by Lyn Lowe
“I’m sorry, Kale. I didn’t realize.”
Her voice came across a great distance, sliding through the things he needed to forget like a golden lifeline. He grasped at it, pulling himself away from that night with savage desperation.
“Didn’t realize what?” He hated the quiver in his voice.
“I assumed you hated this place because of your pride. But I was wrong, wasn’t I? Something terrible happened here…”
A shudder ran through his spine and, for one really bad moment, his vision swam with the memories he’d only just managed to drag himself free of. “Your city’s drowning in places where something terrible happened,” he managed at last. With colossal effort, he found his anger buried deep beneath the fear and pain. It wrapped around him like a warm blanket, replacing the rolling storm in his stomach with an icy hatred.
He could handle this.
Dau frowned. “You’re not wrong.”
“No,” Kaie agreed flatly. “I’m not. Now, since I’m busy being cooperative, do you think you can manage to answer a question or two straightly?”
She sat down on a blackened bench, folding her hands in her lap and crossing her ankles. She looked the picture of aged refinement. No doubt it was intended to put him at ease. Kaie was unmoved. Dau gave no answer, but he decided to take her silence as permission to proceed.
“Start with why you’re talking like a Urazian.”
She laughed again, that same soft sound. It belonged to a much younger woman. “I didn’t realize the Great Empire owned this kind of speech.”
“You know what I mean!”
“I suppose I do. You know what I am, Kale. I sit on the council because I spent my life as a courtesan. In Hudukul, that’s more than simply providing a few moments of pleasure. It is my responsibility to be a companion, a friend, a confidant, as well as a lover. When I speak, I chose my words to bring comfort to whomever I’m speaking to. Today, it is you. And you talk like a Urazian.”
He scowled. It seemed like an honest answer, but Kaie didn’t like it. He was hoping for a lie, he realized, and an obvious one. Something he could use to get the upper hand on this woman.
“I could speak normally, if you prefer.”
Kaie shook his head, unwilling to admit to her that it was something of a relief. “And this prophesy? What makes you so sure it’s me you’re meant to annoy tonight?”
“You are the one responsible for the massacre that began this war, aren’t you?”
That was disconcerting. Not even Judah suspected the roll he played. “Why would you think that? Don’t tell me! The prophesy warned you that red hair is the mark of a demon! The Abyss spat me up to bring untold suffering and grief down upon your people.”
Almond eyes narrowed, and Kaie got the distinct impression she was laughing at him again. “You are very melodramatic, aren’t you?”
“It makes conversations more fun. Stop avoiding the question.”
“Or what, I wonder?” She shook her head. “No, I learned of your involvement from much more mundane means. Did you think that none of the people who saw you defend the boy would survive, or only that they wouldn’t speak of it?”
He hadn’t thought of them at all, actually. Pushing through the crowds that once filled Hudukul made it easy to think of the people as mindless. Cattle, moving from one place to another. He couldn’t afford such stupid mistakes.
“Alright,” he said. “So you know who I am and what I did. But what kind of prophesy is ‘you’ll meet with some guy who starts a war in your city and chat in the garden for a while’?”
Another laugh. “It was told to my grandfather a bit differently. ‘On the 111,432nd Tialmo Lro’t, the greatest city will know war within its walls for the first time. On the next anniversary of your death, the last of your bloodline will speak with the last of another. He will be the one who started the war, but he will not be the cause of it. They will meet beside the pond you will build to please your daughter, and will speak for less than an hour. For that time, all Ellysum will hold its breath. When they leave, everything will change.’ Does that sound better?”
“No,” Kaie snapped. It was specific enough that he couldn’t find a point to argue. That didn’t sit well with him at all. It also didn’t tell him a damn thing. “Wait. 111,432nd Tialmo Lro’t? I thought you said your grandfather forged this city?”
She smiled. “I’m glad to see you are capable of listening after all. Yes, my grandfather built this city. I called him Grandfather, but most in this world called him Takuu.”
Kaie scoured his mind. The name rang a cord in him, when so few names did. “Takuu? As in the god of order, Takuu?”
Her smile stretched from ear to ear. “One and the same. Impressive, right? I imagine a courtesan being called the heart of Hudukul makes a bit more sense to you now?”
“If I believe it,” he muttered. But he did. Against all logic, he did. “Well that’s a perfectly useless prophesy. I’m no expert, but you’d think the guy would bother to mention something of actual value.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Dau mused. “I find it’s always helpful to be prepared for world-changing conversations, don’t you?”
He scowled at her. “About that. At any time in this ‘less than an hour’ we’ve got, were you planning to actually talk about why we’re really here?”
“You mean the alliance you’re hoping to win.”
“It was what I had in mind, yeah.”
She smiled, and for the first time since meeting her, Kaie saw a crack. The stretch in her lips was on the verge of a grimace. She didn’t like what was coming. “The Huduku are leaving the city, aren’t they?”
That surprised her, but she covered it quickly. “I didn’t realize we were being so obvious about it.”
