by Aderyn Wood
The princess walked just ahead of Rayna. She smiled a lot now, and there was a lightness to her step. She seemed glad to be home. They’d dismounted before entering the city gates and led the camels on short leads.
Rayna eyed the tall blue structure in the very centre of the city with awe. It stood in the middle of another walled section, and shimmered in the noon sunshine. A heavy metal dome sat at the very top.
“Our temple. The bell rings with each hour,” Heduanna told her with that broad smile.
Rayna nodded as she kept her eye on the princess for a moment before casting a glance at Zamug and shaking her head. The princess was still high on the effects of the dragonshade. Too high. They’d had no choice but to give it to her, but her mood should have plateaued by now.
Zamug stood close. “We’ll talk when we’ve set up camp. Come, not long now.”
Rayna followed Zamug through the city streets until they came to the largest construction Rayna had ever set eyes on.
“The palace,” Zamug said to her. “Perhaps you should walk behind. Let’s not alert the king to your presence.”
Rayna nodded and slowed her pace to fall behind Heduanna and Zamug. The palace was surrounded by a high wall and up on the ramparts guards looked out onto the city. Rayna pulled her cowl over her head and kept her eyes on the ground. Mook spoke briefly to the guards at the gate, and in another moment they were permitted entry. He led them to a section in the vast palace gardens and begun to erect the tent.
“And what of me?” Heduanna asked.
“You and I shall go together to greet your father-king,” Zamug said. “Rayna, you must remain concealed here. I doubt the king will allow Yana to leave with you, so we must discuss alternatives later.”
Rhast landed on her shoulder with a great flutter of wings.
“And keep the bird well hidden. He would be a strange sight in these parts.”
“We’ll keep out of sight, won’t we, Rhast? We’ll be as un-visible as a black star in the night sky.”
Heduanna giggled and Rayna gave Zamug another grim look.
But before Zamug and Heduanna could go anywhere, a familiar figure hurried toward them. He was taller, but there was no mistaking that eager expression. Sargan had caught sight of the desert seer and now came straight for them.
“You’ve a visitor,” Rayna whispered as she stepped back behind a large bush. “Be still, Rhast.”
Zamug stepped forward. “Sargan! You’re the first to greet us and to welcome back your sister.”
Sargan’s eyes widened. “Heduanna!”
“Hello, brother.” They embraced and Rayna’s heart warmed a little at the affection between brother and sister.
But then she noticed all was not well. Sargan’s eyes were red.
Zamug must have observed as much too. “What’s wrong, Sargan?”
Sargan wiped his eyes with the back of a hand. “It’s Father! He’s been poisoned!”
“What?” Heduanna asked, suddenly sounding sober.
“He’s been sick for some time. I thought he’d contracted the flux, but it’s different. He woke with vomit over him this morning.”
“You’re sure it’s poison?”
Sargan nodded. “Qisht says it is.”
Heduanna scowled. “Come, I need to see our father and get that weasel right away from him.”
Rayna had slept most of the afternoon. When she awoke, Zamug came into her tent looking grim.
“Is he dying?” she asked.
Zamug sat crosslegged on the mat and ran a hand over his bald head. “Perhaps. I’m not allowed to see him.”
Rayna frowned. “Why not?”
Zamug narrowed his eyes, thinking. “I don’t know exactly. Hadanash has ordered only those who seek his approval may be allowed access to the king’s bedside. He has sent Qisht, the king’s personal servant to the dungeons.”
“He suspects this Qisht to be the poisoner?”
“Yes.”
Rayna tilted her head as she studied her friend. “But you don’t believe it.”
Mook frowned as he slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
“What do we do?” Rayna asked. “There’s already too much chaos. If he dies before our ends are met…”
Zamug shook his head. “I am tired. We will rest and perhaps with meditation the answers will come.”
A hand clutched her arm and Rayna woke from a deep slumber to find Zamug looking down on her, an oilpot in his hand. “Rayna, wake.”
