Dissolution

by Kyle West

  “So, we’re all agreed that this is the direction we’re going?” I asked.

  Heads nodded all around. That meant it was time to get to the planning.

  * * *

  We planned the attack to happen at night, a few days from now when Isaru’s forces were more firmly entrenched in their position around Colonia. We couldn’t wait any longer than that, as the risk of discovery would go up. As much as I hated to admit the possibility, Isaru likely had eyes in the Sanctum. I knew Haris had been a subject of Odium, but surely Haris had not been working alone. It was hard not to wonder who it might be, or if I was just being paranoid.

  Nonetheless, the plan was settled. The Seekers had twenty-five dragons being cared for in Nava Village by the townspeople, enough to carry every Champion currently stationed at the Sanctum, plus some of the better fighters from the other sects. Besides this, we could carry a few of our own on Odin, gathering reinforcements from Kalear, such as Seekers Deanna, Aela, and Amalia, all of whom were good in a fight, along with the strongest fighters among the Sphere Seekers.

  But that would mean visiting Kalear one last time before the attack. After the attack began, everything would be set in motion, and all our cards on the table.

  So, the day after the planning was completed, we set off in Odin, leaving the Sanctum in the charge of the Elders – as it always had been.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  WE FLEW QUICKLY FROM THE Sanctum to Kalear only to be greeted by a most unwelcome sight: a massive army encamped around and besieging the fortress. It was hard to get a count, but there seemed to be at least a few thousand entrenched around the hill the castle was built on, judging by the light of several hundred fires below. The woods at the base of the hill hid their true numbers, so for all I knew, there could be far more than that.

  I called everyone to the bridge, so they could all have a good look and understand the situation.

  “This is very bad,” Isa said, in a vast understatement.

  No one had the heart to say anything else.

  We were close enough to the besieging army that we could see them scatter for the shelter of the trees as soon as we swooped overhead. They were lost to view as our ship lowered and landed in the castle courtyard.

  Almost as soon as we disembarked, we ourselves were besieged by the castle’s garrison, everyone who had chosen to give up their lives to follow me. Deanna and Aela were among the first, followed by many of the priests who stood looking on silently.

  “About time!” Denna said, in a huff.

  “How long have they been out there?” I asked.

  “Almost as soon as you left,” Aela said. “Two days after you left, in fact. We’ve been holed up here ever since.”

  “I want to see you, Deanna, and Amalia in the council room, along with my parents.” I paused, feeling a nervous weight form in my stomach. “Has my father returned?”

  I knew it was a small chance, given he had two days to get back inside the castle before the army could have surrounded it. I was surprised to see Aela nod in the affirmative, but it was Seeker Amalia who answered, having pushed her way through the roiling crowd.

  “He’s here,” she said. “We must discuss this at once.”

  “We’re going now,” I said.

  We forced our way to the great hall, ignoring the shouted questions of all the people who had taken shelter here from the surrounding countryside and town. Even the apprentices and initiates who had followed the Seekers here were shouting their own questions, while the priests held back. Among them was High Priest Markas, who I waved over to join us.

  Together we made it inside the castle, the almost riotous crowd dimmed out by the slamming of the oaken doors.

  * * *

  The great hall was comparatively quiet. There were only a few people, two of which were priests standing guard in their white robes and hardened faces, and the other two being my parents, sitting at the high table and speaking quietly.

  At the sound of our entrance, they turned and their faces lit up.

  “Shanti,” my mother said, saying my name as if she didn’t believe I was there.

  She stood and hurried forward while I ran to close the distance. I gave her a strong embrace while my father wrapped his long arms around us both.

  We stood like that for a while before parting. I looked up into my father’s wrinkled, bearded face and felt tears come to my eyes. “You’re back.”

  He nodded. “Just barely.”

  All of us went to sit. My mother gave orders to one of the servants to bring out food for all of us.

  “We have a lot to discuss,” I said. “A lot more than I first thought. Tell me who’s attacking us.”

