Vengewar

by Kevin J. Anderson

  Since awakening, Koru had studied the frostwreth armies, taken inventory of their weapons, interviewed the warriors already awake and prepared, and counted those who remained frozen in spellsleep, waiting to be awakened. She was dismayed at how many had mysteriously died in their ice chambers.

  Queen Onn seemed to have no plan whatsoever for the coming war. Given the size of her fighting force, she simply assumed they would overwhelm the sandwreths. This lack of planning exasperated Koru. Did her mother have any reconnaissance or intelligence on the enemy sandwreths? Any information at all?

  Had she given a moment’s thought to their real mission from Kur—to destroy Ossus? At times Koru felt she was the only one who genuinely remembered what wreths were meant to do.

  She had studied the written chronicles of wreth history, including their military losses at the end of the great wars. Countless casualties on countless battlefields. Queen Onn chose to ignore those poignant lessons because they were uncomfortable. Koru was satisfied with the potential of her race, and she would make certain her mother didn’t let victory melt through her fingers.

  Without asking permission, she began to organize the warriors into a true fighting force. Her people were not weak, they were disorganized, and she could fix that. Previously, for their own amusement, frostwreths had challenged each other to test their weapons, engaging in mock hand-to-hand battles. But that was only preparation for winning a duel, not a war. They needed military practice on a grand scale.

  Now, full regiments of warriors lined up on the ice and charged forward, led by Irri and other noble commanders in armored sleighs. The oonuks growled and snarled, and the winds blew with the sounds of victory.

  Separate from the marching armies, a dozen mages invoked their powers, calling tendrils of magic from deep within the ice. A spiderweb of cracks shot through the glacier. As steam gasped forth, the cracks melted and fused like a scab forming on a wound. The blizzard wall near the palace shifted, a vanguard of howling winds.

  Koru felt a deep hatred for sandwreths, yes, but destroying Ossus was their reason for existence. Her ancestor Dar had even fought the dragon with her deadly spear. Wounded, Ossus had crawled deep beneath the world. Dar’s spear still hung above the queen’s throne, and Koru wondered if her mother even remembered the story.

  She watched the battle exercises for a while longer, then returned to the frozen palace, where she would engage in another battle—with her mother.

  * * *

  Birch remained quiet at the base of Queen Onn’s throne. That morning she had summoned him again, claimed to adore him, asked where he had been. He told Onn what she wanted to hear, because it was the only way to keep himself safe. “I have been learning. The drones showed me the palace.”

  The queen seemed satisfied. “You must be glad to be freed from your bleak existence in that human town.”

  Sadness and anger tangled in his throat. “That was my home. And my family…”

  Onn lounged back. “Family is deadly. I told you how Raan tried to destroy her own sister Suth. I think of my hideous cousin Voo, who did this to me during our last battle.” She traced a sharpened nail across the long scar on her cheek. “I will make certain she pays a thousandfold for that, and every one of her inferior followers will die.”

  Not caring about the interruption, Koru entered the throne room, striding across the polished ice floor. She showed little deference to the queen. “Our armies are impressive and strong, Mother. I am overseeing their training.”

  “I am glad you have taken an interest in our great war.”

  “Someone needed to,” Koru said with biting sarcasm.

  Birch pulled his new blanket around him and shrank back as he listened. Koru ignored the huddled boy and kept her pale gaze fixed on Onn. “I do not know if we will be strong enough to complete the mission Kur gave us. We must plan carefully, for our true enemy is powerful.”

  The queen’s eyes sparkled. “I have no doubt Queen Voo means to attack us soon. We need to eradicate our enemy as soon as possible.”

  Annoyed, Koru gestured to the wall behind the throne, where the broken spear hung, stained with rusty dragon’s blood. “I am not speaking of sandwreths! Our true enemy is Ossus, the dragon at the heart of the world. How will you channel our race to wake the dragon and then slay it? Will you use Dar’s spear?”

  Onn scowled at the challenge. “The dragon will wait. We must clear the land first, wipe out the sandwreths. We cannot let them taint Kur’s perfect world.”

