Now, what can I do for you?”
“You’ve been quiet for a while; I was curious if you’ve heard anything about our mutual friend or that certain group from home that may be interested in me,” Kari answered. She turned and shut the door behind her, wary of anyone listening in too easily. While it was possible those in the neighboring rooms might hear anyway, leaving the door open was asking for trouble.
“Unfortunately, I have no real news for you, which I suppose you could take as good news,” the half-elven woman said. Kari was shocked; Amastri was speaking in the czarikk tongue as easily as though she was one of the lizardfolk. Amastri began touching up her cheeks with some powdered makeup, and glanced at Kari in the reflective surface. “Her Majesty’s spies in Vistarra have confirmed that Taesenus has been there and recently passed through the realm, but he has disappeared again. Even those in King Abaddon’s court know nothing of the Demon Prince’s current whereabouts.”
What Amastri had said hardly even registered in Kari’s mind. “How many languages do you speak?” the demonhunter returned in the lizardfolk tongue, intrigued.
“Eleven fluently, sixteen at least at a rudimentary level,” the half-elf said, still in czarikk, as she finally turned to face Kari. “I expected this one makes it easiest to converse with you with little to no risk of anyone else understanding.”
“I suppose so,” Kari said. She considered what Amastri had told her. “What about the Ashen Fangs? Has there been any word from them?”
Amastri sighed. “Her Majesty has said that you should have nothing to fear from the Ashen Fangs. And though I have no reason to disagree with Her Majesty, your encounters with The Vandrasse and Seanada still leave me to wonder. I do not believe The Vandrasse is a part of the Ashen Fangs, and it is entirely possible Seanada could act alone, even if the Ashen Fangs do not want vengeance. I am trying to impress upon Her Majesty the uncertainty of the situation, but she does not share your concerns.”
“I’m not really surprised,” Kari said honestly.
“On a related note, Her Majesty would still like you to visit her as soon as possible,” the half-elven woman said. “She understands your hesitance, but insists that you will be as safe as can ever be expected. She also asked me to add that she has one of the finest surgeons on either of our worlds, should any complications come to pass.”
<
br /> “She has a surgeon?” Kari asked, confused.
“Ever since she nearly died in childbirth,” Amastri said.
“What?!”
“So you see, she understands your concerns,” Amastri continued, moving over toward her nightstand. She put on her necklace and flicked her hair out of it, then adorned two of her fingers with jeweled rings. “You should still not be due for some time, yes? Even if something extraordinary were to occur, Her Majesty would be well-prepared for it.”
“But wait, King Koursturaux nearly died in childbirth?” Kari asked, still stuck on such an unexpected and…mortal sounding incident.
“Ask her about it when you see her,” Amastri returned. She smirked and waved a hand. “Oh, I know you think that when you go to visit her, you will spend all of your time threatening and being threatened in return. Certainly, the two of you will discuss politics and some of Her Majesty’s ideas and goals with regard to your relationship. However, that will not be all you do while you are there. If all Her Majesty wished was to make demands and threaten you, why, she would do that through me, Lady Vanador. There would be no need to bring you to her realm. She is genuinely interested in meeting you, enough so that she wishes to arrange a face-to-face meeting with you as her guest. And that is a rare thing, I assure you.”
Kari considered the implications of any such trip. “What will the other kings think if I go to visit King Koursturaux? Will the Overking take an interest in that?”
“Oh, I am certain he will,” Amastri answered. “It is unlikely, however, that he would do anything to interfere, considering their relationship.”
“I saw her kiss him when I was on Mehr’Durillia,” Kari said. “And later, I saw another king that looked like a cross between the two of them.”
“King Xafastu,” Amastri said with a nod. “I assume you have heard of the term kast’wa by now, yes? Suffice to say that you should make no assumptions about relationships between the kings; many are simply adept at hiding their animosity until the time is right to strike.”
“So they’re not mates, then?” Kari asked, though she expected she already knew.
Amastri chuckled. “Goodness, no,” she said. “Very, very far from it, Lady Vanador. But I will let Her Majesty tell you what she likes when you go to see her. I feel I have wagged my tongue enough as it is.”
“All right, but let King Koursturaux know the answer is still no. I’ll go to see her, but not until after my baby is born and old enough to travel.”
“I will pass along your explanation,” Amastri said with a gracious bow of her head.
Kari bid the half-elven woman farewell and left the Silver Chalice. She made her way north and out of the city, and headed for her estate. The summer was getting very warm, and the sun felt good on her back. She fanned out her wings to both shade herself a little and gather some of the heat in the little-used membranes. The reactions of some of the people working the fields were strange to Kari, like she was some sort of monster because she had wings. She wondered if they would ever let go of their hatred of the serilis-rir, but reminded herself that it was a matter of time more than anything. It was just something she felt unfairly targeted by at times as a terra-dracon.
She decided not to dwell on it too much, and continued along the road to her estate. It had been a few days since she’d had the time to visit, and the work that had been done was immediately apparent. The road leading up to the house was no longer pocked and uneven, but a smooth expanse of dirt that was now one-third cobblestones. A four-man crew of humans with wide-brimmed hats were laying the stones under the strong midmorning sun, but they looked up and tipped their hats politely when they saw Kari.
