“The monster will be gone. I’m certain of it.”
“How can you be sure? It destroyed our ships and broke into the fortress. Why would it leave?”
“Because a godling weakens when it is away from its homeland. Remember, I fought one such creature in Mirrabay, and it had faded substantially by the time it finished its attack.”
Not only had the battle been difficult for Utho, it had driven another Brava—Onder—away in mad panic. Utho controlled his shudder, not letting Mandan see the effect the encounter had had on him. “The godling will be gone, I assure you.” His mouth went dry. “Klea undoubtedly put up a terrific fight, as did our three guardian ships. When the Isharans recaptured the fortress, there would have been much damage to the garrison defenses.” Utho clenched the rail, willing the attack fleet to sail faster. His hand strayed to the warm gold cuff of his ramer. He wanted to cut and burn every one of the Isharan animals. “This is the time, my konag. Fulcor is vulnerable now.”
* * *
On the third day just after dawn, the Commonwealth fleet came within sight of the island. The sun rose on the eastern horizon, silhouetting the rocky bastion. The lookout shouted from the mainmast, and the soldiers crowded on deck, ready to fight. They cheered as they saw their target. Similar shouts echoed from the other nine vessels of the fleet. Flags ran up the masts.
Fulcor Island was just a barren rock, windswept and cold. Utho had served there during the previous war, doing his duty, even if it meant leaving his wife and daughters back in Mirrabay … to be slaughtered.
Mandan emerged from his cabin, still sleepy, but he had donned his circlet crown and purple cape of office. He wore a belt with a golden buckle around a loose tunic with the open hand embroidered on the right breast, the rising sun on the left. Utho was glad to see that the young man looked the part of a konag.
“I have wanted this for a very long time,” Utho muttered. “We finally have a konag who understands our true enemy.” He licked his lips, already tasting victory.
“I wish my father were here,” Mandan said under his breath.
As the sun rose higher and the glare dissipated from the rippling waves, the lookouts sighted several Isharan ships anchored out beyond the reefs. Another patrol vessel came around from the eastern side of the island.
“Enemy vessels ahead!” called the lookout.
“I doubt there will be more than five,” Utho reassured Mandan.
The young konag clenched his jaw. “We will crush them.”
“More ships coming! I count seven … no, ten!”
“Ten?” Utho stepped back, reassessing. “We are evenly matched, but we will still win.”
Then even more ships came around the island, all with red-and-white sails—fifteen at least. Utho didn’t know how the enemy had brought in that many reinforcements so quickly. According to the Utauk traders, their empra was incapacitated! Who was leading them?
“We didn’t count on facing fifteen ships.” Mandan’s voice trembled.
Utho fought back his rising dread. All of the enemy warships sailed toward them.
44
AFTER Thon and Elliel returned with King Kollanan, Shadri was eager to see her friends, and anxious to learn more about what they had brought back—a treasure of wreth history and legends that no human had ever seen before.
“I want to help,” she said as she leaned her head through the half-open wooden door of the austere castle room Elliel shared with Thon. Breathless with excitement, Shadri pushed her long, somewhat tangled hair behind her shoulders. “I can be useful! I know it.”
The Brava woman had dropped her pack of clothes and supplies on the stone floor and was rummaging among the travel garments, pulling them out. Thon had brought in a fresh set of blankets for their bed.
Elliel looked at her in surprise. “You want to help us unpack?”
Shadri looked around the sparsely furnished quarters, and her eyes lit on a rectangular leather-wrapped bundle lying on the table. She stepped into the room. “No, I mean the histories! Is that them? Thon, will you show me your language? Teach me the letters so I can help you translate?”
Thon smiled. “There is much to review. I could use the assistance of a scholar girl.” He moved the leather covering aside. The crystal sheets seemed thin and delicate, almost invisible except for the letters etched in several layers, somehow melded onto one another. “So much to peruse and absorb. I do not believe Queen Voo has read them in her lifetime.”
