Mol Khah reached into his robes and pulled out a dagger. He put the blade at her throat, then dragged it down her breast, slicing through her robe and chemise. Still strangling her throat with his other hand, he put away the knife, then threw her to the bed. He tore apart her robes to finish what the knife had started, leaving her naked as a woman raped and robbed and left for dead. Kallia lay on her pillows, gasping.
“My master does not mind damaged goods.” He sneered. “This whole city is damaged. Soft and weak. But Balsalom will change soon enough. As will you. Dress yourself. When you finish, I will summon a maidservant to fix your hair and face paint.”
This time, Kallia obeyed.
Kallia entered the throne room, and all eyes watched. The scarlet robes fit her perfectly, while diamonds and emeralds glittered in her hair, on her wrists and ankles, about her shoulders and along her neck and down her breast. The high collar and emerald necklace covered the bruises around her throat. A white sash around her waist represented her virtue, although she doubted Cragyn would have required such. By tradition, a husband would stain the white satin with the blood of her wedding night, should she prove a virgin, and display it on his door as proof of her purity. In recent memory, however, such pre-marital chastity was rarely expected.
Cragyn sat on the throne with the Scepter of Balsalom in hand. He wore polished black armor, with a tunic draped over the top embroidered with emblems of fertility and words in the old script. Around him stood his ministers, pashas, and viziers, together with an honor guard of thirty men at the door. She saw a few others in the room that she recognized: ministers and guildmasters from Balsalom who would witness her marriage. Somewhat surprisingly, Saldibar stood in this group, and the man’s face clenched into a terrible mixture of hate and dread. Seeing him here dismayed her; she had hoped he would flee the city before the wizard murdered her old ministers.
No other women were present, nobody who would represent her mother in the ceremony. Neither did she see the brother figure dressed in peasant robes with the scythe of harvest at his feet. What kind of wedding was this?
Another strange element were the hundreds of candles lining the walls, each giving off a ghostly blue light. A thick, sweet smell wafted from the candles, filling the air with a suffocating—closeness, was how she would describe it. A feeling that everyone in the room had merged into a single soul, all of them held in the pulsing entity living beneath the wizard’s skin. The ceiling in the throne room crowned the unlit gloom forty feet overhead, but the candle smoke clung to the ground, rather than dissipating in the heights.
Mol Khah released her arm and stood next to his master. “I have brought your bride.”
“Ah, yes,” Cragyn said, beckoning with a finger. “Come stand next to me.”
She obeyed, forcing herself to remain perfectly still in spite of the tremors rising to the surface and the terrible fear in her breast.
“I have had many other wives, concubines, and harlots,” he said, speaking loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “Beside their beauty, your appearance is a dunghill.”
A few startled gasps behind her. She bowed her head. “Yes, master.”
“But all of my other wives are dead, and I have decided you will suit my purpose.”
“Yes, my master.”
He balled his fist and opened it. A flash of light burst into the room, drowning the candles, illuminating startled faces, and the clouds of smoke drifting overhead. Two ghostly blue figures appeared by his side. The first, a woman, was dressed much as anyone else at the ceremony, in ceremonial garb, but the second was dressed as a peasant with a scythe by his side.
The presence of the wights was unexpected. The guests shrank from these apparitions, even Mol Khah, his sneer gone.
Kallia drew backward, her resolve fleeing. The man was the ghost of the high khalif, Ahmaad Faal, the former high khalif of Veyre. The woman was his wife Tainara Faal, a woman so greatly loved by her people that some forty people in Veyre had thrown themselves into the sea when she was murdered. Her father had been the khalif Josiah Saffa, a cousin of Kallia’s father.
The eyes of both wights raged with the madness of a spirit who has remained in the land beyond when the Harvester has come to gather the dead.
Tainara’s spirit seized her by the wrist, a chill grasp that sapped Kallia’s strength until she felt she would collapse to the floor. She forced herself to remain steady, staring into the dark wizard’s eyes. The chill spread to her shoulder. Her eyes swam and she staggered.
