Vessel

by Sarah Beth Durst

  And then the moment shattered. “Your Imperial Majesty!”

  Releasing him, she shot up to her feet. He rose more gracefully, and his face stilled into his stonelike emperor expression. “Mulaf.” The name was a greeting, a reprimand, and a question all at once.

  Mulaf laughed and clapped his hands like a toddler. “I did it! I have them!”

  Jarlath frowned, and he slid his hand around Liyana’s fingers. Liyana wondered if he did so consciously or not. She held his hand. “Clarify, please,” he said.

  “Inside!” Mulaf thumped his chest and crowed. “Out of gratitude for the kindness that the empire has shown me, I have come to sever our relationship.”

  Liyana, look at him, Bayla said.

  The magician looked crazed. He wore the bed shirt of an ill man, and his hair was gnarled and uncombed. He walked in tight knots around the tent.

  The emperor raised his voice. “Guards.”

  No one entered.

  Look inside, Bayla urged.

  Liyana absorbed a spurt of magic and spread out to touch the magician’s soul. She felt a swirling vortex, sparking like lightning. Suddenly she was flung backward. Her body blew back across the tent and she smacked into the tarp wall.

  “Guards!” Jarlath shouted. He raced to Liyana and crouched in front of her, blocking her from Mulaf. “What did you do?” he demanded.

  “Take your army home, boy-emperor,” Mulaf said. “I no longer need you to reach the lake.”

  They’re inside him, Bayla said. Horror colored her voice. The others . . . They’re inside him!

  Liyana grabbed Jarlath, and he helped her to her feet. She pulled out the sky serpent blade, and she stepped in front of him.

  “Equals, remember?” Jarlath said. “You don’t guard me, desert princess.” He stepped beside her. He had his own knife in his hand.

  “Dear child, I would never hurt you,” Mulaf said to Liyana. “If not for you, I would never have known the possibilities.” He held out his hand palm up and giggled. “Look!” Air swirled on his palm faster and faster, and a whirlwind bloomed. He tossed it upward. It fed on the air and grew larger and larger. He then spread his hands, and the tornado dispersed. The air stilled. “Don’t fear me, child. I promised you freedom, and I will deliver it. You will call me your hero when this is through.”

  He cannot go to the lake, Bayla said.

  Liyana felt as if the air stilled around her. The lake . . . It’s real?

  It is raw magic, the source of all magic in the world, Bayla said. It is essential to us—without its magic in the world, we cannot exist outside the Dreaming. He cannot be allowed to tamper with it!

  “Bayla says you cannot go to the lake,” Liyana said. She asked Bayla, You knew the lake was real and did not tell me? All the gods knew and never told their people?

  Speak for me: The lake cannot be used as you and the emperor envision. You cannot control it. You cannot even touch it. A single drop will send your soul to the Dreaming, leaving your body an empty shell that will soon die. It is death water for mortals! Liyana repeated her warning.

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head,” Mulaf said. “Using it was never my intent.”

  “We had an agreement, Mulaf,” Jarlath said. He drew himself to his full height, towering over the magician. His voice was pitched low but it carried, full of authority and reproach.

  “I apologize for deceiving you, Your Imperial Majesty,” Mulaf said with a mocking bow, “but Bayla speaks the truth. Saving your people was never possible.”

  Jarlath looked as if he had been stabbed. His stone face broke. For an instant Liyana saw the true Jarlath—the boy behind the emperor’s mask—who only wanted to save his people.

  “Then what do you want with the lake?” Liyana asked.

  Mulaf smiled. “I want to destroy it, of course. It is time for the gods to die.”

  Liyana felt her throat dry. Stunned, she could think of no words to say. Knife in his hand, the emperor lunged forward.

  With a rush of wind, Mulaf knocked him backward. “This is courtesy only, Your Imperial Majesty. And you, Liyana. Leave here. Live your lives. Honor me in your stories.”

  Liyana helped Jarlath to his feet. “Our stories?”

  “Stories are the way people understand the world,” Mulaf said. “And I am about to give the people of the turtle a new world.” He spread his arms, and wind whipped around him in a tight circle. It lifted him up. He rose into the air. “At my command the mountains will fall, the lake will be buried, and the gods will leave this world forever. A new era will begin!”

