The Heart Forger

by Rin Chupeco

  The Heartforger calmly snatched a falling vial in midair, setting it on the floor before returning to his forging. I grabbed at the windowsill and chanced a look outside. The daeva remained where they were below, still waiting placidly.

  Beyond the gates, I could see the army struggling to regain footing. And then another wave hit us, and the ground around the soldiers broke apart. I saw skeletal hands reaching up to clasp the now-frightened infantry by their legs. I saw horses rear up, throwing off their riders as the undead clawed out from the soil in easily twice their number.

  And then the screaming began.

  I dashed from the window and fell to my knees, vomiting.

  “They’re eating them,” the Dark asha said matter-of-factly, “though I don’t suppose the undead have much appetite.”

  “My lady!”

  “I warned them. I told you of our language of flowers, Bard. Yellow carnations mean rejection, and striped ones tell me that the elder asha refuse to compromise. Parmina’s azalea-shaped zivar said she is concerned for me, but nonetheless, she is powerless to order the army’s retreat. I responded with monkshood to warn her of traitors in their midst and then belvedere—merciless war—should they proceed. They did not listen. They made their choices, and I made mine. If I cannot sway them with kindness, then they shall die.”

  She took a step forward, doubled over. Her shoulders shook from pain, and Lord Khalad abandoned his work to reach her side, worry etched on his face.

  “It would appear,” she gasped out, “that darksglass is starting to take a toll on me earlier than I would have wanted.”

  “You expected this?” The Heartforger demanded.

  “There is a price for this much power, Khalad.” She straightened again, a sudden burst of strength. “There is no need for concern. I will finish this one way or another.”

  “Kalen—”

  “Kalen knows. That is why he is fighting out there instead of me.”

  I staggered to my feet and glimpsed the soldiers defending themselves, cutting off limbs and heads. Their actions did little to stem the tide of undead.

  The Dark asha watched the chaos her creations caused with a smile on her face. “Something similar happened in Kion many months ago.”

  “I—I remember the reports. An attack on Ankyo, they said, by the Odalian army.” I could not look away from the horror unfolding before me.

  “An eye for an eye, Bard. I do not forget.”

  17

  Fox looked on with amusement as I sat on the lid of my overflowing trunk, endeavoring to close it despite all evidence to the contrary. Sensing my irritation, the azi tossed and turned within the depths of my thoughts, strangely uneasy.

  “There,” I grunted, finally latching the lid and allowing the servants to carry it out. “Perhaps Princess Inessa might decide to forgo the trunk and ship my whole closet to Daanoris instead. I must be bringing more than she is.”

  “She’s bringing twice what you have.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “She and the empress haven’t stopped fighting about whether or not she should accompany us. I could hear them from the other end of the palace as clearly as I could hear everyone in between.”

  Likh peered into the room. “Althy says we’re to leave at first light, with either a small legion of soldiers or, er, a dozen depending.”

  “Depending on what?” I asked.

  “On whether the princess or the empress wins the argument. Although it seems moot at this point. I am told a pigeon from Daanoris has just arrived. The emperor refused the delegation unless the princess comes with us.”

  I groaned. “Perhaps my azi can swoop down and bully the emperor into helping us find the forger.”

  “Tea!”

  “I’m serious. If I had a choice, I’d stay here. I don’t want to leave Mykaela and Polaire.”

  “I know. At least they’ll be well rested when they wake.”

  I laughed. “Likh, you really do look on the bright side of every situation, don’t you?”

  “I try. We need all the positivity we can.” Likh shifted. “Tea, are you close friends with Khalad? Do you know much about him?”

  “As good a friendship as a bone witch and a Heartforger are capable of having. Why do you ask?”

  Likh stared at a wall. “I didn’t know there was another option for male spellbinders beyond joining the Deathseekers.”

  “Khalad is an exception. The Kion forger is the only remaining master of his trade, but he’s also extremely selective when it comes to apprentices.”

