by Auryn Hadley
***
Blaz reined his black stallion close to Tyr's bay. If anyone had heard anything, he'd be the one to ask. "Any word?"
The Devil Dog just lifted cold eyes. "No. There's a lot of chatter, and it sounds like Arctic's planning a hard push on one of the passes, but no word from Cyno."
"Fuck."
Blaz reached down for Rax's neck. He hoped this horse wouldn't be the symbol of two losses. Jiesa had been almost impossible. If it hadn't been for Sal? She'd given him a reason to keep going, to hope that in time things really would get better. And they had. Until now.
Too many lives had been lost in this war. That Anglia had been so lucky was hard to believe. Even with their freakish skills and all of those grauori, it was still shocking. Somehow, Sal had turned the tide, and without her? What would happen to the continent if the Emperor managed to kill her? Never mind those who loved her. What about all the people relying on her to make a difference.
"We won't quit," Tyr said, almost as if reading Blaz's mind. "No matter what happens to Sal, Anglia isn't going to quit, you know that, right?"
"How can you be so sure?"
The normally jovial guy shrugged, his face a little too bleak. "Being one of Anglia's elites, there's a lot of chatter in my head. Mutts, men, and nuvani. Dude, you have any idea what happens when one of them dies?"
That was not at all the question he'd expected. Blaz shook his head. "No?"
"They frenzy. From what I can gather, the members of a pack are bound to each other. If they lose someone, it makes Sal's bloodlust look like a day in the park, man. But the Kaisae? She's the glue that holds all of them together."
"Wait." Blaz kneed Rax closer and dropped his voice. "You mean if Blaec dies, the Blades are gonna lose it. But Sal?"
"Yeah," Tyr hissed emphatically. "Eason, what I'm saying is that if LT is killed, we're going to see everything the Black Blades have been holding back, turned loose in a way you can't imagine. But if we lose Sal? Anglia. Not just the Blades, but all of Anglia - including the Dogs - will fight to our deaths to reach her. We'll clear Unav and keep going until someone can get to her."
"Even if she's dead?" Blaz asked.
For a moment, Tyr said nothing, the look on his face like he was listening to his mind. "From what the hounds say, yeah. Until someone touches her empty body or another Kaisae is chosen."
"But - "
Tyr didn't let him finish. "There's no one else to be Kaisae. So think about that, man. Think long and hard about that. We have nine million grauori in our ranks who will throw themselves at the Emperor until they get revenge. This is the biggest suicide squad you've ever seen, and I can't promise we won't cleanse everything off this damned continent to do it."
"So we have to save her." It wasn't a question. That was nothing but fact.
Tyr bobbed his head slowly. "And Blaec, because without him? There's nothing to hold Sal back. If Blaec dies, she'll frenzy. The Blades will frenzy, but that means Sal, too, and she'll pull all of us along with her." He took a deep breath, then added, "The 112th, too."
Blaz looked around, wondering if the others had heard. "Then what the fuck is the Emperor thinking?" he asked softly.
Tyr huffed once in what was supposed to be a laugh. "Man, ain't no one with a clue what those beasts can do. Not me, not you, and not even Rragri. The Emperor probably doesn't have any idea what kind of shit he just stepped in, and Sal ain't like most Kaisaes, either."
"Why not?"
"Because she's more. She's not just leading the iliri. She's got the grauori, all of us Anglian humans, and every iliri who can sense her in any way. All three species, man. That's never happened before. For three thousand years, her kind kept all of this a secret, but Sal doesn't really like playing by the rules."
"Sure she does," Blaz mumbled, mostly to himself. "She just prefers they're Blaec's rules, not ours."
"Yeah," Tyr agreed sadly. "And if we lose either one of them, this whole thing is going to blow up in our faces."
Blaz nodded, his eyes locked on the forested hills around them. For a while, he just tried to wrap his mind around that, but one thing bothered him too much to let go. What Tyr had described was giving his life for Sal. Not just her friends, but her entire country. It was a stronger chain than any that had held her prisoner, but none of the Anglians acted like they resented it. He had to know, and if anyone would tell him, it would be Tyr.