  “Wait!” Liyana called. “Don’t!”

  He touched the roof of the tent, and the fabric disintegrated as his palms touched it, as if the threads had instantly aged. The cyclone lifted him through the hole toward the night sky and then swept forward, ripping through the tarp. Tearing through more tents, it gouged a crater in the hard sand.

  Around the remnants of the tent, the emperor’s guards were strewn in every direction. Jarlath knelt by one and pressed his fingers to his neck. “He’s unconscious,” Jarlath said. “Mulaf didn’t kill them.”

  Only because it is quicker to cause sleep, Bayla said.

  How many deities are inside of him? Liyana asked.

  She felt Bayla shudder. Six. Somayo of the Falcon Clan, Keleena of the Sparrow Clan, Vakeen of the Wolf Clan . . .

  The cyclone stretched into the sky as if it wanted to scrape the moon. Liyana felt her stomach clench, and she wanted to be sick. “The sky serpents will attack once he crosses into the mountains,” she said to Jarlath. “You need to evacuate. Flee east as fast as you can.”

  The emperor shouted to the nearest alert soldier, “Mobilize the army! We have to retreat!” He strode over the inert bodies of his guards and began issuing orders.

  We have to warn the clans, Liyana said. She ran after the cyclone, following the path of destruction left in Mulaf’s wake.

  Climb onto that horse, Bayla said.

  Liyana veered toward a saddled horse. She scooped up his reins, and she flung herself into the saddle. The horse sidestepped and snorted. Liyana felt power flow into her. Bayla issued instructions: fill the lungs, stretch the muscles, pump the heart, dry the sweat. And hang on.

  The horse thundered out of the camp and into the darkness. Liyana clung to his neck as he pelted the desert. She felt sand hit her face, and the wind slapped her. She poured magic into the horse’s heart, lungs, and legs. He ran faster. As the cyclone swerved, she passed it. She sent more strength into the horse’s muscles, erased his fatigue, and urged him even faster.

  In the clans’ camps, the desert people were fleeing the approaching cyclone. It was headed for the mountains, straight through the camp. Grabbing children and animals, they abandoned the tents and ran. Liyana found Korbyn and Sendar in the center of it all, shouting orders. Slowing, Liyana leaped off the horse. She then used a burst of magic to encourage the empire’s horse to flee to safety.

  “The emperor’s magician, the one who kidnapped the deities . . . He has six deities inside him.” Liyana gasped between words, and she rested her hands on her knees. “He is headed for the mountains. He wants to destroy the lake.”

  “Without the lake, magic cannot exist here,” Korbyn said.

  Without the lake, we cannot remain here, Bayla said.

  “We must stop him,” Sendar said grimly. He strode forward, hands outstretched, as if he would rend the cyclone from the earth. Liyana chased after him. Korbyn followed her.

  “Sendar!” Liyana said.

  He is stronger than six, Bayla said, as you are stronger than one.

  The cyclone stretched toward the dark sky, smudging the stars. A few yards from the churning wind, Sendar halted. He entered a trance.

  “We can’t win on sheer magic!” Liyana shouted to him. “He’s too powerful! Sendar, retreat!” Wind battered against her, and she shielded her face as she pressed forward, trying to reach Sendar.

  Before them, the cy
clone collapsed. Mulaf plummeted and then landed catlike on his feet. Instantly Mulaf’s hand closed around Sendar’s throat.

  Liyana lunged forward. “No!”

  Trance broken, Sendar opened his eyes. As he clawed at Mulaf’s hand, Liyana heard a snap. Sendar crumpled to the ground.

  Sendar! Bayla shrieked.

  “Don’t make me hurt you, child,” Mulaf said. Liyana froze, afraid to move. Sendar was motionless. She couldn’t see signs of breathing. “Liyana, you alone I do not wish to harm. Your companion, however . . .” He tightened his fist on empty air.

  Beside her, Korbyn collapsed.

  “And so you will not be tempted to follow me. . . .” Mulaf swirled his fingers in the air, and multiple man-size cyclones bore down on the camp. He rose into the air, and the wind swept him away.

  Liyana heard herself screaming. Inside, Bayla screamed as well. Liyana fell to her knees next to Korbyn. “Don’t die! Oh, sweet goddess, don’t die!” Bayla, magic, now!