“You’re not,” he allowed. “So far as I know, no one else in the Twelfth has noticed. They’re all plenty distracted with fighting the Fourth. I’m assuming you’ve left enough fighters to help with the distraction?”
“How did you know?” It wasn’t an answer, but it gave him the information he wanted anyway.
“I’ve been wondering for a while,” he admitted. “Mola is gone longer each time she goes to find our supplies, and I haven’t seen any new faces helping her bring them back in weeks. None of my squads have reported observing any encounters between Huduku and the Fourth in at least as long. And the city seems to get quieter by the hour. But it wasn’t until today that I was sure.”
“Oh?”
“Mola wouldn’t take me down into the passes at first. She made a bunch of noise about it being sacred or something. But Tou Callo was the one who told me about them in the first place, and I’m sure he knows I’ve used them since. Mola tried to claim that he violated some god-made rule about letting outsiders into them, but I don’t believe that. Callo isn’t the type to defy the gods for the sake of some foreign slave, not even one he finds charming. Then, just hours after threatening to kill me rather than let me set foot underground, the girl drags me down there and all but strips me naked with her teeth. I’m not complaining, but bedding men she hates isn’t the sort of thing a girl like Mola does in sacred places. That crap means something to her.”
“I heard you were skilled at reading people,” Dau murmured.
Kaie brushed it off. “That’s less about reading people than common sense. Anyway, there had to be another reason she wouldn’t let me into the place during daylight that she dragged me come the night. I gave it some thought, and could only come up with one that seemed likely.”
“There were others passing through the section of the passes close to where your people are hiding until after nightfall,” she allowed.
He nodded. “How many are leaving?”
Dau shook her head.
Another non-answer. It confirmed the one before it. All of them, or as close to it as she could manage. The Huduku couldn’t possibly expect to disappear from their city without the Fourth noticing. Even occupied with the Twelfth, there w
as no way the Fourth’s Rit was going to ignore the exodus completely. He would send at least a token force to track them and alert the empire’s nearby forces. They would need one hell of a distraction.
“That’s the real purpose of the passes, isn’t it?”
She hesitated for a second, then nodded. “If my grandfather had but one skill, it was planning. He knew that, no matter how great he built it, there is always an enemy who finds a way to breach any wall. So, long before he brought his wife and her people here to live, he built the tunnels running for miles and miles in any direction, so that his children would always be able to flee. As the city grew, he made sure they were always cared for, always improved, and always hidden from outsiders. My mother and I have each done the same, in our time. Of course, keeping such a secret is impossible. So we came up with a story to conceal their true purpose. Before today, I don’t know that any outsider has known the truth.”
“I feel so special.” He didn’t even try to keep his eyes from rolling.
“You must see that a true alliance between our people was always impossible,” she continued. “My people fighting against the empire is simply a matter of locals resisting an invading army,” she continued. “The Empress will seek to put a stop to it, of course. But any punishment will be minor; she will show mercy in an attempt to foster good will. Just as she has done countless times before. But with your Twelfth Brigade…”
“It’s a revolt,” Kaie suppled.
She nodded. “A revolt from one of Urazan’s most successful brigades. That’s not something the Empress can afford to be merciful about, nor will it be dealt with by ordering a handful of executions.”
“No,” he agreed. “It will be handled as swiftly and violently as possible. They’ll take deserters, I expect, but only until the rest of us are defeated. Then she’ll order every last one who wore the iron fist put down. Anyone known to aide us too, I bet.”
“That’s how we see the situation, yes.”
“So you plan to offer us as bait, hoping it will keep the Fourth occupied long enough for you to disappear.”
Dau sighed. “What else would you have us do? We are already giving you more food than we can spare. And, with your people there, the Empress will have to either abandon her war on Jorander to hunt us down or risk looking weak against insurrection from her own army.”
None of this was news to him. He sorted it out long before Autumnsong’s ship was first spotted coming in from the ocean. He and Gregor spent a great deal of time talking about the best way to deal with it, and they even came up with something approaching a passable plan. But that was when they thought the gates and the bay were the only ways out of the city. They counted on the people of Hudukul being trapped inside with them. The passes changed everything, and there was no move Kaie could make here to counter that.
“You haven’t told me anything new, lady. Even Judah will figure out what you’re up to in another day or two, and he’s blinded by thoughts of honor and goodness. So I can’t help but wonder why you asked me here. Was it just to talk about your useless prophesy?”
“I want to ease my conscious,” she said. “Your people have helped us when they could, and we won’t forget that. We try to forgive you all for claiming a city that was never yours, and we try to forgive you, personally, for starting a massacre that weakened us beyond telling. But that isn’t enough to balance what we’re doing to you. I called you here to warn you, Kaie the Unbroken, so that you might have the chance to save as many of your people as possible.”
“You’re going to close up the passes behind your people?”
She hesitated a moment before nodding.
“Then we both know there’s no saving anyone in this city once your people are gone. Even if we can hide, without the supplies we’ll all die of thirst within weeks.”
