Chapter 31 Quil #2
He recognized Sirsha’s mother instantly. Raani Sh’ban of Kin Inashi had her daughter’s dark, blue-black hair and expressive brown eyes. Blond-haired U’qaya of Kin Khind was there too, the youngest of the Raanis, but dressed in finery that gave her a formidable gravitas.
The other Raanis were: D’arju, Raani of Kin Songma, who could sense magic, and who had helped Laia in her quest to fight the Nightbringer; J’mila of Kin Bij, whom Sirsha said could light your hair on fire from five hundred yards away; A’yaneh of Kin Sitr, who helped rebuild the Great Library of Adisa when she was only fifteen; and N’shal of Kin Deshma, the battle Jaduna who were so often contracted by foreign governments to protect their leaders and most precious treasures.
The Raanis were adorned in deep purple dresses with full, shimmering skirts heavy with gold embroidery. The coins of their office glittered across their foreheads. They all wore matching black bands at their throats.
“Welcome, Prince Zacharias.” Raani D’arju stood.
Her lined face was keen with interest. Her wisdom was legendary, and she could sniff magic out so easily that when Quil was a child, he’d feared her.
“Long has it been since we have set eyes upon you.” She cocked her head.
“How may we serve the heir to the Empire?”
“I express my condolences at your recent loss.” Quil looked from face to face.
“Accepted.” Raani Sh’ban spoke up—it must have been someone close to her, then. “Tell us why you are here, Prince,” she said.
“I have come to plead for aid,” Quil said. “The Kegari have besieged us. I am certain Raani U’qaya has reported it. I am also aware that our use of Ikfa angered you.”
“Your error has been dealt with,” Raani N’shal said. “Our treaty holds. What kind of aid are you requesting?”
Quil wanted to say that anything would help. But that wasn’t true. “We need fighters,” he said. “Warriors to stop these bombs. To bring down the Sails, bind the Kegari windsmithers, and give us a chance to survive.”
“You wish us to kill,” Raani J’mila said.
“I wish to prevent more death,” Quil said.
“The Kegari are not listening to reason. The Tel Ilessi wishes for Loha, but our Loha is in the masks of our fighters. The masks are bonded to their faces and only release upon death. The Tel Ilessi is threatening the destruction of our remaining cities unless we hand over our Masks for slaughter.”
“We cannot provide aid,” Raani A’yaneh said, her brow furrowed in sorrow. “The woes of the Empire are not ours to bear, Prince. Helping you will only lead to doom for our people.”
“Besides,” U’qaya said, “you broke our treaty. We have not declared war as punishment. That is aid enough.”
“You had the Kegari drop a bomb on us,” Quil said, grief lancing at him. “You killed one of the greatest steelcrafters to ever live. You gravely injured the Shatharin’s husband, Elias Veturius. If not for my aunt, he’d be dead. You could have talked to us about the Ikfa.”
“Empress Helene would not have listened,” U’qaya said. “Your aunt is loyal to her people. It is one of her finest qualities. She will do anything to protect them. Even at the expense of the rest of the world. You have no idea the danger you courted when transporting the Ikfa—”
“I’d have known,” Quil said, “if you’d told us.”
“You issue contracts with other kingdoms,” Tas said. “Your Jaduna serve as guards for the Great Library of Adisa—”
“The contracts are at our discretion,” Raani N’shal said. “And we do not choose to make a contract with you.”
“This conversation is over,” Raani D’arju said. “N’dia will escort you—”
“If I may, a question?” Arelia had been so quiet that Quil had almost forgotten she was there. But as he looked at her, he caught a familiar spark in her eye that meant she’d discovered something no one else had.
“Will you tell us more about the Ikfa?” Arelia said.
“Where did it originate? Even in tiny quantities, you say you send it to the jinn. Yet you asked the Kegari to target our Ikfa. Does this mean that bombs can destroy Ikfa? Or was it, in fact, not destroyed? And if not, then what did you do with it? And lastly, why is it so dangerous?”
There was a long moment of silence before Raani U’qaya spoke, disdain on her youthful face. “Of course, someone with no magic would ask such foolish—”
“She’s a lot of things,” Sufiyan said, “but foolish isn’t one of them. Maybe you should just answer the damn questions.”
