The Heart Forger

by Rin Chupeco

  “But I do,” said Aenah.

  I remembered the hanjian and his painful transformation, his protruding tongue and blackened face before the bone witch killed him, before he could become one of those hideous creatures. I remembered the poor Daanorian soldiers. In these elders, I saw the same horrifying changes. Their features distorted and twisted until their faces were no longer familiar, and more limbs and appendages burst from their bodies until they were parodies of humanity.

  Twelve of the elders had undergone differing anomalies, though all resulted in the same kind of horrors: a bison-like creature with an armadillo’s armor; a snake that stood several yards high with a long forked tongue, six hoofs, and a spiked horn that grew at the end of its tail; another with the jaws of a crocodile and the wings of a dragon; a praying mantis ten feet tall, with eight legs that ended in hooked talons.

  Mistress Hestia was gone, and the ripped remains of her hua were the only evidence she had once been a woman. In her place was a nightmare: a terrifying beast with a beak and the facade of a rooster but with lion’s arms and a sentient tail of snake heads. Her wings fluttered, growing several feet on either side of her body, and three-pronged horns adorned her head in a terrifying mockery of a crown. Like the others, her silver heartsglass was fused to her chest, shining faintly.

  “Impossible!” Lady Mykaela cried out. “They’ve been blighted!”

  The horned rooster crowed, laid its beady eyes on the bone witch, and opened its mouth. Something that looked like blue fire erupted from its beak, lancing straight toward her.

  Fox leaped for the Dark asha, as did the Deathseeker. Magic sparked around Lord Kalen, and Lord Fox pulled Lady Tea to the ground, shielding her body with his own. But it was the savul that moved quickest, throwing itself in front of its mistress, shrieking as the intense fire burned through its skin. It sank to its knees.

  Red-hot flames blazed atop Lord Kalen’s hand, arching toward the hideous asha-beast. Almost at the same time, Lady Mykaela lifted her arms and lightning rained down from the sky. But the creature simply ducked its head, and both attacks glanced harmlessly off its hide.

  “They are invulnerable to magic, just as daeva are!” I gasped.

  “Send the rest of the soldiers back!” Fox all but snarled to his men, lifting himself up. “Protect the empress and the princess at all costs, but do not engage in this fight! Asha and Deathseekers, to me!”

  “Fox,” the bone witch said softly. “Thank you.”

  “Habits are hard to break,” he said shortly, helping Lady Tea back to her feet.

  “See to Inessa’s safety first. Whatever you say, we both know I am no longer your priority. As it should be.”

  “Tea—”

  “Go to her, Fox. If I die, then I will not deny you any minute you can spend with her.” The rest of her daeva raced forward, teeth and claws bared, and when the first blows came, the world shook.

  The daeva had been waiting long to fight. The nanghait drew first blood, savage fangs ripping into one of the snakelike asha-beasts, and the latter roared out its hurt, proof they could still be harmed.

  The aeshma rolled itself into a large ball of metallic spikes and plunged through the monsters, tearing skin and bones as it went. The asha-beast that was once the Elder Hestia snapped at the taurvi, its beak sharp and poisonous, and the taurvi collapsed, whining. The savul and the akvan rushed to its aid.

  Both Lord Kalen and Lady Mykaela had abandoned all attempts to fight the asha-beasts and began their retreat, though the Deathseeker stayed close to the bone witch. “Leave, Mykkie!” the Dark asha shouted at her mentor. “This is not a fight you can win!”

  “I will not leave you, Tea!” The older woman raised both her hands and the asha-beasts paused, reeling as if dazed, struggling to shake off her control.

  “Fox, take the bard and get out of here!”

  The familiar obeyed, grabbing me and lifting me up on his horse with little effort. I looked behind me and saw the winged serpent shake free from the enchantment Lady Mykaela had cast. Already it was leaping toward the woman, its mouth horribly agape. Tea screamed once, and then I saw nothing else as the azi bathed my vision with more fire, obscuring my view as Lord Fox’s horse broke into a dead run away from this battle of titans.

