Death of the Immortal King

by Sarah McCarthy

  The faces of the gods and goddesses looked up at her, surrounded by tiny figures of humans, their faces twisted in torment and supplication.

  “What was your name?” Kallia asked.

  “Lilianna.”

  Kallia led her through the temple into a larger sitting room, gesturing for her to take a seat.

  Lilianna sat, her eyes sweeping the room before settling back on Kallia. The woman was watching her shrewdly.

  “I told Jed I didn’t want a slave. The gods should be tended by the faithful.” She rearranged her skirts about her knees. “Of course, I couldn’t ask him for someone faithful. For obvious reasons.”

  Lilianna tried not to show any reaction.

  She realized Kallia was looking at her, waiting for her to say something.

  “I understand.” That clearly wasn’t what she was waiting for. Oh. Of course. “I’m faithful.” She searched for something else to add. “I’m glad there is one temple left. I usually pray to Ava.”

  “Not Wrimera?”

  “Oh, her too, I mean, of course. I’m… I’m not from here, though. I… came here recently.”

  “Where were you from?”

  “Harfoss?” Of course, it was gone now.

  “Haven’t heard of it.”

  Your husband destroyed it. He did what I couldn’t do and killed my father and you haven’t even heard of it. Acid boiled in her stomach.

  “I doubt many people have. Where are you from?”

  “Glynloch.” A look of pain crossed Kallia’s face, but she didn’t elaborate.

  Kallia straightened and pointed to a broom off to the side. “I’d like you to sweep and dust the temple thoroughly every day. You’ll sleep in a room just out there.” She pointed back out the landing. “You’ll also attend on my daughter and I at dinner.”

  She patted her knees with her slim hands. “Is there anything you need?”

  “Not now, thanks.” Lilianna stood. “I’ll get to work.”

  Kallia nodded, her eyes glazing over as she looked away, out the window. Lilianna picked up the broom and went to sweep.

  If Jedren’s wife had gone so far as to build a temple, would she betray him in other ways? She might be a great source of information, at the very least. At best, she was someone who could get very close to him.

  Dinner was held in a great, wood-paneled hall. High above, wrapped in the smoky haze from the oil lamps, thick wooden beams supported a tiled roof. A large oak table was raised on a platform at one end of the room, overlooking two much longer tables that stretched lengthwise down the hall. These tables were full of men talking and eating. Servants moved among them, bringing food and drink and collecting used plates and cups. A few dogs snapped at bones in a corner.

  A woman came in, leading a little girl with dark curls by the hand. The girl gave a hop and pulled free when she saw Jedren.

  “Daddy!”

  “Daughter!” The big man pushed back his chair, a wide grin splitting his face, and he knelt down. The little girl rushed into his arms.

  “I made a sword,” she said, proudly holding up a little stick.

  “Ah, so you did,” he exclaimed, taking it from her and examining it. “Looks like a good one.”

  She glowed and took it back, brandishing it.

  “This is our daughter, Kara,” Kallia said to Lilianna, smiling. Her face had lost its tension.

  Lilianna forced a smile. Unexpectedly, Aron’s words popped into her head, that night they’d played the drinking game. Two children. The first one, not hers, would give her everything. Maybe Aron had just been drunk and rambling, but it hadn’t felt that way. Whatever that was, it had felt true to her, too. And Aron just had that way about him. That way of stumbling into things. Everything just worked out the way he said it would. What did that mean though? Was she supposed to get the girl to kill her father?

  “Are you all right?” Kallia asked.

  “Oh, fine,” Lilianna replied hastily.

  “If you’re tired, you can go.”

  No way. This was the closest she’d been to Jedren all day. “I’m fine, sorry, just distracted.”

  “All right, well, you can stand over there,” Kallia said, pointing towards a door a servant was just coming out of, carrying a large plate of roasted fish. “I’ll let you know if we need anything.”

