by Peter Newman
‘Ah well, let us be on our way and I won’t hold you responsible.’
Pari could see her thinking about it, minute shifts in posture and expression telling the story of surprise becoming fear becoming pride, so she was disappointed rather than surprised by the reply.
‘No, Tanzanite, I asked you your business.’
‘And I ask if the lofty Sapphire have forgotten their manners?’
Small dots of pink appeared in the white of the guard’s cheeks. ‘I’m here with the authority of High Lord Sapphire and in his name I say who comes and goes. Me! And if you don’t answer my questions you’ll have to sit here till you rot or go back home. I don’t care which.’ Several guards had appeared at the top of the tower, bows held casually, yet prominently in their hands.
‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ said Pari.
‘What?’
‘Clearly, you have forgotten your manners and clearly nobody’s taught you any history or you would know better than to claim authority here.’
‘What are you talking about? This is Sapphire land!’
‘No it isn’t.’
‘Yes it is!’
‘No,’ Pari replied, smiling a sweet smile and pointing at the nearby trees. ‘That is Sapphire land.’ She pointed at the tower. ‘That is on Sapphire land. We are on the Godroad, and the Godroad runs through your lands and mine, and the lands of all the Crystal Dynasties. It was built before even the first Deathless took breath and though it is our duty to protect it, it is also our right to use it. No one house claims ownership. No High Lord. No one.
‘So, by all means, patrol your dirt tracks and pathways, but do not think anyone has the authority to block me using any part of the Godroad, for I am Deathless, and you, road-born, you most certainly are not.’
There was a pause as the guard tried to process this. After a moment she looked back to her fellows who all stared back, their blank faces doing the equivalent of a shrug. One or two of the bows disappeared from sight.
Pari waited for the guard to realize that she was alone and in trouble.
‘I …’ she began. ‘I …’
Pari lowered her voice. ‘I would advise apologizing, using my proper title, and then getting out of our way as quickly as possible.’
‘I’m sorry, Lady …’
‘Pari. Of House Tanzanite.’
‘Lady Pari of House Tanzanite.’
‘There. Much better.’ She gave a little wave of her hand. ‘Now, off you go.’
The guard backed away, head bowed low, and the carriage set off, swiftly leaving the tower behind. Pari gave one last regal wave to the stupefied guards and sat back in her seat to find Arkav was staring at her.
‘What is it? Something on my nose?’
‘You lied. There is no law that separates the Godroad from the rest of the land.’
‘I think lie is a bit harsh. The law is unclear. I thought my interpretation made a lot of sense.’
‘It’s wrong.’
‘Careful, Arkav, rigid thinking has always been an issue for the Sapphire, but never for us.’
He turned to look at her, suddenly, intensely present. ‘No, I mean this is all wrong. The way they talked to you, the way they made you act, it’s all wrong. It never used to be this way.’
‘I agree. Yadavendra’s a fool to arm children and tell them to hassle every poor soul on the Godroad. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he wanted to provoke a war.’
Arkav continued to stare at her. ‘The Sapphire are broken, like me. Are you going to fix them too, Pari?’
And what else could she say, looking into those sad, bleak eyes, but: ‘Yes.’
The last time they’d met had been less formal, but while her mother was between lives, Anuja was acting as High Lord of her house, and so they observed the proper protocols.
At the doorway to the throne room, Vasin stopped while the servant sang of his arrival. Anuja’s attendants sang back that Anuja was here and ready to receive him. Only then did he step forward, planting himself on the threshold.
‘Lady Anuja Ruby, hand of your High Lord, I stand at your door and ask that it might be opened. I stand within your walls and ask that they might shelter me. I stand with a hand outstretched in friendship, and ask that you might take it.’
Anuja was seated on a wide padded couch. She too was bound in silk, white, a high-necked gown fitted over it, with broad sleeves cuffed in Wrath Tear red, and lined in Vexation’s darker shade. Had he not known it was there, he would have missed the hint of gold on her cheeks. Her left eye was unadorned to make the golden legend around her right blaze in contrast. It struck him as odd that she had not risen to greet him. Perhaps the servant had been instructed to be disrespectful, a prelude to the true insult.