  Bayla flooded her with magic.

  Liyana plunged her awareness into Korbyn. She jolted his heart once, twice . . . “Please, oh please, Korbyn, wake up.” He opened his eyes as his heart began to pump again.

  Sendar, Bayla thought. Heal Sendar!

  Liyana spun around. Sendar lay motionless. She leaped to her feet and ran to his side. Using the magic, she dove into his body. His neck had been snapped. She poured magic into the bones—slowly, then faster, they began to knit together. His heart! She should restart his heart. And he needed to breathe. She poured magic into him.

  Suddenly his chest expanded, and he coughed.

  Oh, my Sendar! Bayla’s cry nearly wrenched Liyana in two. I forgive you! I know you cared for me. And I . . . oh, forgive me!

  Liyana swayed. She felt Korbyn’s hands on her shoulders, steadying her. But she didn’t collapse. Around them, the other deities fought the cyclones. She watched Maara subdue one. “The magician escaped,” Korbyn said quietly. He nodded toward the mountains. “He’s entered the mountains. The sky serpents are coming.”

  Liyana rose to her feet.

  Over the mountains she saw hundreds of serpents lift into the sky, their translucent bodies distorting the stars and multiplying their lights by the thousands. She also heard hoofbeats behind her, and she turned. Flanked by two men, Jarlath rode into camp. Behind him, his army marched toward the clans, across the expanse between the remaining whirlwinds.

  Korbyn shoved Liyana behind him, shielding her.

  “Jarlath! I thought you were fleeing,” Liyana said.

  “The empire’s army will fight the sky serpents alongside the desert clans,” Jarlath said. His eyes were on Liyana. “These are my generals, General Xevi and General Akkon.” He indicated two men. “Give them your orders.”

  “I don’t understand,” Korbyn said.

  “Give them your orders,” Jarlath repeated. “I will accompany Liyana to stop Mulaf. He used me and the Crescent Empire to achieve his goals. It is my responsibility to stop him.”

  “Liyana isn’t—” Korbyn began.

  “Of course I am,” Liyana said. She was going after Mulaf. Jarlath had known she would.

  “Then I am as well,” Korbyn said. He turned to Sendar. “Old friend, it falls to you. Will you protect our people? And theirs? You are best able to lead.” For a moment the two gods stared at each other. Bayla stirred within Liyana but was silent. Liyana could almost feel the years stretching between them, these age-old relationships.

  “I will protect them,” Sendar said. He clasped Korbyn’s arm, and then he faced the generals. “The sky serpents have few weaknesses. Here is what we must do. . . .” He led them away.

  Liyana turned to Korbyn. “How do we catch up to Mulaf? The mountains are too steep for horses, and we’ll never catch him on foot.”

  Korbyn flashed a smile. “Thievery.” He pointed to one of the magician’s cyclones. The other deities had collapsed several so far. “Far easier to hijack one than to create one. Come with me!” He ran toward the closest cyclone. Grabbing Jarlath’s hand, Liyana ran after him.

  “Are you sure about this?” she said to Jarlath as they reached the swirl of wind. She had to shout to be heard over it. “Your people need you, and there’s no guarantee—”

  “I have failed my people,” Jarlath said. “I will not fail you as well.”

  Undirected, the cyclone tore through tents, consuming the sand. “Liyana, you’ll have to control it,” Korbyn said. “We will have to ride it like Mulaf, and you are the only one of us who does not need to enter a trance to work magic.”

  “You don’t?” Jarlath asked her. “Fascinating.”

  “Bayla pulls the magic,” Liyana said. “I direct it.”

  “Yes, she’s very impressive. She’s also intelligent and beautiful, but perhaps now is not the best time to discuss it,” Korbyn said dryly. “Let’s move.” From the side, he wrapped his arms around Liyana’s waist. Jarlath mimicked him on the other side. She felt the breath of both boys on her neck.

  Ready? Liyana asked Bayla.

  Do it.

  “Hold tight,” Liyana said. She let the magic flow into her. She expanded herself into the cyclone. She became the cyclone. She played with the wind, raising it higher and sinking it lower. As it sank low and wide, she stepped on top of it, pulling Korbyn and Jarlath with her. The wind bashed into them, and they were shoved up into the air. Wind whipped under her feet, and she felt as if she were skimming over water. She held the boys as tightly as she could, and she steered the cyclone toward the mountains.