  30

  They knew. Those were the words running through my head over and over, even as Aenah stepped past us toward King Vanor. They knew we were coming to the crypts, and they had planned for it. There were wards around the royal tombs, which were dormant until Aenah had activated them. Now her compulsion was strong enough to batter our defenses.

  Frantic, I sought out the azi still on a rampage around the city. For a moment, its thoughts touched mine—only to be wrenched away as Aenah severed our connection.

  “No, little lady. We wouldn’t want that.”

  I had lost my hold on King Vanor, but he remained upright, no doubt now under Aenah’s influence. His eyes stared unseeingly at the wall before him, paying the Faceless and his brother no attention.

  “Father?” Khalad quavered.

  “Surprised?” Aenah asked, smiling. She bent down and slipped the protection stone off my neck. “You should thank Lady Mykaela. It was she who told Telemaine that you were skulking about the catacombs, hoping he would station a guard there. As you can see, Telemaine took Mykaela’s advice to heart. And doing so has gone better than expected, my Tea. Usij was an eyesore. I had hoped to imbue you with runes and point you in his direction so I would have one less rival for shadowglass, whichever of you won. You have performed your task admirably.”

  “A liar, as always,” I hissed.

  “I spoke no lie. My offer to join our cause was genuine. You have always been a true child of the Dark, Tea. I knew it the instant our minds first touched.”

  “There’s no time for conversation, my love,” the king said. “Prepare what you need.”

  I watched Aenah as she moved around the tomb, ignoring Vanor. The runes she traced in the air were unknown to me. She smiled as she caught my eye. “Did you really think I would show you every rune I know, Tea? A shame really. We could have worked well together.”

  “You were imprisoned!” I had felt her distress at her warded cell, and it had been unfeigned.

  “It was necessary to be imprisoned, to keep me uncomfortable and pliant to your coercion whenever you visited Odalia. Telemaine more than made up for it whenever you left the city.”

  “Did you silence Vanor with one such spell?”

  She laughed. “There are spells that can seal his mouth, even without compelling him. You should know, Tea. It was one of the runes I used on you while you were a novice.”

  “How could you, Telemaine?” Polaire raged. “How could you be in league with that Faceless witch?”

  “Why shouldn’t I, Polaire?” Gone was the hearty attitude, the pretense of concern and compassion. The king’s eyes glittered against the firelight, cold and calculating. “It was I who had Vanor killed, Polaire. I have been with Aenah for many years, long before you were an asha.”

  “Vanor was your brother!” Polaire protested.

  “Forget it, Polaire,” Kalen groused. “The king had no qualms about using my father as his scapegoat. But I now understand why he revolted against you.”

  “Ah, yes. Lance had always been smarter than Vanor but not by much. I’m glad I kept him alive all these years. Vanor was weak willed and spineless, more concerned at playing house with a bone witch, while other kingdoms slowly outstripped Odalia in power and influence. You may not think it, Polaire, but I am as much a patriot as you think you are. Our kingdom suffered at the hands of Vanor. Our army was in disrepair, and what did he do? Pin all our hopes and riches on some poor little village because it had an inferior runeberry patch. Daanoris encroaches on Arhen-Kosho’s coastal territories, and he offers them a trade agreement! By the time he was done, Odalia
would’ve been nothing more than a vassal kingdom, robbed of its status and power and at the mercy of Daanoris, Kion, or the Yadosha city-states. Vanor’s death was a blessing, Polaire. I merely sped up what nature was too slow to accomplish.”

  Zoya wriggled slightly, attracting my eye before casting her gaze upward at the wards around us. Her fingers twitched.

  “You’re not telling us everything,” I said. “Wresting the kingdom away from your brother was only one reason you killed King Vanor. You might not have shown me every rune you know, Aenah, but you should not have provided me with the blueprint to create heartsglass, even if you thought immortality would appeal to me. You didn’t only need a silver heartsglass. You needed the most powerful one you could find for the best potency. But Vanor learned of your schemes and disrupted your plans by hiding Mykaela’s heartsglass. You know where it is, but none of your runes can give you access.”

  “You have always been very perceptive, Tea.”

  “You might have sealed his tongue, but you cannot seal his intentions,” I declared.

