He leaned in swiftly, his hands caressing my face as he took hold of it, and he kissed me, long and deep as if he was drinking me in after days in the desert heat. I kissed him back, returning his passion, caress for caress, taste for taste. I wanted his strength beside me forever. I wanted to find out where those golden tattoos came from ... and where they led.
“Stop. Seriously, stop.” The general was easy to ignore.
I rode the rest of the day on Catane’s elephant with his arm resting companionably around my waist. I ached for those we left behind and I ached that I had to keep riding towards Azaradi and a waiting husband. I did not go back to the meditation world. I didn’t want to hear what Drusica would say.
THAT NIGHT, AS I LAY in borrowed blankets beside the campfire I heard the general and Catane fighting. Their words were indiscernible, but there was no doubt in my mind what they were arguing about. I knew I should hope that the general could talk sense into Catane, but I didn’t. Oh, I didn’t.
I WAS ASSIGNED A DIFFERENT elephant to ride the next day, seated behind two of the guards. My thighs chafed in the unfamiliar saddle, and a sense of loss filled me. My eyes kept drifting to Catane, and every time I glanced in his direction, I could see his eyes following me, but then the general would motion his attention elsewhere.
As dusk fell, the lights of Al’Karida glowed on the horizon. They were only a day away. I prepared my blankets beside the fire, doing my part to collect firewood for our small campfire while the soldiers made a stew of dried meats and some roots they’d gathered. How many nights did I have left where I would be free to gather wood? Soon enough I’d be a pampered prisoner, a plaything of a great emperor. I felt hollow inside every time I thought of it.
We ate, and went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep. I was cold and hungry, despite the stew, and the stars seemed to stretch too far where they painted the sky a milky hue. I watched the double moons of Na and Shareesh. I needed to stretch my legs. They were stiff after days of riding. I stood up, wrapping one of the blankets around my shoulders and strode out across the wilderness. I should be practicing my magic, but I didn’t want to see Drusica. She would know. She always knew anything I tried to hide from her. I would see her again after I got married. That would be soon enough.
Eventually, my legs grew tired and I snuck back into camp. The guard on watch nodded to me, but everyone else slept. Or at least, I thought they did.
“Amandera,” even whispering, I could tell it was Catane.
I crept towards where he sat. Beside him, the general snored loudly.
“Whisper, so he doesn’t wake,” he said, motioning me to sit down beside him. He wore no shirt, despite the cold. Was that a new tattoo on the right side of his chest?
“It’s you,” he said.
“What is?”
“The tattoo. The one you are staring at. I got it to symbolize you.”
“But it’s a snake. That’s not very flattering.”
He nodded at the general. “He calls you the ‘asp.’ Says if I let you close your poison will fill me. I’ve tucked you in as close as I can get you. Right next to my heart.”
That was surprisingly romantic. I sat down.
“How do you get golden tattoos? I’ve never seen that before, only black ones.”
I didn’t have tattoos, although I knew they were common in Canderabai.
“They’re filled with the Common – the source of our magic. I get them in the meditation world. My ancestor thinks it’s crazy, but I think it’s important for people to know as soon as they meet you that you are powerful.” He looked away for a moment. “Then they might not be as quick to destroy you.”
He locked gazes with me, and it felt like he was wrestling with something. “Don’t get married. Leave here with me and we won’t ever come back.”
I sucked in a deep breath. Part of me had been waiting for this, or at least hoping for it.
“Tonight?” I asked.
