by Lyn Lowe
He wiped away her tears with the thumb of his left hand as he cupped her face. “Hey, enough. You don’t blame yourself when a storm kills people, and you don’t blame yourself when a noble orders a massacre.”
The right corner of her mouth turned up again, just a bit. It was less than he hoped for, but enough to at least acknowledge that she heard him. “She’s not a bad person,” she murmured. “Not really.”
Kaie sighed and tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “I need you to do something for me, Peren.”
She tilted her head into his palm, hiding her eyes beneath thick lashes. “What can I do? I’m just a slave, caught in a storm.”
He managed not to shake her. There was no time for her grief now. The window for saving her was small and closing quickly. “You’re a survivor, remember? You can do plenty. Now listen! You need to get back to Losen’s house. Do you know the way?”
Her lips pursed and she drew away from him. It wasn’t much distance, but it spoke volumes. Especially as she squared her shoulders and the heartbroken girl began to drop away from the woman he knew. “I’m not leaving. Not while you’re still here. I won’t lose you again.”
Kaie shook his head. “I know. Isn’t what I had in mind, either.” He paused, trying to sort out the best way to make her do what was needed. “I told you, I’m going to come and get you. I swear, I will. But I need you to keep the Lady Autumnsong safe until I do.”
Her nose crinkled. “How?”
“There are tunnels. In the walls. I need you to find a door in wall, then push on the bottom. The door will open, and you two can hide there until I come to get you.”
“How will I find it?”
“Check the kitchen,” he guessed. It made sense. “Knock on every bit of the wall that isn’t blocked. You’ll hear a spot that sounds different. That’ll be the door. It won’t take you long.”
“I don’t know…”
He felt the argument coming. Peren took care of him when the Namer left him weak, and she kept their son. She was no coward. She wouldn’t leave just because it would make her life easier. Kaie needed to convince her. Quickly. Time was pressing in against them. Any second could bring Gregor or the Huduku down on them.
“You’re the only one who can keep her safe through what’s coming, Peren. I need you to do this. Please.”
Peren shook her head and backed away from him slowly until her back was pressed up against the door. “She won’t come just because I ask.”
“No. She’ll come because you convince her it’s the only way to save her life. It is, which should help.”
“Why would she believe me? She’s been kind to me, but I’m still just a slave.”
He fought to keep his eyes locked on hers and his expression neutral. “You’ll tell her that the Ninth Rit has betrayed the Empress. That he’s turned some of the army, and that his people are going to take advantage of the chaos this mess has created to kill her. It’s almost entirely true, so it shouldn’t be too hard to sell.”
Peren shook her head again. “Kaie, I’m her ladies maid. I have never even seen the Ninth Rit. How could I possibly explain having such intimate knowledge of his treachery? Why would she believe me?”
“She will. You’re going to say you overheard some soldiers talking about it while you were going about your duties. They saw you, of course, and meant to kill you. But a man showed up and helped you get away. She won’t ask what happened to me, but if she does, you have no idea. You ran straight to warn her.”
She said nothing for several moments. Kaie tried to keep himself calm, recognizing that little time was actually passing, but with everything hung on whether Peren agreed to his plan. He could fit an eternity in the time she was taking to make up her mind. “Why won’t I know what happened to you?”
“Because,” he said flatly. “Trust me, Peren. Please.”
Magic words. He should have used them in the first place. Small lines appeared above her eyebrows, like she was holding in a frown, but she nodded. He wished he could hate himself, for using her like that, but mostly he just felt grateful. She sighed and slid back into his arms. “Find me, Kaie. Promise you’ll come find me.”
He chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “Always.”
She looked up at him, seeing his hesitation. Her eyes were filled with tears but she smiled. “I love you, Kaie.”
He squeezed his eyes shut against tears of his own. He didn’t understand her devotion, couldn’t comprehend how she didn’t feel the same chasm between them. She thought he was still hers, and he was allowing it. Her hand brushed against his shoulder, and then she was gone.
Kaie stood where he was for several minutes. He waited for it not to hurt anymore. After a while, he gave up. There wasn’t time to feel normal again. He needed to get to Gregor’s room.
Time dragged on. One of the hardest parts of surviving horrible things seemed to be waiting for them. Every minute he spent in the relative isolation of Gregor’s sitting room was a minute he spent going over his plan, finding all the ways in which it would be fail.
Gregor was taking too long. Kaie expected him to be there by the time he got back. For all he knew, the Huduku around the manse didn’t know about the slaughter the Urazian soldiers were ordered to take part in, and Gregor was stuck playing host to keep the unrest from boiling over. But Kaie didn’t think so. He didn’t believe there was going to be a festival tonight.
He used the opportunity to consider everything that was happening.
Peren and Vaughan shouldn’t be there. Autumnsong, maybe. It was one hell of a coincidence, but Gregor said the woman was sister to one of the Empress’s most trusted advisors. So it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. But the only two people in Elysium he might count as friends?
No.
Kaie wasn’t stupid enough to write that off as the gods dealing him a favor. They weren’t interested in making his life easier. Kissa was proof of that. Another return that couldn’t possibly be coincidence.