  “And you give Khalad memories for his ingredients?”

  “Yes. Asha replenish their own memories. Regular people can’t.”

  “So I can give memories too?” Likh’s face was earnest and easy to read.

  “Well, yes. Why are you—?”

  Several things happened instantaneously. The azi reared up in alarm. Its wings spread, and all three heads hissed angrily, then the beast shot out of the lake it had been nesting in.

  At the same time, there were shouts along the corridor, the sounds of running feet and frightened yelling. From the direction of the Kion city gates, I could see dark, heavy smoke rising into the air.

  I felt the sudden flicker of a Compulsion rune, saw the surprise on a servant’s face before her expression turned blank. Wordlessly, she picked up a poker she had been using to tend the fireplace and raised it at Fox’s unprotected back.

  A barrage of wind swept into the room, the Hurricane rune gleaming in Likh’s hands as the maid slammed into the door, knocking her out.

  A sudden scream ripped through the air, and Fox was out the door in a flash.

  “What’s going on?” Likh cried, alarmed, but I was already chasing after my brother into the royal chambers. Empress Alyx was on the floor, stunned. Princess Inessa stood before her with a sword in hand, eyes wide as the unfamiliar guard approached her, his own blade raised.

  Fox took one look at the faint bruise marring the princess’s cheek and a growl rose from his throat. One broad stroke was all it took to send the soldier on his back, but I leaped forward before he could deliver the killing blow.

  “No, Fox! He’s being compelled!” I forced my way into the fallen man’s mind, the azi giving me the strength I needed to fight through the barriers in my path, and commanded him to sleep. The man obeyed.

  “Are you hurt?” Fox’s eyes were still blazing. I could taste his fear.

  “We’re fine, just shaken up. What’s going on?” the princess asked.

  “The city is under attack.”

  “Someone’s compelling people!” I shouted. “We need to—”

  I broke off and stumbled, my mind on fire. White-hot heat scorched my vision. All I could see was the strength of our wings as it kept us aloft in the wind, our three heads snapping at invisible attackers as we continued our inexorable trek to Kion. Danger, the shadows breathed. Danger, Master.

  I could feel warmth and a pair of arms as someone carried me down the hallway, shouting, before setting me somewhere soft. A babble of voices washed over me, concerned and questioning. I heard brief snatches of conversation, swimming in and out of focus—

  “—what’s wrong with Tea?”

  “—collapsed. Not a coincidence—”

  “—no demands that we surrender. Going too far, even for him—”

  “—tried to attack Princess Inessa and the empress! Barricade the door!”

  “—aren’t you allies? Would he go so far as to—”

  “—betrayed—”

  “—battering the gates. It will fall before long—”

  “—battering the doors. They’ve gotten into the palace—”

  “—must leave.” The empress’s voice broke through the fog. “This must be the duke’s doing.”

  “What mak
es you think this is the duke’s doing?” Zoya asked. “We would have sensed if he were capable of magic.”

  “It’s too much of a coincidence for there to be an attack so soon after your arrival. My scouts are reporting Odalian colors in the field. If this is not the duke’s doing, then someone is doing this with his approval. He’s after Khalad and Tea, we know that. Kance’s heartsglass too, I warrant.”

  “No asha can pry his heart from me,” Inessa argued. “I’m going with them, Mother.”

  “Surely Althy can think of some way—”

  “I cannot,” Althy cut in, and something cool was pressed against my forehead. I heard hammering at the door, interspersed with sounds of fighting. “There are limits to what spellbinding can do, and matters of the heart stand high on that list. The princess is right. Where Prince Kance’s heartsglass goes, she must go along with it.”

  “The azi,” I croaked, staring up at the ceiling.

  “Tea?” Rahim’s voice drew close. “What is happening? Even my assistants I had to fight off—”

  “The azi’s coming,” I gasped, my voice thick as sandpaper. I was seeing double, the throne room overlapping with my vision of the city of Kion on the horizon. “It’s going to—”

  And then I felt it, the reason for the daeva’s anger. Underneath its wings, I saw the army, twice the size I knew Odalia’s army to be, spread out for miles around us.

