One Man
Page 49
The Safroys were one of the oldest families in Koh-Salash, and he hadn’t just saved them from scorn and ruin. He’d turned things to their advantage. Which was supposed to be his role in life. Yes, it was a shame that a man had lost his life, but it was hardly Culzatik’s fault that Bedler was such a fool.
Besides, what was one commoner’s life—a man who wasn’t even Salashi—against the dignity of the Safroy name?
A shadow passed over him, plunging him into utter darkness. No stars, no glow of Suloh’s bones, not even the lantern at the end of the table was visible. Culzatik cried out in sudden terror…
Then it passed, and the dim light of the Salashi night returned.
The length of iron on the table before him was gone.
CHAPTER FORTY
Riliska stirred the honey into the bowl of water, then used the stick to lay a drop onto Killer of Devils’s lips.
He did not respond. She did it again.
They were still in the ruined Temple of Yth down in Woodgarden. Kyrioc had led her here in the early hours of the morning, then gone away again. Most of the other beetles were already here, the crumbs of a dozen buns scattered around them. Since then, Kyrioc had left and returned several times.
To her surprise, one of the younger boys gave Riliska a hug when she first arrived. Three of the others fetched breakfast for her. Now it was nighttime and she was hungry again, but she didn’t know how much silver the other kids had left, and she didn’t want to ask. The way they looked at her—as though she were special because of the awful things that happened to her—made her want to cry.
The temple itself covered less than half a block and was surrounded by three-story buildings on three sides. The only roof was a length of canvas Kyrioc had bought or stolen, and only the unconscious barbarian—and Riliska, his friend—took shelter beneath it. The others huddled at the tumbled-down stone walls.
There was a commotion outside. She set her bowl and stirring stick down as the first of the teenagers reached the temple arch. It was the same crowd she’d seen before in the alleys—mean, rough-talking boys with knives in their pockets. The first, a tall one with a scarred lip, held an oversized wine jug.
“What the fuck?” he said when he saw the beetles. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, toward the street. “You kids get the—”
“Shh,” Riliska said. “You’ll wake him.”
He was so surprised to be shushed that he forgot to be angry. “Wake who?”
“Killer of Devils,” she said, and pointed.
The boy lifted his lantern. The others behind him whispered among themselves while his mouth fell open. They crowded into the doorway to see.
They had no way to know that Killer was not asleep and could not have roused himself if he’d been set on fire. It didn’t matter. They saw him and fled.
“You handled that well,” Kyrioc said.
Riliska shrugged. Kyrioc stood near the canvas, another sack of bread and carrots in hand, and she had no idea how he’d gotten there without her noticing. Kyrioc knew how to do things, and Riliska wanted to learn them too. “It won’t work next time. We need to find a place. And I’m going to need a new paint set so we can make more money.”
He knelt beside her, looking exhausted. “This is going to be our place. For all of us. And you’re not going to need to make money any longer. That man there”—he pointed to the Katr—“when he’s restored to health, will help. We’re going to look after you.”
“But what about my mommy?”
Riliska already knew the answer, but it felt too big to accept.
Kyrioc’s eyes became sad and he touched her cheek. Riliska took a step forward and buried her face in his shoulder. She could smell old blood on his clothes, but she didn’t know if it was his or someone else’s.
So much blood had been shed over the last few days, it was silly to think her mommy would come through unhurt. Tears welled in her eyes.
He put his arms around her.
Riliska was hungry. She was tired. She was thirsty. She had dirt on her hands and face and her back prickled from dry sweat. Kyrioc had promised to look after her, which meant he promised to take care of all of those things.
But for now, they could start with this.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Child of Fire, Harry Connolly's debut novel and the first in the Twenty Palaces series, was named to Publishers Weekly's Best 100 Novels of 2009. The sequel, Game of Cages, was released in 2010 and the third book, Circle of Enemies, came out in 2011, as did a prequel (cleverly) titled Twenty Palaces.
King Khan, a pulp adventure novel based on the role-playing game Spirit of the Century, was released in 2013 by game company Evil Hat.
Later in 2013, Harry ran a Kickstarter for his apocalyptic epic fantasy trilogy, The Great Way, which was released in 2015. As stretch goals for that project, he published his pacifist urban fantasy A Key, an Egg, an Unfortunate Remark, and the short fiction collection Bad Little Girls Die Horrible Deaths and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy, which includes the Twenty Palaces short story “The Homemade Mask.”
Harry lives in Seattle with his beloved wife, his beloved son, and his beloved library system. You can find him online at: www.harryjconnolly.com
Praise for the Twenty Palaces novels:
“[Child of Fire] is excellent reading and has a lot of things I love in a book: a truly dark and sinister world, delicious tension and suspense, violence so gritty you’ll get something in your eye just reading it, and a gorgeously flawed protagonist. Take this one to the checkout counter. Seriously.” — Jim Butcher
“Connolly doesn’t shy away from tackling big philosophical issues... amid gory action scenes and plenty of rapid-fire sardonic dialogue.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review), on Game of Cages
“An edge-of-the-seat read! Ray Lilly is the new high-water mark of paranormal noir.” — Charles Stross