by Matt Larkin
Naresh folded his arms over his chest and looked around at the mostly bedraggled crew. One ship. “Rumors say Rangguwani has almost defeated Kertajaya, despite Lang and several Firewalkers fighting against them.”
Tohjaya hefted the keris up to his face. “Neither of those pretenders is the Ratu Adil. I am. And if you want my help, you’ll support my claim to the throne. With this keris, I’ll reunite the dynasties, restore the Pact, and rule the Skyfall Isles.”
And all Naresh had to do was help put a bully on the throne. He clenched his fists at his side. Now he remembered why he hated the man.
He could refuse. Maybe he could even kill Tohjaya, though Lembu Ampal might stop him. Naresh wasn’t sure he could beat Lembu Ampal when he had so little sunlight and the other Guardsman did. Even if he killed Tohjaya, though, what would he have accomplished?
Every potential leader, he had turned away from. Because none of them were worthy. Maybe all those who were worthy were dead. Maybe Kakudmi could have done it. Maybe Ken Arok. Instead, he was left with Rangguwani or Tohjaya, scrambling for the throne while the house burned around them.
Maybe Tohjaya could take the throne from Rangguwani. Between the Jin Laut and that keris, he could unite what remained of the Solars. But the man deserved a throne even less than the Lunar pirate.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FOUR
Pottala village was beyond the next ridge. Chandi had no desire to see the place again, but all of Pohaci’s spying said Naresh had fled there when Kertajaya declared himself Ratu Adil. Unbelievable that he would take shelter with Semar, of all people.
“Well, can we just walk in?” Pohaci said.
“Perhaps we should make a more dramatic entrance,” Bendurana said. “You know, add some flair.”
Malin just snarled and started over the hill. Chandi followed the tiger. Her former mentor, former friend, grabbed the first Igni he came upon. The man tried to threaten Malin with a keris. Malin twisted his wrist enough to make him drop it, but Chandi didn’t hear any bones break. “Take us to Naresh. Now.” He shoved the man forward toward the village.
The Igni scampered forward, shouting about intruders.
“Well,” Ben said. “I guess a herald is kind of a dramatic entrance.”
Soon, Ignis surrounded them on three sides. Chandi bit her lip when she saw Naresh among them. Hair still wild about his face, eyes tired. Until they saw her.
“Chandi!” He stood by Semar’s side, but Sun Strode beside her in an instant.
Naresh. Oh, sweet Chandra. She took a step toward him. “I … ”
He didn’t say anything. But his eyes did. Then he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his embrace. He held her so tightly she couldn’t breathe. Chandi pulled herself closer still.
Malin cleared his throat. Naresh released her, then gaped at the tiger. He looked back at Chandi a moment, then lunged at the Macan Gadungan, keris in hand.
Malin caught his wrist and shoved him away.
“Naresh, stop!” Chandi said. “Please. There are things you don’t understand.”
Her husband fell back, and took all of them in. “What things? Where’s Landi?”
“Rahu’s ghost took possession of a Lunar,” Ben said. “He tried to kill Malin. And Rangda possessed Ratna. Landi … She saved us.”
Naresh snorted. “There’s no such thing as Rangda. She’s a folktale to entertain people. And ghosts don’t possess people.”
“It’s true.” Chandi took a step toward her husband and clasped his hand. “We found Nyai Loro Kidul. She took Landi. Please, Naresh. We need you. I need you.” She tried to pull him back to her.
For just a moment, he hesitated. Had he not forgiven her? And then he wrapped his arms around her again. “Chandi,” he whispered in her ear. “My moon and stars …” After a moment—too brief—he pushed her out to arm’s length. “Landi’s … dead?” He clenched his jaw, his eyes begging her to deny it.
Would that she could.
“Touching,” Malin said. “But Rahu is still out there. We need to stop him before things get worse. He could already control Swarnadvipa by now.”
“Let me handle this, Malin.” Chandi pulled Naresh aside. “Help us, Naresh. I need you… Always.”
He wrapped his fingers in hers. Thank Chandra. He’d forgiven all?
“And you’re stuck with me, always,” he said.