  And over half the army was visibly rotting. Strips of armor rusted on their bodies, and their faces were of those long since dead, decaying and desiccated. Those closest to the city gates threw themselves at the walls, heedless of broken bones and torn flesh.

  “They’re dead!” I cried out. “All of them dead! It isn’t an army of soldiers at the city walls, Your Majesty. It’s an army of dead.”

  “Impossible!” the empress said. “No one could summon that many—”

  “Yes, they can,” Althy said with a grim smile. “The Puppet rune, wasn’t it? To do this successfully requires immense power.”

  “Seeking stones.” Through the azi’s eyes, I saw soft globes of light wafting from among the corpses. “They brought seeking stones with them!”

  “What’s a seeking stone?” Princess Inessa asked shakily.

  “It amplifies an asha’s power,” Althy told her. “Whoever controls the corpses is channeling through them. Tea, how many do you see?”

  I concentrated. “Seven.”

  Althy grimaced. “A normal spellbinder would already be suffering from darkrot. No one can command seven stones at once and retain their sanity. Your Majesty, we must be prepared for the worst.”

  “I am not leaving Kion and my people to these hordes of undead, Altaecia!”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. To concentrate on two perspectives was draining, so I struggled to focus on the one where I could do some good. The azi purred when it felt me graze against its consciousness, opening its mind to allow me entrance. We headed straight for the undead horde amassing outside. They battered the city gates without mercy, and all three of the azi’s mouths opened.

  The undead soldiers made no sound as they burned, consumed almost immediately by the blazing fireballs that slammed into them from overhead. We cawed in triumph and dove toward the city entrance. I saw the Ankyon soldiers manning the towers, fear etched upon their faces as death approached, the bravest of them shooting arrows at us in desperation.

  I ignored their attacks and turned at the last minute, lashing out with our claws and ripping away most of the undead still hammering at the gates. I circled around and unleashed three more streams of deadly fire. The undead died again, lost in the inferno.

  We next directed our ire at the pulses of magic amid the throng, at the seeking stones. I guided the azi through the air, using its winged body in place of my hand as it wove the Strangle rune in my stead. The rune shone large in the sky, and through the daeva’s eyes, I could see the telltale flickers of the seeking stones dotting the army below us. At my command, the daeva landed before one of the soldiers that carried a seeking stone, and the azi’s middle head snapped out to grab the glowing orb in its jaws before rising up again. I flew the daeva straight into the center of my rune, and the seeking stone exploded into oblivion. Again and again, we singled out the dead warriors, and soon, a greater part of the undead stopped, unmoving, until we put them out of their misery with more flames.

  Dimly, I felt someone grab hold of my human body, attempting to shake its shoulders, and sensed someone pushing them away. “No!” Fox’s voice said, cold and clear in the confusion. “Let her be. She’s saving us.”

  I swooped down and sprayed the men with fire until bonfires dotted the fields. We circled the city hungrily, awaiting more signs of movement, but nothing else stirred. The undead army lay smoldering. I sent my mind out, probing, but I was certain none of the seeking stones survived the onslaught.

  A babble of voices erupted again, excited and joyful. I was more cautious, arrested by a sense of wrongness.

  They are coming, the azi’s mind boomed, already reaching out to the horizon.

  “It’s not over,” Fox said, voice brittle and bleak. “They are coming.”

  It was not the dead that came in droves this time but the army of the living, in gleaming armor with polished swords, marching toward the city of Kion. From their flank streamed the flag of Odalia, flashing bright gold and red. Zoya might not be sure if the duke led this attack, but the presence of Odalian soldiers made a compelling argument for it.

  “We need to leave now,” Kalen said, putting my own thoughts into words. “They will keep attacking Kion as long as we remain in the city. There is no more time, Your Majesty.”

