I planted my palms on the stone beside my thighs and felt a little better. Just a little.
“I wanted to tell you how I ended up with Stormshard,” Evrain said. He sat easily on the stone, legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles. “You probably judged by my appearance that I’m Prov by birth.”
“Cosmali, I’d guess?”
He nodded, then pointed to a pair of circling ravens. “We assign so many ill portents to those birds,” he said. “At least, Provincials do. And yet, we revere the eagles and ospreys. The solitary, selfish killer placed above the clever scavenger who mates for life and will defend his love and home against all comers.”
“Atal have the same superstitions. That’s one thing we have in common with the Provs, I guess.”
“And how do you see yourself? As a hawk or a raven?”
One of the black birds cawed and rolled in the air, a playful display for his mate. I thought of Vaness. We’d had camaraderie, but nothing like that.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had much opportunity to make choices. Am I a killer? A lover? I don’t know. All my life, I’ve been a Scion. No more and no less.”
“Believe it or not,” Evrain said, “most people your age are still figuring out who they are. So don’t feel as if your task is hopeless. But I am hoping you’ll discover a revolutionary heart beating in your chest.”
Out of Evrain’s sight, my hand curled into a fist, knuckles pushing into granite. I couldn’t be a Stormsharder. To save my people, even the man seated beside me, I had to become what I most hated.
As if agreeing with the thought, a small cloud slid across the sun, bringing an instant chill to the air.
“Back to my story,” Evrain said, “I once lived in a small settlement on the Cosmal Peninsula. I was a placer miner, working the sluices every day. Happy, even. But a few years before, a friend of mine had given me a warning. He had a son. The boy was strange, given to fugues where he claimed to look into the souls of his neighbors. No one paid it much mind until the registrar came. Instead of receiving the sluicer Function, the boy was dragged away. Officially, his Function was listed as hostler, but he knew nothing of horses.
“After a year with no letters from his son, my friend paid a wagoneer known to have contacts with renegade groups. He wanted to know where his son had ended up, but when he received the answer a few weeks later, he wished he’d never asked.”
Even though his tone hinted at the truth, I couldn’t help my question. “What happened to the boy?”
“Executed as a threat to the Empire. He hadn’t even lived a week after they took him away. After my friend learned the truth, he started asking around the peninsula. There were similar stories through the generations. So when my daughter started having strange nightmares and visions, I knew I had to do something. I left within the month. Didn’t even say goodbye out of fear I’d endanger her. Better my family had no knowledge if questioned about me. I already had minor involvement with Stormshard, but I committed to full membership. I’ve been a Sharder ever since.”
As Evrain had spoken, I’d become so caught up in his story that my discomfort with the heights had vanished. I picked up a small rock and threw it over the edge. A few long seconds later, it clattered distantly against the boulders.
“Forgive my saying this, but short of unseating Emperor Tovmeil, how does this help your daughter?”
“In truth, I’d hoped to have done more by now—my daughter’s Function assignment would happen this year and I can’t let her be found. It’s been seven years since I left home—my younger daughter probably doesn’t even remember me. I had grand visions of unseating the Emperor and bringing a new era to the Empire. But I’ve learned much in the years since. True change will come, but it may take more than my lifetime. In the meantime, I sent a trusted friend to rescue my family. The friend is an imperial courier with ties to Stormshard—her Function will allow her to travel Cosmal without raising suspicion, whereas the protectors have learned my face over the years. In any case, my friend will escort my wife and younger daughter to a port in Anisel and buy them passage to a land far from here. And as for my older daughter with the... ability so hated by the Empire, I’ve asked to have her brought to me. I can keep her safe in these mountains. And maybe, with her talents, we can work together to change life in the Empire.”
“You wouldn’t feel better sending her with your wife?”
