The Skyfall Era Trilogy: Books 1-3

by Matt Larkin

  “Are you well, love?”

  Chandi nodded, shaking herself from her musings. When she looked at Naresh, his eyes glowed with sunlight, for a moment. A flock of lorikeets flew overhead. Their brilliant plumage covered the sky in a rainbow.

  Chandi grinned at her husband. It had been a long time since he’d called the birds to make her smile.

  “Well that was useful,” Lang said.

  “Shut up,” Naresh said.

  “You just announced our presence to anyone watching. We’re sailing to Igni territory. They’re all but sharing beds with the Lunars these days.” Lang turned to Chandi. “Or maybe the Ignis are sharing Lunar beds? How are they at that?”

  Before Chandi could open her mouth Naresh had appeared by Lang. He held the Suladvipan by the throat.

  Lang swung his fist sideways at Naresh. Her husband blocked and shoved the man from the outrigger. Murky water soaked Naresh as Lang disappeared beneath the surface.

  He reappeared a moment later, sputtering.

  A crocodile slipped from the shore into the river.

  “Naresh!” Chandi shouted at him.

  “Let him swim.”

  Lang did swim, trying to catch the jukung. He never would.

  “Naresh!” This time she pointed at the almost invisible crocodile drifting toward the struggling Solar.

  Still Naresh watched the man.

  Chandi kicked off her sandals. If she used her Moon Blessings, she might be able to wrestle the crocodile, even in water. She might also fall back into lunacy.

  And then Naresh was in the water. Both men appeared in the boat a moment later. Water and muck dripped off them. Naresh held Lang down. “Speak to my wife like that again,” he said, “and you’ll wish I left you to that crocodile.”

  He returned to the sails. Chandi sank back down into the boat, her heart racing. She stared at her husband, unable to close her jaw. Could he have really left the man to the crocodile over her honor?

  No one spoke much after that, but Chandi couldn’t return to sleep. Couldn’t even bring herself to close her eyes. Instead, she slapped at mosquitoes that seemed to appear from nowhere at a steady rate. Her friend Mahesa had claimed someone told him mosquitoes were sent by Rangda Demon Queen to plague the Earth because she couldn’t reach it herself.

  They took the jukung almost to the edge of Pottala. The town lay above the wetlands. Naresh tied the boat up at a small, half-rotten dock.

  Chandi hadn’t seen so many Ignis together since she’d left Kasusthali. They worked the wet rice terraces beneath the scorching sun, but seemed content. Much like the wet rice terraces in Swarnadvipa, these fields must have used irrigation lines dug long ago into the rainforest. It meant the farmers waded in knee-deep waters to tend their fields, but harvested a fine crop.

  Chandi put her arm in Naresh’s. His baju had almost dried from his dip in the river.

  An Igni farmer glared at them as he passed. How could she tell which were Firewalkers? Could they all be? Unlikely.

  “Naresh.”

  He looked back at her, and she tried to smile.

  “I’m worried about you. I know you’ve been training so hard. Maybe it was too much.”

  Naresh sighed. “This is about Lang?”

  “That.” Chandi pulled him to a stop. “Give us a moment,” she said to Lang as the man approached.

  Lang glowered and stomped past them.

  “More. You were a different person when they attacked Cenrana. Brutal. I thought it was just then, but when Lang …”

  Naresh rubbed her cheek, then pulled her in to kiss her. His rough lips pressed hard against her mouth as his hand traced down her back. He pulled away too soon, drawing a deep breath. “I don’t know why I got so infuriated. When he spoke to you like that, I …”

  Naresh shifted from one foot to the other. “I failed, Chandi. If I’d stopped Malin at Puradvipa, I might have been there to save Kasusthali. Instead, you and Landi left the city to rescue me. They murdered my mother. They murdered Kakudmi. He was my charge, my responsibility. I can never make that right.”

  Chandi reached for him again, but Naresh took a step back.

  “I can’t make it right. But I will be ready. If they come after us, if Malin comes after you, I’ll be strong enough to destroy him this time.”