  “And what of Inessa?” Empress Alyx demanded.

  “She will not be safe here. That is out of our hands. If the Faceless can infiltrate the palace, then she and Kance’s heartsglass will be safest by the Dark asha and the Heartforger’s side, wherever that may be.”

  Mother and daughter looked at each other without speaking. Finally, the older woman reached out and hugged her daughter. “I should have let you make your own decisions,” she said roughly, unshed tears salting her voice. “Protect your betrothed’s heart, Inessa, and may the gods watch over you.”

  Zoya spoke up, “I’d like to know how we are leaving the city, surrounded as we are.”

  Wordlessly, Fox pointed toward the sky.

  “Again?!”

  “You can either stay or join us, Zoya. I won’t force you on the azi if you’re not comfortable with it,” I replied.

  “You say, ‘comfortable.’ I say, ‘it’s a freaking flying three-headed dragon, you sod.’”

  “I don’t think we have much choice, Zoya,” Shadi said gently.

  The asha looked at her, squared her shoulders. “I did give my word, didn’t I? But you have every right to refuse, Shad.”

  “I go where you go, Zoya. We promised each other.” The doe-eyed asha took Zoya’s hands in hers, and the normally abrasive girl blushed.

  “I’m going,” Khalad said quietly.

  “So am I,” Likh said immediately.

  “I cannot.” Heads turned toward Althy. “Someone needs to stay and ensure the city remains protected after you are gone. Zahid and most of the Deathseekers are away from Kion, and among the other asha, I am the most qualified to take command. We cannot leave Ankyo open for the taking, Your Majesty. And I, for one, cannot leave Mykaela and Polaire alone.”

  “But what about my daughter?”

  “You will not find worthier people than them, Alyx. They have fought worse demons than I have and saved this city more times than you are aware of.” Althy smiled at us. “I trust them. Zoya, you know Daanorian, so I expect you to take charge.”

  Zoya sighed. “I’m surrounded by heroes.”

  I opened my eyes. “We need to get out of Kion. Tell them to open the gates for u
s and to keep as many men away from it as possible.”

  “That will be difficult,” Althy murmured. “To leave the city defenses unmanned might provoke the soldiers to step up their attack.”

  “They won’t,” I promised. “But whatever you do, don’t distract me. I want to keep my hold as tight as possible.”

  Althy nodded. “May the Blade’s path guide your way, Tea. Protect the princess. I will do everything in my power to hold down the fort here.”

  I clasped her hands. “Althy. Remember what I told you about the elder asha.”

  “Tea…”

  “Don’t let them near Polaire or Mykaela. Promise me.”

  The asha looked troubled but nodded. “I swear it.”

  “We will help them, Tea,” Rahim promised. “I am Tresean. It is in my blood to fight. And Chesh and all the rest—we will help protect the city with the empress and Altaecia until you come back. So you must come back!”

  I tried to smile, but the daeva’s thoughts slammed back into mine. My stomach plummeted as it dove straight toward the center of the army, and I forced it back toward the sky without inflicting any casualties, though a trail of arrows followed in our wake. I goaded all three mouths into opening again, and the resulting fire raked across the regiments in front, a blazing line in the ground that prevented them from pushing forward.

  I could feel Fox lifting me again, felt him run. I heard sounds of battle and the surge of magic as we fought our way out of the palace. And then I heard Chief close by, nickering, and Fox murmuring softly to the stallion.

  I could see Deathseekers and asha engaging the soldiers. Capitalizing on the azi’s work, they summoned more Fire runes until a wall of flames faced the army. The Deathseeker Ostry was calling out orders, and at his command, sharp stalagmites burst from the ground, a natural defense against attackers.

  I heard Inessa cry out from somewhere behind us, sensed Fox hesitating.

  “Protect the princess, Fox,” Kalen’s voice drew closer. “I’ll stay with Tea.” I felt him take my brother’s place, pressing me against his chest as he took command of Chief. I leaned into his warmth.