So here she was, skulking toward Apura with a mysterious black-steel device stuffed into a satchel slung over her shoulder, hiding from Inquisitors and robbers and bounty hunters and who knew what else.
This was all Vikram’s fault. The crafty old man was the one obligated to care for the cursed relic, not her. She was a valuable Archivist, not some overrated Historian. To the oceans with that entire stuck up order! But Rada couldn’t be too angry at him. The Inquisition was looking for Vikram too. They wanted to secure the mirror for themselves for some unknown, yet surely nefarious reason. Since their two rival orders were about as friendly as the cobra and the mongoose, the Inquisitors would never expect someone from the museum to entrust one of their artifacts to someone from the library.
Originally Vikram had asked her to take on his obligation should he be killed, but when he had been informed by his Astronomer friends that a great force of angry Inquisitors and their drafted warriors had shown up at the observatory demanding Vikram’s whereabouts, he had rethought his original plan. Vikram and his family had fled one way, and she and Karno had gone the other. Karno had offered them his protection, but the Historian had said that he had other plans which he would not divulge.
“I’ve never been to Apura before, Karno.”
“No offense intended, Librarian, but I’d assumed that you’ve not been many places besides the Capitol.”
Rada sniffed, but it was in fact a fair assessment. Her father was the head of her Order. Her family seldom had a reason to leave the confines of the finest city in the world. She’d never wanted to live a life of adventure and would’ve been content to stay in the library the rest of her days.
Karno Uttara was slightly ahead of her, astride a truly gigantic horse. It looked like a pony beneath him because Karno was quite possibly the biggest man she’d ever known. Not fat though, not in the least. Karno was made of meat so solid he was more like a bull than a man. It seemed to her that he’d have been better off riding around on an elephant than a horse, but when she’d suggested an elephant to be a suitably impressive mount for the Protector, he had laughed aloud, and told her that her book learning did not always translate so well to the logistical issues of the real world. This had caused Rada’s cheeks to flush, but she’d held her tongue, because yes, she had in fact once read a library book about the care and maintenance of elephants, so should’ve known better.
“Apura is a busy place,” Karno told her. “Too many eyes for my taste. I don’t intend to enter the city itself. Tonight we will camp. Tomorrow, we will skirt around the edge, avoiding checkpoints, and then take one of the trade roads north.”
It was illegal to cross great-house borders without getting your traveling papers stamped, but Karno had already done similar sneaky things to get them out of the Zarger desert and into the hill country of Thao. As a Protector, all he had to do was flash the symbol of his office, the fanged and leering face of the Law, and he could go wherever he wanted. But people inevitably talked about encountering one of the rare Protectors, and word would surely get back to the Inquisitors.
“Though I understand the need and agree with your caution, I’d been hoping we’d be able to stop in civilization, and eat a meal not killed by you immediately before. A real bath would be wonderful. I smell worse than my horse. I’ve not slept in an actual bed since we left Vikram’s estate.”
“Sleeping on the ground builds character,” Karno said.
“It builds back aches and tick bites.” As a daughter of the first caste, Rada had lived a life of comfort. The last few months had been painfully educational. She was actually rather proud of how many indignities she’d bore on this journey without complaint—she’d tried especially hard never to whine since Karno was so taciturn and stoic—but Apura was right over there. There were still too many trees in the way to see it yet, but she could hear the faintest sounds of civilization echoing through the hills. In fact, it sounded like…
Could it be? “Karno, is that music?”
She didn’t know how, and neither Karno nor Devedas would ever share their order’s secrets, but somehow a Protector’s hearing, sight, and sense of smell were supernaturally good at times. Karno lifted his shaggy head for a moment, and then nodded. “Yes. You’re probably only hearing the drums, but a great many bands are playing. There are hundreds of voices in song, probably in the streets from the echoes. Hmmm…” He looked back at her. “I had forgotten today’s date.”