Gregor didn’t believe in the gods. The Rit only believed in what could be measured and weighed. Kaie believed. He was sure they even knew he existed. They were out to get him. Peren and Vaughan were tools one of the gods intended to use to do him some special sort of harm.
Fine. If they wanted to declare war on him, he would fight.
He began the slow process of unfolding his legs, stiff and sore from being in still so long. That was the moment the Ninth Rit stormed into the bedroom. Kaie’s heart and breathing stopped as he waited to be spotted, but Gregor stormed right past.
It took a while, finding a spot against the curved wall that wouldn’t be terrifically visible. But his spot between the bed and the wall was a good one. There was enough space between the corner of the bed and the wall for him to slip out of his spot without any trouble.
Gregor closed the door without looking around. This was his room, and for two years no one crossed the threshold without his permission. He thought he was safe here. He crossed the room casually, tugging off his gloves one finger at a time and tossing them on the bed. Then he walked over to the table, where a basin of water waited. He dipped his hands in and splashed it on his face.
This was his moment.
It took five steps to move across the room. At the last one, Gregor turned around. The Rit’s eyes narrowed and his mouth opened. Kaie didn’t wait to find out what the man wanted to say.
He shoved the dagger into Gregor’s stomach. The weapon was beautiful. The handle was covered in an intricate design made to look like a ribbon braided around the hilt. The silver so well polished it caught every fragment of light and reflected it back a tenfold. It was nothing Gregor would wear unless it was required.
The blade slid through cloth and flesh like butter. He made sure to angle the blade of the knife upward, in the hope of hitting something vital. Not much chance of that. Kaie knew it would be a slow death. There were other places he could have chosen, ones that would see the soldier’s e
nd much quicker. But this was not like Kissa. This time he wanted it to hurt. As much, as long as possible. Blood shot out around his hand with a force he did not expect, coating his hand and covering the front of his shirt.
For a moment, Gregor did nothing but gape at him. Kaie watched as understanding grew in the man’s eyes. The Rit stumbled backwards, knocking over the basin. Water, stained pink with blood, spilled out across the floor. Gregor clung to the table and stared at him, black eyes flashing.
“So now you’re a traitor.” Gregor’s voice was thick.
“That’s funny, coming from you,” Kaie sneered.
“I never killed you.”
“No,” he agreed. “What you did was worse. I want to thank you, actually. I’ve learned so many things in my time with you, but I think the one that means the most is just how easy betrayal is.”
Gregor’s grip on the table slipped and he slid down to the ground. “You did it, didn’t you? It wasn’t Silvertongue who killed her.”
“I’m sorry about your sister,” Kaie said slowly. “I’m not to blame for what happened to her. I didn’t ask her to help, and I won’t feel guilty about running before the Namers could hurt me again. But I’m sorry for what happened to her. And you’re right. I did kill her. If you understood anything about Hollows, you would thank me for it.”
Gregor spat. The dark red spittle never got near him, landing instead at his feet. Kaie chuckled and dropped down closer to the dying man. “Just so we’re clear, I want you to know, I’m not sorry about this. Would’ve preferred not to kill anyone, but we both know that’s not how life works. And let’s be real clear on this count, Master. You had it coming.”
He stood up, jerking off the long shirt and using the clean sections to wipe off the blood that soaked through to his skin and clean the blade. Kaie grabbed a fistful of his hair and sawed it off with three quick movements. He tossed it on the bed beside his discarded shirt and grabbed the cloak from the hiding spot, where he left it. Folded inside it was flint and steel. It took some time, but he managed to get the shirt burning. It wouldn’t take long to engulf the bed.
He headed to the door, but the sound of bitter laughter drew his attention.
Blood bubbled and spilled over Gregor’s smiling lips. The light in his eyes was dulling, but there was no mistaking the hatred in them. “You’ll never be free now.”
“Watch me, asshole.”
Twenty-Five
Kaie wasn’t ever going to remember the details of his flight through the city. It was a blur of tight spaces. The streets were empty and windows were boarded up. Every corner sent his heart soaring up into his ears. The cramped streets made it impossible to tell if the fighting he could hear was waiting for him on the other side, or two blocks away. He would rather not die in the city.
Twice, it seemed certain that’s exactly what he was going to do. The first time was a near-collision with a band of four men with dark cloths wrapped around their faces. Only their eyes were visible as they kicked a bloody and moaning mass on the street. It seemed certain the covered men were going to devote the same attention to him, but they went back to their fun and ignored Kaie.
He didn’t stop to question his luck. He hurried past, taking the same street Maal showed him to get to the manse. Kaie glanced back, and was startled when he recognized the mass as one of Gregor’s captains.
The second time was even more terrifying. Three soldiers, one woman and two men, turned a corner as he was coming from the other direction. Their uniforms were Urazian, Kaie realized instantly that these were no friends of his. They didn’t even bother to check his hair color before they were raising their blood-spattered swords.
