The Braided Path: Ascendancy Veil Bk. 3

by Chris Wooding

  ‘You must consider the consequences of your actions, Kaiku,’ Tsata said, though it was evident by his tone that he meant it as general advice rather than referring specifically to the Sisters. ‘You must look ahead.’

  ‘What point is there in that?’ she asked. ‘There is no alternative. We have but one path in this matter. The Red Order are trying to help people achieve that.’

  ‘This land has been stung once before by placing their trust in beings more powerful than they,’ Tsata said. ‘It is understandable that they are wary of you.’

  She let it drop at that. Tsata was a questioner, and she admired that in him – he made her examine herself, to scrutinise her own choices and opinions – but he was also tenacious, and she did not want to get into an argument now. Instead their talk drifted to other things. Surrounded by Tkiurathi, she found herself wondering about Tsata’s childhood, and began to ask him about it. She was surprised that she had never done so before, but she had always been afraid to pry for fear of making him reveal something he did not want to: Okhambans were unfailingly obliging, but they did not like their generosity abused. He was perfectly open, however.

  ‘We do not have parents in Okhamba.’ He saw the smile growing on her face, and corrected himself. ‘I mean, we do not assign responsibilities to the ones who give birth to us. The children are raised equally as part of whatever pash they are. Everyone takes a hand in child-rearing. I do not know which of them were my parents, though I had an inkling. The biological bond is discouraged. It would lead to favouritism and competition.’

  They talked of gods and ancestors also. Kaiku had learned in the past that Okhambans did not revere deities, but rather pursued a form of ancestor-worship similar to Saramyr folk, if much more extreme. Whereas Saramyr respected and honoured their ancestors, Okhambans had a more ruthless process. Those who had achieved great things were treated as heroes, with stories told about them and legends spun so that their deeds might be passed on to inspire the younger generation. Those who had not were forgotten, and their names were not spoken aloud. Okhambans believed that a person’s strength and courage, ingenuity and wit and inspiration came from themselves alone; that they were responsible for all that they did, that there was no deity to make reparations to or to blame when things went bad. Tsata saw deities as a kind of cushion against the brutal and raw realities of existence.

  Kaiku, on the other hand, could not believe how an entire continent of millions could not see what every Saramyr saw: that the gods were all around them, their influence felt everywhere, that they might be capricious and sometimes terrible but that they were undoubtedly there.

  ‘But Quraal has different gods,’ he had said once. ‘How can you both be right?’

  ‘Perhaps they are merely different aspects ascribed to the same entities,’ Kaiku had countered. ‘We put our own faces on our gods.’

  ‘Then who would they side with in a war between Quraal and Saramyr?’ Tsata had returned. ‘How do you know who is right if you do not know what they want?’

  But Kaiku could only think how empty her life would be if she believed that the world as she perceived it was all that there was. She knew otherwise. She had looked into the eyes of the Children of the Moons. Tsata’s ruthless practicality and realism failed to take into account the spirits that haunted both their lands.

  ‘Spirits are beings that cannot be explained,’ he had said, ‘but we do not worship them, or ask them for forgiveness.’

  ‘If you cannot explain spirits,’ Kaiku had replied, ‘then how much else can you not explain?’

  ‘But what if your gods are merely spirits of a much greater magnitude?’

  So it had gone on. But that was a debate that she had no wish to revisit, so she steered away from contention. She talked about her own beliefs, hopes and fears, and was surprised anew by how easy it was. For such a guarded soul, she found it remarkably effortless to lower her defences to this man. He was so honest that she could not believe him capable of deception, and deception was what she feared the most: she had been duped too many times in her life. So caught up was she that she did not notice Nuki’s eye slipping westward through the trees. When she did, she gave a start and clutched his arm.

  ‘Heart’s blood, Tsata! It’s late. I’d forgotten the other reason I came to see you. Will you come back to Araka Jo with me? Yugi has called a meeting, and he asked if you would attend.’

  ‘I will come,’ he said. ‘May I bring others?’ In response to Kaiku’s puzzled frown, he said: ‘I am not their leader, merely their . . . favoured ambassador. Others should come, to hear and decide. I will keep the number small. There will be three, including myself. Is that acceptable?’