She could feel herself trembling and wiped away a tear forming in her eye. Not now. Not yet. “Why are you with Semar?”
“He’s not exactly what you thought. He knows things.”
She brushed his hair from his eyes. Deep, like dark amber. She’d missed the way he looked at her. “He’s using you, the same as he used me.”
“Maybe.” Naresh shrugged. “You trust Malin?”
“Chandra! He murdered my father. But what choice do we have?”
Naresh nodded and led her through the Igni village. “Semar is the same way.”
Well, maybe he had a point. She followed him as he led her toward the river. If she didn’t clear things with him, it would always hang over them. “Maybe you were right. Maybe we need the violence to face what’s coming. I never imagined what would happen … I’ve lost Landi and Ratna both.”
Naresh stopped and turned to face her. “Or maybe darkness is growing in me, and you tried to pull me out of it. Rage, destruction, chaos wants to flow from me, sometimes.”
Chandi put her finger to his lips. “Doesn’t matter. We’re together now.” She slipped her arms around his back, laid her head on his chest. “If you still want me, nothing else matters.”
Naresh pushed her away, held her by the shoulders. “Of course I still want you. You’re my wife. We should never have parted at all, certainly not like that. But you were right, what matters is what we do from here.”
Chandi nodded. “I have something for you, too.” She pulled a ceramic vial of Amrita from her sarong.
Naresh uncorked it, sniffed it, and held it for a moment. Then he recorked it and handed it back.
“Take it,” she said. “Rahu is freed from the underworld. We’ll need every edge.”
“The one thing we know about this is that it drove Rahu lunatic. It nearly did the same to you. That rage, that darkness inside me, it’s still there. The last thing we can afford to do is feed it with something that induces lunacy.”
“Naresh, I can’t take more. It would leave me as addicted to it as Rahu. I’d be a lunatic for sure. Malin, too. We could give it to Ben, but—”
“No.” Naresh clasped her hands around the vial. “All these secrets of the gods should have stayed secret. Semar all but told me the Lunars broke the Pact because of this, though I didn’t understand at the time. Too many have bled for this. We’ll stop Rahu without it. We’ll send him screaming back to the underworld. We’ve lost enough already.”
“Then we have to go to Bukit. That’s where Rahu attacked Malin, so he may still be there.”
Naresh nodded, and continued on to the river. His limp was almost gone, but he seemed a little weakened. A dhow floated there, anchored, its hull painted like a Warak Ngendog. A slight chill tingled her shoulders at the sight of the monstrous creature.
Naresh took her and the world shifted. She stumbled a little, finding herself suddenly on the dhow’s deck.
Tohjaya scoffed when Naresh demanded the man take them to Swarnadvipa. “And why in Rangda’s frozen underworld,” he said—making Chandi cringe at his choice of words, “would I abandon Suladvipa to Rangguwani and let him claim the throne here?”
“Because you know your best chance at becoming, and remaining, Ratu Adil is by eliminating the Lunar War King. You build up your reputation, win the support of his opponents. Intimidate Rangguwani by doing what he couldn’t. And because my support of your claim depends on your support of my mission.”
The Solar folded his arms and scowled, first at Naresh, then at Chandi. “So be it. I will fight Rahu for you. Then you will fight Rangguwani for me.”
Claiming the capital might end the Fifth War, at last. But once that was finished, had Naresh just committed them to yet another battle?
It didn’t matter. They were together again. He Strode them back to shore and turned to say something to her.
Chandi leapt into his arms. He tried to catch her, but they both tumbled to the ground. He grunted, but seemed fine. So she kissed him.
They lay in the tall grasses outside Pottala. Again and again, she kissed him. Home was where you made it.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE
The Macan Gadungan ambushed them before they reached Bukit. Even in human form, the weretigers tore through their ranks. Tohjaya’s sailors were easy prey.
At least until the Macan Gadungan saw Malin. He walked among them, cowing them with his gaze. One tried to sneak up behind him. Malin grabbed the weretiger and flung him into a tree. The boy—Sunten—groaned.
“Get up,” Malin said.
