by Ken Scholes
Vlad opened his mouth to speak, but his voice caught in his throat. More than that, he realized-it was more a sob than a gasp, and that knowledge rattled him.
Don’t go.
Fast as it had fled, the light returned, wavering beneath him again, and for the faintest moment, he felt the cool electric tingle as one tendril brushed his hand. It pulsated more urgently now, and a new compulsion seized him.
Hooking his foot under the rowing bench to anchor himself, Vlad stretched over the side of the boat to dip his face into the water, forcing his eyes open to take it all in.
Its song was everywhere around him, and the light drew nearer for a moment before fleeing again.
Vlad raised his head, drew in a deep lungful of air, and reimmersed himself.
He counted to five, and just as before, the ghost was back and all around him. I could give myself to it, he thought. I could let go of the bench and join it here and never leave.
But even as he thought it, he knew it was not the path for him, despite deep longing. That part of him that had ruled House Li Tam with iron resolve, making and breaking the leaders and houses of the Named Lands, knew with certainty that something suspicious and ancient and more powerful than any compulsion he’d ever known now gripped him, and rather than being satisfied by at last finding what he sought, he was instead more curious and more compelled by this longing.
Withdrawing his face from the water, Vlad watched as the ghost once again fled southeast only to return. It means me to follow.
But he knew that for now, he wouldn’t. For now, he had learned what he needed to and would return to the Blood Temple, take his breakfast, and meet with Baryk as soon as the warpriest was awake.
Tomorrow, he would return alone. He would do the same each day after. And in a week’s time, he would gather what remained of his family and would sail southeast. though it made no sense to do so.
Yet I will do this.
It broke his heart open to set himself firmly again on the rowing bench. He felt that pulsating ache moving and twisting across the deep, dark waters of his recent losses and was surprised at the tears that now coursed his cheeks.
It is as if I am in love, Vlad Li Tam thought with a rising panic that threatened to capsize his understanding.
Winters
The young Gypsy Scout stationed near the door ushered Winters into Rudolfo’s audience chamber just ahead of the prisoners, and she slid quietly into the chair provided for her in the corner of the room. Already, her stomach knotted at the thought of this afternoon’s meeting. She’d sat through hours of interrogation that morning, breaking only for lunch. Rudolfo’s questioning was skillful, even courteous, but what she heard from her people-what she saw upon their faces as they proclaimed it-chilled her.
She smoothed her plain dress and forced herself to watch when the women were brought in. Their hair was cut short, and the lines of ash and mud upon their faces were drawn in a more deliberate pattern, like the woman who claimed to be her older sister. Their feet were bare beneath the robes they wore. They walked with their heads held high and their shoulders back, and they met Rudolfo’s eyes with their own, and with the confident smile of peers. They inclined their heads slowly and sat in the chairs he waved at.
“I hope,” Rudolfo said to them, “you enjoyed your lunch.”
They nodded, and the one who had kept silent through most of the morning session spoke. Winters stretched for her name. Tamrys. “We are grateful for your hospitality, Lord Rudolfo.”
Winters watched him nod slightly, watched his eyes slide to Aedric and then glance up toward her. “I am grateful for your cooperation,” he said. “These are curious times.”
“These are the times foretold,” Tamrys assured him, and Winters heard the faith in her voice. It gave her pause.
How long had this resurgence cooked slowly among her people? How blind had she and the Council of Twelve been? Thinking of the council, she looked across the room and saw Seamus sitting quietly. When their eyes met briefly, she saw sadness in them, and she tried to find a similar sorrow within herself.
Tamrys continued. “We know that these are but the labor of a difficult birth. With the Child of Promise delivered, the road is made straight for the Age of the Crimson Empress.”
All morning, as Rudolfo gently probed them with questions, Winters had listened to fragments of gospel and references to prophecy she had not heard before. And with each spoken word, she’d heard the belief in these women’s voices and felt something stirring in her that heated her face and forced her hands into white-knuckled fists.