The spirit spoke in a hollow voice that was only a memory of life. “I give you this woman to your care and keeping. May she serve you well.”
The spirit of the high khalif, her husband, lifted his scythe and swept it at her neck, stopping the blade just as it touched her skin. He nodded his head. “The harvest welcomes her. May her womb be a fertile land for you to plant your seed.” He stepped back and put the scythe at his feet.
Both of their speeches were much shorter than she’d expected, but enough to satisfy ritual.
Cragyn stood slowly, letting the scepter drop to his feet. He reached out his hands and untied the white sash about her waist and laid it over his shoulder. “I accept this woman as my wife.”
Cragyn turned to the wights. “That is all.” He cast another flash of light. For a moment, the wights flickered on the edge of this world and whatever sheol had bound their souls. As they did, they passed through a moment of recognition. Horror spread across their faces, and they opened their mouths to scream. And then the image was gone; the wights faded from sight.
“I don’t believe in long ceremonies,” the dark wizard said.
The wizard turned to address Mol Khah. “To honor my new bride and her reign, impale a Balsalomian for every day since the khalifa assumed the scepter. Let the road from here to the khalifate of Ter be planted with these stakes. Encircle Balsalom with a ring of additional stakes.” He had said the words much as if he’d pronounced a week of celebratory feasting, or just freed a thousand slaves at his own expense.
Mol Khah smiled and bowed. “As you wish, master.”
Kallia’s resolve shattered. “No, please. You promised to spare the city. Kill me if you wish, set me atop Toth’s View next to my brother, but please don’t hurt my people.” She wept.
Cragyn fixed her with a pitiless gaze. “They are my people now. And they have become too soft. Perhaps if you had ruled with a firmer hand, I would not have to take such measures.” He looked at the others in the room, who stood in shock. “The khalifa and I have pleasures to share. Leave us.”
The others fled, even Mol Khah. No doubt the wizard’s own men had seen such horrors before, but the others would surely spread the news. Cragyn’s power would grow with the telling. She saw in their eyes that many didn’t expect her to live until morning. Indeed, she’d begun to doubt that she would.
“Come, my dear.” He took her wrist in a painful grip and dragged her from the room, while she tried to recover her balance.
The wizard didn’t lead her to the tower or her garden rooms, but to apartments he’d chosen on the edge of the palace. These rooms had once belonged to a lesser minister.
Cragyn threw her on the bed pillows, then drew open the curtains and she knew that he’d chosen these apartments only to serve the sadistic monster eating him alive from the inside. The rooms stood on the edge of the palace, overlooking the city. She could hear screams in the streets as loved ones were ripped from their homes and impaled on stakes. Brief sounds of battle raged through the streets, and the smell of smoke filled the air.
Cragyn turned to her. He shrugged off his cloak and untied the tethers on his breast plate, tossing the armor to the floor. “You may submit, or you may resist.” He shrugged. “Either way, I suspect that I will enjoy the night more than you . . . or Balsalom.”
Kallia would resist. How could she do otherwise when her people suffered so? She felt their pain worse than her own.
By morning, she wish
ed she had killed herself when she’d had the chance. But in that respect, she was not alone in Balsalom.
Cragyn left before the sun rose. An old slave woman came to care for her. It was nobody Kallia recognized; the wizard had apparently determined to separate her from everyone she knew. Render her powerless.
The woman studied her swollen face with a critical eye. She used a warm cloth to wipe away the blood from around her mouth. Her touch was surprisingly gentle and Kallia had to remind herself not to hate Veyrians in general. Perhaps some spark of goodness would stay alive. A powerful wizard might live for centuries, but everyone died eventually. Maybe then this dormant spark could emerge and heal the damage Cragyn left behind.
