Sweat dripped into his single eye when they didn’t come up. He blinked again and again.
He knew they’d succeeded when across the ocean waves, he saw the dragon crawl out of the stone, flinging rock around it in every direction and leaping into the sky, the city of Xin still encrusted on its back like barnacles.
Deathless Pirate was no longer screaming.
The chant ended in his mind.
We will try another way. You can’t defend against everything.
And then silence reigned. But it was not the silence of relief. It was the silence of creeping darkness and waiting terror.
He thrashed against his bonds, worried about his wife and his friend deep beneath the sea. Had they died in their attempt? Had he lost them both?
The ropes cut deeper.
He could not drag his gaze from the gondola.
And then a head surfaced, and he let out a breath.
But his heart froze like a stone when he saw it was Jhinn. Where was Marielle? Where?
Jhinn pulled her, limp and water-logged up into the boat.
No! No, no, no!
He thrashed until he thought he might break his own arms, but he could not free himself. He could only watch helplessly as Jhinn worked over her lifeless body and pray, hope ... moan in anguish.
If she was gone, he wanted nothing more than to be left here to drown on this sand-spit of an island.
He thought he might be crying. It hardly mattered, though it meant that sand was sticking to his cheek.
Jhinn slumped and his heart broke.
No.
He’d given up.
She must be gone.
And he hoped his end would come quickly.
Because now it could only bring relief. Relief from sorrows and heartaches too great for him to bear.
Jhinn paddled the boat toward the sand and beached it, but he couldn’t get out.
“Tamerlan?” he called.
Tamerlan tried to answer, but he choked on his own words. Despair was too thick to breathe around, much less speak around.
“Can you roll over here so I can untie you?”
To what end? For what purpose?
“We freed the dragon,” Jhinn continued.
At what cost?
“Marielle breathed in some water, but I think she’ll be fine,” his friend said.
Tamerlan’s eye widened. Joy – sharp and painful – squeezed his chest.
“I just don’t know if she’ll be able to pull herself together and come and get you before the tide rises too high.”
Tamerlan squeezed his core muscles to lift his head higher. The island was smaller. And it grew smaller with every movement. The tide was coming in.
He closed his good eye, pinched his lips tightly together and rolled as hard and fast as he could toward the gondola. Hands caught him just before he struck the sea.
“Here we go. Now, don’t kill us when I cut you loose, okay? That’s a good boy.”
He was crying again, but this time it was with hysterical relief.
14: Exodus
Etienne
The track of ground north of the river was worn from so many feet trudging over it hour after hour – and still, people were pouring across it, heading north and west with a grim determination and simmering anger in their eyes.
“They will not forgive me this lightly,” Allegra said in a taut voice from her place on the chestnut horse she’d chosen.
Etienne wondered if she’d ever sat a horse before. His own life had provided very few opportunities to practice and it was all he could do to keep the jostling of the creature’s spine from stabbing him with shooting pains every time it moved. He already hated the horse. Perhaps he wouldn’t have hated it in other circumstances, but three days had not been enough time to heal all his internal injuries – not even with Allegra’s near-magical cures and generous hospitality. At least his fingers were healed. He flexed his left hand, testing them again.
She sidled her horse over to his and spoke quietly. Even the twenty guards ringing them wouldn’t be able to hear her low tone.
“If your little friend proves fallible and the dragon does not rise, then I will be the most foolish ruler to have ever held Xin.”
He still wasn’t sure how she’d become the sole ruler of the city. He’d thought she was leading a movement – a group of influential merchants, Landholds and guild leaders at its head. But when he’d awoken to her ministrations, he discovered that it was only her left.
Perhaps the others had died taking the city.
But he rather suspected otherwise.
He suspected that when he began to dig – and he would dig eventually – he would find that Allegra had done what was needed to remove them from contention. And what he hated most was how much that very ruthlessness drew him to her.
After all, it was illogical to side with someone who saw competition as a threat and who dealt with threats in only one way – murder. Especially, since he was most certainly competition.
“And how will the people regard you when the dragon does rise and most of them are safe with you on the far bank of the river rather than tumbling from his back like drops of water from the back of a duck in flight?”
“They will regard me as foolish, still,” she said tensely. “Because they will have nothing to rebuild with but what they could carry on their backs and in their carts – not close to enough. Who could have predicted that almost all the boats would leave just before we had news of this need?”
Etienne clenched his jaw. If only he had been lucid, he would have arranged this differently. He would have kept Jhinn quiet until after the evacuation. The loss of all the Waverunners had delayed them by hours they didn’t have. And he would have found a way to mobilize Allegra immediately. She hadn’t believed Marielle’s warning until she’d heard it confirmed from his own lips. It was poorly done.
And it was frustrating when he realized he was cut off from Marielle and Tamerlan and now he would have no way to know what they would do next or how they would do it.