She blinked the blurriness away and sat up. Lurking in the shadows behind Zamug stood the princess.
“Heduanna,” Rayna said. “What is it?”
“I need you to come with me.”
“We think you can heal him, Rayna,” Mook said. “You’re the best healer I know. I said as much to Heduanna. She will get you to the king where you must do your best.”
“But, I thought it was important that I remain concealed. What if he sends me away? What if he somehow stops me from taking Yana—”
“I will deal with him if he does.” Heduanna’s eyes were red, and tears now flowed over her cheeks. Dark bags lined her eyes too. The dragonshade was finally beginning to wear off and its after-effects could be grim. She must be exhausted. “But you must come and do what you can.”
Rayna nodded. “Let’s be quick about it then.”
Rayna bid Rhast to stay in the camp with Mook, and followed close behind Heduanna who took her inside the palace proper. Rayna’s eyes widened with the extravagance of the huge silver panels that covered the walls, and the golden room beyond, burning a season’s supply of oil in the sconces and so big it could hold any number of longhuses in its space.
Heduanna paused to mumble something to a guard then turned to Rayna. “Hurry,” she hissed.
Rayna doubled her step and forced her gaze on Heduanna’s shadow, rather than the grandness of the palace walls. They moved through dark passageways and another large space filled with potted palms and golden furniture, and then through a short passage until they came to the king’s bedroom.
Incense filled every crevice and Rayna wished for fresh air. A young man with short hair and two feathers in his headband attended the king, and Heduanna approached him. Rayna kept well behind her.
“You will leave, Belanum.” Heduanna’s chin lifted. “I command it, do you dare disobey your princess and future high priestess?” She spoke in desert speech, but it was clear the young man understood her.
Belanum tilted his head. “With respect, you are not yet high priestess and your brother has made it clear that we are not to admit anyone to attend your father.”
Heduanna stepped closer and placed her hands on the young man’s shoulders.
Belanum looked appalled and shrunk back, but Heduanna clasped her fingers on him.
“You will, leave. Now!”
Rayna frowned as she watched Belanum gradually change his stance and his face lost its scowl.
“Very well,” he said.
“You must be tired,” Heduanna continued.
Rayna’s eyebrows shot up when he yawned and nodded.
“You may go to your rest, I will watch over my father until the morning.”
Belanum’s feet dragged on the floor but he left them.
“You ensorcelled him.” Rayna turned to face Heduanna and gaze into her eyes.
“Is that what it’s called?”
Rayna’s mouth fell open. “You mean, Zamug didn’t teach you how?”
Heduanna shook her head. “I’ve always been able to influence people. But now, since I’ve been out into the desert with Zamug, my powers are more within my control. I thought I’d try it on Belanum.” She grimaced. “He deserves it.”
Rayna shook her head slowly as she considered the young woman. It was unfathomable. For so long they’d waited for a another with the gift to be born to them, she and Mook, and now there were two giftborn.
“Come.” Heduanna took Rayna’s hand. “You must hurry. My father, w
hat can you do for him?”
They stepped to the bed and Rayna pulled her cowl back and looked down on the king. His forehead gleamed with dampness and a dark blush burned his cheeks. His breath came too quickly. Rayna gently opened his mouth and bent to smell. An acrid scent of poison filled her nostrils and she stood quickly to breathe in the incense. Only then did she realise it was the wrong incense. It was pleasant, but to help purify the air sage should be burned.
She folded back the bed covers and examined the king’s hands. They were blue. She shifted her sight to the Otherworld and observed the king’s essence, grey and weak. Rayna sucked her cheeks. There was little she could do, not without magic, and even then she had her doubts. For one thing, she wasn’t convinced she was strong enough. Not after all that travel, and the aftereffects of the dragonshade were beginning to weigh her down.
Heduanna stared at her, tears gleaming. “We have to save him, there will be chaos if he dies now.”
Rayna nodded and took Heduanna’s hands in her own. “You must fetch Zamug and Yana here now. And tell Mook to bring my satchel of dragonshade with him.”