The woman muttered something but the pounding of his heart was so loud it impossible to hear. The men with her started laughing. There was no time to think, no time to plan. The woman locked her vicious dark eyes on him as her lips twisted into a cruel smirk. He could run. He was fast and wasn’t weighed down by any of their thick leather armor. But with three pursuers and more waiting at any turn, Kaie didn’t like his odds. So he did the only thing he could think of: he dove at a pile of garbage at his feet and came up with the first big thing he could wrap his hands around.
It was a thick piece of wood, old and splintered. Its use as a weapon was questionable at best, but it was long. Long enough that he’d gained the advantage of reach. It was one of the luckiest finds of his life.
She hesitated for a second. Her two flunkies were distracted by a little girl who made the same mistake he did, barreling into them from the other direction. Kaie didn’t have the luxury of worrying about someone else. His attention was very firmly fixed on the viper making her way to him.
Kaie backed up to the wall. It meant his movement was going to be restricted, and that was a big risk. But he couldn’t take the risk that another enemy would sneak up behind him. Freedom and revenge were so close he could taste the tang of them on his tongue. Dying here in an alley, after everything he’d done and endured, was simply unacceptable. Not even the gods could be that cruel.
Then she was on him.
She was not from the Twelfth. He realized that even before he caught a glimpse of the gold star on her shoulder. This woman was too arrogant, and too accustomed to carving into people who didn’t offer much resistance. She made no attempts to protect herself, relying on her armor to do that work while she attacked. Gregor would never allow that behavior. In a fair match, it would make her easy to Kaie to dispatch. But this was definitely not one of those. Not so long as she had that sword of hers.
She darted in at him, trying to get inside his reach. She was fast. He was faster. He managed to fend her off, but it won him a deep cut on his right arm. The blood flowed down his arm. It was only by luck that it didn’t coat his hand and compromise his grip on the board. He needed to neutralize her blade before she scored a hit that caused him real problems. It wouldn’t take much. All she really needed was for him to loose enough blood to slow down. Defending himself wasn’t going to win him anything here. He needed to attack.
Making that decision was a lot easier than implementing it. She was cocky, but not a fool. She watched his movements closely. He could probably manage to take the sword from her, but the price would too high. It would almost certainly cost him his life, even if he managed to win the battle. He wasn’t getting out of this alley with her so focused.
As if his thoughts summoned it, a loud explosion shook the buildings around them, turning her attention away for just an instant. Kaie took the opportunity to bring down the hunk of wood across her hands with all the strength in his body.
The board shattered, leaving nothing more than a jagged hunk of wood no bigger than the size of his hand. She screeched in pain and dropped her blade. He shifted his feet, preparing to launch himself and his shattered weapon at her, almost seeing the wood tare through her throat. She spun. In an instant, she was running, the two men close at her heels. He stared, trying to figure out what just happened. Then he turned to help the girl.
The whole fight hadn’t taken more than a minute or two. But that was plenty of time for the brutes to do sufficient damage. They didn’t even bother with their swords. Their booted feet were more than enough to leave her nothing more than a mass of meat. There was nothing he could do for her.
The rest of his trip proceeded much like the beginning. He encountered no more trouble. The sounds of fighting faded, the deeper into the city he went. If he could just manage to keep moving long enough to get where he was going, he could worry about the whys later. But the blood loss was taking its toll. By the time he reached the water, Kaie was lurching along at a pace that made his anxiety almost unbearable. Each step seemed to drag on for hours.
Kaie saw no signs or markers separating the merchant district from any other part of Hudukul. He wandered around, nearly aimless, looking for a house that clearly belonged to Losen. But all the buildings looked the same. Until they didn’t.
Only the wealthiest peop
le would live in the plaza he stumbled into. That meant the merchants. They might not be the highest caste, but they were certainly the ones with the money. The fountain was big enough for a family to go swimming in. Each house was a different color, all as garish as the shirt Losen was wearing the last time Kaie saw him.
There was no need to wonder which one was the politician’s. It was a light purple, the door bright orange, and each of the windows was surrounded by a ring of dark red. There was also the flag of the empire fluttering over the door arch. He recognized the diving sparrow anywhere. It was stamped into every set of armor he came across for the last two years.
Of course, it was also the only place on fire. There were a few flickering tendrils eating away at the wood covering one of the windows, and a thick stream of smoke climbing up into the evening sky.
His energy lasted just long enough to get him through the charred doorway. Then he collapsed in an uncomfortable heap. He laid there, discomfort be damned, waiting for some small amount of strength to return to his limbs. He would’ve stayed sprawled there for an eternity, enjoying the relative peace and safety the house offered. But then he noticed the body.
The body was in the precise center of the entry hall. The clothes were mostly intact. He recognized them as the attire given to slaves in Lindel. Every inch of skin that wasn’t covered was a mass of huge red welts, like engorged insect bites or blisters. It almost looked like the person boiled from the inside. The body’s head was hidden between its arms, but he could see a tuft of brown hair sticking out from between what used to be fingers.
The sight of the disfigured corpse made his stomach tighten in a primal disgust. Swallowing hard against the instinct to vomit, Kaie rolled onto his stomach and stumbled to his feet. He knew it was pointless, knew there was no way something that twisted could still be a living thing, but he reached out to check for a pulse. His finger brushed against one of the welts, and it exploded.