She forced her attention back to the conversation.
“Yes,” Rudolfo said. “You have shared that with us. And I’m certain that you believe this to be so-I can see why one might. But it remains that bringing this”-he paused, and his brow furrowed as he looked for the best word-“faith into the Ninefold Forest is unacceptable.”
Winters watched both of the women blink in surprise, then recover with knowing smiles and sly glances to one another. “It just hasn’t been revealed to you yet, Lord Rudolfo.” She heard love and conviction in their voices. “When it has, you’ll understand your great part in this gospel and the tremendous grace visited upon your son and your line.”
Rudolfo looked to her again, and Winters saw cunningness in his dark eyes. His hands moved, and she read the words quickly. Do you wish to speak to them? He’d asked during the morning, too, but she’d declined. Once more, she shook her head, and as she did, she saw Tamrys staring at her from the corner of her eye.
“You are Winteria the Younger,” she said, starting to stand. “We did not recognize you without your markings of Home-longing.” Gypsy Scouts slipped in from the edges of the room until a glance from Rudolfo and a whistle from Aedric stood them down. The other stood, too, and both bowed deeply. “We bear word to you from your sister, the Elder.”
Winters felt the blush rise to her cheeks. “I do not recognize her as my kin.”
Tamrys smiled, and it was warm, genuine even. “You do not need to as yet. These things take time.” She looked to Rudolfo. “May I approach her?”
He looked to Winters, and she wondered how wide her eyes had become even as his narrowed. He must have seen something there, because his voice was cautionary. “I’m not certain-”
Winters found her voice. “You may approach.”
Under the watchful eye of the scouts, the Machtvolk evangelist walked slowly across the room. As she did, Winters stood and faced the woman.
The woman was tall, and when she gathered Winters into her arms, Winters felt the strength of the embrace and smelled the sweat and earth and ash of the woman. She felt warm lips upon her forehead, and then the mouth moved to her ear as the voice lowered to a whisper. “Little sister,” Tamrys said, “come home to me and to joy.”
Unexpected, the words-and the love within that voice-raised goose bumps upon her skin.
Then, with the message delivered, the evangelist inclined her head and returned to her seat.
The conversation continued beyond that. Rudolfo asked questions, and the answers, circular and cryptic, followed. She heard references to schools and shrines built; to an expansion of the Machtvolk presence into what had once been Windwir; and candid discussion of evangelists moving out across the Named Lands in their robes and mud and ash, preaching their new gospel.
But gradually, the words drifted someplace out of reach to Winters. As hard as she tried to, she could not escape that whispered voice and that firm embrace.
Little sister, come home to me and to joy.
And yet, this same woman-her older sister supposedly-had sent assassins out in the night to murder Hanric, the man who had raised her. And now, this new queen and her kind transformed her people into something that frightened Winters though she did not fully grasp why.
She remembered that day in the tent at the edge of spring and felt the rage washing through her as she surged forward with upraised axe. She felt shame ri
se to her cheeks at the memory of being so easily restrained and subdued. And she realized suddenly that she’d spent these last six months avoiding the truth of what had happened to her and how she’d responded, hiding in the basement of the new library pretending she was only a girl. Sudden tears threatened her now, and Winters felt her face grow even hotter as she resisted.
I gave up on my people.
She remembered Tertius and the nights he often read to her. One of her favorite stories had been “Jamael and the Kin-Wolves.” He’d suggested it to her one night and had then been subjected to reading it again and again to her. And one day Jamael came home from the fields to find a kin-wolf in her sheepfold.
She looked at the two women again. The light in their eyes. The deep sense of passion in their voices. How many more were out there, even now, sharing this gospel and feeding this resurgence? They had brought down Windwir to bring this faith out of the shadows. They had butchered and resurrected Petronus to create this belief. They had cut their mark over the hearts of innocent children. And they had healed Jin Li Tam and Rudolfo’s dying son with the blood of thousands.