And yet when she spoke, her voice was warm. ‘Lord Vasin Sapphire, sky master, Ruby-friend. Fly to me as you did on your last visit and you will find my hand is ready to clasp yours, tight and true.’
She raised her hand and he strode across the room until he stood before her. Still, she did not rise, so he bowed as he took it. They locked eyes as well as fingers.
Vasin was never the best at reading faces but even he could see how tired she looked, the fierceness of gaze that he usually admired seeming to quiver like a nervous candle.
Anuja gestured for him to sit, and the servants arranged his gown around him before turning back his sleeves. Then they placed a selection of dumplings on a low table between them, and poured two glasses of sweet wine before retreating to the edges of the room.
‘I was sorry to hear about your mother,’ he began.
‘Thank you. We sorely miss her strength.’
‘Were you there when it happened?’
‘No, we always leave one behind in case the worst happens.’ There was a bitterness in her words, and Vasin remembered that the last time the Ruby High Lord had gone travelling, Anuja had been left behind, the High Lord taking her older sister.
‘I’ve never seen the Toothsack with my own eyes,’ she continued, ‘but I hear it was a great battle. Our Story-singers are already preparing a work to honour it.’
‘I hear the Toothsack was wounded but not killed.’
A little of her normal spark returned. ‘Much like your own encounter with the Corpseman, yes?’
‘Yes.’
‘Like us, the things of the Wild have a way of coming back.’
‘Speaking of that, may I ask how quickly your mother and sister will begin their next lifecycles?’
She made a short gesture and the servants left the room. ‘Actually, I was hoping to talk to you about this very thing.’
‘Me?’
‘Yes. I wanted to ask your advice.’
‘Lady Anuja, I am not known for my wisdom. But,’ he added hastily, ‘it’s yours if you want it.’
‘My mother has prepared a vessel for her next lifecycle but the next auspicious alignment is over a year away. Normally, I’d wait, but with things as they are …’
‘What’s the alternative? Even we need the favour of the suns.’
‘There’s a partial alignment coming in two weeks.’
Vasin frowned. A partial alignment would place the rebirth at risk. To even consider it Anuja must be desperate. He asked, ‘Can we talk as we did before, as friends?’
‘Please. I’d like that. Acting as the High Lord’s hand is … tiring.’
‘I believe it and I want to help. How bad are things here, really?’
She sipped at her wine, prompting Vasin to do the same. ‘The Toothsack didn’t just take my mother, any more than the Wild took my sister; it decimated our hunters. The ones we’re fielding now are barely more than apprentices. Normally, a successful hunt silences the Wild, but the Toothsack’s attack seems unrelated to the other troubles.’
‘Have you had any trouble from Quiverhive?’
‘No. We’ve had Murkers, and at least one Weeper. And all kinds of rumours. My people are afraid, Vasin. They’re jumping at shadows, seei
ng all kinds of things that aren’t there. That hopefully aren’t there, I mean. We don’t expect the Toothsack to return any time soon, but just in case I’m making sure that no Deathless hunts with mortals alone. That’s possible at the moment with support from the other houses, but they won’t stay here forever.’
‘House Tanzanite sent three Deathless, didn’t they?’ Anuja nodded and he continued, ‘Was Lady Pari among them?’
‘Last I heard, she was between lives.’
‘Still?’
‘I believe she’ll be undergoing a rebirth any day now. Do you need her?’
‘Not exactly.’
The gold around her eye flashed in the gemslight ‘You’re hiding something from me.’
It was true. He was. But much as he wished to confide in Anuja, some secrets were too dark for their budding friendship. ‘I’m sorry.’
There was a pause and they both sipped from their drinks.
‘Well,’ she said. ‘I am still glad you came. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I was hoping House Sapphire would send at least two Deathless so that I could relieve some of the others. And where are your hunters?’