  Chandi watched him, praying he’d come back to her. But he just shook his head and trudged to the Igni village.

  For a moment, they’d been one, in that kiss. Everything perfect, the way it always should have been. For a moment.

  Chandi blew out a breath.

  The Igni architecture here differed little from that of Suladvipan Solars. On the edge of town, not a palace, but a Shrine of Sacred Flame.

  Lang disappeared inside the shrine, and Naresh hurried after him. Chandi followed. Never thought she’d enter another of those shrines.

  Lang was already talking to someone when Naresh and Chandi entered. Was that …?

  Semar. Chandi charged past Naresh and shoved the priest. The Igni stepped back, but didn’t fall.

  “What are you doing here?” she said. “Want to destroy another civilization?”

  “Hello, Chandi. These days, people speak of the War King’s daughter who married an Arun Guard. Word spreads that a Lunar plans to make a play from it, a romance.”

  She slapped him. The sound of it echoed through the temple.

  Ignis drew near, glaring at her. Naresh moved beside her. From the corner of her eye, she saw his hand drift to his keris. “We didn’t come here to fight.”

  Semar raised his hand. “That won’t be necessary.” At his words, the Ignis backed off. “And Chandi, Suladvipa is home to the largest population of Ignis. Did you ask yourself where someone like me would go after Kasusthali? You are quick to blame me for all that happened, but never considered what I would do next?”

  Naresh grabbed her when she took another step toward the priest.

  “We need him.”

  “I don’t,” Chandi said. “We can’t trust a word that comes out of his mouth. Not one lie, but somehow never the truth, either.” She pointed at Semar. “I don’t want to see you again. I don’t want anything to do with your schemes.”

  “If you don’t wish to see me, perhaps the Igni town is not the best place for you.”

  “No. It isn’t.” Chandi stormed out of the shrine.

  She heard Naresh chasing after her, but she didn’t turn.

  “Chandi!”

  At last she spun on him. “What? What do you want to say? You want to talk to that man?”

  “That man didn’t arrange the fall of Kasusthali, even if his people did. And he knows things, he knows people. He has the Firewalkers. We need them on our side. At the very least, we need them off your father’s side. And we need to know if any of the Arun Guard are here. I understand you have a history, but we have no choice.”

  “You don’t understand. His words go down like sweet nagasari. Until you choke on them. He told me all the things I wanted to hear, seemed so wise, seemed to understand all about me. Every word, all of it, Naresh. It all led me to …”

  Naresh spread his hands and stepped toward her. “It’s all right. We agreed not to dwell on the mistakes we made back then.”

  She shoved him away. “It’s not all right. You want to take away the Firewalkers? Kill the bastard and let’s be gone.”

  Naresh clenched his fists. “Were you not just lecturing me against violence?”

  Chandi folded her arms and glared at him.

  Lang returned from the Shrine then. “Did I miss something?”

  “No,” both Chandi and Naresh said. And damn him for it. She would not smile.

  “Well, he doesn’t admit to having one of the Arun Guard, though he didn’t deny it, either. He’s agreed to let me stay and negotiate as far as future hostilities are concerned.”

  Naresh took a step toward the man. “You? Why you?”

  “Because, Pak Naresh, you and the Lunar are too personally in
volved. If there is anything for the Solars to gain here, you need someone objective. And because I don’t much like the idea of riding the jukung back to Daha with you. I’m sure you understand.”

  At the moment, Chandi didn’t much like the idea of sailing back with Naresh either. She stared at the back of his head, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  Naresh sighed. “So be it. Do not disappoint me, Pak Lang.”

  Naresh tromped away, back toward the wet rice terraces. “You worry about my anger,” he said when she followed. “You’ve got to control your own.”

  “You’re making a mistake trusting him.”

  Naresh shrugged. “I have no choice, Chandi.”

  Chandi had felt she had no choice once. The things she had done had not ended well. Chandra save them all from their powerlessness.

  CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT

  The pillars of the Astral Temple always filled Malin with more trepidation than awe. This place was a temple built by the gods. Or so the Moon Scions claimed. But they’d lied about everything.