  “Lord Harrow,” my father said. “We didn’t see him coming until it was too late. He moved his troops quietly through the woods by little-used paths. We didn’t know until a few hours after you left. Of course, by then, it was too late.”

  “Your father was the one who brought the news,” my mother said. “Several of his men died during their flight here.”

  My father nodded that this was true.

  “I’m glad you made it,” I said, wondering just how close things were.

  “How many men?” Shara asked.

  “We guess four thousand,” my father said. “Which means they outnumber us over four to one. It’s clear they don’t mean to breach the walls. They don’t even have ladders, and we could defend ourselves well here.”

  “They just mean to starve us, then,” Shara said. “Only that can’t be right, because they must know we have the ship, which we can use to resupply the castle. So, what’s their true purpose here?”

  “To keep us pinned,” my father said. “If we’re stuck here, there’s little we can do to help the Makai.”

  “You’ve heard of that by now then?” I asked.

  My father nodded. “I don’t know how much our numbers would help King Arius, knowing how numerous the Novan legions are. But we could certainly make a dent in their forces.”

  “What do we know about Lord Harrow?” I asked.

  “Little is known among those of us here,” my mother said, “but the townspeople say he has a reputation of being cold and calculated. The Harrow family has long been loyal to the Annajen, though they were not always so. They are the most powerful family in the southeastern portion of the Xenoplain, and are the suzerain of many lesser families there. More men come every day to bolster their ranks. They may be waiting for a greater number before assaulting the walls.”

  “You said they have no ladders or siege engines,” Shara said.

  “Not that we can see,” my father said. “It’s possible they are constructing them in the woods, out of sight.”

  I had to admit that was smart. Even with the Odin, it wouldn’t be easy to drive the army from their position. We didn’t have enough bullets to kill four thousand men, though it might be enough to terrify them. And if they hid in the woods, no number of bullets could help that.

  “Is his loyalty to Isaru firm?” I asked.

  “He has refused to speak to any of us, waiting instead for your return,” my father said. “What news do you have of Isaru?”

  “His army will be besieging Colonia within days,” I said. “Most of his forces are there. Lord Harrow’s army is but a small fraction, probably designed to keep us from marching on Haven.”

  I realized that had to be it. Because of Haris, Isaru trusted the Seekers to be kept complacent. Harrow’s army was a preemptive measure to keep Haven safe. He expected us to use the Odin and whatever dragons we had to rescue Colonia, so Kalear was Haven’s only real threat in Isaru’s eyes. At a determined march, the forces of Kalear could be at Haven in under two weeks. A risk Isaru could not afford.

  Somehow, by mere happenstance, we were one step ahead of him.

  “As strange as this might sound,” I said, “Lord Harrow’s position may be the best thing we have going for us.”

  My father frowned in confusion. “Wha
t do you mean?”

  So, I explained everything – how King Arius of the Makai had formally agreed to work together with us, and how Elder Isandru had been instrumental in greatly weakening the power of the Hyperfold, though it was the cause of his death. Aela, Deanna, and Amalia lowered their heads at that, asking a few questions of the manner of his death, which I explained. I finished with his burial on the Sanctum grounds, which was followed by my duel with Elder Haris.

  When I got to the part about Elder Haris shriveling to death in his cell, Seeker Amalia spoke.

  “That proves it,” she said. “He was working for the Radaskim without a doubt.”

  “You should have seen the way Shanti fought,” Shara said. “It wasn’t even close.”

  “It’s not just that,” I said. “The Hyperfold truly is weakening. Odium can no longer concentrate his limited power on separate champions. All that power is being channeled into Isaru. Because of the power I inherited from Elekim, it’s the only way Odium can hope to directly challenge me.”

  “Seeker Haris, though he was a Scholar, was the best fighter among us,” Amalia said. She was looking at me as if seeing a new person. “I can’t imagine him being defeated so easily.”