  Lilianna stood near the door, leaned against the wall, and stared out at the sea of soldiers. A fight broke out in the back, two men shouting drunkenly at one another. One threw a mug of beer that sprayed its contents everywhere before colliding with the other man’s head. He stumbled, then gave a shout, reaching for his dagger. Their respective friends pulled them away before it went any further, and the din returned to normal.

  A while later, Kallia waved at her.

  “Would you bring us some more wine?”

  Jedren had Kara on his lap and was helping her build a tower of potatoes on her plate.

  “Sure.” Lilianna nodded.

  Taking a guess, Lilianna went through the door she’d been stationed by and found herself in an enormous, warm, smoky kitchen. People hurried back and forth carrying plates and glasses and pitchers, and no one spared her a glance. Wow. It was the perfect assassination opportunity. So far this was going better than Lilianna had even imagined. All this food was right here, unguarded. Her heart swelled. This was going to work. She was going to do this. Do something. Finally.

  She ambled around, picking bits of things off plates whenever something looked good, until she found a side room full of aged oak barrels. Stacks of glasses and mugs lined the walls, arrayed on shelves. Picking one of the taps at random, she filled a glass with wine, sipped it. The taste reminded her again of that night with Aron, Paric, Gird, and Coralie on the boat, and she stood for a moment, caught by the memory.

  She took another sip, tilting the glass back and forth. What was Coralie doing now? Probably in bed asleep already. Getting enough rest so she could get up early and go accomplish things. She frowned. She wished Coralie were here. Their last conversation flashed through Lilianna’s mind. Coralie had just been trying to protect her. She was just scared, and more careful than Lilianna was. Her hand went to the silver ring on her finger. She wished she could go back to that conversation, do it differently. Reassure her instead.

  She found a clean glass, filled it with wine, and returned to the dining room.

  As the evening went on, the noise died down, and men drifted away in groups, off to bed or maybe the night watch, Lilianna guessed. Kara was led off to bed by her nursemaid. With their daughter gone, Kallia and Jedren had eyes only for each other. They seemed to barely notice the world around them, feeding each other and talking.

  It was getting late, and Lilianna found her eyelids drooping. It was hard to remain standing. She wanted nothing more than to slide down the wall, curl up on the floor, and fall asleep, but she wasn’t going to miss anything.

  The doors at the end of the hall banged open, startling her into awareness. Two guards came in, dragging a man by his arms.

  The man was older, his hair and beard were grey, and he was dressed in a weathered leather jerkin, a wool tunic underneath. A sword had been buckled to his side, but one of the guards now carried it under his arm. Silence fell in the room as men turned to stare drunkenly at the visitors. Jedren turned from Kallia, taking her hand in both of his as he surveyed the man.

  The two guards approached the high table, releasing the man. He looked at Jedren, then got slowly to his knees, bowing his head.

  “Most revered Jedren Corleot, I bring you the surrender of the Talbern clan.” He stayed, kneeling, his eyes lowered to the ground.

  Lilianna had never heard of the Talberns. Cowards.

  “And what makes your surrender of any value to me?” Jedren asked.

  “We are willing to offer you tithes, in exchange for the protection we know you can offer.” Protection from Jedren himself, Lilianna thought. “We are prepared to offer you a quarter of all our goods. We raise
sheep and goats; our wool is fine quality. Our crops are meager, but we will offer those as well.”

  “The price is half.”

  The man bent his head a little further, his shoulders taut. A shudder went through him, but he barely hesitated. “Of course. Half.”

  “I’ll expect the first shipment within the month,” Jedren said.

  “Of course, lord.”

  “These men will go with you. To see that things go smoothly.”

  “Of course, lord.”

  Jedren lifted his mug of beer. “All that is good is bought with sacrifice.” He touched his missing ear. Everyone in the room followed suit, lifting their mugs and glasses and intoning the words, touching their own ears. Many, Lilianna realized, were notched or missing pieces. All these men bowing to this monster. There was a knife on the table next to him, and Lilianna saw a vision of herself rushing forward, grabbing it and… she couldn’t quite imagine that part. An imaginary Paric glared at her and shook his head. He was right. She should wait. This was too perfect a position to waste on an impulse.