  The rains hadn’t come yet this morning, and a thick bank of mist surrounded the cliff where the Astral Temple rose. Around the temple, the wild rainforest called to him, and below, on the beaches of Astral Shore, the Fourth War had ended. Anusapati had stolen Ken Arok’s sacred keris and murdered him with it. Ironic that the peace Kakudmi made after his father’s murder eventually led to the fall of his city.

  Malin passed through the gateway leading to the interior temples. No one remarked on his passage. Moon Scions watched him like he remained their faithful guardian. Beneath their notice. That would change today.

  As a boy, Malin had followed the gods of Mait. When he came to the Skyfall Isles, he’d embraced Chandra and become a Lunar. If the Moon God had put the tiger spirit inside him, his power must be real. Assuming Chandra had anything to do with what Rahu had put inside Malin.

  The ladder down to the lower levels stood exposed. Moon Scion arrogance, that they no longer concealed the secrets of this place. Malin paced around the depression before descending the ladder. No reason his heart should pound like this.

  If this didn’t work, he was going to destroy the Lunar Empire. Acid bubbled in his stomach. It wouldn’t come to that.

  Ketu paced around the second level, moving between the shadows of the pillars. Scattered papers covered the floor. Malin stalked closer. The sounds of screeching metal from the level below muffled his footsteps. Voices carried from down there, but Malin couldn’t make out the words. No one would hear if he killed Ketu right now. A moment he waited, then coughed.

  Chandi’s father started and spun. “I haven’t summoned you, Malin. You should be guarding Ratna.”

  Perhaps. The girl could find trouble in an empty box. “There are issues we need to discuss.”

  Ketu glanced at the notes in his hands, then paced to another pillar. The priest sketched a copy of some of the script.

  “It would be best if you listened to me,” Malin said.

  “I’m busy, tiger. What do you want?”

  “Freedom.” Malin stalked closer to the priest. “Respect. Authority.”

  Ketu snorted. “What are you talking about?”

  “I gave you your position, priest. I put down your enemies for you. The support of the Macan Gadungan holds your empire together. We are tired of the shadows. It’s time the Moon Scions shared the light with us.”

  “Chandra created you as servants to his children. You forget your place. But you have done well, so you will be rewarded, Malin. I’ll make you my general.”

  Malin shook his head. “It’s not about me. It’s about all the Macan Gadungan. The Buaya Jadian, too. I found one rotting in a cell for questioning Rahu a year ago. Since when is expressing doubt punishable by that?”

  “I don’t like your tone.” Ketu tossed his book aside. “And I don’t know anything about this werecrocodile you’re so concerned with.”

  “Of course you don’t. That’s the problem.” He’d stood up to Rahu. He’d stand up to Ketu. “We are as much Chandra’s children as you are, priest. You think we are beneath your notice and it blinds you to what happens around you. All we have done for you.”

  Ketu scoffed. “You want my notice? Deal with the situation on Suladvipa.”

  “The Firewalkers are not my concern.” Well, they did concern him, but Ketu didn’t need to know that. Such allies might prove more trouble than they were worth—or perhaps a welcome boon to his cause.

  “Forget the Firewalkers. It’s that Arun Guard, Rangda damn him. My Igni spies say he’s traveling to the capital. He may be there as we speak. He’s the heir of the Radiant Queen.”

  Naresh. “Chandi’s with him.”

  “She made her choice,” Ketu said, staring at the pillars. “She will have to live or die by it. I will use the temple to destroy them. You, Malin, will take the Macan Gadungan to assault the island once I’ve done my work.”

  No. Not again. “Do not use the temple to create another eclipse. It’s not our place to meddle in Chandra’s course through the heavens. Can you possibly believe such actions are his will?”

  “Chandra gave me this power because it’s his will.”

  If Chandra created this place at all. Rahu had known far too many of the Temple’s secrets for Malin’s liking.

  “But I don’t need to create another eclipse. The power the Astral Temple offers us is so much more than we understood a year ago. Chandra’s gift to us will allow me to smash our enemies anywhere on Earth. I need time to prepare, but when I’m ready, no place will stand before our power. We’ll have all of the Skyfall Isles within the year.”