“Sufiyan Veturius!” Raani J’mila drew herself up. “You are Blood of Shatharin, but that does not give you permission to speak so to the Raani.” The other Raanis looked equally offended, and J’mila leaned toward U’qaya.
“Are all her children like this?” J’mila muttered.
Sufiyan glared at her. “Stop hedging and answer her questions.”
The Raanis began to speak at once—all but one. Raani Sh’ban remained silent as she observed her fellow leaders, her expression unreadable. Her dark stare fixed on Quil—it felt as if she was trying to tell him something, but he didn’t know what.
His magic stirred, as if in response to hers. Quil thought of how he’d used the magic with Tas, Arelia, and Sufiyan. Not by forcing it upon them, but by asking. With his magic, he gave a gentle tap on the door of Raani Sh’ban’s mind. I am here, he said, if there is something you wish me to see.
The Raani opened the door.
The memory was disorienting at first. He stood amid huge Gandafur trees, flocculent tufts of fog drifting through their crowns. The air was damp and pungent. He was in Kotama.
Raani Sh’ban stood in the shadows of a cave. A fire burned in front of her, and the flickering light illuminated carvings in the rock. They struck Quil as familiar, and after a moment, he recognized them. This place reminded him of the cave in the Tribal Desert where Quil had found Ruh’s body.
The trees beyond the cave’s broad entrance were shrouded in mist. The memory was potent. Quil felt the spongy earth and the cool night air across his neck. His throat burned from the smoke of the fire, though when he looked down, he was bodiless.
Raani Sh’ban was younger—no older than Quil was now, but she had the same straight back and sharp gaze. She looked so much like Sirsha that Quil caught his breath.
“You have heard our words.” A voice spoke out of the dark, soft and yet laden with power. The light fell on the speaker’s hooded face to reveal a cloaked man with narrow shoulders and pale skin. His irises were black, but the whites of his eyes were blood-red.
Augur! The Augurs had been the holy seers of the Martial Empire, guiding Emperors and generals with their impeccably accurate visions for a thousand years. They’d manipulated people and politics in service of their own, shrouded agenda.
For before they became Augurs, they’d been greedy humans. Their leader, Cain, was the Scholar king who, with a coven of fellow Scholars, had imprisoned the jinn and channeled their powers. Too late, the Augurs learned that such powers were torturous to live with.
Now the Augurs were gone. Killed twenty years ago.
“You know the future we see,” the Augur said in the memory. “You will fulfill your part of the bargain. Where is the Loha?”
“It—it is here.” Raani Sh’ban’s voice shook, but she cleared her throat to calm the tremor. “But my fellow Raani and I require more details. You have given us a fraction of the picture. Why? What in our future is so dire that you will not speak of it?”
“Raani Sh’ban, this is your first exchange with us,” the Augur said.
“I will forgive your ignorance and enlighten you. For nearly five hundred years, the Jaduna have given the Augurs Loha. In exchange, we give you relevant snippets of your future, that your people might remain strong and safe from threats.”
The Augur cocked his head. “That deal does not include questions. Or negotiation. We offer the future as we see fit. You offer us the Loha we have long since agreed upon. I have known all the Inashi Raanis going back more than five centuries. This is how it has always been done. The Loha, please.”
“You—you say that I will be the one to preside over the shame of the Jaduna. You must know more. Please. You cannot share such a thing and not expect me to even ask.”
The Augur’s gaze grew distant. “I will offer a bit more—not for you, but for another, who is yet unborn. One whose footsteps will shake the earth. The ghosts of our misdeeds seek vengeance,” he said. “And they will have their due.”
Quil blinked and he was back in his own body, in the receiving hall. Raani Sh’ban did not look as if she’d had her mind invaded by an unwitting Yaad. Rather, she was staring at Quil, chin in her hand, as if to say: You have the information. What will you do with it?
Arelia was speaking, her words a rush that Quil only heard the end of.
“—cording to Rajin of Serra, magic cannot be destroyed, only contained or transformed. Ikfa is clearly magical, which means it is not destroyable by normal means. How did you destroy it? And please answer my original question: Why is it so dangerous if it can be easily destroyed?”