‘I’m afraid I’m all you’ve got.’
She digested this for a while. ‘The last time you came to us without escort, you were here as messenger. It made sense for you to fly alone for the sake of speed. This time you are here to hunt. It makes no sense to hunt alone.’
Vasin kept his face neutral.
‘Could the great House Sapphire not spare any of its hunters to support you?’
‘My High Lord believes they are all needed at home.’
‘How are things in your lands?’
He wanted to just come out and say it: he hadn’t been sent. He’d come alone so that no others would suffer for his actions. ‘Things are quiet. High Lord Yadavendra would tell you this is only the case because we are being so vigilant.’
‘Yes, I have heard many tales of how vigilant the Sapphire have become. We had thought your wingless hunters a passing fashion but they seem to have lingered. No tales of battles against demons have reached us, but there are many stories of harassment suffered by any house traders not flying a blue flag. Perhaps you could make sense of them to me, Lord Vasin?’
‘Would that I could.’
‘Houses Spinel and Jet have their own problems. They have told me so, and I understand. But Houses Opal and Peridot have sent one of their Deathless to our aid, while House Tanzanite has sent three, each with a full flight of hunters at their back. Your house does not reply to my mother’s messages and then sends you alone? Unannounced?’ She looked at him but he could not meet her gaze. ‘This, I do not understand.’
‘I’m sorry that my house hasn’t provided proper aid. I’m … I’m going to make it right.’ They locked eyes again. He didn’t say the words out loud. Didn’t need to.
‘Go carefully, my friend. But don’t take too long. The other houses are poised to act. If not for the Wild, we’d have done so long before now.’
‘Please get them to hold off a little longer. If there is outside intervention, he’ll go to war. My family is proud, I don’t know if they’ll tolerate outside interference.’
‘I’m not the Ruby High Lord, just her voice while she’s away. My mother wants Yadavendra gone and as soon as my hands are untied, I intend to see her wishes met.’
‘Understood.’
‘You mentioned Quiverhive just now,’ said Anuja. ‘Why?’
‘I saw it on the way here.’ He relayed the events in as much detail as he could. ‘At first I thought it was simply using the Godroad as a means to kill the Murkers but it was more than that. It was experimenting.’
‘Experimenting? Testing the power of the Godroad is more likely. Looking for a way to cross and finding one. By the Thrice Blessed Suns! This changes everything. Our whole society rests on the sanctity of the Godroad.’ Anuja went to take another drink but her cup was empty. She set it down with an angry clink. ‘It must have come when I was hunting at Fourboards.’
‘You don’t think that’s a coincidence?’
‘No. It’s being tactical, Vasin. I don’t like this at all.’
‘Me neither.’
‘I think I’m going to bring mother back early. House Ruby needs her wisdom, now more than ever.’
‘If it fails, does your mother have a backup vessel?’
‘Yes, but it’s not the best match. A grandson. I’d have to play it safe and slow if it came to that. Eight years I’d say, maybe more to get him ready.’
Vasin wanted to rub his temples, but to do so would smear the paint. A headache was starting. His mother would know what to say. She always knew. But until he could restore her, he was on his own. ‘I think you should wait, I’ll stay as long as you need and support you. We could hunt together.’
He smiled at her but she didn’t respond in kind. ‘No, we can’t.’ She lifted her gown to reveal bandages and several splints, all conspiring to hold together a shattered leg. ‘The hunt at Fourboards was brutal. There were too many tributes. I and the Deathless from Opal and Peridot flew together, but their hunters were tired from travel, and mine weren’t ready for something on this scale.’ She sighed. ‘Six tributes was a mighty amount of bait and the Wild was hungry. It sent many mouths. More than our hunters could field. I …’
She fell silent and lowered her head, and the shadows grew darker under her eyes.
‘What is it? You can tell me.’
‘I haven’t mentioned this to anyone else, I didn’t want to appear weak or like I was making excuses. I’d told myself I was imagining it, but after what you’ve told me about Quiverhive I’m not so sure.’