The woman handed her a cup of tea. Kallia took a sip and looked up sharply at the slave, who busied herself cleaning up the torn bedding. The tea had a bitter taste and she thought for a moment that Saldibar had found a way to deliver poison to mercifully end her life. But no, she recognized the taste of willow leaves and savin, and knew the drink for what it was. The apothecaries guild sold a paste that could be mixed into tea to prevent a man’s seed from taking root. Grateful, she drank the tea and poured herself another cup.
Quiet had descended outside her window. The soldiers would be fixing their stakes alongside the Tothian Way for the next twenty miles, impaling those unfortunate enough to live in Balsalom at the end of Kallia’s reign.
After she’d cared for the visible injuries, the slave woman looked at the two men guarding the door. A third man, a minor wizard of some kind, sat on a pile of cushions, smoking a hookah. All morning long, he’d smoked while the two guards stood silently at the door.
“I require privacy to treat the khalifa’s other wounds.”
None of the men moved. The wizard puffed at his pipe. Bubbles rose through the water. He blew a smoke ring, followed by a second.
The slave woman shrugged and turned back to Kallia. “Brave the consequences. When you wake tomorrow to find your members shriveled and useless, you’ll wish you’d listened.”
She proclaimed the words as if she were possessed of witchcraft. The guards shifted uncomfortably, then the senior guard gestured with his head and they stepped into the hallway. The wizard picked up his water pipe and carried it out, then returned for his pillows. He pulled the door shut behind him.
As soon as they left, the old woman drew the curtains, then turned the latch on the door. The soldiers could break the lock, but not without effort and considerable warning. The woman swept back her hood, then stripped a ragged gray wig from her head, revealing a bald skull. She straightened her back, and the transformation was complete. Saldibar stood in front of her.
“That bastard. I’ll kill him for this if I ever get a chance.”
“Saldibar,” Kallia exclaimed, surprised and pleased. She kissed him on both cheeks. “But your voice.”
He shrugged. “Who do you think trained those spies who followed you for so many years?” Saldibar reached out a hand to her swollen cheek and winced. “I wanted to help you in the throne room, but there was something in those candles that had us all drugged. Even the dark wizard himself, I believe.”
“Please,” she said. “There is no hope of rescuing me. Guards fill the hallways and Cragyn might return at any minute. Go, leave the city and keep yourself alive.”
“Rescue? No, I’ve got grander plans than rescue.”
Hope crept into Kallia’s heart. “What do you mean?”
The older man looked unsure of himself. “I am only your servant, khalifa, may you live forever. But I’m grateful that you didn’t kill yourself.”
“No great courage of my own, I regret,” she said.
“Be that as it may, I am grateful. We face an excellent opportunity. I’m assembling the means for a revolt that will cast the dark wizard from our city and destroy his army at the same time.”
She shook her head, hope withering as quickly as it had sprung forth. “More pain and death lies in that path, much as I would like to try. Look at the evils he brought about when we surrendered. What will he do if we resist?”
Kallia continued, “The dark wizard’s men are fanatics, controlled and bought through fear, bribed by feeding them violence. He controls wights, owns the allegiance of dragon kin and their wasps, holds giants under his sway. No, the wizard is too strong for us to fight.”
“But what if the wizard left the city and took the better part of his army? Could we take it then?”
She considered. “Perhaps, depending on what support we can draw. How do you propose to lure him away?”
“I don’t have to do anything. He means to march west. He wants to seize the Way before King Daniel moves.”
“He’s leaving? The entire army?”
“Not all of them, no. Plenty will remain to subdue all but the most ferocious resistance. And he’s left Mol Khah to lead them, a monster in his own right.”
“Yes,” Kallia said, remembering the feel of the man’s hand on her throat. “I’ve seen that for myself.”
“Now,” Saldibar said. “What we need is an army to retake Balsalom.” He sighed. “And that’s where the plan fails. How do we do that? His ministers have taken over the city. Neither of us have any influence.”