  ‘Three, then,’ Kaiku said. ‘We convene at sunset.’

  The meeting was held in the rectangular central hall of the largest temple in the complex. It was open to the air, for what once had been a magnificent roof had crumbled under the pressure of ages, and the early-risen Iridima looked into the hall from overhead as Nuki’s light turned the sky to copper and gold. It was built of the same white stone as the rest of the complex, and from that stone were carved a dozen enormous idols which lined the walls, four on each of the long sides and one at each corner. The roof had protected the idols for centuries from the worst of time’s assaults before it fell, and they were better preserved than most: disconcerting, imposing beings that spoke to something subconscious in the viewer, some ancient memory long lost that still lingered in wisps in the deepest chasms of the mind. Their eyes were uniformly bulbous and slitted horizontally, exuding a dark hunger, and their forms were amalgamations of mammal and reptile and bird.

  Lanterns had been placed in newly-set brackets, and an enormous wicker mat dyed with fine designs had been laid in the centre of the otherwise featureless floor, on which the debaters would sit. When Kaiku and Tsata arrived, most were already there, kneeling or cross-legged with their shoes or boots neatly set behind them, just beyond the edge of the mat. She recognised them all: Cailin, Phaeca and several other Sisters, Yugi, Mishani, Lucia, Heir-Barak Hikken tu Erinima, Barakess Emira tu Ziris, and assorted folk of the Libera Dramach. Kaiku was relieved to note that Asara was not present: she had been avoiding her ever since she received news of her arrival. Then she wondered if she was here, and Kaiku simply did not recognise her.

  There were few nobles present, since most were content to stay in the cities, and this was primarily a Libera Dramach gathering. Hikken was here because he never strayed far from his niece Lucia, hovering like a vulture, and Barakess Emira had been at Araka Jo on a visit. She was an enthusiastic supporter of the Libera Dramach, but she was not powerful, having unwisely backed Blood Kerestyn during the last coup and suffering the loss of most of her army.

  Kaiku led Tsata into the hall along with the two other Tkiurathi – a brown-haired, thickset man named Heth who spoke some Saramyrrhic, and the woman who had complimented her on her language back at the village, whose name was Peithre. Beyond the mat where the principal participants would sit, there were a few dozen others lining the walls to observe. Then she spotted Nomoru.

  Kaiku’s heart jumped in surprise as their eyes met. There she was, in the flesh, scrawny and unkempt and surly, half her face in shadow. Kaiku had almost given up on seeing her again, assuming that she had died in Axekami. How she had got out of the pall-pits and out of the city, Kaiku would probably never know. But she was tough as a rat, this one, and she had come through once again.

  As Kaiku stared, she tilted her head, and the light from nearby fell on the side of her face that had been hidden. Kaiku caught her breath. Nomoru’s skin was crisscrossed with scars, thin raised tracks like ploughlines streaking her from cheek to ear and along her neck. It occurred suddenly that Nomoru was showing them to her. She looked away, perturbed by this new thought. Did Nomoru hold her responsible? Kaiku had not thought fast enough when she saw Juto squeeze the trigger to shoot Nomoru: she should have killed the momentum of the rifle ball in the air instead of
blowing it apart. Even though Kaiku had scarred her in the process of saving her life, did Nomoru blame her for her disfigurement? Gods, she did not want that woman as an enemy.

  But then she was slipping her shoes from her feet and kneeling on the communal mat, and Tsata indicated to his companions that they should do the same. She was in full Red Order garb now, and it armoured her against the stares of the people in the hall, against the resentful presence of the idols and the restless flitting of the spirits that whirled invisibly in the recesses, stirred by the unwelcome crowd.

  The appearance of the Tkiurathi caused some whispering around the room, but they seemed oblivious. When the meeting began and formal introductions were made for the benefit of all assembled, Kaiku stood and named the Tkiurathi, explaining their presence and apologising in advance for the necessity of translating. Heth murmured her words in Okhamban to Peithre.