‘Tell me.’
‘The thing is, my people got the worst of it.’
‘You fought the biggest demon? The biggest group?’
‘No. Well, yes, but that isn’t it. The Wild singled us out, came for us above the others. Vasin, they singled me out. When I landed, they came for me, and me alone. It was like they knew I was coming. How can that be?’
‘I don’t know, I thought all but strongest of the Wild feared us. Surely they were easy prey for you.’
‘We slaughtered them, but they didn’t seem to care.’
Vasin’s headache got suddenly worse, as if trying to match his sense of foreboding. The odd behaviour described at Anuja’s hunt seemed to chime with Quiverhive’s activity. ‘I think this was another experiment,’ he said. ‘They tested the Godroad, and now they’re testing us.’
CHAPTER SIX
Vasin followed the servant, trying to order his mind for what was to come. He was being led to a night gathering of House Ruby’s guests. This would be in part to discuss the business of the hunt, and in part to posture, to politic. It was Vasin’s chance to solidify the quiet work of the last sixteen years, and gain allies against Yadavendra. It was also a chance to fail long before the inevitable confrontation with High Lord Sapphire.
Nerves flew like angry hunters in his stomach.
The strangeness of his environment didn’t help. House Ruby was more sparing with its gemslight than he was used to, leaving patches of the narrow corridors dark. He noticed the individual rubies were not all cut to the same size. Some were a few millimetres thicker than others, and some stood slightly taller. You had to look to see them, the differences minor, but to his eyes, the imperfection was telling. The ceilings were too low, too cramped, and he had the absurd sense of them pressing downwards, trapping him.
Despite the late hour the castle seemed empty as he travelled, and this too disturbed him. A Sapphire castle always had guards at stairwells and key corridors. As much as he hated that – the feeling of always being watched was one of the things that drove him into the sky after all – he also found it reassuring.
They arrived at a room Vasin had not seen before, and he heard laughter echoing through the arched entrance. The servant waited for it to fade and then sang to announce his arrival and request permission to ent
er. Vasin felt a brief pang of fear that he would be rejected. Ridiculous, irrational, but in the moment, impossible to ignore. It was soon refuted by Lady Anuja, who gave permission, prompt and clear. The servant showed him inside.
The room was of a reasonable size, heptagonal, and filled with long, low seats, puffed up with cushions. Each chair was accompanied by a tiny squat table with drinks and small baked treats.
He saw three Deathless faces turn in his direction, smiles slowly fading from some shared joke.
Here we go.
Lady Anuja was sat opposite the doorway, artfully positioned. Her stiffness and discomfort dressed as regal posture, with the cushions carefully constructed around her to support her injured body. All signs of fatigue were gone from her face. ‘Lord Vasin. Ruby-friend. Sit, relax, be welcome.’
‘Thank you,’ he replied with a bow, noting the raised eyebrows and pointed look that passed between the other two inhabitants.
‘This,’ continued Anuja, gesturing to her right, ‘is Lord Lakshin of House Opal.
He saw a slight, delicate man, his body most likely coming to the end of its prime years. There was a studied poise about him, that struck Vasin as too rigid to be comfortable. The Opal tended to keep to themselves, and he knew nothing of Lakshin beyond a name. This in itself was odd. Most Deathless were known for something, even if it was embarrassing. No legend was visible either, which would be fine if Lakshin was in his first lifecycle, but he wasn’t, suggesting mediocrity. And as everyone knew, there was no such thing as a mediocre Deathless, at least never for very long.
Anuja pointed to her left. ‘And this is Lord Quasim of House Peridot.’
Quasim was in a young body, well muscled, but already showing signs of a fast life. The legend of a previous lifecycle had turned both of his ears gold, along with the knuckles on his right hand. Vasin wondered what the tales behind them were. He’d heard the Story-singers praise Quasim’s courage and humour but he also recalled his mother making a barbed comment about the man going through three lifecycles in the time most Deathless enjoyed one.