Dau gave no answer to that. There wasn’t one. They both knew the truth of his words.
“Will you answer a question for me, Kale?”
He frowned. She pressed on, despite it.
“You know Mola intends to betray you?”
Kaie’s frown vanished, a smirk taking its place. “Oh yeah. I’m quite aware.”
Dau’s eyes narrowed, as though she were trying to find some secret buried deep inside him. “Yet you’re letting yourself fall for her, aren’t you?”
He didn’t ask how she could tell. He supposed it came as part of her job as a courtesan, being able to read things like that. He didn’t bother denying it. “I don’t know that people ‘let’ things like that happen.”
Her mouth quirked. “You do.”
Kaie laughed. One short, barking chuckle. “I guess.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. Before that minute, he really never considered it. She drew him like a magnet, and he was fascinated with the hatred burning inside her. A match to his own. And having sex with her was outstanding. But that wasn’t why. Or not all of it. Before he sorted out his own thoughts, Kaie was answering her. “Because I know she’ll do it.”
Dau frowned, and he could read her confusion as clearly as if she spoke it out loud.
“Why does a diseased man welcome death? Because he knows it’s supposed to be. That it’s right. I’m not a good man, lady. The things I’ve done, the things I will do, I’m not even sure I have the right to call myself a man. And I deserve to die. But the one who deserves to kill me won’t do it. She can’t face the fact that everything noble in me died here, in this place. But not Mola. She sees the monster, and when her moment comes, she’s not going to hesitate.”
“You want to die?” Her words were no more than a whisper, and Kaie was surprised, both by the question and the hint of sadness he thought he heard in it.
He shook his head. “No. I’m going to fight for every single breath I draw, until the last of my enemies’ blood pumps out over my hands. I intend to be a blight on the gods themselves, Lady Dau. Death won’t accomplish that. But I can’t deny I’m quite taken with the idea that there’s still some measure of justice left in Ellysum.”
“And that’s what you think Mola is? What her betrayal will be? Justice?”
He smiled toothily. “I know it is.”
Dau sighed, and he knew he wasn’t imagining the sadness this time. He shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t want this old bitch’s pity. “Will you tell me how long we have?”
She said nothing. Her eyes wouldn’t meet his. Soon, then.
Thirty-Four
The knot of tension that took up the whole of his back only eased when Kaie was out of the manse. He brushed off Mola’s attempt at an affection welcome, which won him a scowl, but he barely noticed. He did note that she never asked him how the meeting went. He figured that meant she didn’t know just how honest Dau was with him. Otherwise he suspected she would be working a lot harder to secure her position at his side. Maybe try to convince him the old woman was crazy. Something more than pouting at his distraction.
Their return to the house was uneventful. He found Peren and Vaughan on watch. Henry was fast asleep on the bed, but Judah was up and pacing the small space. It didn’t require any special insight to deduce why. The soldier cornered them the instant he and Mola breached the top of the stairs.
“Well?”
Kaie frowned, shooting a pointed glance in Mola’s direction. She was too busy engaging in a glaring match with Vaughan to notice. The giant didn’t let him down. The man’s mouth snapped shut and, with obvious reluctance, held off any further questioning.
“Have our neighbors moved on yet?”
“No,” Judah answered. “Not enough of them. A group left just after you. We thought they might be after you. But there are at least fifteen still camped out, and the patrols are still too regular for my tastes.”
Damn. “Well, that’s unfortunate. I suppose it’s too much to hope you’ve come up with some brilliant plan on how to get us out of here?”
“I thought that’s what you were doing,” Judah grumbled.
There wasn’t time to push the giant into an argument now. “Well, that makes things difficult.” It was the most diplomatic thing he could think to say. “We’re going to have to make a run for it then. The passes are out.”
Judah’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “You have a good reason for trying to get us all killed?”
“Yes.” Kaie answered simply.
The giant considered him for several minutes. Then, finally, he got a nod. Kaie smiled grimly. Judah shot a quick glance of his own at Mola, and Kaie understood the message quite clearly. The explanation would wait, but only until the moment the Huduku woman was out of earshot.
“When?”
“Sooner would be great.”
Judah swore, but didn’t argue. He turned to the bed and kicked one of the legs hard enough to bang it against the wall. Henry jumped up with wild eyes.
“We’re moving out,” the giant barked. The other man scowled, but tugged his clothes into place. Everyone picked up their weapons and the few supplies left, spread out between five worn packs. Within five minutes, they were moving out.
They fell into position naturally, a habit established very early in their time together. Mola took point. She was the one with the best knowledge of the city and she was fast enough to hold her own. Vaughan and Peren stood in the middle of the group, with Kaie and Henry on either side to protect them. Judah, unquestionably the strongest swordsman, held their backs.
Within minutes of exiting the house through the back door they were surrounded.
It was the first time, since they started their push against the Fourth, that they faced the other soldiers like this. Kaie and Judah worked very hard to pick targets with little resistance and managed to get them in and out without much conflict. While there were a few close calls, they always managed to get to safety before things out of control.