  “It happened that way,” Shara said. “It was enough to prove to the Sanctum, once and for all, that Shanti is who she says.”

  “So, we essentially left the Sanctum for nothing,” Aela said, with an ironic smile.

  “Not for nothing,” Deanna said. “We’ve helped here. Without our counsel, things would be going worse for the Lady Roshar.”

  I realized that she was speaking of my mother. It was hard to imagine her as a lady with land of her own, along with a castle under her stewardship. But seeing my mother’s face, how she accepted those words as if they had always been true, made me realize that the title fit.

  “All of you have been of tremendous help,” my father said, whom they probably called “Lord Roshar,” though I had yet to hear it. “Lord Harrow knows there are Seekers within these walls. Not how many, but it’s enough to give him pause, or perhaps enough to make him realize that a direct assault on the walls is going to be costly. He’ll probably be content to sit back and keep us locked inside.”

  “How can we arrange a meeting with him?” I asked. “If I speak to him, I might be able to convince him he’s fighting for the wrong side.”

  Deanna looked doubtful at this prospect. “We shouldn’t abandon hope, but at the very least we can learn a bit more about him, and no doubt, he’ll be able to size us up as well.”

  “The question is, when would you like to meet?” Amalia asked.

  “Immediately,” I said.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  WITHIN HALF AN HOUR, I was standing outside the castle gates, which were hastily shut behind me, with a contingent of twelve Sphere Seekers along with my friends and the Sanctum Seekers who had come to the castle. About fifty crossbowmen manned the ramparts and gatehouse above. If anyone thought to attack us, fifty bolts would be directly shot at their leader.

  Lord Harrow had far less men in his retinue, a sign of his confidence. All of them were on horseback, and all wore deep, burgundy capes that I took to be color of the Harrow house. Standing twenty paces further back were a squad of longbowmen, guaranteeing their lord’s safety if we tried anything.

  Up close, I could get a good look at him. He had a long, pinched face, and was probably sixty years old. He had a short, trim gray beard, with dark brown eyes that appeared unconcerned, and even bored. The heaviness of the bags under his eyes wasn’t just due to age. He’d probably had them all his life, to the point where they were permanently etched onto his face. His jowls hung loosely from his face, like wax melting off a candle.

  “Annara,” he said, giving an ironic bow that told me that he didn’t believe for a second that I was the reincarnated goddess. “A pleasure to meet you.”

  I wasn’t sure if I could say the same, so I said nothing at all. I got straight to the point. “You will accomplish nothing with your troops out here. We have provisions for two years, and your lord is entrenched in Colonia and can be of no help to you. It will take him at least two months to come to your aid, because you can believe we will be harrying him every step of the way. Events have taken place in the Red Wild that you don’t know about yet, events that put you at a disadvantage that won’t be made clear to you for months.”

  Lord Harrow chuckled. “What disadvantages? You could be lying for all I know. I won’t budge from this spot. I have my orders, and I mean to make good on them.”

  I wasn’t about to tell him that the Seekers had switched sides, but Harrow would recognize the gravity of his error soon enough, when Haven was in our hands. “I can only say this. Take your levies and go home. Isaru committed patricide, and by rights, the throne isn’t his.”

  “King Taris was murdered by none other than you, Shanti Roshar,” Lord Harrow said, his face twisting into distaste. From his venomous stare, I could see that he truly believed that. “It is my duty to bring you to the king for justice.”

  “Isaru is lying, and is not of a right mind,” I said. “He’s been possessed by darkness, a powerful Radaskim Xenomind named Odium.”

  Lord Harrow arched an eyebrow. “Really, now. This is such nonsense. How could you even prove that to me? You would say anything to get me to withdraw my armies. That’s the only thing I know for sure. Unless you are not going to waste more of my time, then we have nothing else to discuss.”

  “Perhaps what I’m saying is so ridiculous, it’s true,” I said.