“Not tonight. We need to make plans. I can’t just hit the general over the head and run, and he... well,” Catane ran a hand over his face. “He doesn’t approve. You probably don’t know this, but I can’t just take this bracelet off. It has to be taken off by the priests. I can’t cut it off or we’ll both die, or at least that’s what they tell me. Listen to me, I’m rambling! No one makes me nervous. No one.” He paused. “Just think about it, alright? When we arrive in Al’Karida tomorrow, there will be a ceremony and they’ll remove the tether between the general and I. It’s a big day and he gets to go free. That night ... if you’ll have me ... if you’ll agree-”
I kissed him, cutting off his words. He didn’t realize what he was offering me. Freedom. Hope. Passion. Didn’t those things equal love when it came right down to it? I wanted to show him, with all my passion, that my answer was yes and he seemed just as enthusiastic. A stutter in the general’s snoring startled us apart.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he whispered, as I gave the little snake tattoo on his chest one last kiss.
I COULDN’T HELP STARING over the edge of the path as we wound our way up to the top of the Cliffs of Canderabai. Al’Karida was like a heartstone, glowing and pulsing with life. We hadn’t had time to stop in the city. What would it be like within those ivory walls? I rode on the elephant behind Catane’s. I watched Catane carefully as he swayed, his shoulders tight and his seat on the elephant unyielding. Was he worried about what he promised me? A tiny ceremony on top of a cliff didn’t seem important enough to be worried.
We crested the hill and a crowd of people spread out before us. My eyes widened. Such a crowd! There were Canderabaian priests at the far end of the group and soldiers of Canderabai everywhere, with their odd little flags affixed to the back plates of their armor and waving over their heads. I remembered from my lessons that they denoted which Tazmin or Tazminera employed them. To one side, a group of women in colorful sarettes were eyeing Catane up and down. I felt suddenly shabby in my worn, dusty sarette. If only my luggage hadn’t fallen in the ravine, I could match them in their glory. At least I could still match their pride. I held my head high.
Catane glanced back just once at me, his face expressionless. We just had to get through the ceremony and all would be well. If only it didn’t seem so much more daunting now that I was here.
We reached the first set of priests, and the guard behind me broke the protocol to whisper to me. “We stand to the side now. This is for the Son of the Stars.”
I nodded and followed him. At least we had good seats. I felt nervous, for some reason. That wasn’t like me.
“Who comes before us on this auspicious day?” one priest asked.
“Catane Nyota, son of the stars,” Catane said.
“Where is the general the High Tazmin gave you as a gift?” the priest asked.
Catane gestured to the general. “My san’lelion stands with me. Complete is his training in wisdom and humility.”
“We shall judge that,” the priest said, and then four of them walked forward, shepherding Catane and the general into a ring of their brothers, all dressed in the long blue robes that denoted their station.
I tugged on the soldier’s shirt arm. “What are they doing now?”
“They ask the san’lelion – that’s the general - for his confession. He must explain what he has taught his dar’lelion – that’s Catane – and where he has failed.”
I stared at their backs as if I could see what was going on beyond the ring of bodies. Of course, I couldn’t. I shuffled from foot to foot, nervously. Something didn’t feel right.
Around me, hushed mutters and shuffling feet echoed my own. The confession seemed to take a long time. At one point, the soldier passed me a water skin and I drank.
“What happens if they don’t like what he says,” I asked.
“At the end of the ceremony, Catane will either be confirmed as heir to the High Tazmin or thrown off the cliffs,” he gestured to the cliffs before us. “If they throw him off the cliff, the gen
eral will go with him.”
I shuddered and squinted harder at those blue backs.
After what felt like hours, and perhaps it was, the ring of priest’s opened up and Catane was ushered forward.
“People of Canderabai, hail your named heir!” the priest called out. I barely caught my breath. “And if the words that were spoken today prove to be false, both they and their children will pay for their lies.”
Even from so far away, I could see the general go pale. He lifted a hand.
“He has two daughters,” the priest whispered. “Captives of the High Tazmin to ensure his obedience.”
I sucked in a breath through my nose. What sort of man was I marrying? My gaze met Catane’s. He looked confident and sure.
“I must amend my statement,” the general said.
A look of alarm filled Catane’s eyes.
“I witnessed Catane Nyota kiss the promised consort of the High Tazmin.”