Evrain sighed, and I couldn’t help but notice the tension in his face. “I wish I had, to be honest. I expected to hear from the courier and my daughter by now. They’re likely just delayed by the recent earthquakes, though. The Cosmali Crease is difficult to traverse. Sometimes travelers get held up for weeks waiting for repairs to the road.”
For Evrain’s sake, I hoped that was true. I hadn’t heard of any major collapses in the Crease, but not all reports from the Empire reached the Scions.
“What’s your daughter’s name?” I asked.
Evrain cast me an amused smirk. “We aren’t on that close of terms yet, I’m afraid.”
I nodded, chastened. Of course he wouldn’t tell me her name. He might as well be handing her over to the protectors if I betrayed him.
“In any case,” he said, “I’m telling you this because I believe it will help you understand our position. Surely you have someone you care about as well. That’s one thing we all have in common.”
Immediately, my face burned with shame. I looked away to hide it. Yes, he might assume I had someone to care about—someone who cared about me. In truth, Vaness was the nearest person I had. And we’d hardly been close.
“Makes sense,” I said, clearing away the catch in my throat.
“We should get back,” Evrain said, looking over his shoulder. “Falla is not the most patient of women. But there’s one more story I want to share. I think it’s important you understand why I, in particular, am cautious with my trust.”
I glanced back at Falla and Kei. While the older woman was showing her impatience by fiddling with her saddle ties, shading her eyes to scan the horizon, and throwing rocks down the hill, Kei had taken a seat a few paces uphill from the trail and leaned against a stone to soak in the sun. With the warm rays on her skin, she looked entirely content.
“They’ll be fine,” Evrain said with a fond smile. “Even Falla. As her husband says, she has as much bluster as a Deepwinter blizzard, but none of the bite.”
“If you say so...”
The man chuckled. “In any case, when I was new to Stormshard, I befriended a geognost named Havialo. He was five or ten years older than me, elite-born Atal, but we understood each other well. Personally, anyway. But we didn’t agree on the best way for Stormshard to reach its goals. I had no taste for violence or dominance. But Havialo believed that the Empire would never be defeated without sacrifices, even of innocent citizens. He felt that the Sharders needed a firm hand and leaders ready to take radical action. Havialo was nice enough and fairly persuasive, but among our peers, more Sharders agreed with me.”
“Have you ever considered choosing a leader? Someone to reflect the will of everyone in the group rather than dictate direction?”
Evrain’s expression was thoughtful. “I have. And I understand what you’re saying. But we’ve lived so long under the Empire, the protectors, the snitches. We need our freedom before any of us is ready to hand over their choices to someone else. Even if that means we take longer to achieve our goals.”
Somewhere on the sparsely forested slope below our perch, a jay chattered. A light breeze swirled up from the valley, carrying scents of pine and sun-warmed lichen. The heights reminded me of patrols around Steelhold’s wall. There, I’d stood and surveyed the domain that might someday be mine. But up here, Evrain looked over a wild territory that didn’t truly belong to anyone but the birds and hunting cats. And rogue groups hiding out in hillside caves.
“Havialo was impulsive, and he decided to take a drastic step to prove his metho
ds were better. He intended to burn the Hall of Registry. If the Empire’s copies of the Function writs were lost, he believed Provs would rise up and burn their own copies as a first step in casting off the Empire.”
My eyes widened. “But the Hall is right by Lowtown and Tanner’s Row. The buildings there don’t even have slate roofs. The fire would tear through the slums. It’s an issue the Ministry has considered addressing.”
Evrain nodded. “Exactly. But since I had no authority to stop Havialo short of turning him in, I decided the only way to spare the innocent residents of the Splits was to get inside the Hall and steal the records first. If there was nothing of value to burn, I believed Havialo would give up on his plan.
“Unfortunately, Havialo was so desperate to prove himself he decided to act days before he’d initially told us he would. We had no way to know, but both my group and Havialo approached the Hall on the same night. Things got messy with so many Sharders working at cross purposes, and the short story is that Havialo was spotted.”