The way Heduanna’s eyes widened, Rayna knew even the mention of the black stone had excited the princess and another shiver of warning danced along her spine. But Heduanna was right, if the king died now, only chaos would follow, and the enemy thrived on chaos.
Mook held the little bone pot over the flame. They both needed more of the dragonshade if they were to save the king. It was too soon, and Rayna didn’t like it, not one bit, but they had no choice. The acrid stench of it soon filled the space, mingling with the sweet incense already present.
“Grama!”
Rayna turned to see Yana, wide-eyed and openmouthed, staring at her, Heduanna right behind. Rayna smiled and held her arms out. “Hello, Yana.”
The lass raced forward and wrapped her arms around her grandmother.
Rayna smiled. “You’ve grown lass.”
They drew apart and Yana’s cheeks were slick with tears. “Why are you here?”
Rayna folded a strand of black hair behind Yana’s ear. “There’s much to explain, and there’ll be time for that soon. But right now we have to save the king. And you must help us.”
Yana’s dark eyes glanced at the bed. The blue shade Rayna noted on the king’s hands was also present on his neck. Time was against them.
“What’s wrong with him?” Yana whispered.
“His enemies have tried to kill him, child,” Zamug said.
Yana frowned and stepped toward the king. “I will help you.”
“Thank you, Yana.” Heduanna wiped her eyes.
“Come, Mook. We must act.” Rayna took the bone pot, now cooling on the bench and took a mouthful, before handing it to Mook, who did the same.
Heduanna raised an eyebrow at her as she glanced at the cup, but Rayna shook her head. Heduanna still had dragonshade running through her, even though the effects had largely worn off, and they couldn’t risk giving her more so soon.
The look of disappointment added to Rayna’s concern for the princess, but she would have to let Mook deal with that later.
The warmth of the dragonshade was already running to Rayna’s hands and feet. “Let’s form a circle. Heduanna, take your father’s hand with your right hand, and hold Mook’s hand with the other.”
They stepped forward and created a circle of sorts, with Rayna completing the circle on the king’s other side.
Rayna took a deep breath and prepared to go into her trance. “Whatever you do,” she said. “Don’t let go.”
They stood outside the city walls. Dawn made the desert sands appear almost purple. It was already warm. Rayna’s eyes itched but the dragonshade still fired her veins, she wouldn’t sleep for many nights yet.
“I cannot thank you enough,” Heduanna said, shaking her head slowly.
The princess looked tired now. She would need sleep tonight, that was a certainty. “You don’t need to thank me, lass,” Rayna said again. “I’ll be thanking you in the days to come. Just be sure not to mention anything about me taking Yana away.”
A grim expression darkened the princess’s beauty.
“What is it, Princess?” Rayna asked.
Heduanna gave her a sharp look before stepping to Yana. “In my visions there was a message for you.”
“For me?” Yana asked with a quizzical look.
Hedunna nodded. “Argath is waiting for you.”
Rayna gave Mook a look.
“Argath?” Yana said, her mouth slightly open.
“I think it will make sense soon enough, child,” Rayna said while pulling Yana away from Heduanna. “Just be sure the king doesn’t send for Yana once we leave.”
“I will deal with that when the time comes.” Zamug stepped forward and placed a dark hand on Rayna’s shoulder. “Once again we must bid farewell, old friend. When we next meet, the balance would have been decided, one way or the other.”
Rayna nodded.
“And you, little warbler,” Zamug lowered his chin to speak with Yana. “Heed all your grandmother tells you. You more than most will have challenges ahead.”
Yana frowned. “I wish you’d tell me what they were. And I still don’t know why I couldn’t say goodbye to Sargan.”
Rayna threw her hands in the air. “I’ve been over that, Yana. Now come. It is time for us to go.”
Zamug stepped with them to a waiting camel. “You will travel until nightfall?” he asked.
Rayna nodded. “I’ll be ready by then.”
