by Matt Larkin
“Maybe it was.” He held her with that same intensity of gaze Kala had.
“You’ve been to that foreign land.”
“I have.”
She stepped closer and leaned near him. “Some of what happened is my fault. I never should have pursued the Igni rebellion. But if you had told me, told anyone, what you knew of Rahu and Kala, lives would have been saved, all of this avoided. Your damned secrets helped destroy a civilization.”
At last, after so many years, his calm seemed to falter. His eyes looked down. “Perhaps more than one.”
Chandi nodded. Like a fool she had trusted the priest, trusted the charm and confidence he exuded, bought into the mystery and hope he offered. But he was just a man, and whatever journey he had taken, he’d made as many mistakes as her.
Semar waved to a crowd that had gathered on the beach. Solars knelt around the body of their emperor, preparing him for the first Selamatan. Ratna knelt there, beside them, watching. The Lunars and Ignis let them be.
Chandi turned and sat down before her cousin, watching her empty eyes. “We have to go, Ratna.”
“They killed him. He was my husband. I think I … What if I missed everything that mattered?”
Chandi slipped her arm under her cousin’s and pulled her to her feet. She seemed to be supporting everyone these days. She couldn’t afford to use her Blessings again, no time soon at least. Maybe never. “You mean you didn’t realize what you had until now?”
Ratna snorted.
Ignis watched them leave in silence.
“I’m not going back to the Lunars, Ratna,” she said when they reached the harbor. “Not ever.”
“We weren’t wrong.”
“We weren’t right, either. I married Naresh. My father exiled us.”
Ratna laughed without mirth. She slipped free from Chandi’s arms and backed away. “I can find someone to take me back to Swarnadvipa. I’ll find Revati.” She pointed a finger at Chandi as if in accusation. “I won’t give up on her.”
“You can come with us.” The last trace of her family. At least one other of her people at her side.
“To hide among Solars? I’m sorry, cousin. I’ve lost everything. I’ll do whatever it takes to get my daughter back.”
Naresh was calling to her from the ship. Chandi hugged her cousin and reached a hand out toward Naresh. He was beside her, holding her, and then they were back on the Queen of the South Sea.
“Where do we go?” Bendurana asked Naresh. Had the confident, defiant captain gone forever?
Naresh looked at her before answering. “East. To the Outer Isles. Kakudmi?”
“Returned to the Wheel of Life.” She took his hand. “Ratna would not come with us.”
“Kakudmi wanted the Stranger to take Revati to someplace safe—somewhere far from this war,” Naresh said.
Kala had come after mad Rahu and ruined all their lives. Or perhaps Rahu had ruined everything long before that. Once she’d blamed herself for all of this. Now, no matter how far back she tried to trace the tragedy, there was always something before. Perhaps Kala was just one more victim of that tragedy.
The Queen of the South Sea sailed in silence away from the fires of the Solar city. Chandi leaned against her husband. “My father told me the Astral Temple was where the Moon Scions got their power. It must be how he controlled the moon.”
“Tides got all skewed,” Bendurana said.
“Can he do it again?” Naresh asked.
“I suspect so. He’ll create more Moon Scions, too.” Everyone stared. Let them all know the Lunars’ secret. “Father will rule the Skyfall Isles in a few years’ time, I think. Better than Rahu, at least.”
“Yes,” Naresh said. “Better.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t fight,” Chandi said. “Maybe we should accept his authority. If the Solars surrender, he might not force them to abandon their religion.” But that was unlikely. “We can’t save the world, you know.”
Naresh held her tighter. “We have to think of our future now.”
Everyone was silent again. Then Naresh started to sing a Solar hymn. Landorundun joined him, then the whole crew. Chandi stood motionless in her husband’s arms, letting the song wash over her.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
The chaos and destruction that had swept over Kasusthali were worse than even Malin had imagined. And he promised himself this would surely be the last time he would visit here. Twenty years of war with the Solars, and, in the end, it was the Ignis who’d ended it. And that in one single night.
Still, he had to find Ratna. Chandi was lost to him and all he could do for her now was pray. He’d been a fool to ever let himself fall for a person he was supposed to be protecting. And maybe she deserved Naresh. Malin couldn’t say anything anymore, except that the Solar Empire was surely finished now.