Shadri thought of what happened when she pestered others with too many questions. “Some people do not place much importance on learning.”
Elliel hung her black traveling cloak and finemail cape on a peg in the wall. “Thon has had enough adventuring for the time being. Now it is time for learning.” She leaned close to kiss him on the cheek. “Meanwhile, I have some Brava duties to attend to!”
* * *
Shadri considered taking the crystalline histories down to the remembrance shrine so all the legaciers could pore over the records as well, but none of them could read the wreth language either. Instead, she decided the king’s library was a perfect place for her to review the materials with Thon, side by side.
Pokle had built a nice fire in the hearth and the room was warm. After Thon set the bundle on the long wooden table, Shadri reverently opened it and picked up the first sheet of thin glassy material. She turned it to the light so the fireplace flames shone through and illuminated the letters. But there was so much more sealed inside the sandwiched crystal.
Thon reached for the sheet. “Wreth blood is required to activate the letters.” He removed the dagger at his side and held up his hand. “For the sake of acquiring knowledge, I am happy to prick my thumb.” He jabbed himself with the point and let a drop of deep red blood well up. He touched his thumb to the transparent surface. When the firelight reflected through the sheets, letters sprang from the document and into the air, shimmering there. “It is a place to start—so much information, so many stories.”
“Read them to me, and I will record every word,” Shadri said. She worked in this room often, and she already had a stack of loose, clean paper that Queen Tafira provided for her writing.
Blinking nervously, Pokle arrived at the library with a platter of bread and cheese for them to eat. Shadri and Thon were too busy copying down the words to be interrupted, so the shaggy-haired young man set the platter on the table near them. On his way out, he hovered in the doorway until Shadri looked up and smiled at him. Then, blushing, Pokle scurried away.
She was ready to work long into the night, although it would take days, even weeks, to go through the hundreds of crystal sheets. Shadri marveled at the fresh stories of ancient wreth battles, sandwreth victories, frostwreth treacheries. Thon read legends of the famed warrior Rao, a great commander who had challenged and wounded the dragon Ossus himself. Some documents were screeds against the frostwreth race, the evil descendants of Suth, and how no one would ever forget the horrible crime they had inflicted upon innocent, pregnant Raan, the true beloved of Kur.
As Thon continued to read the hovering letters, Shadri connected a few of the wreth symbols to certain words. While transcribing, Shadri took special care to note the actual wreth symbol for the name of the god.…
The following day, while Thon practiced his swordplay with Elliel and helped train the Fellstaff fighters, Shadri continued to sort through the crystalline sheets. She scanned the strange markings she could see, holding them up to the watery sunlight that shone through the windows. She pulled out any documents that seemed to mention Kur, because those might be relevant to the mystery of Thon’s existence. She found five more sheets with multiple instances of the god symbol, including one strange artifact with crumbled edges and a yellowish tinge.
When Thon returned to the library chamber that evening, Shadri was excited to show him the exceptional crystal page. “This discolored one looks older than the others, don’t you think? Or maybe made of a different material? It
must be something special, right?” She pointed down at the etched markings. “Look at the symbol. It mentions Kur over and over again. I wonder what it means.”
Thon held it up curiously. “I do not know. Shall we see what it says?” He pricked his thumb again and illuminated the letters with flowing blood. The dark wreth stepped back, reciting the displayed text while Shadri began writing. A strange expression crossed the wreth man’s face and he hesitated.
Shadri waited. “What is it? Is it about Kur? Stories of what happened to him? Are there any hints about you?”
Thon read silently for a time until he finally looked at her and explained. “This is an ancient story about Kur and two loves, Suth and Raan. Out of jealousy, Suth poisoned her own sister and made her lose the baby, Kur’s baby.” His deep sapphire eyes were filled with shock. “But in this version of the story, Kur was heartbroken to the point of despair at what his creations had done. He realized that all of the evil in the world had not been contained within the dragon Ossus. Evil had poisoned the wreths as well.”