“It’s Holi!” Rada exclaimed. She had been riding across the miserable desert and then the chilly hills for so long that she’d not even realized the new year was upon them. Holi day was the biggest celebration in Lok. The Law granted every member of the three castes two days away from their obligated labors, one to prepare, and one to enjoy. Every Great House celebrated it differently, but it was always a colorful festival of feasting and dancing. Even Rada, who was normally very uncomfortable in the company of people, enjoyed Holi.
However, the part she found most appealing right then was the mandatory hospitality, which meant there would be wonderful food everywhere, and she’d be able to finally eat something other than whatever poor animal Karno had managed to brain by throwing his hammer at that day. “Karno, think of the food. We must go into Apura.”
Karno nodded toward their pack horse, where a dead rabbit hung. “We have sufficient for tonight.”
If she ate one more stringy, unseasoned hare, she would simply die. “There will be cakes.”
“It would not be prudent.”
“There will be sweet yogurt.” But she already knew she was trying to tempt the untemptable.
Karno just frowned at her. Or she assumed he frowned. His beard was so bushy after weeks without care that she could only assume the expression by the further squint of his already narrow eyes.
Rada sighed. She’d always thought of herself as an unsociable and untalkative person, but she didn’t hold a candle to Karno. Over the last month she could count their not immediately pertinent discussions on the fingers of one hand. In the rare times he actually engaged in idle conversation she learned that Karno himself was a straightforward creature of pragmatism and duty. Devedas, his lord—her lover—had commanded Karno to keep Rada safe, so that was what he was going to do, no matter how terribly uncomfortable it might be.
They rode for a while down the trade road. She’d wondered why they’d seen so few other travelers all day, but it made sense now. They were all celebrating the new year. As their horses plodded along a vast lake came into view. This had to be the infamous Red Lake, which she’d read about in the history books. A great battle had once taken place upon these shores, and the lake had turned red from all the blood. She’d not realized just how much blood that indicated until she saw the real thing. Despite the grim name it was a never-ending blue, with brown mountains capped in white rising up all around it. The sight of so much water frightened her.
“It is like the ocean.”
Karno chuckled. “It is nothing like the ocean. There hasn’t been a demon this deep into the interior in a very long time. Allow the animals to drink and let’s fill our canteens.”
Of course Karno would be jaded. He was from a peninsula surrounded on three sides by hell and it was his Order’s job to fight demons. Rada was from the Capitol, which had been built as far from the corrupting sea as possible. All of the Capitol’s water came from mighty aqueducts. This was the biggest body of water she’d ever seen. As an educated woman, she knew that water was just an element, not the embodiment of evil as believed by those who followed an extremely literal interpretation of the Law. It wasn’t water’s fault demons lived in it. Still, she was so nervous that even her horse could tell, and the mare paused, hesitant to continue.
“It’s fine, girl,” Rada told her, even though she herself couldn’t shake the feeling of unease which had come upon her. She dismounted—something she’d become exceedingly skilled at in recent weeks—and led her down the sandy bank. Despite her assurance to her s
teed, Rada still let her horse drink first, just in case a demon came exploding out of the depths.
Because the sun was setting, the reflection on the rippling surface made it so that she couldn’t see the bottom more than a few feet away, yet no giant sea demons leapt out to consume them. Rada knelt down and filled her canteen. It was then that she realized she could see buildings farther down the shore. The outskirts of Apura were less than a mile away.
Karno knelt next to her, scooped up the icy melt, and drank from his cupped hands. He also saw what she was looking at. Karno may have been a stern man, but beneath that, he was not an unkind one. “I know these months have been difficult for you, Rada. If it were up to me, I would take the fight to the corrupt Inquisitors and end this once and for all.”
“Only Devedas asked you not to.”
Now it was Karno’s turn to sigh. “I know not why. I’ve no head for the politician’s games. But Devedas is my commander, so I obey. And he is my friend, so I trust him. He asked me to keep you safe. So I will…If it were not for this oath, I would go into Apura and bring you back a sack full of treats.”