Thousands upon thousands of refugees were littered around the Harbor District or the surrounding beaches. Lunar war bands raped and pillaged as they undoubtedly had done for days, but slowly, they were dispersing, heading back to their homeland.
Malin grabbed one Lunar. “Where is Ratna?”
The man pointed to a camp down the beach.
Malin dropped him, then hurried toward the camp. Ratna sat there, surrounded by a group of Solars and Ignis alike, although apparently watched over by Lunar guards. Malin sunk down by her side, but when she didn’t look at him, he followed her gaze further down the beach to where Lunars were apparently trying to seize a vessel from some Ignis.
Without warning, a blast of flame erupted into the night. The explosion engulfed a pair of Lunar brigands, reducing them to ash while carrying enough force to fling all nearby Lunars to the ground. Even from forty feet away, Malin felt the heat of the blast.
“What in Rangda’s frozen underworld was that?” he asked.
Ratna chuckled without apparent humor. “We have Moon Scions. The Solars have the Sun Brand. Funny how no one ever wondered that the third dynasty had no such supernatural gift, isn’t it, Malin? I can only assume they’ve guarded this secret, maybe for centuries.”
“They can control fire?”
“How do you think they cracked the domes?” Ratna rose, eyes cloudy but seeming to see something beyond Malin. The look on her face unsettled his stomach and made him want to flee this island all the quicker. Even the tiger within shifted uncomfortably. “Tell me, tiger. What do you imagine this means, them revealing such a secret now, after hiding it for hundreds of years?”
As if the Arun Guard were not bad enough, now he had to contend with men and women who could harness fire itself, could unleash it in such devastating explosions that neither Moon Scion nor Macan Gadungan could survive.
Oh, he knew what it meant.
It meant the Ignis were done being slaves. It meant they were coming into their own and claiming what they felt was their due.
It meant a new power had arisen in the Skyfall Isles.
PART ONE
1195 After Pact, The Rainy Season
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
Ironic that the fall of the Solar Empire had left the Lunar Empire in such turmoil. Malin had helped Ketu claim his brother’s throne as War King. It might have averted civil war among the Lunars, but it had brought even more chaos to the Skyfall Isles.
“What need have we of a War King with no war?” Sangkuriang said. The exiled lord of House Hasta sat across the fire from Malin, in the hills north of Bukit. No one would see their fire, not with so many in the city tonight. “You’ve been gone a long time. It’s time for this to be over, Malin. We want to come home.”
A long time indeed. A year since the fall of Kasusthali. The death of the Solar Emperor, the Radiant Queen, and with them, their Empire. And Malin had spent so little of that year at home.
Once, the Lunars had Swarnadvipa, the Solars had Yawadvipa, and the Ignis lived alongside the Solars. Simple. Overthrowing the Solars made life too complicated. Now, the Solars had fled across the Isles, the Ignis were loyal to Cha
ndra-knew-who, and Ketu thought he could conquer the whole South Sea in the Moon God’s name.
Malin had no answers for Sangkuriang. But then, he could afford to debate. Anything to delay his reunion with Ketu. Malin pulled a piece of duck rendang off the bone. Hot, greasy, it stung his fingers and soothed his throat. The man had used too much turmeric. Probably still learning to cook for himself, with no slaves to do it. Still, a hot meal to welcome him home was more than Malin had expected.
He licked the grease from his fingers, then met the Moon Scion’s gaze. “You can’t return yet. Ketu won’t let go of his power, and I won’t risk civil war.”
He’d promised Chandi he’d support her father. Malin may have lost her, but he’d keep his promises. Besides, most of the Moon Scion Houses supported Ketu. Malin had spared a few lords, Sangkuriang among them, and he could count on the Macan Gadungan. Just enough forces to ensure if he fought Ketu, both sides would suffer devastation as complete as the Solars had.
“He has to let go. The other Houses made him War King. It’s not a permanent position. Talk to him. In the meantime, I’m very good at Glamour. I can disguise myself.”