“The protectors captured him?”
Evrain shook his head. “Because he was elite-born, word of his betrayal traveled straight to the Ministry and Emperor. No offense, but I don’t know whether cruelty is bred into the Scions or if it comes from your training. Instead of punishing Havialo directly—that may not have ended well for the would-be executioner anyway, given his talents as an earth mage—the leadership sent a cadre of protectors to his young daughter’s academy. She was dragged through the streets with no explanation. Hanged for all the city to see.”
Revulsion swirled in my belly. Staring over this rugged corner of the Empire that I hoped to rule one day, I wanted to throw myself off the outcrop for having been born under the stars that declared me fit to control it. I didn’t know what to say. A child, killed in the center of Jaliss for no other reason than having the wrong father? It was disgusting.
“I can’t imagine...” I said. With no bonds of the sort experienced by a parent and child, I honestly couldn’t understand the man’s grief. Still, I felt sick inside.
“I doubt any of us can truly imagine his anguish unless faced with a similar loss,” Evrain said. “In any case, we lost Havialo after that. He never cooperated directly with us again. In particular, he never cooperated with me. Sometimes I’ve suspected him of working to sabotage me, though I’m not sure I could prove it. And the truth is, I sometimes wish he would succeed in undermining me. It was an accident that we arrived at the Hall together and got tangled up. Still, I can’t help feeling I’m to blame for his daughter’s execution. I don’t think I’ll ever escape that.”
“To answer your question...” I said.
“Which question?”
“You wondered whether we’re born cruel or taught the behavior. I hope the answer is ‘neither’ in my case. And there’s another Scion. She’s... well, I don’t really know. For a long time, I thought we shared a hatred for the Emperor’s brutality. Recently, something she said made me wonder, but I can’t imagine that she’s irredeemable.”
“You’re probably right. No one is born evil, and no amount of conditioning can change a pure heart.” Evrain clapped me on the shoulder. “So, I imagine that foot of yours could use time propped up on pillows. Should we head back?”
“One question,” I asked. “Do you know who was directly responsible for her execution? I’d like to know in case I’m ever in the position to... make them atone.”
Evrain stood, extending a hand to help me up. “According to the palace, all orders issue from the Emperor himself. I don’t know if that’s true. But there was a minister who publicly attended the execution. Minister Brevt.”
I nodded, hiding my reaction. Minister Brevt, the same man who’d been involved in the Emperor’s murder and the threat to my life. Why wasn’t I surprised?
We returned along the narrow fin of rock, Evrain’s steady hand guiding me. When we neared the women, he turned and spoke in a low voice.
“You know what Stormshard means to me now. There’s little else I can say to help you decide. I’ll want to know where your allegiance stands by sundown. Removing that cuff would prove your intent, I think.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Savra
An hour's ride from Jaliss
WE RETREATED FROM the road, cutting a path through the tall grass. Near the base of the mountains, Havialo hobbled the horses and flopped down on the grass. I didn’t feel like relaxing.
“I feel I should ask again, Savra,” he said casually. He lay with one ankle crossed over the other, head pillowed on his hands. “Would you consider using your talents for a cause with a real chance at success?”
Should I confront him? I knew he was still hiding some truths. A gut feeling, but I trusted my instincts. What would confrontation gain me? I doubted it would produce answers.
“I don’t even understand my talents, much less how to use them,” I said. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but I don’t want to make important choices until I see my father.”
Above our stopping place, the hill rose steeply to a flat terrace. A crude hut stood near the edge of the platform. Sheep wandered nearby, grazing and bleating.
Havialo's mouth turned down at one corner. “In truth, I don’t believe anyone knows the extents of what a spiritist can do. The Empire’s practice of exterminating your kind has limited the exploration of your abilities. Surely that must anger you. Don’t you want to get even? Neither your father nor Stormshard can help you do that.”