She knew from her talks with Rudolfo and Jin Li Tam that this resurgence had been engineered, but now, for the first time, she saw that her people were also victims of this dark movement. They were being bent and twisted into the servants of this so-called Crimson Empress, and the thought of it awoke anger in her. These people were in her care, and she could not hide here and pretend otherwise.
Wolves in the fold, Jamael cried.
“Wolves in the fold,” Winters whispered softly to herself.
And as if she heard, the evangelist Tamrys paused, turned to the girl and smiled at her.
Chapter 5
Rudolfo
Rudolfo looked up as Jin Li Tam and Jakob entered the back of the room, suddenly apprehensive about the decision they had made over lunch. He looked from his wife to the two Machtvolk evangelists and last, to Winters. The girl had been quiet, and he had been unable to read the emotions that washed her face. Something had happened when the woman Tamrys had embraced her and passed on her older sister’s message.
Something to be mindful of.
His eyes locked with Jin Li Tam’s, and the shrewdness he saw there bolstered him. “Ah,” he said with a flourish, rising to his feet. “May I present the Lady Jin Li Tam, daughter of House Li Tam and queen of the Ninefold Forest. And our heir, Lord Jakob.”
The two evangelists first went very pale, then blushed as they scrambled to stand and turn.
They are surprised. Perhaps, Rudolfo thought, this is the right path after all.
They bowed deeply, and he did not need to see their faces in that moment to read the adoration written there. “G-great Mother,” Tamrys said, stammering, “this is an unforeseen honor.”
Now, the other spoke as well, and Rudolfo heard the sob catch in her throat. “And behold, the Child of Promise-hearty and hale by the grace of the Crimson Empress.”
Or by dark design and blood sacrifice. Rudolfo felt himself frowning and forced a smile to his mouth. “Please join us, Lady Tam,” he said, motioning to a chair nearby.
Jin Li Tam gave the evangelists a quick look, her face a calm mask. But underneath it, Rudolfo knew that rage seethed there. Certainly, the Y’Zirite blood magicks had saved Jakob’s life, but it had cost countless others, her sisters and brothers lost upon the cutting tables while Jin’s father was forced to watch the murder of his children and grandchildren on the island Rudolfo had rescued him from. He knew Jin’s shame, but he knew that if he had been there, holding their gray and gasping son, he too would have fallen to his knees and begged for that cure once he knew it worked. He could not fault her.
But like her, the shame of it would chew him.
Now, he admired her placid, regal tone. “Thank you, Lord Rudolfo. We would be pleased to join you.”
He waited until the women seated themselves. Their eyes kept moving to the child, adoration painted clearly upon their faces.
They truly do believe he is their Child of Promise. Rudolfo noted this and set it apart to consider later. Then, he put his attention back upon his unusual guests. “I can see that my son is important to you,” he said.
Their nods were enthusiastic, their smiles wide. “He is our promise that the Crimson Empress will soon come,” Tamrys said. “The First Gospel of Ahm Y’Zir teaches us that clearly.”
First Gospel. It piqued his curiosity. “I’m unfamiliar with it. Enlighten me.”
Tamrys’s eyes did not leave Jakob as she lowered her voice and recited it from memory. “And in the shadow of the Usurper’s Pyre, a child of great promise shall be given as light in darkness, as hope in despair, and he shall make straight the arrival of his Crimson Empress as a bridegroom prepares for the feast.” She glanced back to Rudolfo. “There are other passages,” she said. “I would be happy to share them with you.”
Rudolfo smiled. “Perhaps later.” Then, he leaned forward. “As you can imagine, Jakob’s safety is of great importance to me. I’ve word from your queen that he is in danger and that her ambassador approaches even now. What do you know of this?”
Tamrys looked back to the baby, then to her companion. Rudolfo watched the knowing glances pass between them and waited. “There have been prophecies of late,” she finally said.