Thon turned the yellowed crystalline sheet from side to side. The shimmering letters flickered in the air. “This says that in hopeless anguish, Kur withdrew from the wreths.” Thon tilted his head, staring at the symbols hanging in the air. “It says Kur worked without rest for one hundred days and one hundred nights to create a magic of forgetting. All he needed was one drop of the blood of Ossus to work the magic. It is said that Suth saw him descend into the mountains to find Ossus, and Kur was never seen again.”
Thon set the crystalline sheet down, obviously shaken. “But this record is from an ancient archive. An annotation indicates that it is considered a legend, not true history. But I wonder.” He touched the tattoo on his face, then looked up with sudden determination. “Is it possible that the frostwreths know more?”
* * *
Glad to be back home in his comfortable hall, Kollanan worked his dagger against a block of soft pine, flicking away curls of wood to carve a small figure. He had always told his grandsons that he was merely freeing the toy trapped inside. His sharp blade paused for a moment, stalled by the weight of memory, then he flicked the knife again. He hardly noticed his sore fingers.
Tafira sat near him in a chair before the fire. As he whittled, he told her everything that had happened out in the deep desert, emphasizing that he did not trust Queen Voo for a moment. “Still, I would be happy if they fought the frostwreths for us.”
He carved wooden arms, sketched lines of armor, and held up a crude figure of a wreth warrior. He admired his handiwork, wishing he could have presented the toy to the boys, but Tomko was dead, and Birch a captive. Kollanan tossed the figure into the fire, where the flames blackened it, just as the funeral pyre had consumed Conndur’s hand.
When Tafira spoke, the heaviness in her voice told him she had been wrestling with her thoughts for some time. “Beloved, I know that my presence makes some of our people uneasy. Do you think I should leave, stay in a forest lodge in an isolated county? Lord Ogno has extended an invitation. Shadri could accompany me.”
Taken aback, Koll paused as he began carving a new chunk of wood. “I just came home! I need you with me, especially in these times.”
“This Isharan war changes things. I fear that I distract them.”
“You certainly distract me,” he said, trying to make light of her comment, “and still I’m a good king.” With the knife tip, he fashioned one of the shaggy white creatures the frostwreths rode. “I need you here, my love, and I have needed you for thirty years. Have faith that the people of Norterra know you have nothing to do with some evil assassin who killed my brother on the other side of the world. What would I do without you?”
“I sense resentment from Captain Rondo. We should let him ride back to Convera. His mission is finished here.”
Koll looked up. “He is a well-trained soldier of the Commonwealth and he will follow orders. Now that I know sandwreth reinforcements are coming, I want Rondo here for the strike on the Lake Bakal fortress.”
Tafira’s brow furrowed. “They are soldiers, yes, but only twenty men. Is it really that significant?”
“Yes, but in a different way. Konag Mandan has been dismissive of the wreths, primarily because Utho has his eyes set on Ishara and is blind to any other threats. That is why I intend for Captain Rondo and his men to join us in the attack. They will see the frostwreth threat for themselves. Then when I send them back, maybe they will convince Mandan.”
Tafira let the matter drop, although her troubled expression told him the discussion was not over. In deep silence he finished carving the wolf-steed, then tossed it into the fire as well.
Thon and his two Brava companions walked into the great hall, and Kollanan could tell at a glance that they had hatched some sort of scheme. Elliel and Lasis wore their black uniforms, freshly laundered, boots polished, as if they were presenting themselves for a formal review. Lasis had his jerkin open at the throat, as if to display the scar where Queen Onn had slashed his neck.
“We have a suggestion, Sire,” Lasis announced. “Something you should consider.”
Koll set down his knife and brushed wood shavings from his lap.
Elliel said, “There is a chance to save your grandson.”
Koll and Tafira sat up straight, giving all their attention.
Lasis got right to the point, as he always did. “When the sandwreth reinforcements arrive, we plan to attack Lake Bakal. Once we do that, it will be open war, and too late for a different strategy. If Birch is a hostage in Queen Onn’s palace, I fear his life may be forfeit.”
