Chapter Thirty-Five
I came to in an alley, surrounded by Kaikeyo men—rough-looking with weapons on their belts. One of them chanted as he sprinkled something over me.
“You're the sorcerer!” is what I tried to say, but there was a gag over my mouth.
I tried to fight them, but my wrists were bound by rope, and the man holding my arm wore a small magic disruptor.
They held me still as one of them strapped a mask over the lower half of my face.
The thing was solid, bowing out over my nose and mouth.
My eyes went wide as magic tingled over me, and when I looked down, I saw a Kaikeyo body.
The sorcerer nodded, and the men shoved me out of the alley.
The men formed walls around me, herding me forward.
Suddenly, I remembered Jucai's shell. I was wearing it this time.
When I looked down, I couldn't see it, but I could feel it there.
We approached the city gate—a passable section of the dome at the end of Kansu's main road. Guards stood to either side of the gate. I shouted through the mask and struggled, trying to get the guards’ attention.
“We're taking a criminal home for justice,” one of the Kaikeyo said.
The guards nodded and let us pass. My heart sank, but I used my struggle to smash the shell on my necklace. Magic shivered into my skin and upward. The Kaikeyo men didn't notice, not even the sorcerer. They were too busy forcing me through the gate.
Then we were swimming away from Kansu. Or rather, they swam, dragging me along, while I tried to make it hard for them. My mask was a breathing unit that functioned similarly to the city dome.
I looked over my shoulder to watch the city grow smaller and smaller before becoming a bright spot in the dark. There was no sign of Jucai. Where was he? Then Kansu was gone, and the darkness consumed me.
We were traveling fast, but not as fast as Sea Dragons.
I expected Jucai to catch up. He didn't. We soon slowed and descended.
Without my Dragon magic, I couldn't see what we approached, but I felt the ground beneath my feet.
Then I felt magic shimmer over my skin as I went from water to air. I had passed through a ward.
Suddenly, light hit my eyes, and I squinted until my sight adjusted.
Behind me was a bolted door, conformed to the edges of a rock tunnel.
Dry sand crunched under my boots as my abductors marched me forward, past little lanterns nestled in nooks on the walls.
They took me through a maze of tunnels and out into a massive cavern.
Several passages led off from the cavern, Kaikeyos coming and going through them.
Light came from lamps that hung from the high ceiling and perched atop crates.
More crates formed walls, stacked several feet high to divide the cavern into sections.
There were dining areas, a stash of weapons, and lounging areas.
A wooden platform stood in the center of the cavern with a couple of benches and several more crates atop it.
They took me onto the platform and shoved me onto a bench.
A man removed my mask and the gag, then tied my bound wrists to a crate.
He removed his magic disruptor and set it atop the crate.
My abductors ignored me after that, leaving the platform to join a group of Kaikeyo gathered on some seats to my left.
With the magic disruptor so close, I couldn't break the ropes.
I could knock it off the crate, but I wasn't sure if that would be far enough to make a difference.
Even if I managed to get far enough away from the disruptor to regain my magic, I'd still have to get past a cavern of Kaikeyos, including a sorcerer.
I looked down at myself to see that the illusion had worn off, and I was back to myself.
The chain still hung around my neck, but the shell was gone.
I couldn't believe it hadn't worked. I'd been so certain Jucai would save me when I broke that shell.
Had the water washed it away? Had my moving after breaking it confused the summoning?
Was Jucai even now searching the area around the gate in Kansu?
If Jucai didn't come for me, I was fucked.
From the way several Kaikeyo men were eyeing me, I worried that I'd be fucked in more than one way.
But not long after they put me on that platform, someone new walked into the cavern.
I wouldn't have noticed him if he hadn't started shouting. Then I looked over and saw who it was.
“Bantar?” I whispered.
“I told you he's a good man!” Bantar shouted at one of the other Kaikeyos. “He was not to be touched. It was why I stopped Luven from killing him. Then you take him? You disobeyed my order!”
I gaped at Bantar. His words and demeanor summoned the memory of my attack.
I saw him standing over me, grappling with a masked man.
He shoved the man back, lurched close to him, and said something.
I hadn't heard what it was, but the man had sliced Bantar's chest with his sword, sending him stumbling back.