The old seer nodded. “Enlil should meet you.”
“Thank you, Zamug.” Rayna embraced her oldest friend before mounting the camel with Yana. They set off at a plodding pace, but soon enough the desert sands would enfold them and Azzuri would be as a mirage behind them.
Heduanna
Heduanna glanced toward the east as she made her way through the empty streets to the barracks. A light greyness smudged the horizon. Soon the temple bell would toll two gongs for dawn. She’d been awake for a full quarter-moon, and only now her body began to beckon her to her bed. But there was one more thing she would do before sleep.
She entered the squat stone building and without pausing she descended the steps to the dungeons. Two guards sat at a table playing cenat, and she scowled at them. “Is this how you guard Azzuri’s prisoners?” she snapped.
One of the guards gave her a lazy glance. “We’re tired, shift change is soon. You should have come earlier if you wanted to earn some gold.”
“Earn some gold?” They think me a whore! “Stand when you address your princess,” Heduanna said, pulling back her cowl.
The pair of guards scrambled to get to their feet. “I’m sorry, Princess,” the one who spoke earlier said.
“Take me to the prisoner Qisht.”
“At once.” The taller guard took a flame torch from the wall opposite. “This way, Princess.”
Heduanna followed, keeping her chin raised high despite the stench that fouled the air and thickened the further they crept along the dark passages of the dungeon – a pungent funk of human filth and rat droppings.
She kept her gaze on the guard’s torch until it came to a halt outside a cell. The guard opened the heavy gate and stepped inside.
Heduanna took a breath and followed.
Qisht was crouched in a corner. He held a hand up and blinked at the brightness of the flame. His nose sat at a strange angle on his face. It was bloodied and bruised, as was a cheek and his perfectly shaped eyebrows were now uneven, one bulged over the eye below it.
His tunic was dirty too, with blood, piss and shit. Heduanna’s anger dissipated a little. At least he’d got what he deserved.
“Princess,” he began to talk, his voice rasped. “Your father, is he—”
“My father is no concern of yours, traitor.”
Qisht frowned, and his eyebrow began to bleed. “I only mean to ask if he is well.”
“He will survive.” She stepped cl
oser. “What poison did you use?” she asked, turning back to Qisht.
“What?”
Heduanna snarled. “You know of what I speak. You’re the one who mixed it with his food.”
Qisht shook his head. “No. Never. I tasted every morsel to ensure he couldn’t be poisoned. He wasn’t poisoned with food. Nor wine. It was something else. I couldn’t fathom it at first, but now I know what did it.”
Heduanna gritted her teeth. “I didn’t come here to hear your lies, traitor. I want to know what you have planned for Azzuri next. If you tell me now, perhaps you can avoid my brother’s little knives. For one day at least.”
Again Qisht shook his head, and then he looked up into the flame and rested his weasel beads of eyes on Heduanna. “You have always hated me. You think I took your father from your mother, so I could never blame you for the way you feel. Even though your mother died well before I ever laid eyes on the king.”
Heduanna bristled. “Answer my questions.”
“But,” Qisht continued. “I’ve always loved him. Right from the first moment. I would never harm him.”
“Listen—”
“Come back to me, Princess.” Qisht spoke over her, somehow finding the strength to raise his voice. “Come back to me when you want to know who the real traitor is.”
That made her frown and she gave a sharp laugh. “And who would you have me believe has poisoned my father if it wasn’t you. Which I know it is.”
Qisht shook his head. “I will tell you. But only when you’re ready to believe me. Come back and I will tell you.”
When Heduanna woke the temple bells were tolling thrice. It was mid-morn, and someone stood by her sleeping mat. A young girl with a thick black plait resting over her shoulder. A palace slave. “Princess?”
Heduanna bolted up and looked around her. Her simple room in the temple remained just as she’d left it. Her limbs no longer ached and her head was clear despite the prophetic dreams that had filled her sleep. She looked up at the slave girl, and clutched her small arm. “How long have I slept?”