Chandi had a toyak in hand—not one of the ones he’d given her—but didn’t use it. She just gaped at what he’d done.
“And you,” Malin shouted at Naresh as he cut down another Macan Gadungan. “Stop killing my people!”
Sunten rose, stumbling a little, then faced Malin.
“Join us, or flee,” Malin said. “We are taking Bukit.”
They exchanged glances. A moment’s hesitation, then the boy bowed.
Pohaci would do the same with the Buaya Jadian. She was a hero to them. The girl that stood up to Rahu and lived to tell of it.
Tohjaya trudged through the bodies, Lembu Ampal following close behind, as usual. “Let’s get this over with.”
Malin ignored him. At least two dozen of the men they brought were dead or wounded. They hadn’t yet reached the main army.
“If you’re so eager, we’d be happy for you to lead the charge,” Naresh said to Tohjaya.
Malin smirked as the Solar and his bodyguard stormed past. “Unwise to antagonize the captain of our ship.”
Naresh glowered at him. “I’m famous throughout the Solar Empire for the unwise things I do. Especially antagonizing pompous macaques.” The Guardsman headed on after the Spice King, limping a little.
Bastard.
The saddle roofs of Bukit came into view as they neared the city.
“What happened to the Hill Palace?” Chandi said.
“I burned it down.”
Rather than face the blank look on her face, Malin rushed into the fray. Rahu’s front lines charged at them, each hurling a seligi as he drew into range. Malin dodged. Others weren’t so lucky. And then Naresh and Lembu Ampal Sun Strode among the enemy.
The defenders stumbled over themselves in shock. Naresh broke arms and legs, killing only when hard-pressed. Malin had only meant not to kill the Macan Gadungan. Oh, well. Chandi ran to his aid, also fighting to disable.
A woman was moving fast, very fast. Moon Scion without doubt. She closed on Ben.
He parried her keris attacks on his curved sword once, twice, falling back under her speed. The Serendibian stumbled, fell.
Malin barreled right into her. They tumbled against the ground, rocks biting at his skin. Malin caught her shoulders, came out on top. He smashed her head against the dirt.
Chandi pulled Ben to his feet. “You all right?”
He nodded. Then pointed to Naresh.
Three Moon Scions were on him. Naresh caught the kick of one while dodging the keris thrust of another. Naresh slammed his fist into the kicker’s knee, then reversed his momentum to impale the one that tried to stab him.
He didn’t have time to free his sword before the third swung at him. Naresh Strode behind him. Must have hit him in the kidney from the way the man dropped.
He paused only to retrieve his keris, then was on to other foes. Well. The man had just taken down three Moon Scions. Malin couldn’t have done it faster himself.
Defenders swarmed Chandi. Her toyaks struck high and low, breaking shins and collarbones. Malin stepped in to her aid, using his own clubs against the Lunars.
Others were coming. Reinforcements. Chandi grabbed Ben and ran to meet the newcomers. Fair enough. Malin could handle this pack.
Chandi had squared off against an attacker, when Pohaci shouted. “Stop!” Pohaci ran over, pulling the man aside. “She’s with us.”
Malin finished off his last foe, then trotted to Pohaci. Seemed fine. “Where’s Rahu?”
“My people said he left for the Astral Temple a few days ago.”
“We can’t let him hold the Temple,” Malin said. “Ketu was bad enough.”
Chandi glared at him, but Malin ignored it. Girl had to face who her father had been.
“Malin’s right,” Naresh said. “Much as I hate ever saying those words. We have to get to the Astral Temple. I don’t want to imagine how much havoc someone like Rahu could cause with it.”
“Forget it,” Tohjaya said. “We’ve captured Bukit. Next it’s Daha. It’s time to take down Rangguwani. He’s had too much time to consolidate his power already. The only place the Jin Laut is going is Suladvipa.”
Naresh clenched his fists. “We need that ship, Pak Tohjaya. We need the Fire-Lances to overcome whatever navy Rahu took with him.”
“Probably a fair number of ships, by the look of it,” Pohaci said.
Tohjaya folded his arms across his chest, looked down his nose at them all. He said nothing.