"So you wishing you hadn't defected?"
The Devil Dog just shook his head like Blaz was an idiot. He didn't even bother looking over. "Nah. I'm just wishing there was a way to explain how this feels. When Sal linked me in, I had no idea what she was giving me. She made it so I'm never alone. Not even when I am. There's always someone to listen, to reach out and lean on." Slowly, he lifted a hand and wiped at one eye; the strong elite soldier unable to hold back his emotions. "Bro, Zep had the right of it all along. Humans? We can't feel this shit without them. Ain't the same. We're always thinking of ourselves, but when we finally see that there's another way?"
"Then what?"
Tyr's mouth twitched, trying to smile. "Then you finally realize that there's so many things worse than death. I'm starting to think that being human is one of them."
And that, Blaz thought to himself, was why the Emperor really wanted the iliri dead.
Chapter 24
Sal was still leaning against the post when Blaec finally stirred. Humans milled through the area, all of them wearing shades of purple, laughing at the pair as if they were specimens in a zoo. She didn't bother looking over; it would amuse the humans too much.
Love? she asked.
My head's killing me.
Yeah. We're on display. Figured I should warn you.
He groaned softly and pulled himself from the mud, glancing around. When he saw the humans, he chuckled and made his way to the post to sit like Sal, sighing as the wood took the weight of his body.
It's freezing.
No, just above, but it's sure not warm. I think we're near Escea but still in Unav. We're definitely in the middle of the Emperor's army, though.
Catch me up? he asked.
While she did, a group wandered past. All it took was one jeer, and the rest decided they'd found a new game. Someone grabbed a handful of mud and tossed it at her. When Sal cowered to avoid it, they saw their chance.
In seconds, the group surged in, yanking and shoving at her. Some tried to grab at her clothes, others, her hair. Her shirt was yanked off her shoulder, the man's hand brazenly sliding against her arm. In a moment of inspiration, she refused to bite. Every brush of skin against her was an opportunity. They felt greasy and sick, but each was different, and all of them got locked away in her mind. More targets. More chances to get Blaec free. She just needed to feel someone who had that power.
"Enough!" Narnx yelled, storming forward. "These are prisoners, not toys." He turned to Sal, eyeing her disheveled clothing. "Get dressed."
She smiled at him as if she wasn't bothered at all. "My clothes are wet."
"That's because it's been raining," he said as if she were an idiot.
"It also means they're too cold to worry about. I'll take your shirt, instead."
He reached out and grabbed her throat, pushing her back to the post. "No," he warned her. "I don't know what game you're playing, but it's not a good idea. You're tied to a post, surrounded by humans who want to do nothing good to you."
She leaned just a bit closer to him, their lips only a breath apart. "I know. I counted fourteen of them. I remember them all."
Blaec laughed, covering his mouth with one hand to hide it, but he couldn't stop the sound. "Sorry," he muttered, looking at Narnx. "Fourteen. Drop ‘em when they aren't close. That should make a statement."
"Don't want to scare them off too soon," she said with a shrug. "I'm thinking there's about twenty-five thousand men in this camp, right? Well, soldiers. So that means just over twenty thousand men should come past this post in the next few days."
"And
if you let them all paw you, what impression do you think that gives them?"
"You're Terrans. I don't fucking care." Her lip raised in a snarl. "But once I touch them, I can use them. I can get into their heads."
"What are you doing?" he demanded, pressing her to the post.
"Winning." Her eyes looked deep into his, and the false smile fell away from her face. "I'm winning."
"Well, I hope you're happy, because you're about to be the center of attention. The Emperor wants to see his newest toy."
Sal sighed dramatically. She knew what mattered most right now was looking impervious. The humans needed to know she wasn't afraid of them. Jerking her chin at a man passing by, she asked, "Is your shirt dry?" With a tilt of her head to the side, she made a decent attempt to look harmless.
Narnx shoved her shoulder into the post again. "Leave them alone."
"Fuck you," she shot back.
"You don't seem to be shivering, so I think you'll live." Narnx grabbed her jaw, forcing her to look at him. "Don't fuck with the Emperor. He's not a man to play your games."