  The next day, Kallia left Lilianna alone in the temple while she went off somewhere. Lilianna slowly dusted the temple, her mind turning over various assassination plans.

  “Do you like the gods, too?” a voice behind her lisped. She jumped and turned around to see Kara standing there, her thumb in her mouth, trailing a doll in one hand.

  “Not really,” Lilianna said, then cursed herself. The child would definitely repeat that. “I mean, I love the gods,” she said tonelessly. At least she could be sarcastic. Children didn’t understand sarcasm.

  Kara smiled a wide, gap-toothed smile and held her doll up towards Lilianna. “This is Pretty,” she said solemnly. Lilianna stared at her, then said, “Yes, very pretty.”

  Kara laughed. “No, her name is Pretty,” she said.

  Lilianna realized this could have gone on for a long time. She’d never realized how dumb children could be, but it was also kind of charming. “Nice to meet you, Pretty,” Lilianna said to the doll, and Kara’s smile widened.

  “Whatcha doin’?” Kara asked, looking around Lilianna to the altar to Eclelia.

  “Doesn’t your mother tell you about it?” Lilianna asked.

  Kara stuck her thumb back in her mouth and shook her head solemnly.

  “Well, maybe you should ask her about it.”

  Kara’s head drooped and she hugged Pretty to her. Lilianna, annoyed that she could be so swayed by the child’s disappointment, sighed and dropped to kneel in front of her. She pointed at the golden statue. “That’s Numenos, the mother of all.” Lilianna believed none of it, but she knew the stories.

  Kara looked up. “Even me?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you?”

  “Yes, me too.”

  “So… you’re my sister?”

  “Er, no.”

  Kara frowned. Lilianna hedged. “Well, kind of.”

  Kara brightened. She thrust the doll into Lilianna’s hands. “You can play with Pretty, if you want.”

  Lilianna took the doll. “Um… thanks.” One of the doll’s hands was wet, and Lilianna grimaced. “Um, look, thanks. I should get back to work, though.” Kara nodded solemnly and sat down on the floor, tracing her fingers along its bright mosaic. Lilianna returned to her dusting, and behind her Kara started talking to herself, playing some game with the floor, exclaiming at regular intervals. It was surprisingly pleasant.

  46

  Jedren

  One morning, Kallia came to breakfast alone.

  “Where is Kara?” Jedren asked.

  “Sick,” Kallia said, not meeting his eyes.

  The next day, and the day after that, Kara did not appear. Kallia still joined him for breakfast each morning, but she barely spoke, barely met his eyes.

  47

  Lilianna

  Kallia was behaving strangely. Lilianna glanced over her shoulder, her hand pausing on the statue of Pomir. Kallia wrung her hands, pacing through the temple. She went into the other room, and a minute later something crashed.

  Lilianna, still carrying the rag, went to the doorway and looked into the sitting room. Kallia bent over a shattered glass sculpture, glittering shards scattered all around her. Her hands were shaking as she picked up sparkling fragments, gathering them in her skirt. She didn’t seem to notice the droplets of blood welling up in her palms.

  “Whoa, whoa, stop,” Lilianna said, taking a few steps forward. Then, thinking better of it, she ducked back inside the temple and grabbed the broom. Kallia had started to stand.

  “Don’t move,” Lilianna said, and for the first time Kallia seemed to hear her. She stood, one hand cradling the broken shards of glass, the other dangling at her side, dripping blood onto her white gown, staring out the window as Lilianna swept up the fragments around her.

  Finally, she ran a damp cloth over the whole area.

  “Here, give those to me,” Lilianna said, gesturing to the shards, and Kallia mutely obeyed.

  When all the glass was gone, Kallia still stood there, staring blankly out the window. Lilianna stood next to her, frowning.

  “Are you all right?” she asked finally.

  Kallia shook herself, tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear, leaving a bloody smear across her pale skin. “Oh, yes, fine, sorry.”

  A knock echoed loudly through the chambers, and Kallia tensed, her eyes widening. They both looked towards the temple door. The knock came again, and Kallia, stumbling slightly, at last went to open it. She pulled it open the tiniest of cracks and peeked through.

