Chapter 9 #2
He hadn’t drawn his sword yet, instead sending random bolts into the air, clearly blinding himself with each one. His movements grew more chaotic, and I turned the captain again, pulling him in front of me just in time to catch one of the electro mage’s bolts.
The captain gurgled, screaming. I smelled smoke as his armor heated, branding his skin. Pulling my blade up, I tried to draw it across his neck, but he raised his arm, and my blade only caught the gauntlet around his forearm.
I ducked low as the electro mage threw another bolt, and the captain turned, raising his foot to kick me, striking my side. Grunting, I slid my blade up, finding space in his armor between his leg and groin.
He screamed in pain, and I pulled the blade loose just as he fell. I was on him in an instant, pinning his arms with my legs and plunging my blade deep into his throat.
There was the sound of something shrieking, as though a nightmare itself had come to life.
A piece of darkness launched itself off of the tree, claws extended as it headed straight for the electro mage.
He raised his hands, firing off bolts of electricity, but it was impossible to catch a nightmare.
Terror scratched across his face, and Irad?o finally got her blade in a gap in his armor.
The electro mage fell, blood dripping from between his lips.
The roar of the river covered the sound of men gasping for air as they died.
I turned to Zolle. She had a knife. It was small with a worn wooden handle, likely something she had picked up in the kitchen.
The blade trembled when she held it. Her lantern had fallen, the flame extinguishing. The only light was the electro lamps the soldiers had used.
Neither Irad?o nor I spoke.
Terror, after circling overhead, landed on my shoulder. “I was very dramatic, wasn’t I? Surely that deserves a pig’s liver, and we can all be done with this nonsense of Ratcatcher.”
“Stay back.” Zolle wet her lips. “Stay back!”
“Why did you do it?” I didn’t even recognize my voice when I asked, as though I was one of the Dogs, hidden in shadow and impossible to fight.
“Why? The better question is why you still serve him! He lays down with an animal from the north! He drew our nation into war with itself!” Zolle’s eyes were wide.
“Why? You know what he is doing is wrong. You know that a true emperor is meant to unite the continent under the rule of the Imperium, not fracture the empire! We all know the promise. There’s a prince now.
Hallu is clearly the true heir of Emperor Millu. We must unite under him.”
As she spoke, she stopped trembling, her mouth relaxing in confidence.
“Who told you that?” I asked. “Empress Koque?”
Zolle pursed her lips, before raising her upper lip in a sneer. “The lapdog of Emperor Tallu? No. She’s just as much a traitor as him. She killed Emperor Millu! I was there. I know what that witch did to him. She’s no better than a blood mage.”
“And you have so much faith that General Kacha will unite us?” I tried not to laugh.
Slowly, I pulled the scarf from around my face, exposing it in the lamplight. Zolle gaped at me, her mouth working briefly before she shook her head.
I didn’t wait for her to think of an insult. Her other already rang in my ears. He lays with an animal from the north.
“Get in the boat,” I said. “Take your faith to General Kacha and tell him this: Tallu and I are coming. I will finish him as I was stopped from doing before. There is no place he can hide in the Imperium that will make him safe from me. He can lock himself in the emperor’s quarters and I will still kill him. ”
Unsteadily, Zolle backed toward the boat, getting into it.
Irad?o stepped forward, pushing it into the water.
It splashed, following the current. Zolle had no electro magic, and it would be impossible for her to take it to the Blood Mountains.
Her only hope was following it all the way to Heron Lake and then on to the capital.
When the boat was long gone, and the roar of the river covered our words, Irad?o said, “You should have killed her.”
“Her precious General Kacha will do that,” I said. “And her message will throw Kacha off the scent. He’ll think we’re coming for him now, that going to Tavornai was nothing more than a ploy.”
Irad?o took the electric lamp off of the post the soldiers had hung it from. She held it above them, checking for any signs of life. After a moment, she plunged her sword down, and a man gurgled, finally dying. I helped her clean up, making sure none of Kacha’s men survived.
The work was gruesome, and also, strangely, reminded me of the hunting I had not been allowed to do as a young man.
I felt my braids heavy where they hung over my shoulder and knew that Irad?o had given me ones that claimed me as a blooded warrior.
But none of the northern men my age had ever seen the war against the Imperium.
They had been blooded not in battle, but in a hunt.
It was not the same.