Rudolfo opened his mouth to ask for more detail but closed it. Something suddenly felt wrong, and the hair rose on the back of his neck. He smelled something-it was earthy and rich with just a hint of apples. And the slightest breeze whispered against his cheek. He glanced to Aedric and opened his mouth again, then felt fingers pressing into the back of his neck.
Be still. Say nothing.
Rudolfo waited. The fingers were warm and small. He felt the slightest scraping of a nail against his skin, and gooseflesh broke out on his arms and back beneath the soft silk of his shirt.
The fingers moved again. I assure you that you are safe in this moment, Lord Rudolfo. I bear urgent and private word for you and the Great Mother.
Rudolfo’s mind spun its calculations. It was a woman, magicked and well versed in the subverbals of his House. The smell of earth and ash, along with her reference to their gospel, betrayed her as a Marsher.
Magicked and in my home. He felt anger rising within and alongside it, a feeling he was not accustomed to: fear. Still, the interloper assured him of safety, and if she was capable of concealing herself within his manor with such relative ease, capable of placing herself in such close proximity to his person and to his family, then surely if she had wished to cause harm, she would have done so already.
Jin Li Tam and Aedric were both looking to him now, and he could see by the look on their faces that they knew something was afoot. “My apologies,” he said in a careful voice, “but I fear we will need to postpone this audience.” He started to rise out of courtesy and felt the hand move from his neck as he did. “My Gypsy Scouts will return you to your quarters, and we will continue our conversation at a later time. I’m very interested to learn of these. prophecies.” The word felt distasteful in his mouth, but he smiled around it anyway.
Already, his hands were moving. Keep them under close watch. He looked to Jin Li Tam. “I would speak with you, Lady, when we are alone.”
He watched the scouts as they escorted their guests from the room. He watched Seamus and Winters as they followed, and last, he watched Aedric pause at the door. “Is all well, General?” he asked.
Rudolfo inclined his head. “It is, Aedric. But stay nearby.”
After the door closed, he expelled held breath and let slip some of the anger that had coiled around his spine. “You come into my house under magicks? You insert yourself into the affairs of the Ninefold Forest?” He felt his voice shaking from it, though he was careful not to raise it. “You have much explaining to do.”
Jin Li Tam looked at him, her mouth slack. “What-?”
But another voice cut her off. “You have my deepest apologies, Lord R
udolfo, for this deception.” There was a brief pause. “It was necessary that I travel quickly and quietly.”
The woman’s voice sounded familiar, despite being thickly muffled by the magicks, but Rudolfo could not place it. Still, he felt the anger prickling his scalp as he white-knuckled the arms of his chair. “What you deem necessary is your own concern. You’ve violated my territories-my very home. This is unprecedented.”
“We live,” the woman said slowly, “in unprecedented times.”
And in that moment, he placed the voice and looked up to lock eyes with Jin Li Tam. Her own face, he saw, had gone pale. Jakob gurgled in his sleep and waved a tiny hand.
“You are a long way from the Marshlands, Ria,” he said.
“I am far from the Machtvolk Territories,” she conceded. “But the news I bear merited personal and prompt attention. You and your family are in grave danger.”
His eyes narrowed, and he willed the pounding to slow behind his temples. “Go on.”
Now, her voice was from another corner of the room. “We’ve word of a growing threat against your household.”
“And how exactly have you come by this word?” he asked, tipping his head slightly as if he might somehow hear her move.
She did not answer at first. When she did, the words were carefully chosen. “As you no doubt have surmised, we have an active network in place.”
And, he remembered, the ability to somehow divert their birds and decode their messages. For the last six months, Isaak and his mechoservitors had been busy scripting new codes nearly as fast as they were broken. He paused, uncertain, and then took a risk. “We also know you have access to our birds and codes.”
She hesitated, then answered. “Yes. We do.”
Honesty, then. How refreshing. Rudolfo sighed. “Continue.”
“There are spies in your house, Rudolfo, and there are enemies in your forest.” She paused. “And I can assure you, they are not my overzealous evangelists. Though I will deal with them once you’ve concluded your own audience with them.”