  Malin shook his head, slipping into the shadows. The man still never heard him. He was done having his hand slapped away when he offered it in peace.

  And the Jadian were done serving. He climbed the ladder, then stepped out into the sunlight. He hadn’t realized how stifling the underground air had been.

  Deep down, he’d known this trip would make no difference. He’d made the motions to avoid civil war, but that’s all they’d ever been. He should have killed Ketu down there. He needed more time to master his Moon Blessings before fighting the priest.

  Of course he did.

  But really, it was Chandi. After so much, he still couldn’t bring himself to betray her. Even if he planned to overthrow her father, he wouldn’t murder the man in the dark.

  Not yet.

  CHAPTER NINETY-NINE

  “If Semar is holding one of our people, what will we do?” Naresh asked.

  Landi grunted, shoving a board into place. Between the two of them and Bendurana, they’d nearly finished a new house for the refugees. Landi had gotten the king to arrange a house for Naresh and Chandi—he was Arun Guard, after all.

  King Kertajaya had also granted Landorundun’s family their own house near what people were already calling the Cenrana District. Smaller than they’d had in their home village, but he at least did the First honor enough to grant her immediate living space.

  Naresh had spent the three days since he returned from Pottala helping the refugees build community houses. Which meant a lot of cold, rainy nights for a lot of people until they finished. But then, a thousand people determined to work together to get it done made pretty good progress.

  Sweat streamed down his back in the afternoon heat.

  “Maybe Pak Lang will get him to negotiate,” Landi said.

  Lang the diplomat. Rangda take him for leaving that man in charge of such a mission.

  Naresh swept his matted hair from his eyes. “If we have to go in, we need to be fast. We need to hit them so hard they have no chance to react. Those Firewalkers can cause immense destruction, given the chance.”

  Bendurana cut himself off from saying something. “We need more wood,” he said after a moment.

  “Naresh,” Landi said, “I’d rather avoid the slaughter of an Igni town. And the two of us couldn’t do it, even if we wanted to.” She sat on the grass and sipped wate
r from a goblet the children kept filled.

  Naresh opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Had he just suggested killing a whole town? He didn’t think that was what he’d meant. But if he shut his eyes, he could see himself doing it. See himself storm the village with the wrath of the Sun God. Could see men falling before them by the dozens or more.

  Ignis had killed tens of thousands in Kasusthali. They had murdered his mother. Naresh’s fists clenched. His mother, and he considered peace with them.

  But if not, who would stand against Ketu, the true architect of all this?

  Chandi was right. His fingers hurt from clenching his fists so hard, but he couldn’t make them release. He’d let the Fifth War get inside him, too deep. Let it make him into something like the Macan Gadungan. But if he couldn’t become like them, he couldn’t save all he loved from them. He pounded his fist into a plank, cracking it.

  He wouldn’t lose anything else. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Chandi. The Lunars gave them no choice but to make a stand. Damn them for it.

  “Pak Naresh,” Hainuwele said.

  Naresh opened his eyes.

  “My parents wish to see you. They seek your blessing.”

  Naresh glanced at Landi. “My what?”

  Landi snorted. “You’re the son of the Radiant Queen. Everyone heard what she did at Kasusthali. I guess being her son makes you even more of a figure of interest.” She punched him on the arm. “At least to some people. Don’t worry; I’ll go with you. We’ll keep the fawning in check.”

  Surya’s glare. Why couldn’t this nonsense ever be finished? “I’ve got too much to do. Sorry. So many houses need building. Still need to see King Kertajaya.”

  The sisters exchanged glances he couldn’t fathom. The First leaned closer to him. “I think they want your approval of my relationship with Bendurana. Since we were engaged and all.”

  Naresh sighed. Having married a different woman, he’d have thought Landi’s marriage none of his business. No point in arguing. He motioned for Hainuwele to lead the way.

  The woman drifted toward her house. “You don’t really need to come, Landi,” Hainuwele said.