She wrenched her face away. "That's where you're wrong. He's the only one interested in playing my games."
"Whatever. Put your hands behind the post, Sal. No charging the leader of the free nations today."
She obeyed but laughed cruelly. "Free nations? We're in Unav, you moron. You know, the conquered nation of Unav? Nothing really free about a conquering army."
"Terric is still a free nation."
"Tyranny is not freedom. Do not confuse the two."
"And you're saying a monarchy is free?"
Sal shook her head. "Nope. I will say that my people have the right to overthrow me at any time. No elections, just any iliri who is stronger and smarter than me. Same for the grauori. Dominik is looking into a similar system, but he hasn't found a good model yet."
When he finished securing her hands behind the pole, Narnx moved to Blaec and did the same with him. Then, he turned and walked to the edge of the crowd, standing beside the others in his unit. A Terran soldier pushed back into the mass of people and slowly moved away from Narnx's position. Sal's eyes tracked the movement, and when a blast of mist hit her in the face, realized the man was moving downwind.
Downwind. That meant he had something to hide. She scanned the people, looking for faces she recognized, and saw three, all from Star Fall. Tharp leaned casually against a stack of crates, wearing the uniform of a Terran Specialist. Emen and Cheny both were in her line of sight, but none of them acknowledged the others. Sal's eyes turned to the man who'd moved, and she saw Kolton looking right at her. He smiled slowly, refusing to break the gaze.
Star Fall's here, Sal told Blaec.
I see that. The bigger question is why.
Well, since Emen shot me an ‘eyes on' sign earlier, I think they're embedded. They're the only unit that could pull this off, right?
Yeah. But are they friends or foes now?
Sal held Kolton's eyes, trying to read something there, and found nothing. I have no idea, love, but Kolton owes me one, and he's a scrubber lover.
Blaec didn't get the chance to reply as an aged man in a thick oiled coat pushed his way toward them. The soldiers saluted and pushed back, all of them making room. He walked directly to Sal. His scent hit her before her eyes recognized what she was seeing. He smelled like fresh soil and damp leaves, with only a hint of the sugar she'd come to think of as human.
When he pushed back his hood, she had to fight to keep her face serene. His skin was fair like Blaec's, and his hair was sandy blonde. Pale blue eyes sat on either side of a large rounded nose, and when he smiled, he had two sets of dull, human-like canines. The Emperor of Terric was part iliri.
"Not what you expected?" he asked.
"Makiel Geirr I assume?" Sal asked.
"The proper form of address is Eminence or Emperor."
She smiled. "I go by Kaisae. Since there's a rather inconvenient chain around my neck, I just assumed we'd done away with the pleasantries."
He chuckled softly then grabbed her face, squeezing it hard between his gloved fingers. "Don't try my patience, bitch."
Sal stared at his mouth, her chest rising as she breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of him. "I like it rough, Makiel. Don't tease me."
"I may have been born from a beast like you, but I've shunned her ways," he hissed. "You can't use your tricks on me."
She lifted her eyes slowly to his, tilting her chin slightly. "I can smell that you're lying. You want me as bad as any of them, the only difference is that you know why."
"What I want to know," he said, trying to change the subject, "is why you're invading our land."
Sal shook her head. "I'm not. I've made no move to enter Terric. We've come to Unav to offer aid and assistance to the citizens here. We've also offered to relocate those considered a nuisance to your country."
"You've been killing my men!"
Sal shrugged. "You killed mine first. My women, too."
"Tell your army to leave Unav," Makiel warned. He gestured to a soldier and the man moved to Blaec's side. "Leave, or I will make you all suffer."
"You can't have all the ships." Sal raised her voice so the soldiers could hear. "That's our history, too. Mine, yours, the grauori, the nuvani - all of ours! You just want the steel, but some of us want the knowledge that goes with it."
"What do you know of that?" the Emperor demanded.
"Everything," Sal said softly. "We're almost on top of the Nebula II. My army is headed toward the Genesis, slowly but surely. Star Fall has already been excavated and cataloged."