  “And that is why I keep your Heartforger alive. Did you know they are capable of taking heartsglass without permission?”

  I snapped my head toward Khalad in amazement. He flinched.

  “Yes, it is part of the Heartforger’s oath—to refuse those who are not willing. That is why so few people meet the qualifications for forging. This is their true trade secret, for fear others may take advantage of them. But seeing his friends tortured might give Khalad better motivation. Perhaps you would like to offer your own heartsglass in Mykaela’s stead?” Aenah clapped her hands in delight. “We shall make it a contest. The first to give up their silver heartsglass shall be put out of their misery quickly, and the others will be left to torment.”

  “But Prince Kance!” I tried to lift myself off the ground, but it felt like a heavy rock sat on my chest. “Prince Kance is innocent! His own son!”

  “Ah, Kance,” Aenah sighed. “We had no choice with Kance. He was one of only two from Anahita’s lineage to satisfy our requirements for shadowglass, and we could not spare the young Heartforger should old Narel die.”

  “Did you really think I would put Kance in any danger?” Telemaine asked scornfully. “Aenah took his soul and kept it safely hidden, knowing that Usij might strike him next. She merely planted a suggestion of Daanoris about his heartsglass in the hopes you would rise to the bait.”

  The Faceless woman giggled. “And Princess Yansheo has made a miraculous recovery. If Khalad works with us, then perhaps Kance too shall recover. Kance would be understandably grief stricken to discover that many of his friends have been put to death for treason while he was asleep…such as his uncle, the Duke of Holsrath.”

  A sound of both rage and agony fractured from Kalen’s mouth.

  “He was not in the best of health, and the added compulsion broke him. Fortunately, his role in this matter had already been completed.”

  A sudden spurt of laughter broke the silence. To my shock, it came from Khalad, his body shaking where he lay. “I wondered why you’d ignored me all these years, Father, only to start inquiring about me in these last few months. You needed me to forge this heartsglass. Does that still make me the royal disappointment?”

  “Nonsense, Khalad,” Telemaine snapped.

  “Nonsense?” With a grunt, Khalad flipped onto his stomach. “You said I was a worthless heir, incapable of giving you grandchildren because of my ‘unnatural proclivities.’ You banned me from functions and put Kance in the spotlight long before my heart turned silver. And when it did, you turned me over to the Heartforger and said I was no longer your son. Is that what you call ‘nonsense’ nowadays, Father?” His lip curled. “I thought you’d changed the last couple of months, and, fool as I was, it gave me hope. But I watched Kance support Likh’s appeal to become an asha, and you didn’t. How could you when you’d rejected your own son for those same unnatural proclivities?”

  Khalad was resisting the spell, struggling to his feet. “You couldn’t even pretend. Couldn’t announce to the people why you refused to champion Likh’s bid when you couldn’t look at me without disgust. So instead, you took the opportunity to make it all about Kance and his engagement. That was why my brother was in such a state afterward—he’d realized your aim. I could see it all over your heartsglass: how dare this catamite upstart demand this from my obedient, normal son—”

  Telemaine hit Khalad across the face, and he went down. “I would beat your proclivities out of you if I could,” the king said, seething.

  Khalad choked on blood but laughed. “But you can’t, can you? You could bend Kance to your whims, but you could never do the same to me.”

  “In the interests of scientific curiosity,” Althy said calmly, “what exactly are you intending to do here?”

  “Make shadowglass, of course.” Aenah smiled. “Our forger here has done the impossible, replicating what we need.” She smiled at King Telemaine. “We will be immortal, he and I, and Odalia shall prosper under our rule.”

  Fox’s gaze met mine. Kalen was close beside me, and I wriggled as best as I could until my feet brushed against his shin.

  “Wait,” I spoke up. “Leave them alone and I’ll give my heartsglass freely.”

  “Tea!” Zoya shouted behind me.

  “How nauseatingly noble. Come here, Tea.”

  Unwillingly, my body rose. Aenah laid a hand on my heartsglass.

  “Such a waste, Tea. If events had gone differently, you could have been standing beside me.”

  “I would rather stand with daeva.”

  “Falling on misplaced courage now? You no longer control the azi, Tea. Daeva have no true master.”