  “King Isaru is Elekim’s Chosen,” Lord Harrow said. “And you, not he, are the one possessed by madness. It is said in the last days the Elder Dragons will follow Elekim’s Chosen.”

  “No,” Fiona said, speaking up. “It says that of the Goddess Annara. You are changing the prophecy.”

  “There are mistranslations,” Lord Harrow said, “and so many texts were lost during the Mindless Wars. Who’s to say what centuries-old prophecies do and do not say?” He shrugged his narrow shoulders, as if to emphasize the futility of such a thing. “I follow the evidence of my eyes, and the evidence of my eyes tells me that the Elder Dragons have chosen King Isaru Annajen as their rightful master.”

  “But surely, you’ve heard of the destruction of Atlantea and Savannah,” I said. “Would anyone righteous do those things? Thousands died in those attacks, Lord Harrow. Many innocent people. I know, because I was there.”

  “The kingdoms were false,” he said. “King Isaru, upon his ascension, declared himself Elekim Reborn and promised destruction to anyone who did not obey his summons for levies. To my knowledge, all the Eastern Kingdoms disavowed that proclamation. He destroyed two cities in the Eastern Kingdoms, yes, but he could have destroyed them all. To my mind, that is mercy.”

  I shook my head, and it took every effort not to strangle this man by his chicken neck.

  “Stubborn,” Shara growled.

  “Here are my terms to you,” Lord Harrow said. “Open the doors of your castle now. Your parents will even be able to keep the territory they have a tenuous claim to.”

  “You realize we can hold out here forever, right?” Shara asked. “We have the Odin, unless you failed to notice.”

  For the first time, there was a small hint of uncertainty in the old man’s eyes, but it was gone as soon as it had come. “King Isaru wrote to me about that ship. He told me not to fear it. Yes, it can kill a great many men, but even its powers are limited. You haven’t enough bullets to slay every one of us, and even if you used every bullet, we would still outnumber you four to one. And my men are preparing for ways that we can do damage, even to your precious airship. Trebuchets will soon be ready to be aimed at the castle courtyard anytime Odin is landed. Perhaps it is futile, but one well-placed shot could be enough to cripple the ship completely. Know that if I ever see Odin land here again, in territory that my family has claim to, then I will not spare it.”

  I knew that Harr
ow was right about this. Odin’s hull was strong, but one unlucky hit could put the ship out of action for good. We wouldn’t be able to use Odin easily to relieve the castle, but dropping food directly from above could work. I kept that point to myself.

  “I think you overestimate your abilities,” I said. “I also think you will die of old age before you ever starve us out or breach the walls.”

  Lord Harrow had a chuckle at that. “By the time the Novans are marching north to reinforce us, you should know that the terms of your surrender will be far harsher.” He gave a final smirk. “You have three days to decide.”

  Harrow clicked at his horse, and turned around to walk back toward his army.

  Once out of earshot, Shara said, “Well, that was worse than useless.”

  “And it won’t matter in the end,” I said. “I thought it was worth a try, and we learned some valuable information.”

  “Like how the Novans plan on coming north as soon as their finished with the Makai?”

  I nodded. “Let’s get inside the walls first.”

  * * *

  Once back inside the great hall, we shared everything that happened with my parents.

  Markas stroked his gray beard as he considered. “We still have the upper hand, in my estimation. If Haven can be taken quickly by the Seekers, then Lord Harrow will most likely be called to retake the city. At that point, we could sally forth and go south to relieve the Makai.”

  “He doesn’t know about that plan, and he can’t know about that,” I said. “That’s why we’re leaving tonight.”

  My mother and my father nodded quietly. It was sad to leave them behind again, but I saw little choice.

  “Your presence is such an inspiration to the people,” my mother said.

  “I’m sorry to leave so soon,” I said, “but with luck we’ll be reunited soon. As soon as Haven falls, we’ll have the initiative. I doubt Isaru will want to leave the city in our hands for long, and the only force of any size in the Red Wild is Lord Harrow’s.”