Frustrating – but not impossible. He shifted in his saddle. Challenges were a good thing. Why not enjoy them when they came? Maybe if he turned his mind to their goals –
“Riders!” a guardsman said breathlessly, riding up awkwardly on his horse. Did none of them know how to ride the beasts? Then why own them at all?
“From where?” Allegra asked. Her voice held the ring of command. He liked that, too. It was hard to deny how power drew him. The power of the dragon Xin called to him from under the rock where it slept and the power of Allegra sang to him also, each in its own way.
“Choan,” the guard said. “They are dressed as Queen Mer’s Retribution. At least a hundred of them. On horseback.”
How odd. The people of the ships rode as awkwardly as the people of the cities. He snorted at the sight.
He let his gaze flit to Xin. The dragon still lay dormant. People were still fleeing the city. It took time to mobilize thousands into fleeing for their lives. Time to clear traffic jams and more to convince stragglers to actually go. They’d been at it for ages already, and Allegra said Marielle had told her three days. Three days ended this morning and it was nearly noon. How much longer would it take for them to dive down and dispose of the Pirate’s avatar? He pushed back a shiver at his own memory of diving down into Deathless Pirate’s lair. He’d prefer to avoid that again, though he’d volunteered for the honor before he was injured.
“They wave a flag of parley,” the guard was saying. “What should we do?”
“Parley with them, obviously,” Allegra said, her gaze running over Etienne like she was wondering what price he would fetch.
“What is on your mind, Lady Saga?” he asked, raising a single eyebrow. The best way to deal with Allegra was to show no weakness.
“I thought that perhaps you would make a good ambassador for us.”
“Ambassador?” He could barely sit a horse, never mind negotiate. The pain shoot
ing through his abdomen left him nearly crippled.
“After all, I first met you when you were an ambassador to Xin. Perhaps you have skill we could use.”
He nodded his agreement. He would have preferred ruler. But he could be ambassador if that was what suited best.
He squeezed his horse with his knees the way he’d read that riders did in books, but the creature remained still.
“That one moves when you click your tongue, Lord Mythos,” one of the guards said in a low tone.
That earned him an angry scowl from Allegra. Interesting. She must not like that people still remembered Etienne’s former title. And here he’d thought that was the only reason she liked him – like a prized hound captured and used against its former owner. Or like one of these horses.
He clicked his tongue and the horse began to walk. He negotiated the way through fleeing people with care and came out on the other side to where the fields were broad and still dormant from winter but easy enough to ride over.
The delegation from Choan was riding over them toward him. And it was an impressive delegation, despite the fact that none of them could ride any better than he could. And yet, he suspected they did not mean to be impressive. They had the casual air of people fulfilling a troublesome task, not the feeling of a group puffed up with self-importance.
Their leader was surprisingly like Liandari, despite being male to her female, Two swords crossed in sheaths on his back and his dark blue coat hugged his figure snugly with slits cut for movement if he decided to start slicing off heads with those swords the way she was liable to do.
Etienne felt more grateful than ever for the sharp black jacket that Allegra had given him. It was hard to sit as straight as he would like with rippling stabs of pain running through him and sweat from the pain breaking out across his forehead, cooling, and then blossoming again, but at least the coat was fine and black – suiting a man of station with a serious nature.
There were five of them riding toward him. He didn’t glance backward to see if Allegra had sent any guards with him. It would make him look weak. And it didn’t matter anyway. If these men were here to cut him down, they could do it easily, guards or no. If they were not here for that, a few extra bodies would not impress them.
Odd that Allegra hadn’t given him orders on how to represent her. Not that it mattered. Whether he pretended to dance to another’s tune or not, he would still negotiate for his own ends. Even Marielle had known that about him. Likely, Allegra did, too. She seemed to understand him in a way that few people did – thought she hadn’t forgiven him for his choices.
He was more a convict on parole than a trusted ally as she waited for him to prove he was her creature. He’d have to dance a fine line of pretense and manipulation to maintain this tenuous hold on a single string of power. But one string would be enough. With one string he could begin to weave until every web was his again.
He could feel himself already smiling as he drew his horse up in front of the five Retribution representatives. At least the horse understood reining.
“I am Etienne Velendark, former Lord Mythos of Jingen, Ambassador of the Lady Saga and at your disposal,” he said as grandly as he could. Some people were impressed with credentials. Best give them what they longed for, even while he despised them for wanting it.
“I am Ki’squall Tandari Felk of ship Salt Winds of the Shard Islands of the Eight Sea,” the one who looked like Liandari said. Orange tattooing scrolled under his eyes – in a script Etienne did not know – and ran across the bridge of his nose. Other tattoos in black and green crept up from his collar to his jawline. Maps, no doubt. Like those Liandari and Anglarok wore. “Why do your people invade the land across the river?”
“Invade? We flee.” Etienne kept his tone cool. It was best to admit nothing until he knew what they wanted.
“We demand you return to your city. This countryside will be overrun too quickly, and Choan is not prepared to house so great a population.”
“I’m afraid that our people cannot return to Xin until we return to rebuild it,” Etienne said calmly. He would look like a fool indeed if he was wrong – but he wouldn’t be wrong.