  “That is not the mission we were given,” Koru retorted. “Ossus is the manifestation of all evil: jealousy, hatred, violence. Destroying the dragon is our true goal. You allow yourself to be distracted.”

  “Ridding the world of our rivals is not a distraction,” Onn scoffed. “I think the long spellsleep damaged your heart and mind.”

  Koru shifted in her gleaming armor. “All of us were made in Kur’s image. When he vanished from the world, he left clear commands that wreths—not one faction or the other, but all wreths—were to slay Ossus. Do you not believe the dragon is a greater imperative? Would it not be a better plan for our entire race to fight the common enemy? Even if we all face him together, Ossus may still destroy us.”

  The queen leaned forward in her frozen throne. “You would let the sandwreths share paradise with us? You are a fool, Daughter.”

  Koru struggled with impatience. “It would be wiser simply to slay the sandwreth leaders, kill their corrupt queen and anyone who issues unwise commands. Then we could unify the wreths and prepare for the real battle.” Her voice increased in urgency. “Ossus is stirring, and the mountains are cracking. If the dragon wakes before we are ready to fight him, we are all doomed!” She looked at the spear behind the throne. “What is that weapon for if you don’t intend to follow the wishes of Kur?”

  Onn heaved a great sigh, eager to dismiss her persistent daughter. “I can tell you have thought much about this. You are dedicated, passionate.” She tapped her fingernail on the side of the throne and appeared to be considering. She spoke as if the idea had just occurred to her, but Birch thought she might be simply giving Koru something to do, and to get her out of the palace. “We need to learn more about the dragon. Take a war party, as many warriors as you like, even a mage or two, and go to the Dragonspine Mountains. Discover what you can about Ossus and how much time we might have left.” She chuckled. “In fact, if the dragon emerges while you are there, this could be your chance to kill him. That would solve our problem once and for all.”

  Koru flared her nostrils, but she seemed pleased with the command. “I accept the mission, Mother. We need to know. I will ride and find the dragon.”

  46

  THE empra’s condition had not changed. Every day seemed the same in the high palace tower, and Cemi felt as if she were teetering on a precipice, waiting for Iluris to awaken, or to die … or for Key Priestlord Klovus to make his move. He seemed to have forgotten about them, though large crowds still gathered in the fountain square below, pouring their hopes into the empra’s well-being.

  Klovus had taken credit for the Isharan navy recapturing Fulcor Island, and he controlled the Serepol godling. He had publicly demonstrated his might by using it to build part of the Magnifica temple.

  All the while, Iluris remained asleep and silent. All day, every day, they heard her subjects praying for Empra Iluris. This land loved her. What would happen if Cemi came forth and spoke on the empra’s behalf? Who would listen to a girl from the streets, barely sixteen? Especially if the key priestlord tried to silence her?

  “Hear us, save us,” she muttered.

  Analera came to deliver their food daily, sometimes accompanied by other trustworthy servants. Hawk guards were stationed in the corridor outside the tower chambers, while Vos and three others remained in the room. Like a caged animal, Cemi often went to stand by the open windows, staring out at the vast city and looking down on the worried subjects. So much faith out there, so much energy. Maybe
the people would listen to her after all.…

  Though she loved the woman who had rescued her from the streets and trained her in politics and leadership, Cemi longed for unfettered times when she could do what she liked, run at will, see people and places, even flee from angry shopkeepers after she had stolen a meal. Now, during these long days in the tower, she wondered if she would ever leave this room.

  At lunchtime a trio of servants carried trays of bread, fruits, and smoked fish as well as hot broth for the empra. Cemi recognized an older manservant named Frenik, a man whom Analera had introduced, accompanied by two new barrel-chested servants with downcast eyes.

  “Has her condition changed?” Frenik asked in a whisper. When Cemi shook her head, the old man gave her a comforting nod. “And how about you, dear girl? You look pale and thin.”

  Captani Vos blocked the two other servants from entering the chamber. “And who are these? I don’t recognize their faces.”