When we traveled back through the forest using the electro lamp to guide us, I paid no attention to whether my foot crunched twigs or leaves, and Irad?o whispered with the owl riding on her shoulder.
“What did she say?” I asked.
“She says that no one else from Kacha’s camp came south,” Irad?o answered.
I held aside a low-hanging branch, and Irad?o passed under my arm. Put off by our noise, the forest was silent around us.
Two dark shadows dropped out of the trees, landing on my shoulders. As we picked our way back to the estate, Terror made an argument for why Ratcatcher should be cut off entirely from food, while the other bird helplessly tried to argue in his own favor.
I tried not to be distracted but found myself smiling until I saw Asahi waiting for us, just at the edge of House Jolushi’s estate. His mask shadowed his eyes, and the electro lamp gleamed off of the smooth black ceramic of the wolf he wore on his face.
Irad?o and I both went still and silent. For a moment, I thought about walking past him, ignoring him and what it meant. He was supposed to be guarding Tallu. There was no need for him to be out in the forest.
“The emperor wants to speak with you,” Asahi said finally, his voice gravelly, as though he had been out in the mountain cold for enough time that he was nearly hoarse.
“It’s late,” I said pointedly.
“He’s waiting for you.” Asahi said the words firmly; even though he had been waiting out in the cold, he knew the emperor would not go to sleep until he spoke with me.
I wet my lips, the cool air giving me a moment of comfort, then nodded.
I walked first, Asahi on my left side, Irad?o on my right.
Before we reached the front door, Irad?o’s owl took off, Terror and Ratcatcher only a moment behind.
A servant was ready, opening the door before I even tried the handle.
The servant bowed low, his eyes fixed on the ground as he let us in.
Keeping my chin up, I headed for Tallu’s rooms, noting the number of soldiers posted in the halls. Was that General Saxu’s foresight, or Tallu’s orders?
Two soldiers stood outside Tallu’s rooms, opening the door as soon as they saw me. Two more were inside, and Sagam and Gotuye stood at both of the large windows, hands on their weapons, ready.
“You wished to see me, my lord?” I tried to keep my tone light, but there were too many men with knives in the room, and all I could see was the back of Tallu’s head where he sat on the couch, one hand moving in a smooth motion.
He didn’t react, and I wondered if Asahi was wrong, if Tallu hadn’t wanted to see me. Circling the couch, I saw that Tallu’s face was fixed in a glare, even as his hand was gently stroking over Na?’s back.
“I have returned, husband,” I said.
Tallu finally raised his chin to glare at me, and I didn’t flinch from the expression but I felt it like a physical blow. He was angry with me. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him angry with me.
“So I see.” He kept the words low, anger grinding them out of his throat.
I raised my eyebrows, tilting my head in a silent question. Tallu raised his free hand, continuing to stroke Na? with his other. He flicked his fingers, dismissing the soldiers. They moved instantly, but Sagam, Gotuye, and Asahi remained in position.
Irad?o looked around the room before finding a place to lean against the wall, her arms crossed.
“What were you doing in the woods?” Tallu asked. No, it wasn’t a question, it was a demand, and I found myself clenching my jaw in response.
“We left loose ends. I wanted to make sure that Zolle—the servant acting as an emissary to General Kacha’s men—didn’t tell them anything we didn’t want heard.
” I waited, still standing, feeling the distance between Tallu and me like an expanse of choppy ocean water.
“We killed Kacha’s men and sent her on her way down the river. ”
Tallu’s fingers stilled on Na?’s back. “On whose authority?”
“Do I need your authority to save your life?” I snapped, feeling the heat from the short battle rise again.
“You need my authority to risk your life. You didn’t ask, because you knew I wouldn’t allow you to do something so careless with something I hold so dear.” He was still glaring at me, the fingers on Na?’s back tightening on her crest until she turned her head and nipped at him.
Then, pointedly, she stood, hopping off the couch and disappearing out the window.
“It is my life. It is mine to risk,” I said, but the words felt false. The entire conversation felt unreal. Was he really angry at me for protecting him?
“Leave,” Tallu demanded.
I startled, taking a step back into a defensive stance. He had just ordered me to leave with the same disdain he used when ordering around servants and courtiers, his tone saying that he was emperor and they were lesser than.
Then Tallu turned his head, more clearly directing his words to Sagam. “Leave. Take your Dogs and leave. I would not have this conversation in front of them.”