Malin snorted. The Moon Blessings took their toll on Moon Scions. He could let Sangkuriang use the Blessing, but sending the man in without a plan would only speed his descent into lunacy. How many days would he maintain the Glamour, looking for a way to convince Ketu to step down? The new War King listened to no one. “Go back to the villages, Sang. I’ll send for you when the time comes.” He rose and tossed the duck bone into the fire, then leaned over the Moon Scion. “I spared your life when Ketu would have had you slain. Don’t make me regret it.”
Sang’s lip curled, but he rose and headed away from Bukit. Malin waited, watched the man leave. Almost liked him. For a Moon Scion.
Even from the hills, Malin could hear the celebration in the city below. Drumbeats, the hints of flutes, shouting. And so many bonfires clouding the night sky with smoke.
A full moon above, and not a drizzle of rain tonight, deep in the rainy season. Almost like Chandra smiled on this revelry. Or Ketu would see it that way.
Malin trudged toward the city. The tiger spirit within shifted, called to the moon. Urged him to shift, become the beast and run, especially tonight, especially on the full moon. So easy to do it. Leave this behind. But the Macan Gadungan—the weretigers—remained in virtual bondage. Both bloodlines of Jadian did. The Moon Scions called them werebeasts, but they were not beasts. They were Lunars, born on Swarnadvipa, trained in Bangdvipa, and giving their lives for the families they served.
Time had long since come for recognition of that service.
The saddle roofs of the city welcomed him home, breaking above the tree line. On the outskirts of the city men and women danced, spun. A child ran up to him as he approached. Macan Gadungan girl, five or six. She thrust both hands forward, offering him a nagasari. Malin knelt beside the girl as he took the banana cake. The child beamed, then turned and ran off.
Malin sighed. Not the time for sweets. He handed the cake to another child as he passed him. Best get this over with.
Rahu’s palace—Ketu’s palace now—sat on a hill above Bukit. The sight of it left a sour taste in Malin’s mouth, like a kill left too long in the sun. Glorious, for certain. The roof peaks rose almost forty feet into the air. Two stories tall, with a third story above the center. Built in the fine old style. They called it the Hill Palace, not because it was the only palace in the hills, but because it sat on the highest hill, overlooking the city.
At the heart of the Hill Palace lay the central courtyard. Ketu brought the House Lords here to remind them he had taken all that was Rahu’s. A perfectly groomed garden, complete with fishpond. But this place had become a prison. Malin had long since built his own house nearby, just to escape it.
He passed through the wide archway into the main hall and almost ran into Ratna.
The girl looked up at him a moment before turning away.
“Not out celebrating the anniversary of our victory?” Malin asked.
Ratna spun on him. “Forgive me if I abstain from celebrating the deaths of a quarter million people.”
Malin smiled. Just a little. Maybe Ratna wasn’t as lost as he’d feared. At first, he’d worried Ketu would kill the child, but her uncle had embraced her as his own. Perhaps to make up for losing Chandi.
Ratna hesitated. “Did you find Revati?”
Malin looked away. Nothing he could say to the girl. Maybe he’d damned Revati by letting Kala take her, or maybe he’d saved her. All done now.
“And Chandi?”
Unfortunately. Malin nodded.
Ratna sighed, scurried off without another word. Malin had failed Chandi. But he had also promised to always watch over Ratna. He’d not fail that. Not while he drew breath.
The light chirps of nightjars in the courtyard created the illusion of peace. Ketu sat alone, meditating by the fishpond, hands on his knees. He’d taken to wearing Rahu’s embroidered black bajus. People saw them as a symbol of the War King.
The priest opened his eyes at Malin’s approach. “Well, tiger?”
Malin cracked his neck. “The war is over, Ketu. Maybe it’s time to let all this go. Back to the way things were.”
Twenty-four years since the Lunars had named Rahu War King. And twenty-five Malin had served him. Harimau Jadian, they had first called him. Weretiger. But Rahu had made the Harimau Jadian bodyguards to the Moon Scion Houses, and granted them the title of honor, Macan Gadungan. Protectors and avengers.