  “They work in the kitchens, Captani,” Frenik said. “I’m familiar with them, as is Analera.”

  “I do not know them,” said Vos. He straightened the red cape on his left shoulder and stepped forward to face the newcomers. “What have you to say for yourselves?”

  One of the barrel-chested servants held a heavy, steaming pot balanced on a metal tray. “We get interrogated in order to bring soup?”

  Cemi caught her breath, noting a dark hardness about the man that did not belong on a meek servant. Instantly alert, she said, “Vos, he’s—”

  The servant moved with sudden slipperiness and threw the steaming soup onto Vos’s face and chest. As the captani recoiled, the servant dropped the pot and swept the metal tray sideways like an ax blade. Frenik turned, confused by what was happening, and the tray slashed his throat. The old man barely had time to flail his hands before he collapsed, spurting blood.

  The second new servant also used his tray as a weapon, smashing it into the face of a hawk guard who sprang in to defend the empra. The guard went down with his face caved in.

  The first servant careened toward Cemi, who sprang backward and stumbled just as the man whipped a knife from his gray robes and slashed the air where she had been an instant before.

  Scalded by the hot broth, Captani Vos lurched toward the commotion, trying to see. “Cemi!” He collided with the attacking guard. A slash from the dagger caught Vos in the chest, ringing against the golden armor scales.

  Cemi hit the floor and rolled. As a young girl, she had survived street fights. She dove under the bed and slithered to the far side, where she emerged. The attacker lunged after her.

  Hawk guards rushed in from the hall to defend the empra, and Cemi saw the two barrel-chested servants shift their features until they were no longer bland, weary-looking underlings. Now their features had a hard predatory cast, and their dark eyes narrowed with intense focus. Each assassin held two knives as they prowled in for the kill.

  Iluris lay still on the bed, as if waiting to be cut to pieces.

  Cemi flung a pillow at the nearest attacker. He slashed at it, spilling a blizzard of down feathers. She heard more shouts from the corridor and realized that the palace guard escort had turned on the loyal hawk guards. The clash of blades sounded like the clamor of a blacksmith’s shop. She heard screams of pain, grunts, collapsing bodies—but she couldn’t worry about the battle in the corridor. She had to survive here, save the empra.

  Vos swiped a hand across his scalded face, blinking, defending himself as best he could even though he was still trying to see. Cemi shouted his name, and he spun toward the sound of her voice just as the attacker lunged at her. The captani swung his sword against the man’s arm, but his blade rang off the surface, as if the skin had turned to stone.

  The fight grew louder out in the corridor, but inside the empra’s chamber the hawk guards fell back toward the bed as a last line of defense. Then another group of attackers burst in from the corridor. The four palace guards who had escorted Frenik and the traitorous servants each wore a different appearance now, with murder in their eyes.

  Scrambling for a weapon of her own, Cemi retrieved one of the metal platters and held it up as a shield, swinging it to deflect a knife blow. She couldn’t believe such a plot had come together so smoothly, and she didn’t have to guess who had ordered it.

  She stayed at the empra’s side, ready to die to protect her. Now that Vos could partially see again, he swung his sword in a vicious side stroke, but the blade’s tip whistled through empty air as the nimble assassin sprang back. Two more hawk guards died defending the doorway from attackers.

  Cemi held up her metal tray, and Vos planted his boots on the other side of the empra’s bed. Five deadly assassins pushed into the chamber while combat continued out in the hall.

  With such a loud clamor, surely others would come to help the empra! Priestlord Klovus could not have the entire palace under his thumb. The killers stormed toward her with their long blades, and she had only a metal tray to defend herself and save Iluris.

  She knew she was going to die. The empra would be slain in bed, her death explained away that she had finally succumbed to her head injury. Priestlord Klovus would take over and rule Ishara, blaming the Commonwealth for her death. Cemi was sickened to think that such traitors might ever win. She could not allow it!

  Empra Iluris was Ishara. She was the heart of the land. Even in the midst of battle, she looked so peaceful on her pillow, so vulnerable, her eyes closed, the lids just a delicate veil of skin.