  Refreshments were laid between them as the formalities went on, small lacquered tables of drinks and silver bowls of finger-food. Heth immediately reached for one of the morsels but was arrested by a negative glare from Tsata, and retreated. The welcomes were done as the last light bled out of the sky and left Iridima hanging in a star-speckled winter night, and it was Yugi, leader of the Libera Dramach, who put forward the reason why they were all here.

  ‘The question before us today is simple,’ he said. ‘What do we do now? The stalemate has been broken, and the Weavers have the advantage. If we do nothing, they will create more of the feya-kori, and they will sweep aside our forces as they have at Juraka and Zila. As yet we have established no defence against these demons, and though we have learned something of their nature it hasn’t yielded any way to hold them back. It’s only because they are forced to return to their pall-pits and recuperate that they have not been able to invade the Southern Prefectures with impunity; but though we have a little time, we don’t have much of it. Soon, other pall-pits in other cities will be operational. If we can’t stand against two feya-kori, what chance do we have against ten or more?’

  And so the debate began. Opinions were put back and forth. Yugi mooted the option of marshalling their forces for a full-scale attack on Axekami, more to get it out of the way than because he believed it was a viable option. It was quickly dismissed by the council as foolhardy and pointless: even if they succeeded, it would leave them overstretched and vulnerable. Axekami was not the Weavers’ power base, but the old Empire’s, and hence it would not be a fatal blow to them; additionally, they still could not hold the city against the feya-kori, and it could be easily retaken.

  ‘If Axekami is to be won, it must be won by the people!’ Hikken tu Erinima declared, at which point Yugi called Kaiku and Phaeca to give an account of their recent movements in Axekami and how they gauged the mood of the people. It was not encouraging. Other spies that had reported to Yugi corroborated their opinion.

  ‘We cannot allow ourselves to hope for revolt,’ Cailin said. ‘The scale is too big, and there is little hope against the Weavers. They can eliminate agitators at will. Without the Red Order to defend them, the people would not have a chance to organise, and there are barely enough of us to protect the forces of the Empire, let alone its citizenry as well.’ Her eyes glided over the assembly. ‘Passive resistance is the best we could hope for, and even then it is a slim hope. Disseminating the message would not be an easy task, and it would have to be done without the Red Order, for we dare not operate in the Weavers’ cities. We cannot even allow Lucia to use her talent for dreamwalking to spy for us there. The risk is too great.’

  ‘Then what do you propose?’ Hikken demanded, barely hiding his contempt. ‘Should we do nothing?’

  ‘That is not so inadvisable as it sounds,’ put in the Barakess Emira. She was a plain-faced woman somewhere near her thirtieth harvest, with dark brown hair worn long and straight. ‘The Weavers’ forces have seemed thinner of late. It is possible that their armies are starving due to the effects of their own blight. They are short of time, as we are. The question is, whose will run out first?’

  ‘But our spies have been unable to confirm that their forces really are less than before,’ Yugi pointed out. ‘And we don’t know the extent of their supplies. At best it’s a guess.’

  ‘However, if we could find some way to hold them off, to delay them, it might be enough to turn the tide,’ Emira persisted.

  ‘We have no way to hold them off,’ Cailin said. ‘That is the crux of the matter. The only limitation on the speed they can demolish our cities is their own need to revivify.’

  ‘Perhaps a retreat to the mountains, then?’ suggested a Libera Dramach man. ‘If we cannot stand against them, we could disperse and strike at them like bandits.’

  Yugi nodded. ‘That’s a last resort, perhaps. But I think that would be the end of us as surely as if we stood up to the feya-kori with only swords and cannon. And if the Weavers do to the Prefectures what they are doing to the territories they have already taken, then the famine will get far worse, and in the mountains there will be no food at all.’

  ‘There is another alternative,’ said Cailin. ‘To strike at the witchstones.’

  ‘It has been tried,’ Hikken said. ‘At Utraxxa. And it failed.’

  ‘No,’ Cailin replied. ‘At Utraxxa we underestimated the Weavers. But their reaction indicates that we would have succeeded if we had been given a chance.’