“I know, Karno. You keep me miserable, but only out of a sense of duty, like a kindly prison guard.”
He chuckled. “Thank you.” While the animals drank with great gulping sucking noises, Karno sat on a nearby rock. Even though they were close to the shore and it was nearly sundown, Rada was glad to sit for a moment. She’d read books about horsemanship, but books were insufficient to teach you just how sore riding made your legs and buttocks.
Large insects buzzed over the surface of the water. Karno must have decided the moment called for one of his rare conversations, because very surprisingly he said, “You know, I believe Devedas loves you very much.”
It was not like Karno to speak of frivolous things like love. She thought Devedas truly did, but it was nice to hear it confirmed from an impartial witness. “As I love him.”
“I told him it was foolish. Do not make that face at me, Librarian. It is not an insult to you. It was an insult to him. He let love get in the way of his obligation, which is why we suffer now. We are not supposed to become emotionally attached to those we protect for good reason. Yet, he is a man with few flaws. If a man must have flaws, I suppose loving a beautiful woman is a most understandable one.”
Rada blushed. “I see once again why they call you Blunt Karno.” But then she was curious. “You said few. What do you think his other flaws are?”
“Hmm…It is not my place to say.”
“Karno, please. Once he retires from his obligation, we plan to marry. If he’s a secret monster I’d rather know now.” Not that she would believe Karno if he told her that anyway. Her experience with the opposite sex wasn’t exactly exhaustive, but she’d found nothing in Devedas’ character to suggest that he was low or mean.
“Nothing of that sort. He will surely treat you kind. Like most of us, he is only cruel toward those who break the Law, and that’s not because he enjoys it, but because it is required.” Karno cleared his throat and spit on the ground. “No. Devedas’ problem is that he’s ambitious. He tries to hide it, but Devedas has a desire for achievement that is rare even among great men.”
“Why? That’s not a bad thing at all.”
“Determination itself is not. Young Devedas lost everything. His house. His family. The ancestor blade which he believed would eventually be his, broken, and his father driven mad from shame, hurled himself off a cliff into the sea. Devedas’ only inheritance was a bad reputation. No house wanted a child of bad omen, so he was given to the Protectors, where he worked his way to the rank of master, a rare achievement indeed.”
“Then his ambition is a good thing.”
“The Law says every man has his place for a reason. On a fundamental level, Devedas is unable to accept this. By his nature, he will never be content with his current station, no matter how vital it is, but instead will always be looking for more. That is how he earned his scar.” Karno ran one finger across his face.
“Devedas was cut by the black-steel blade of Ashok Vadal! There is no shame in losing a duel to an ancestor blade,” Rada said reflexively, trying to defend her man’s honor.
“Of course not. The shame comes not from losing that duel, but from the desire which caused it. I was there. A new obligation, only a boy, but I watched that fight. That prideful, pointless, inevitable duel. Ambition can make a man great. It can even make him the Lord Protector, but too much ambition blinds a man to dark paths…” Karno trailed off. “Enough. I will speak no more ill of my superior. We are all imperfect somehow, especially me. Despite his flaws, Devedas is one of the two best men I have ever known.”
“The second?” Rada was afraid she already knew the answer, and that the man she loved was hunting him now.
“Ashok Vadal. Though such a statement of fact is not a popular one to make nowadays, it remains true. He saved my life many times. But I misspoke. Ashok is no man.”
“Of course not, he’s a casteless criminal!”
“No. Ashok is a force of nature. He was the Law made flesh and bone. We all aspired to be like him, and any Protector who claims otherwise now is lying. What Ashok has become? I don’t know. The only thing I do know with a grim certainty is that Devedas will find him and kill him.”
“Good,” Rada snapped.
“Perhaps.”
The two of them were silent for a long time, as the sky turned orange, the lake glowed, and the music of a new year’s celebration drifted across the water. In a way the view was calming. It was nearly enough to make her not fear the water.