  The ground around us heaved, caught in the throes of a sudden earthquake. It knocked both Aenah and King Telemaine off their feet, and Aenah’s control wavered.

  Fox and Khalad leaped forward, the latter plunging his hand straight into King Vanor’s chest. The roof above tore open. The azi gazed down at us, purring, and its strength sang through me.

  “Impossible!” Aenah shrieked. “You do not control it! Why is it defending—”

  I linked my will to Zoya’s, funneling as much of the magic as I could through her. The asha grunted, and I felt the wards unravel as she dissolved Aenah’s barrier.

  Kalen’s sword slid out of his scabbard, runes flashing through the air. Fire streamed toward the Faceless, but she evaded it. Telemaine drew his own heavy sword, countering Kalen’s blow.

  “Is this what it has come down to, Kalen?” the king said, taunting him. “Do you now raise your hand against me, as your father did?”

  “You betrayed us!” Kalen shouted.

  Telemaine swung again, and Kalen’s blade shattered. The Deathseeker retreated, and I saw faint cuts on his face and arms where the sword’s fragments had sliced him. “Common steel versus royal metal. This is no contest, boy.”

  “Don’t underestimate me, Uncle.” Kalen sidestepped the next attack and lashed out with a leg sweep. The king stumbled, and Kalen rose to strike him on the arm, sending his sword sliding several feet away. Then he struck again at the center of the king’s chest, sending the burly man flat on his back. Zoya snatched up the sword, tossing it to Kalen.

  “Surrender, Aenah,” Polaire said grimly, her and Althy’s runes weaving around them. “Immediately.”

  “No.”

  The ground shuddered again, breaking apart underneath me and lifting me off my feet. The aeshma forced itself up from the soil, screeching, only a few feet from where Mykaela, Khalad, and Vanor stood.

  “Move, Khalad!” Zoya yelled.

  “A few more seconds,” the forger insisted, his hand still through Vanor’s chest. The aeshma yowled, and its spikes lengthened.

  Khalad ripped his hand free, and the bright light of Mykaela’s heartsglass illuminated the room. After years hid
den away, its light seemed brighter than any asha’s heartsglass I had ever seen.

  But the ground shuddered again, and Khalad lost his footing. The silver heartsglass landed with a thud by Vanor’s feet.

  Mykaela staggered, and the aeshma attacked.

  I tried to fight my way into the aeshma’s mind but couldn’t; Aenah’s hold on it was absolute. Kalen leaped forward, and I saw Polaire and Althy closing the distance to Mykaela, Shield runes forming around their friend.

  King Vanor moved.

  There was a sickening crunch.

  Mykaela stared wordlessly at her former lover, impaled by one of the aeshma’s spikes. The royal noble’s arm reached for her, and the silver heartsglass glittered in his hands. He smiled slowly—a strange look on the otherwise expressionless face, like he was in the process of relearning how.

  “Vanor,” Mykaela said softly.

  He placed the heartsglass in her hands and, with a sigh, crumbled into ashes and dust, leaving only the aeshma and the spike behind. Furious at being deprived of a victim, the daeva lunged forward again.

  Runes burst forth and surrounded the aeshma. The beast abandoned all attempts at assault and retreated, shrieking, as currents danced through its flesh. Mykaela stood in the center of that glowing storm, her heartsglass a beautiful display of unrepentant magic and light, scorching the walls of the tomb around her with her fury. For a few moments, the aeshma lay under her thrall, enough for it to retreat. But soon, her strength left her, and Mykaela sank down, breathing hard.

  “Welcome back,” Zoya said, grabbing Mykaela. “Now let’s get out of here before we literally have no more ground to stand on!”

  We made it out of the tombs just in time—before the aeshma breached the catacombs’ roof to take a swipe at the azi. The latter sent flames through the broken ceiling.

  The aeshma hollered in response, a ball of spikes tumbling toward the daeva. I grabbed at the azi’s mind, registering its shock and pain as the two creatures collided. I tasted metal in my mouth as the aeshma’s spikes dug in. The azi breathed fire directly at the other beast; it detached from our hide and rolled away, its barbs black and charred.