Kallia smiled, seeing the answer that the grand vizier had overlooked. “Ah, but you forget who does have power.”
“Who?”
“The guilds. Nobody can break their power.”
Kallia had fought to break their monopolies for years with little success. Without their organization and control of commerce, the city could not function. Neither, she suspected, could any of the khalifates from here to Veyre.
“Yes, the guilds,” Saldibar said, rubbing his hand over his bald skull. “I should have guessed. And much as you’ve fought them, they would prefer your rule to the dark wizard. I can approach Fenerath and propose a truce.”
Kallia said, “Once we retake Balsalom, the people will give their lives to hold it; they’ve seen what Cragyn will do, and if they forget, they can look down the Tothian Way at their family members on stakes.
“And we can test what Cragyn will do with a rebellion at his back and the armies of the Free Kingdoms at his front,” she continued. “With any luck we can consolidate the rest of the Western Khalifates before the enemy even hears of the revolt. Yes, contact the guilds. Arrange a meeting.”
Saldibar replaced the wig and pulled the hood over his head. “I’ll contact you as soon as I can.”
She tried to stand and winced in pain. Saldibar caught her arm. She said, “Please do send someone to look after my other injuries. The dark wizard is not a gentle lover.”
Saldibar helped her back to the bed, his face as concerned as any father’s. “Of course, my queen. And thank you for forgiving my weaknesses. I know I have failed you.”
Kallia touched his arm, ignoring the bitter smile on his face. “Saldibar, you have never failed me.” She leaned back and closed her eyes.
“There is one other thing,” Saldibar said as he turned to go. “My spies discovered who set fire to the Slaves Quarter. No enemy at all, but an ally fleeing from wights sent by the dark wizard.”
Kallia opened her eyes. “Oh?”
“You may or may not remember, but your father had a bodyguard, a barbarian. A good man.”
“Whelan.” Her heart fluttered oddly in her chest, remembering how he had looked at her in her father’s bed chambers so many years ago.
“Yes, I thought you would remember. He belongs to the Brotherhood of the Thorne, specifically to a fanatical band of warriors called the Knights Temperate, and has fled to warn King Daniel about the dark wizard. Or so my spies tell me.”
Kallia knew the sect, although she hadn’t known Whelan was a member. Together with the Order of the Wounded Hand, a band of wizards, the Brotherhood had founded the Citadel. King Daniel was a patron to these strange groups, even lending credence to the teachings of the philosopher who had founded these two fellowships.
“Saldibar, that isn’t going to happen. If Balsalom suffers, I suffer. If she dies, so do I. But I won’t leave.” She fixed him with a sharp gaze, a look warning him not to try anything that would contradict this assertion. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, my queen.”
Cragyn marched that afternoon. He left a broken city.
Over two thousand men, women, and children sat impaled on stakes surrounding the walls and lining the Tothian Way to Ter. Their screams still carried over the walls, although they began to fade. Hundreds of others had died in the night of butchery that followed the wedding of their khalifa to the dark wizard. Torturers had spent the night with Kallia’s brother Omar and his screams could be heard throughout the palace. By late morning, they’d planted his head on a pike atop Toth’s View. The torturers welcomed the dark wizard; he’d promised them their own guild, out from beneath the corrections guild.
Several thousand more people were led east in chains, including most of Kallia’s army and several hundred slaves. Thousands more might have fled to Horvan or Ter, or one of the cities upon which the wizard’s wrath had fallen less harshly, but Mol Khah’s soldiers guarded the gates and drove back any without legitimate reasons for leaving.
Even the gardens were defiled; mammoths stripped branches from trees to satisfy voracious appetites. Two giants uprooted a four-hundred-year-old olive tree planted when Balsalom was still young, while Mol Khah’s twelfth phalanx destroyed the khalifa’s vineyards digging for gold coins reported buried for safekeeping beneath its vines.
The merchant tower rang its bells to open the Grand Bazaar, but few merchants came and fewer customers.
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