The crowd sucked in a breath.
“Thank you for your gift of truth,” the priest intoned. “Our witnesses may be dismissed.”
Around me, the crowd began to disperse towards the path. I couldn’t catch my breath. My eyes were locked on the city far below the cliffs. They were going to throw him off the cliff. I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t close my eyes.
“He’s been named heir. They can’t touch him now. Only the High Tazmin can,” the guard’s words were low, but fierce. “Pull yourself together. You can’t faint on me, now. We need to leave. Now!”
“The High Tazmin,” I repeated.
“Yes. The general is a clever one. He told the truth, but he spared Catane’s life.”
“His life.” He’d risked his life to kiss me. I hadn’t realized, but I should have, shouldn’t I? I should have known what kind of fire we were toying with.
“The sun must have dazed you. Come on, the Son of the Stars told me to care for you if you needed it.”
He tugged on my arm, but I was rooted in place.
“The priests expect us to leave. Look, everyone else is almost around the bend in the path.”
I glanced where he was pointing and saw the last figure leave.
“Don’t make it worse for him.”
I let him guide me towards the path, but my gaze kept wandering towards Catane. The priest behind him moved suddenly, wrapping an arm around the general, and then quick as lightning, he slit the general’s throat. I spun, the scream lodged in my throat, but my mouth and eyes open so wide it felt as if I was screaming in my own mind. The guard pulled at me, but I couldn’t look away. Catane! Catane was going to die ... just for kissing me. What kind of a monster was I marrying?
The general’s blood poured out across the white stone of the cliffs, and the priest dropped his body like an unwanted burden. Catane dropped to the ground beside him, and as a shadow passed over the sun I saw a raised brand burned into Catane’s skin beneath the golden tattoos. Had he been trying to hide it? He sobbed over his fallen friend, hands hovering over him as if he wished to weave him back together, but you can’t weave the dead back to life with magic.
Catane slumped forward, and I lunged towards him, but the guard caught me, holding me back. A priest stepped forward, taking the cuff on Catane’s wrist – the one that bound him to the general – in his hands and weaving a key out of the Common. It was invisible to the naked eye, but even from here I saw the glowing weaves of the Common. I could replicate what he did easily. He slipped it into the cuff, twisted, and the tether fell from Catane’s wrist.
He lunged to his feet, but they were quicker, weaving a cage around him out of nothing but the Common and the air.
“Amandera!” he called, “Run!”
Priests poured from over the horizon of the cliff top, surrounding both him and me.
I TRIED FOR DAYS TO get near him, but he was surrounded by priests. Every time I moved even a step towards him, one of them would stand in my way.
“Let me turn your attention to the ridgeline,” the priest would say. “The landscapes are gorgeous on the road to Azaradi. I would hate for you to miss any one of our wonders.”
The original guard who’d watched my back on the Cliffs of Canderabai remained with us. His name, it turned out, was Luto.
“Why doesn’t he get out of that cart?” he asked on the second day.
The cart they were transporting Catane in was drawn by a pair of donkeys. It rocked and swayed and bumped mercilessly.
“There’s a cage around him that you can’t see. It’s made of air woven by the Common.” The guard had no link to the common, but to me his cage was as clear as that ridgeline the priests kept drawing my attention to.
“But he can unweave anything a man can make.”
“Unweave?”
“His magic unravels where everyone else weaves something new. It’s not right to cage a warrior like him. He took the Kingdom of Hazad for the High Tazmin last year. He’s not an animal to be caged.”
He glanced at me with guilt in his eyes and then looked away. There was no way for him to know that I agreed, that I would fight them myself if only I had the strength to fight a dozen priests. I almost went to the meditation world to ask Drusica for help, but what would be the point? She would think we had received our due. I was meant for the High Tazmin, not for his son.