I shrugged. “Until a few weeks ago, I’d never heard of spiritism.”
He plucked a long stalk of grass and pinched the seedhead between thumb and forefinger, stripping off the grains. “Well, think about it. We have time to wait.”
Wait until what, though? “How long will it take my father to get here?”
He didn’t look at me and didn’t answer. After a while, I got tired of standing and sat a few paces away.
As the clouds drifted over the sky, I wrapped my cloak tight around my body. The sun here was so strong it made one forget how quickly the air gave up its warmth without the rays. Movement on the hill above caught my eye, and I craned my neck to see the shepherd making his way down the steep slope. He carried a walking stick in one hand and used it for added stability as he descended.
“What do you think happened to the Chasm Span?” I asked. “And aren’t you worried about Steelhold being closed?”
Havialo had draped his forearm across his eyes. When I spoke, he yawned and propped his body up on his elbows. “Interesting you should ask that. I may indeed know about actions taken against Steelhold, likely leading to the fall of the Span. But you see, without a commitment from you to work against the Empire which has hurt you and your kind again and again, I see no reason to share anything more.”
The venom in his voice surprised me. Over the weeks of our journey, he’d at least attempted to keep a reasoned tone.
“What about your vow? If I were to join you rather than my father, wouldn’t you be breaking your promise?”
“That’s not for you to worry about. There’s not much time, Savra,” he said again. “Think hard.”
I pulled a stalk of grass and bent the stem into a knot. In Numintown, the only grass was a short variety that tolerated the salt breezes. At once, I missed home with a fierceness that surprised me.
I thought of Avill’s laugh and my mother’s bemused smile. But Mother and Avill weren’t in Numintown anymore. Most likely, none of us would ever return.
Overhead, the clouds continued to build over the mountains, growing ominous. A storm waited to pounce. Wind began to skirl down from the heights carrying a breath of frost.
“Should we put up the tarp?” I asked. Though not a proper tent, we’d traveled with a sheet of canvas and a pitchpole that came up to my ribs. The resulting shelter was hardly comfortable—during the few nights we’d used it, I’d felt as if the tent’s ceiling would suffocate
me. But it would be better than a drenching rain. Or worse, snow.
Havialo shook his head and pointed. Leaving the road, a trio of riders eased their mounts from a gallop to a trot. The geognost scrambled to his feet. As I stood from my patch of flattened grass, I noticed the shepherd had continued his descent. It seemed strange that he’d left his shelter with a storm looming. He must have had his reasons, though.
Havialo raised a hand in greeting as the riders reigned up.
None of them were my father.
“Havialo,” said the man in front. He had a painfully thin face, sunken cheeks beneath cheekbones so sharp they could cut. His eyes were small, darting flecks of brown hiding in the shadow of his brow.
“Where is my father?” I asked.
Everyone ignored me.
“I didn’t think your master would expose himself by sending you so openly, Biallist,” Havialo said. He then turned to the other newcomers, a stout woman with a hooked nose and a permanent sneer, and a leather-armored man with flinty eyes who struck me as a hired guard.
“As you may have heard, there were difficulties with our initial operation,” the man, Biallist replied. “We’ve been forced to proceed in a manner uncharacteristic for our organization.”
As he spoke, his gaze briefly landed on the stone spire where Steelhold presided over the surroundings.
“What went wrong?” Havialo asked.
The woman nudged her mount forward. The movement of her hand on the reins caught my attention, and I noticed a silver band on her finger, similar to Havialo’s. On her other hand, a gold ring encircled her thumb.
A rank in argent magic and another in aurum. Was she a true metalogist, or a dabbler like Havialo?
“You know as much as we do. The last Biallist heard from Minister Brevt, everything was in place. The... recruits were drilled and drilled again on the plan. Seeing as most of them were your responsibility, we were hoping you had some insight.”
Heart of the Empire (The Broken Lands Book 1) Page 15