  “Is everything all right, ma’am?” Lilianna heard the worry in the soldier’s voice.

  “Yes, yes, everything is fine.”

  “We heard a crash.”

  “Oh, that was nothing. I dropped something.”

  “Are you sure we can’t come in and take care of anything for you?”

  “No, no, it’s all right.”

  There was a pause.

  “Ma’am?”

  “Yes?”

  “Did we do something?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s just that it’s been almost a week. Is there some reason you want us to stay outside? Jones was saying he thought he might have come across as disrespectful to one of your… decorations.”

  Kallia’s tension eased. “Oh, no, not at all. Please tell Jones it’s all right. I’m just… not feeling well. And… wanting to be prepared for the ceremony.”

  There was another long pause.

  “All right, ma’am. Well, let us know if there’s anything we can do, all right?”

  Her hand was flat on the door, beginning to push it closed. “Yes, of course. Thank you.”

  It clicked shut and she breathed a long sigh, leaning her forehead against the door. Finally she turned and caught Lilianna’s eyes.

  “What’s the ceremony?” Lilianna asked.

  Kallia waved it off, a distant look in her eyes. “Oh, the rest of the clan leaders are coming to pledge fealty to Jed. He’s executing some prisoners that day, too.”

  Whatever was bothering her, that wasn’t it. Still useful information, though.

  “Here, come with me,” Lilianna said, moving forward and taking the woman by the wrist. She steered Kallia back into the sitting room and onto one of the couches. You’re clearly not happy with this. Maybe there was something here Lilianna could use.

  Kallia looked down at her hands and seemed startled at the blood she saw there. She stared at it for several seconds. Then she looked at Lilianna and her eyes focused finally.

  “I’m so sorry I’ve bothered you like this. I’m all right, just a… a little light-headed. You should take the rest of the afternoon off. I’ll have food brought up here for dinner. Would you…” She looked around herself, lost. “Would you like something to read?”

  “No, thanks,” Lilianna said. Whatever was bothering the woman, she needed to know what it was. She swallowed, took a deep breath. Reaching o
ut, she took one of Kallia’s hands. A brief image of Coralie flashed across her mind, and a jagged bit of pain tore at her. She remembered one night, sitting with Coralie outside her grandmother’s. She hadn’t wanted to go home, hadn’t wanted to say that, though. She remembered Coralie reaching out, taking her hand gently, asking her what was wrong. She hadn’t told her everything then, but she had told her pieces of it. She tried to remember exactly what Coralie had said that had made her suddenly feel like it was safe to talk. “It’s OK,” Lilianna said. “Whatever’s bothering you, I won’t tell anyone.”

  It was the wrong thing to say. Kallia pulled her hand back and stood up. “I need to go check on Kara.”

  Without looking back, she swept out of the room. Lilianna, frustrated, watched her go.

  Kallia avoided her the rest of the day, avoiding her with a fake cheerfulness that was more grating and disconcerting than the numb staring had been. Lilianna finished her sweeping and dusting, dragging it out as long as possible, until Kallia finally forced her to stop, sending her out of the temple and back to her room.

  Lilianna sat on her bed, which was the nicest she’d ever slept on, and picked at the fish and potato pie she’d been given.

  Something was clearly bothering Kallia, but apparently she didn’t trust Lilianna enough to tell her what it was. Did she trust anyone enough? Clearly not. Lilianna was surprised to feel a stab of pity for the woman. She took another bite of pie and stared out the window. This side looked out a short stretch of windy plains, which gave way to rocks that dropped away in sheer cliffs down to the ocean on the far side. The thin, sparkling blue line of the horizon stretched away in the hazy distance. Off to her left, the sun was sinking, sending long golden streaks across the water.

  She dropped the rest of the pie onto the platter and brushed the crumbs from her hands, shrugging. It was probably Jedren. It couldn’t be all that great being married to a monster like that. She seemed totally enamored with him, and he with her, but at some point, he was what he was.