Karno changed the subject to lighter fare. “Before I was obligated to the Order, back in Uttara, on Holi my mother would make sweet milk balls.”
“How do you make a ball of milk?”
“You fry it. I mean it’s like cheese, but golden and covered in syrup. Very good. Protectors are not supposed to serve in their homeland, to prevent bias in our judgment, so I’ve not had one in a long time. Eighteen years I’ve been a Protector, but I can still remember the taste…Or at least I imagine I do. Should I ever return, I wonder if the real thing would live up to the memories?”
Since she’d never before heard Karno sound nostalgic, Rada decided to try swaying him again. “You know, you might be a foot taller than everyone in Apura, but I’m not. I’m so dirty they’d think I’m the poorest worker. If anyone asks, I’ll say I’m a farmer of goats. I’m practically an expert on that subject now. With all the strangers sure to be in town for the parties, I could sneak in and—”
He held up one big hand. “I will save us both time and stop you there.” Karno abruptly stood, his weekly allowance for idle conversation used up. “Come. I remember a good place nearby to set up camp.”
They led their horses away from the lake, which made Rada breathe a little easier, and up the hillside toward the trade road.
Unexpectedly Karno stopped. “There’s eyes upon us.”
Rada looked around. The shadows were deepening. There were a thousand places someone could be hiding behind trees or rocks. “Where?”
Karno didn’t answer the question. Instead he took his war hammer from where it hung on his saddle and placed it over one broad shoulder. “Rada, get on your horse.”
“What’s—”
“Do as I say.”
She got her foot in the stirrup and climbed up, noticing as she did, that her horse was being oddly skittish all of a sudden. The mare had sensed something as well.
“Be silent. Follow my orders without question.” Karno never got upset. His voice remained calm, yet for the first time since she’d met the fearsome man, she detected an unfamiliar emotion. This was a hero who’d taken on assassins armed with only an armful of books, who’d she seen fell a Zarger warhorse with a casual hammer toss. What in the world could make Karno afraid?
“If I tell you to ride, ride as hard as you can into Apura, then dismount and try to disappear among the crowd. Find a place to hide unt
il I come for you. Do you understand?”
Rada nodded vigorously. Any unseen thing that made Karno nervous was enough to leave her utterly terrified.
Karno then walked with purpose up the road, and planted himself in the middle, staring at a particularly dark thicket of trees and bushes. She couldn’t tell what he was looking at…There. A high branch shook, as something leapt soundlessly down from it. No man could have climbed that high unseen or dropped without breaking their legs.
What was stalking them? To worry Karno so, maybe it was a demon? Only the lake was to their backs. Were they standing between a demon and its home? Rada held onto the reins with both hands, knuckles white, ready to jab her heels into the flanks.
But it was no demon that strolled confidently out of the bushes, but rather a tiger.
Rada had seen a tiger before. There was a zoo within the Capitol which held many animals from all over Lok for the amusement of her caste, only those had been sickly and weak compared to this sleek beast. Books had told her that tigers were common in Gujara and Vokkan, and scarce everywhere else. But reading about a wild tiger or seeing one while separated by iron bars was nothing like facing one a hundred feet away.
The tiger made no sound whatsoever. Paws padded across rocks and sticks without so much as a whisper. It was so silent that Rada wondered why it had showed itself at all. She’d read that they were ambush predators. If it meant them harm, why not wait until they were on the road and then jump down on them from a branch? Its actions made no sense.
As their horses whined and stamped, Karno took his war hammer from his shoulder and laid it across both hands. “Greetings,” the Protector said, as if he were speaking to a man rather than a great cat.
The cat stopped fifty feet from Karno, and stood there, looking at him. Its manner so incongruous that Rada thought perhaps she’d lost her mind. She expected it to leap at him. Only then there was a terrible blurring, a black sear that made her blink and shield her eyes, and when she looked again, the tiger was gone, and there stood a man.
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