Elliel stepped close to Thon. “Before that happens, Thon and I propose riding north to the frostwreth palace. Queen Onn believes Lasis is dead, but she does not know either of us.”
Kollanan stroked his beard. “You expect to sneak inside the frostwreth palace?”
Thon chuckled. “Oh, not sneak inside. We will go to the main entrance and ask to see the queen. I am unlike any wreth Onn has ever seen. Remember how Queen Voo reacted when she saw me?” His bright expression belied the seriousness of the situation. “I have my own goal, and that is how we will get inside the palace. Voo and the sandwreths gave me excellent historical information, and the scholar girl and I have discovered alarming information in those records. It is now imperative that I also review the frostwreth records. I … it is possible that I am Kur.”
“You considered that before.” Koll didn’t know what else to say. “You think the frostwreth histories have more information?”
“I must know.”
Tafira’s brows drew together. “You believe Queen Voo will simply let you in?”
Elliel gestured toward the dark wreth. “Look at him. They will be intrigued, especially if he demonstrates a bit of his power.”
“But how will this help Birch?” Kollanan asked.
Lasis said, “While they are inside the frostwreth palace under those pretenses, they can try to find the boy.”
“Not pretenses,” Thon said, “not at all. I am sincere in my quest to obtain the frostwreth histories.”
Elliel crossed her arms over her chest. “It could be our best chance, Sire. We can at least learn about your grandson, perhaps rescue him.”
Lasis stroked the scar on his throat. “Queen Onn would recognize me, so I will stay here to guard you, Sire. Elliel and Thon are capable of facing the frostwreths by themselves.”
Koll laughed, but the Brava was not joking. Elliel said, “We will learn what we can about Thon, and look for a way to rescue Birch.”
“I can keep us safe. I have powers that might gain the queen’s respect, or at least her attention.” Thon cocked his eyebrow. “Perhaps I can persuade her to release the boy.”
“We can be very persuasive,” Elliel said. “If nothing else, we may see what war preparations she is making and how soon she might send her armies down to attack Norterra.”
“Birch.” Kollanan looked at his wife, and Tafira’s dark eyes were fi
lled with hope.
“If there’s a chance…” she said in a husky whisper.
“If there’s a chance…” Koll said. “Ancestors’ blood, go then! Ride together and see what you can do. Once Quo and the sandwreths arrive, everything changes.” He turned his knife from side to side so that the firelight licked the blade. He looked at Lasis. “Meanwhile, old friend, you and I will set off on another mission.”
45
AFTER she awoke from spellsleep, Koru felt energized to be wearing full armor again. Polished blue and silver plates fit perfectly over her breasts, covered her midriff, spread sharp edges across her shoulders. Her bone-white hair was bound with a thin silver chain. With a gauntleted hand, she rested her crystal-tipped spear of command on her shoulder. Obsidian knives hung at her waist, along with a razor-edged cutter disk that she could hurl and ricochet across the ice to strike down her targets.
Bright sunlight washed over the snow as she watched the continuing war preparations. The frigid air blowing across the tundra braced her exposed skin. She stared into the sharp spray of ice grains, without blinking.
Oonuks bounded across the uneven snow, claws digging into the frozen ground. Their shaggy pelts made each creature look like a coiled blizzard. Studded muzzles wrapped their jaws shut so they did not rip one other apart. It was wasteful to mangle the wolf-steeds during practice. There was enough other blood to spill.
Irri, her mother’s new favorite warrior, rode in a plated battle sleigh drawn by two oonuks. He wore a helmet and carried a shield, but left his arms bare to display his bulging muscles. Koru doubted their enemies would swoon with desire from looking at his physique.
She herself was not devoid of desires, but she was not like her mother, who allowed those passions to dominate her, making her capricious instead of tactical. Koru preferred to look at their larger destiny, not follow transient impulses.
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