  ‘Perhaps you could explain for the benefit of our guests and our audience?’ Kaiku prompted politely. The Tkiurathi had not spoken, except to mutter translations to each other. They knew little about the state of affairs in Saramyr, and were content to listen and learn.

  Cailin inclined her head in acknowledgement. ‘When we finally mustered the strength to assault the Weaver monastery that lay in the mountains west of here, across Lake Xemit, the Red Order had another plan in mind beyond simply destroying the witchstone there and ridding us of the blight. We intended to engage the witchstone, to learn about it. Through our own observations of how the Weavers’ power grew with each stone awakened, and the information Lucia gleaned from the spirit of Alskain Mar in the Xarana Fault, we had determined that all the stones were connected in a manner similar to a net or a web. We believed that we could exploit that link, trace it to the other witchstones and destroy them, too. Instead of one victory, we would win them all at once.’

  The assembly did not make a sound; only the faint sussuration of the wind could be heard. The temperature was dropping now that Nuki’s light had fled the sky, settling towards a level that was cool but not unpleasant.

  ‘We never got the chance. Just before we penetrated the chamber where the witchstone lay, it was destroyed. We can only assume that the Weavers used explosives. It was something we would never have expected them to do: they had always prized the witchstones’ welfare above even their own lives. They were protecting the network by removing our way in.’ She swept her gaze across the assembly then, and her tone became fiercer. ‘But I say it was not a failure. We were close enough to glimpse the witchstone’s nature as it came apart. Two years have passed since then, and we have not wasted that time. We have studied what we learned at Utraxxa, and we are more ready than ever now to engage a witchstone again. And this time we will destroy them all.’

  Kaiku felt a thrill at the determination in her voice. Gods, the promise of action after so long in hiding or retreat or stalemate was enticing to her.

  ‘And how do you propose to stop yourself becoming . . . cut off, as before?’ Mishani asked.

  Cailin settled herself again. ‘The Red Order have reconstructed the network we observed between the witchstones and examined it. There is no stone that cannot be sacrificed, but there is one which will seriously damage the structure if it falls: the hub, if you will. As the Nexuses are the anchor for the beasts they control, so this stone is the anchor for the other stones. The Weavers had plenty of time during our long assault on Utraxxa to prepare explosives. But I think they will be much more reluctant to destroy t
heir hub, the most powerful node of them all. And if we catch them by surprise, they may not have time to destroy it. If we can get to it intact, we can use it as a way in to the network, and reach all the witchstones in one swoop.’

  Kaiku’s skin prickled at the thought. Was there a chance, even so slim, that they could end this? She had not been at Utraxxa, having been reluctantly kept back by Cailin, but she had heard of the horrors that her brethren had experienced within. Could it be done? To go through the veins of their power structure, spreading like a virus?

  ‘Do you know this, or is it merely conjecture?’ Hikken asked. He was a prickly middle-aged man, with a deeply-etched face and prematurely grey hair, and his manner of speaking was aggressive and confrontational.

  ‘It is conjecture,’ Cailin admitted, spreading her hands to indicate helplessness. ‘But it is based on very educated guesswork. We have seen how these stones operate. This is not a wild theory, nor would we be rushing at this blindly. If it were to be done, it would be our second attempt, and we would not make the same mistakes twice.’

  ‘Where is this . . . anchor-stone?’ It was Tsata who spoke.

  ‘It is the first stone that was awakened,’ Cailin replied. ‘The one that started it all. It lies beneath the mountain monastery of Adderach.’

  Hikken laughed rudely. ‘And how do you propose we get to Adderach? Even if it were not deep in the mountains, it is surely the most fiercely guarded stronghold the Weavers have!’

  ‘That is also conjecture,’ Phaeca put in. ‘We have no idea what awaits us at Adderach. Nobody has ever been there. I may remind the council that several times we have found the Weavers rely too much on their shields of misdirection and not on physical guards.’

  ‘Those were in the days before the Red Order became known to them,’ Mishani said.

  ‘But they may think themselves protected by the mountains,’ Phaeca argued. ‘They may not be able to get enough food to such a remote place to sustain an army. Who knows what the Weavers think?’