  Ahead she saw a sky serpent glow fiery red and orange and then white. Cracks ran through its body, and it shattered with a sound like thunder. Glass shards flew in every direction.

  “He’s heating the sky serpents fast so they’ll explode,” Jarlath said.

  Another sky serpent exploded, raining shards over the boulders below. Glass cascaded down the mountainside. Fire is one of their few weaknesses, Bayla said. Sendar knows this as well.

  He has fought sky serpents before? Liyana asked.

  Bayla was silent for a moment. He knows the sky serpents because we created them.

  You . . . what?

  We knew we could not protect the lake ourselves, not without a constant presence in the world, so we created the sky serpents to guard the mountains. It required the full strength of every deity outside of the Dreaming. We seeped magic into the sand, fused it with enough fire to harden. . . .

  If you created them, then call them off! Two sky serpents dove at them. One skimmed near the top of the cyclone. Another plunged into it, and then spiraled up toward them. He spun out of the cyclone, roared, and dove again. Tell them to attack Mulaf, not us!

  Alas, we cannot control them, Bayla said. Like the sand wolves—

  You are to blame for them as well?

  “Liyana!” Korbyn shouted in her ear.

  Liyana saw a mountainside rushing toward them. She steered the cyclone to the left, around the serrated edge, and then she gasped at her first view of the mountain range.

  Ahead was an expanse of peaks that stretched so high that they looked like they cut the night sky. Half the moon was visible behind one of them. It shed a silvery glow over the black rock mountains.

  “Up ahead!” Jarlath cried. “The sky serpents are slowing him!” She veered through the peaks, around the rock faces and the spindly trees. In her wake, boulders rolled down the mountainsides and cliffs collapsed. She felt the wind pound her body as they rode the cyclone.

  Suddenly Mulaf’s cyclone disappeared.

  Faster! Bayla shouted. She poured more and more magic into Liyana. Liyana felt as if her skin would burst open as the pressure increased faster than she could pour the magic out. The cyclone whipped beneath them.

  She saw shards of bright glass fill the sky ahead as sky serpents exploded above the peaks. More circled in, diving down between the mountains.

  Set us down on that cliff above the lake, Bayla ordered. But do not miss. Th
e lake water is death to the touch.

  Liyana let the wind slow and then die, and the cyclone slowly lowered them onto the cliff. Mulaf was directly below them on a wider cliff. All his concentration was fixed on the sky serpents. As each one dove at him, he roared at it and swept his arms. It heated to white hot and then exploded. Glass rained on the valley below.

  Each flash of light illuminated the sheer, granite cliffs, the oval lake, and the overflow of greenery and flowers that existed nowhere else in the mountains or the desert. As the flare faded, the valley plunged into shadows, and then it flashed again as the next sky serpent died.

  The lake looked exactly as she’d pictured it.

  “It’s beautiful,” Jarlath breathed.

  Liyana couldn’t speak. She watched the white-hot glass scales rain on the lake and the valley. When a scale hit the water, the lake glowed for an instant. Steam curled up. And then it darkened as the scale sank beneath the surface.

  “He hasn’t seen us,” Liyana whispered.

  “Or he’s too busy with the sky serpents to care,” Korbyn said. “They seek to protect the lake. It is their purpose. They won’t quit no matter how many of them he explodes.”

  “We need a plan,” Liyana said. Her knees shook, and she was grateful that Jarlath and Korbyn still held her. Without them, she thought she might fall into the deadly water below. The magic was gone, and she felt empty and breathless. She gripped their arms.

  “Simple is best,” Korbyn said. “He can outmagic us.”

  Attack him, Bayla said. Liyana repeated her words out loud.

  Jarlath nodded. She couldn’t see it, but she felt it. “On the count of three,” he said. “One. Two . . .” Another sky serpent exploded. As its light faded to darkness, Jarlath said, “Three.” They jumped from the cliff.

  As another sky serpent dove to attack, they crashed down on top of Mulaf. He was knocked backward, with Korbyn pinning his legs. Looking past them, Mulaf raised his hand up, and the sky serpent exploded. Shards plummeted around them.