Malin shoved the man to the ground. In an instant, his bodyguard stood between them.
But it was Bendurana who spoke. “Ah, Tohjaya. You try to hold the sea in your hands. The tighter your grasp, the more slips through. I’ve lost the Queen, or I’d make the trip. If we don’t go, you may find the Isles not worth ruling.”
Malin glanced back at Ben. Good to see some fire.
Tohjaya threw up his hands. “Fine. But I keep the Temple. I will hold it as my seat of power. What finer throne for the Ratu Adil?”
Naresh snorted. “You can’t be serious.”
“That’s the price.”
Malin shook his head. “It’s not his to give.”
“Will you acknowledge me as king, Macan Gadungan? As the Ratu Adil?”
Maybe he should just kill the upstart. Rangguwani would make a better king. Pohaci’s hand rested on Malin’s.
Naresh stepped closer to Tohjaya. Lembu Ampal kept trying to shift to keep himself between Tohjaya and both Naresh and Malin. Naresh just spoke around the big Guardsman. “You can keep it, provided you never try to play god with it. But that’s it, Tohjaya. We take the temple and all debts are settled between us.”
Malin glared at the Solar. Let them say what they wanted. The Temple was not a piece to trade in their games.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX
The Jin Laut had caught the first of Rahu’s ships alone, in the open. Their Fire-Lance had torn the ship to pieces before her crew knew what had happened. But here, before the Astral Temple, Chandi’s enemies had gathered. Rahu had seven ships to their one.
“Even with the Tianxian Fire-Lances,” Ben said, “we’ll be hard pressed to fight so many at once.”
Tohjaya waved him off. “Nonsense. They’ve got nothing to stand against our power. Doesn’t matter how many ships they have.”
The three of them stood on the poop deck, with Lembu Ampal nearby. Chandi glanced down at her husband, standing at the bow, watching the ships. Deadly as the Sun Brand might make him, he couldn’t take down the entire crew of a dhow, much less seven.
“Take us alongside their ships,” Tohjaya ordered. “We’ll blow through them.”
Ben shifted from foot to foot. “Ah, Tohjaya, not a good idea. Better if we use our superior range.”
Their captain ignored Ben. Chandi braced herself as the Fire-Lances unleashed their volley. Their shots tore through the lead ship. The deafeni
ng roars of the Fire-Lance drowned out the Lunars’ screams. But she could see they screamed as they leapt over the side of their sinking ship. Dozens of bodies fell into the water, some moving, some not.
“Reload,” Tohjaya said.
But it seemed to take time to ready that black powder.
Rahu’s other ships drew alongside the Jin Laut. Their crews had gandewas. Chandi cursed.
A shadow passed over the dhow, just before a rain of arrows pummeled the deck. Chandi drew her Potency Blessing and flung herself against the rail. So many, impossible to dodge. One grazed her skin. She drew herself into a ball, arms protecting her head.
Thunk. Thunk. The last of the arrows impacted the dhow.
Men were screaming from one of Rahu’s ships. Naresh and Lembu Ampal were among them. Cutting archers to pieces.
Let him be safe. Chandra, protect her love. Actually, Naresh was probably safer on that ship than on the Jin Laut.
Another of Rahu’s ships drew up, prepared to board the Jin Laut on the opposite side. Chandi raced over, readied herself.
“Reload the damn Fire-Lances!” Tohjaya shouted.
“We need to maneuver,” Ben said. “This isn’t working. Separate them, take them down a few at time.”
Tohjaya shoved the Serendibian. “I’m in command here.”
Chandi spun him around by the shoulder. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Let Bendurana take command and we might get out of this alive.”
Tohjaya jerked free of her hand and turned away from her. “I know how to handle my own ship.”
Chandi drew her Blessing and slammed her arm into the back of his neck. “Bendurana’s in command now,” she said to the crew at large.
No one objected.
“Bring us around to port,” Ben said. “We need to line up the other Fire-Lances.”
Naresh appeared on the deck beside her. He was covered in blood, at least some which looked to be his. One ship was ablaze. She jerked her head at the burning ship and Naresh nodded.
So he had taken down a whole ship?