It was on the third day that I finally had my chance. We were close to a village somewhere and a traveling entertainment troupe was blocking the road. When the fire-eaters began their display, the last of the priests moved up to the head of the donkeys to get a better look and I crept on hands and knees to the edge of the cart.
“Catane?”
“Amandera!”
“Let’s get you out of here.”
“They are holding the weave. I can’t unweave it quickly enough.”
I was silent for a moment. I had envisioned myself breaking him out, but what could I do now?
“It wasn’t supposed to end this way. I had plans. Plans to unravel this empire and build something new.” He sounded hopeless.
“We still can.”
“There’s no more hope of ‘we,’ princess.”
“I won’t give up on you.”
His laugh was hollow. “It would take something extraordinary to save my life now, much less my vision for this world.”
“Can I turn your attention to the fire-breathing display?” The priest came from behind me, and he was not alone. I’d lost my chance.
THE PRIEST LOOKED SO proud that he could barely contain himself. “The High Tazmin himself, has arranged to see you before your formal arrival to Azaradi. The messenger arrived with the news just now.”
My palms were sweaty as I realized we were only a day away. I was running out of time to save Catane and soon I would meet my groom. What would he be like? What did it mean that he planned to see me first? Did he know about what had happened in our journey? Would he want me to pay for my sins? Or worse, would he come to “test” me as Catane had at first?
“He will bring his escort as is prescribed in the scrolls, but he has requested that they wait at the bottom of the Rainbow Shrine. We are also asked to wait there, and only you, his bride, will ascend the four hundred steps to the height of the shrine. You are privileged with greatness, lady. Please remember me when you rise to High Tazminera.”
I held his gaze a moment, keeping my face expressionless while his was lit from within with a smug fire.
“I shall not forget a single moment of my journey here or any of those who took a part in it.”
He bowed, folding himself completely in half. It was all I could do not to look across at where Catane slumped in his cage, his head hanging between his knees.
We left the main road when Azaradi was barely in view on the horizon, climbing upwards and then descending into a narrow river valley, verdant with palm trees and large-leaved plants. Colorful birds called to one another. It was so unlike the rest of Canderabai, and so much like home, that I felt a pang in my heart.
“This is the High Tazmin’s private park.” The priest puffed out his chest as he spoke to me. “Without his express permission, it is death to set foot here.”
Of course it was. The thought of Catane in a cage when the High Tazmin had a private park made me grind my teeth.
Elephants trumpeted and snorted ahead of us, and then the palm leaves parted and we entered a green basin, with the river running through the center. At the far end, was a waterfall so high that it was nearly impossible to see the top. A rainbow arced across the sky over it, and here in the basin a thousand warriors sat their elephants in lines parallel to the river. I gasped. The priests led us past the warriors towards the far cliff. There, midway up and on top of a rock that jutted out from the center of the falls, a shrine was built. It was white, like the water, and iridescent in the mist and rainbows. Hundreds of metal-lace steps led up to the shrine, and now I understood what the priest meant about climbing the steps myself. The steps were too narrow for more than a single person at a time to ascend or descend.
I glanced one last time at Catane, but he didn’t look up from where he was slumped in the cage. I knew they were feeding him. Why did he look like a discarded robe? I swallowed hard. The only person left who might be able to spare him was the High Tazmin, and the only person who could ask him to do so was me.
I stepped past the priests where they whispered to the soldiers in the elaborate armor of leaders. Some of them stood in the same manner as the general had before his throat was slit. Perhaps it was because of him that Catane had lost all hope. Surely, they would have been close after years chained together.
I placed my foot on the metal-lace steps and slowly, deliberately, began the journey upward. There was a rail for my hand, but even with the rail, the journey heavenward was slick and dangerous. Cold spray coated the steps and the railing, and soon it coated me, wetting my long black hair until it hung in ropes around me, smearing the kohl under my eyes so that it ran down my face, and wetting my sarette so that it clung to me and bound around my legs.
Teeth of the Gods Page 26