He grinned. "You missed a bit."
"Valkyrie and New Dawn?" Sal asked. She shook her head. "New Dawn is under my home, and Valkyrie is so far behind the line you'll never touch it."
"How do you know about that?" he demanded again.
"I forget." Sal raised her eyebrow, taunting him.
Makiel gestured to the soldier, and Sal flicked her ear at Blaec, knocking him out before the man drove a dagger deep into his shoulder.
"I will have him plunge that dagger closer and closer to his heart until you tell me where you got that information."
Sal took a long deep breath. "Who was Judoc?"
"My son."
She shook her head. Judoc had been completely human. The Emperor wasn't. "Try again."
"I adopted him when I married his mother. He is my son."
She nodded, accepting that answer. "He ever tell you what happened in Anglia? Did Robson ever admit how sweet he sang to us? The real question, though, is why you didn't tell your real son."
She turned and looked at Narnx pointedly. His eyes widened, but he didn't move. She looked back at the Emperor and smiled cruelly. "That's why you let him live, isn't it. Was his mother one of the first ones you killed?"
"You have no idea what you're talking about."
Sal said nothing, merely held his eyes, calling his bluff. In the crowd, men started to whisper, wondering if she was right. Sal smiled, knowing Makiel could hear them just as easily.
"He's proven his worth," the Emperor said. "He's shown that he's not a beast."
She dipped her head in acceptance of that. "Which is why you've refused to acknowledge him. I understand. Ironic, coming from a half iliri male. Did the Black Widows give you my warning?"
Makiel laughed. "That you'd make me pay for any harm I do to your lover? Yes, they made sure I knew that. We thought it was amusing."
She nodded and breathed deeply, her eyes scanning the crowd, looking for the face of one of the men who'd harassed her earlier. Finding one, she slipped into his head and urged him to grab the blade from his hip. He judged the distance, holding it carefully by the handle, and threw. Mere inches in front of her, Makiel gasped and began clawing at his back, the blade buried deep beside his shoulder blade.
"We're even," she growled, leaning into her bonds and lifting her feet high enough to kick the Emperor away.
He fell into the mud
, soldiers rushing to his side. She turned to the man standing before Blaec and saw him staring at her in shock. When she pinned her ears at him, he backed slowly away from her lover's body, too terrified to harm him again.
For all her bravado, Sal's heart hammered in her chest, begging Blaec to be ok. She reached for his mind. The dagger was still in his shoulder, which meant she couldn't wake him. Panicked, she scanned the crowd again and saw Narnx looking at Blaec intently. When she looked back, the dagger was gone, making it possible to bring him back. He groaned as he pulled himself onto his feet and turned to look at her.
"You ok?" she asked.
He smiled weakly. "That hurts like a bitch." Your nose is bleeding.
Sal nodded. She'd pushed her still-new skills too far, and the fear of the situation only made it worse, but with her hands chained behind her, there was nothing to be done. I kinda knifed the Emperor.
I do love you, Blaec thought. You scare the shit out of me, but you're amazing.
And someone here is a fetcher. They pulled the blade from you, and I don't see it now. Blaec's eyes went to Narnx. Sal decided to drop the rest of the news on him. He's the Emperor's son. I can smell it. Makiel Geirr is as iliri as you are.
Fuck.
While she dealt with Blaec, the Black Widows had secured the Emperor and removed him from the scene. Narnx took charge, demanding the soldiers return to their duties, standing guard over the prisoners until the area had cleared. Sal watched the men from Star Fall leave, hoping they could think of some way to get Blaec free. When they were finally alone, Narnx stormed to her side.
"You made a bad decision," he snarled.
She pinned her ears and glared back. "I warned him. I didn't kill him, I simply inflicted exactly what he did. One knife to the shoulder."
"That soldier will be hanged for what you did."
"Then he should have cried umso," she snapped. "I will win! I don't care if your father hates what he is, we're still better. I'm still stronger. I will fucking win this, do you understand me, Narnx?"
"He's not my father. Just because we're the only iliri here -"
"He is. That's not a scent you can hide. How old were you when your mother died?"