Then he left. He just left after wounding Bantar.
That's what had been bothering me about the attack.
Now I knew why. He was Bantar's soldier, and Bantar had told him to give him that wound.
It helped to sell the story. Then I remembered the expression on Bantar's face that first morning he dined in the hall with the Sea Dragons.
He felt horrified to be there, sitting with the people he was plotting against.
Holy. Fuck.
“It doesn't matter how nice he is.” The man shoved Bantar's shoulder. “He's from Zaru. Killing him would start a war faster than anything else.”
“But I said no! Damn you! Now, I either have to kill him or let him go and never return to Kansu.” Bantar looked over and met my stare. “Damn it all!” He stormed over to me. “I'm sorry about this, Nadar.”
“Oh, you don't have a problem with my name now, eh, rebel leader?” I stood up and faced him, my hands angled across my chest, thanks to the ropes. “So, you're the ones behind the attacks and the magic disruption. All to start a war? Why?”
“You know why.” He grimaced. “I couldn't tell you while I was there. I had to pretend I was willing.”
I nodded. “I sensed your unhappiness despite what you said. So, are all slaves as unhappy as you?”
“Not all, but the longer it goes on, the more people weary of being abused.” He sat down on one end of my bench and waved for me to sit as well.
I sat down. “Is this a revolution, then?”
“We want to abolish slavery.”
“Jucai told me that the undersea races offer slaves on five-year contracts.”
“We do. It was once out of love for them. We would do anything to be close to the Sea Dragons. They were beautiful, powerful, and brave—heroes of the sea. But when they awoke, they were different. They took us for granted and demanded more subservience. Once, they romanced those of us whom they wanted to take as lovers. Now, they crook their fingers or simply grab us.”
“So, you can't refuse? Jucai said you could.”
“We can refuse, yes. But what if all of us refused them? Would they stop protecting us? What if we stopped giving slaves as tithes? Would they demand other forms of payment?”
“When I first arrived, I despised the practice of slavery.
Then I spoke to the Sea Dragons, and I learned that they care for all of you.
They think they're offering you a good life in return for your service.
They send you home with gifts. I didn't think that was enough until I spoke with slaves who swore they wanted to serve.
I saw things as Jucai did—willing and grateful servitude.
It's hard for them to resist such offerings, especially in their current states.”
“Current states?”
“Their hungers have gone unsatisfied for centuries. Now that they're awake, they have needs that they must satisfy, or they experience physical pain.”
Bantar rolled his eyes.
“Yes, I thought it was an excuse as well. Until I saw Jucai suffer because we didn't have sex for a day.”
Bantar frowned. “This is why they've grown more licentious?”
“Yes. But needs or not, I believe if you spoke to King Jucai, he would release all of you from service. Have you not spoken to him?”
Bantar glanced over his shoulder at the men who had come up behind him. “No, we didn't think that would help. They are so arrogant. We expected to be punished if we asked to be released from service. As I said, we feared they would stop protecting us.”
“How could they protect you if they were busy fighting a war with Zaru?”
“They would have to protect us. We'd be their soldiers,” a Kaikeyo man said.
I looked from him to Bantar. “Do you hear yourselves? You're trading slavery for war. I thought the reason you continued to serve them was a fear of being killed by frellen?”
The Kaikeyo muttered to each other. All but Bantar, who watched me.
I leaned forward. “How did you disrupt Fire Magic all over the city without affecting the tower lights?”
“We rode through the city in a carriage, affecting small zones at a time. We've also been disrupting their Sea Dragon Magic.” He shook his head. “We thought it might dampen their lust, but it has done nothing.”
“Oh, it's done something all right,” I muttered.
“What do you mean?”
“King Jucai and I have nearly mated twice now. Both times, the magic rose only to suddenly stop.”
“Suddenly stop?”
“Yes, because you disrupted Sea Dragon Magic. You denied me my mate, Bantar.”
“You're his mate?!” Bantar lurched to his feet and shouted at the other men, “You took the King's mate! Do you know what this means?”
The Kaikeyos looked from me to Bantar and back. One of them said, “He's not mated to the King. Didn't you hear him? We stopped them from mating. It's what he deserves, if you ask me.”