“Rebuild it? Are you mad?” the Ki’squall looked toward the towering city across the river, intact and gleaming in the noonday sun.
“I am afraid that we will have to find other habitable lands until that time,” Etienne said gravely. “We urge you to allow the population of Choan to do the same, and to remove your fleet from the coast of that great city as quickly as possible.”
“Is that a threat?” the Ki’squall hissed.
Etienne raised an eyebrow. “Do you consider warnings to be threats? I’ve always thought a friendly warning was a sign of friendship.”
“A warning? Is your madness spreading then?” The curl of the Ki’squall’s lip was jeering, but his eyes widened suddenly as the ground under them shook.
Etienne’s gaze whipped to Xin, his heart freezing in his chest even as his horse danced fearfully under him. There was a creaking, scraping, mud-sucking sound and then people were scrambling up from boats onto the shore as fast as their legs could carry them while other boats rowed for this side of the river for all they were worth. A wave shoved them forward, but Etienne knew from grim experience that in only a moment it would suck them backward again.
They hadn’t been fast enough in evacuating the city. He swallowed back a heart-rending pang. Those emotions were a waste of his time. If he were to rule well, he must do it with a cool head.
And then the head of the dragon rose, its eye opening. He shook his head violently, sending buildings, boats, bridges, and bits of wall flying from his face like droplets of water from a shaking dog.
Etienne barely kept on the back of his horse as it bucked and screamed. He bit his tongue as pain flared through his belly, tasting blood and spitting it to the side. The horse of the Ki’squall turned a wild eye on him as the man of the seas frowned, gripping the saddle with his free hand and turning pale with the effort of keeping his seat.
Debris rained down on them from the city above. One of the blocks of stone that had once graced a bridge or fine building fell from the sky, completely crushing one of the Retribution – horse and all. The stone was so large that not a sign of them could be seen once the dust cleared.
Screams filled the air as civilians fled, bringing crying children and panicked animals with them.
They should have been faster.
But there was no time for regrets.
“This is what we meant by rebuilding,” Etienne said firmly over the stormy chaos.
The Ki’squall met his eye with a look of horrified surprise. “You knew? You knew this dragon slept under your city?”
“Not just under ours. One sleeps under Choan, too.”
“And you knew it would rise?” He shouted back, sawing his horse’s reins violently as he tried to bring the beast under control.
Etienne’s own horse was still shaken. It skittered to the side as if it could dance its way completely off the surface of the earth. He kept his grip on the reins firm. No need to overreact. That would only panic the horse more.
“We had barely the time to evacuate our people.”
“People rain from the sky like a grisly squall,” the Ki’Squall said through gritted teeth, his gaze turned to the sky.
Etienne refused to follow his gaze. Why break his own heart when he already knew what he would see?
Marielle had made this choice. She had killed in order to save. And he still wasn’t sure if she’d made the right choice. What was so wrong with sacrificing five girls a year when it saved the lives of hundreds, hmm? He’d never thought the trade a poor one and he didn’t think it was so bad even now.
And yet ... how long can a society enslave itself knowing that eventually it must steel its nerve and win freedom through blood and agony? They simply had the misfortune of bearing the suffering now – in their generation.
“That is the warn
ing I meant to give,” Etienne said firmly. “Choan will rise soon. You and your people need to make arrangements. Flee the city. Take what you can.”
“You just want to take the city back,” the Ki’Squall said, his face flushed. “You know we mean to take every city on these plains for the honor of the People of Queen Mer.”
“And this doesn’t change your plans?” Etienne asked, pointing to the dragon above. It took all his nerve not to flinch as a brick fell one a span away from his horse, burying itself as deeply into the earth as it was thick. “This is the third dragon on the plains to rise. There are only two left. We are already ruined. There is nothing left here for you to take.”
“Choan will not be affected by this grim fate,” his enemy said, finally getting his horse under control and urging it up to join Etienne so they could speak without screaming. “Our leaders have taken care of everything needed to secure the city.”
“It will not be enough.”
“Again, you threaten us.” His face bent into a snarl.
“Again, it is only a warning of a truth that is real. Before Springhatch, there won’t be a city standing on these plains. All will have to be rebuilt. This is not what you came for. Why not go while you can?”
“You would destroy your own cities to keep us away?” he hissed.
Etienne’s snort was mocking. “Just deliver the message.” There was a thump as a body hit the ground beside them. Etienne had already seen a flash of petticoats. He refused to look. There was no point in paining himself more than he needed to. “Hopefully someone from Queen Mer’s People is wiser than you are and will flee while he still can.”
The Ki’squall spat on the ground. “We came to find the opener of the Bridge of Legends and we will not leave these lands until he is found.”
Etienne felt a chill at those words. Now that Marielle had begun on this path, she needed to see it through. All this suffering had to be for something. Otherwise, he was nothing but an accomplice in the worst crime committed on these plains. And he could not allow that.
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