She answered the gesture with a bow of her head, still marveling at the detail work that was being done. The road was slightly raised in the middle, which Kari understood was to keep water from accumulating, and gutters had been dug out along both sides. Kari wasn’t sure how long it had taken the men to cobblestone the first third of the road, but their work was impressive and meticulous. She couldn’t wait to see what the whole thing would look like when finished.
Kari continued along the road, and returned the waves of the workers tending to the fields. Things were really starting to come together now in the warmer summer months, and the sight of the vineyards laid out in row upon row was breathtaking. Farming and the work that went into it had always escaped Kari’s notice, busy as she was traveling here and there fighting for a living. Standing in the middle of a sizable estate that she owned and was responsible for, though, she suddenly had a much better idea of just how much work went into putting even a single meal on her table.
The house, almost skeletal the last time Kari saw it, was now looking more like the home of a rich or noble woman – which, Kari surmised, she was pretty much both. No longer were the bones of the house visible, covered up and being artistically decorated. It was a home that easily rivaled that of Kari’s mother-in-law, and it was still hard for Kari to accept that it belonged to her. The last time she had lived in a home owned by her immediate family, she was fourteen years old, and the year was 2863 – nearly two hundred years before.
Kari spoke briefly with the foreman, who assured her that repairs on the inside were progressing just as quickly as on the outside. Though Typhonix wasn’t there, Mr. Schultz did let Kari know that they were still well under budget, and that he and Typhonix were discussing additional work that could be done with the leftover money. Kari was certainly grateful, but she asked the foreman to make sure the flats they were building for the workers would also have a fair share of amenities before they spent all the money on Kari’s house. With his agreement, Kari left the men to their work, and headed out into the fields toward a conspicuous group.
The trio of terra-rir hunters all saluted Kari when she approached, and she returned the gesture. These were recent graduates, though Kari didn’t know all of them by name yet. In the first years after graduation, demonhunters worked as local law enforcement, so that their ability to follow orders and the sincerity of their desire to be protectors could be measured in a more controlled environment than world-wide hunts. It wasn’t the most glamorous of positions, but Kari was pretty sure that being chosen to stand guard on the Grand Commander’s property had to be a pretty big deal to them.
More interesting to Kari were the nearly dozen syrinthians in her fields. Kari wanted to get them out from underfoot on the Order’s campus, and the Council was agreeable to letting them get some exercise and make themselves useful. Just as important was Kari’s desire to keep them away from the campus, where sensitive information was always in danger of ending up in the wrong ears. Kari was pretty sure the syrinthians had neither the opportunity nor the desire to aid Sekassus’ other agents, but it was a risk not worth taking, not when she could actually avoid it and put them to use.
Se’sasha didn’t appear to be working with her people, but she was out among them, singing to them in their sibilant language. She stopped and bowed to Kari when they noticed her, and all the other syrinthians stopped what they were doing to show their respect. When Kari reached Se’sasha, the two embraced as sisters, and the demonhunter didn’t miss the reactions of the other snake-folk. They were pleased by the High Priestess’ relationship with Kari, and it showed in their smiles. After watching the greeting, though, they all went back to their work.
“You’re looking a lot better these days,” Kari said to Se’sasha. The syrinthian girl had been starved nearly to death by Sekassus, but she was recovering well. Her finely-scaled, tan skin with the green undertone had a luster to it now, and her hair was shiny and smooth, though still marked in places by grey. The snake-folk were lithe and skinny even at the best of times, and so Se’sasha still looked far too thin to Kari’s eyes, but her ribs were less noticeable now, and it seemed even her breasts were filling out a little bit. All that was to say nothing of her face, which had lost its gaunt and sickly look, and her countenance now was undeniably beautiful, if a bit e
xotic on account of her species.
“I am feeling much better these days,” she responded in her soft, breathy voice. “It is good to be out under our Father’s brilliant light in these open fields. My people are happy and honored to be of service to you.”
Kari nodded. “Are you still living on the campus for now?”
“Yes, they haven’t completed the work on the dormitories yet, so we are escorted back to the campus before sundown. It is a bit of a trek after a long day’s work, but my people feel they are being treated exceptionally well for prisoners, and are grateful.”
The mention of a long trek after a hard day’s work made Kari think about how smart an idea the apartment flats had been on Ty’s part. Workers who didn’t have to walk back and forth to the estate would have that much more energy to put towards their actual work, and more time at home with their families before and after. “Eventually, we may be able to build a temple to our father at the back end of my land,” she said after a brief silence. “The Duke won’t let us do that until we’ve convinced him that Sakkrass is an ally, and your people can do the bulk of that just by continuing to be useful and little trouble.”
Se’sasha nodded, and she folded her arms across her chest and stared at her people while they worked. “Have you heard any word from your companions and Liria yet?” she asked.
“Yes, we received word the other day that they were successful, but one of my hunters was killed and the other seriously wounded,” Kari answered.