  Cemi’s burgeoning anger overpowered her fear, and she forgot about her own life. “You will not have her!”

  The assassins were not intimidated by a scrawny girl. They looked like hyenas ready to fall upon a wounded antelope.

  But as they pressed closer, Cemi sensed a ripple in the air, a shimmer around the empra’s bed. Without understanding it, she felt her heart uplifted, filled with a strength beyond anything she had experienced before. The air itself became thick, like flowing water.

  A barely seen force flung out and drove back an assassin’s blade with such force that it snapped the man’s wrist. He staggered away gaping at his bent forearm as the sword clattered to the floor.

  With a swelling lurch, the invisible thing pushed forward. Another assassin hurled himself at Cemi and Iluris, only to be snatched in midstride, lifted into the air by unseen hands, and then hammered up into the stone ceiling—smashed again and again, then dropped, until his body sprawled broken on the floor.

  Vos shouted, “What is that?” The other hawk guards stared.

  “An ally.” Cemi didn’t care. “It fights with us.”

  The hawk guards redoubled their efforts against the assassins, but the invisible force was now on a rampage. Cemi felt a breath of cold wind followed by a warm tingle. This entity was on their side, she knew it. It was guarding Iluris.

  As the unknown thing attacked, the assassins cried out in alarm. They rallied, standing in a fighting unit, but the entity grabbed them and smashed them together. Bones crunched, blood sprayed.

  “It’s like a godling!” Cemi said, but this was unlike any godling she had seen. At the moment, she didn’t dare question.

  Taking advantage of the unexpected diversion, Vos swung his sword and decapitated a distracted assassin.

  The melee continued out in the corridor, where several more defenders had fallen. The strange presence gushed out into the hall, looping around and avoiding the hawk guards, selectively seizing the assassins, and popping their heads like ripe grapes.

  Before long, the astonished attackers all lay dead. The rippling presence faded, went quiescent. Cemi couldn’t tell if it was still there.

  Vos looked down at the unconscious Iluris in disbelief, then up at Cemi. “She’s safe … and you’re alive.”

  “We have a reprieve.” She began to move, wrapping sheets around Iluris. If they had a chance to get away … “The traitor must be Klovus, but I doubt we could prove it. I didn’t think he would be so bold. How w
ill he cover this up?”

  “He meant to kill all of us,” Vos said. “No witnesses. Then he could spin the reason any way he wished.”

  “I don’t intend to give him that pleasure.” Cemi grabbed up the sheets. “We have to move her somewhere that even the priestlord can’t find her. How many people in the palace are under his thumb?”

  The surviving hawk guards came in from the corridor. Many were wounded, some bleeding badly. Vos took charge. “If the empra is not safe in her own quarters, where can we take her? Is there some place to hide her in the city?”

  Bedraggled and in shock, old Analera hurried up from the side stairs in the main hall, accompanied by two familiar servants.

  Vos tried to block them, his face ruddy with anger. “The servants betrayed us. They let the assassins in.”

  Analera shook her head as she looked in horror down at murdered Frenik. “How did this happen?”

  “Frenik,” Cemi said, “but he was tricked. The manservants with him … shifted their features. I think they replaced other trusted servants. Maybe it was some magic from the key priestlord.”

  “How can we be sure that you are not also imposters?” Vos glowered at Analera.

  “You need us,” the old woman said. “We love the empra, and I can hide you. There are many passageways beneath the palace, and secret storage rooms used only by servants for countless generations. If we take the empra down the back stairs, we can hide her.”

  Another shaken servant spoke up. “We would die before letting anyone else harm her!”

  Vos grunted, dubious. “Many have died already, including a lot of my men.” He struggled to remain calm in spite of the slaughter around him.

  Cemi turned slowly in the chamber, searching. She stretched out her fingers and tried to drink in the remaining tingle in the air, to see if their strange benefactor was still there, but the invisible force seemed to have vanished. She looked at the captani, speaking like a leader … as Iluris had taught her to do. “We need to move quickly, and we don’t have any other obvious choice.”