“How things were?” Ketu rose, stretched. “No. We move forward. Towards a united Lunar Empire. But first we must see the last of the Arun Guard eradicated.”
“The Guard is broken. As far as we know, only two remain, and they’ve taken no interest in our affairs. Your daughter—”
Ketu lunged at him, grabbed him by the back of the neck. Malin didn’t stop him. “Chandi made her choices. She’s not our concern anymore. Where is he?”
Malin sighed. “Cenrana. A fishing village on the western coast of Suladvipa.” A year spent looking for Naresh. And he’d found him. His sources said the Arun Guardsman made a living hunting fish, diving for pearls. No effort to resurrect the Solar Empire. And Ketu wanted to hunt him down anyway.
“Good. Soon we’ll make plans to eliminate him.”
Suladvipa. Home island of the Ignis, ruled by a Solar king. But the Solars had fallen. Once, crushing their last vestige sounded savory. Somehow, a quarter million dead tasted fouler than he’d imagined.
Malin paced around the courtyard. “People say the Lunars no longer need a War King.”
Lines formed along Ketu’s brow. “Yes. Now they need a Lunar Emperor. We’re about to usher in a new age, tiger. Leave me.”
Malin slunk from the courtyard. Emperor. Like the damn Solars. Not in the whole history of the Lunars had anyone had that much arrogance. Not even Rahu.
Twenty-seven Lunar Houses. Once, almost as many kingdoms populated Swarnadvipa. The threat of the Solars had held them together, in loose alliance under a War King. Ketu was a fool if he thought that would last once the Solars were gone. When the Lunars weren’t fighting the Solars, they fought each other. Houses skirmished for land or gold mines or spices or the simple glory of battle.
Idiots that reveled in violence not for its uses, but for its own sake. Malin stalked through the palace, resisting the urge to punch through a wall. Barely.
Something in the air inside. A scent, even over the smells of smoke and spiced satay and revelry. Oily, acrid. Malin knew that scent.
Black magic.
The tiger growled. The spirit in him may have come from Kahyangan, but it had no more love for the other beings of the Spirit World than Malin did. Rangda take all witches.
Malin stalked through the Hill Palace, following the scent. Not again. This would not happen again. But there it was, sure enough. In Calon’s old chamber.
Voices escaped through the cracks in the bam
boo door. Ratna’s, others. Malin stepped inside.
Five women sat on mats on the floor. Ratna, three he didn’t know, and Tanjung. Once, the long-haired woman might have been attractive. The creases around her eyes and mouth might even have made her handsome now, if Malin didn’t know of the sickening stains on her soul. He’d found Calon here, like this, with Tanjung, so many years ago. Making the same mistakes.
Ratna scowled at him, the others snorted. She waved him off.
Not this time. Malin leapt into their midst, landed in a crouch in the center of their circle. One woman screamed.
With a hand under her chin, Malin pulled Tanjung to her feet. “I thought I told you not to return to Bukit, witch.”
“Malin!” Ratna shouted. “These women are my guests.”
“You have no idea what this creature is capable of.”
Tanjung shoved his hand away. “I am a Moon Scion, Macan Gadungan. You forget your place.”
“Shall I bow before I kill you, then?” Malin edged closer, until the woman backed into the wall. Beautiful, the look on her face when she realized he might just do it. Once, he never could have even said it. Chandi had changed everything. “Out. All of you. I will have words with Ratna.”
The witches did as he bid, ignoring Ratna’s sputters of protest.
“Child—” Malin began.
“I’m not a child, tiger. You are here to serve me.”
“I am serving you. You want to be treated as an adult? Earn it. This woman you’ve blithely invited into your home—you have no idea the things she’s done.” Tanjung had corrupted Ratna’s mother, Malin knew it.
Ratna waved for him to sit, so he did. “I do have an idea, Malin. She was my mother’s friend. And she can help me find Revati. I’ve looked everywhere.” Her voice shook, came out almost as a whisper. “I sent people to Mait, Au Lac, even Tianxia. No one knows where Kala took her.”
Malin leaned closer, put his hand on her shoulder. “We lose things, Ratna. We lose people. Chandra knows you can’t get them back. You have to keep going. Look to the future.”