Autumngale

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  “Only if you know how to read it. Which you don’t.”

  Think Tamerlan, think! They were hunting for him. They weren’t afraid to use violence. They were heavily armed. This game Etienne and Liandari were playing wouldn’t last forever and then they’d be tying him to a chair to torture him again.

  There was nothing for it. He had to smoke.

  He looked at Jhinn who raised an eyebrow and nodded emphatically. He was thinking the same thing.

  Desperately, he pulled a roll of Spice out of the oilcloth pouch in his sleeve and ducked behind Jhinn to light it with Jhinn’s gondola lantern. The roll lit immediately. He bought it to his lips, sucking in smoke as quickly as he could.

  “You stay put!” There was tension in Anglarok’s voice but it eased when he saw what Tamerlan was doing. “Those things are a filthy habit. I had a friend who got a big lump in his mouth from doing that. Grossest thing you ever saw.”

  Come on! Come on!

  He’d sucked in too much smoke too quickly. He turned to the side and was noisily ill into the canal as the grunts and clangs of a fight continued above him.

  Too late to worry about the fact that an entire fleet is after you. Just don’t get caught, Deathless Pirate suggested as he snatched up Tamerlan’s body. Easy for him to say. He was already dead.

  “It seems your man doesn’t have much of a stomach for violence,” Liandari said to Etienne as they fought. “Maybe the same is true of you?”

  He shouldn’t be smoking again. He’d said last time would be the last.

  It’s better this way. Doesn’t it feel good to surrender control? To let someone else take the reins? Even if it’s just for a moment?

  Deathless Pirate drew his sword, leaping to his forward.

  Anglarok swung toward Tamerlan but the butt end of his harpoon hit Jhinn as he turned. The boy fell back with a cry. Deathless Pirate leapt over his fallen body, yelling a war cry as he slashed his blade aggressively at Anglarok.

  “By the bones of my dead, I’ll cut you down!”

  The look of shock on Anglarok’s face filled Tamerlan’s vision.

  Don’t kill him! Don’t kill him!

  They didn’t need another death on their hands.

  No need. This is fun!

  Deathless Pirate lunged forward, snatching Anglarok by the throat and lifting him up in one hand.

  This had been a mistake.

  Mind and will must be powerful. Know what you want! Calling me is never a mistake.

  There was a cry of frustration from Etienne as Liandari battled him back to the ferro.

  “Give me the book,” she said.

  Deathless Pirate tossed Anglarok overboard like unwanted cargo. He hit the water with a splash.

  “Keep him from the boat with that oar, boy!” he called over his shoulder to Jhinn and then he was bouncing forward on the balls of his feet. He snatched Liandari up by the waist in a single armed hug, tossed Tamerlan’s sword into the bottom of the boat and grabbed her wrist with his sword hand, grinding her wrist bones in his grip until her sword fell, too.

  Behind them there was a loud thunk and a moan as Jhinn obeyed, prodding at Anglarok with the oar while he tried to keep his feet under him. He swayed as he stood – still recovering from the hit he’d taken. The second that Liandari’s sword fell, Deathless Pirate grabbed her waist in both hands and hurled her into the canal.

  “To the oars, boys!” he cried. “Pull for all you’re worth! Pull, you ragged sails!”

  There was a splash and a moan and then Deathless Pirate had an oar in each arm and was rowing so hard that Tamerlan thought he might tear the muscles in his shoulders. But it was good. It was so good just to ride this amazing power and capability - if only for a short time.

  Etienne’s jaw muscles tightened as he leaned down to get face to face with Tamerlan – a small action, but he had to be feeling the same pressure Tamerlan was. After all, he’d opened the Bridge before, too. These two were here to hunt him, too.

  “I have affairs to attend here in Yan,” Etienne said quietly. “This ... interruption ... hasn’t changed that.”

  “We have bigger concerns,” Deathless Pirate said with a grimace. “Unless you want your throat slit by that violent woman and her Scenter. Come with me. Let’s go find the Grandfather.”

  Jhinn snickered in the back of the gondola. He must be okay if he was finding humor in this.

  Tamerlan risked a look behind him to see two sodden people pulling themselves up along the canal. They knew he was headed to the sea. They wouldn’t be far behind. Already, they were hailing another gondola as it slid down the canal. He heard the commotion as they demanded that it follow them.

  “Of course, I want Marielle free,” Etienne said. “But I need a few more days here to finish what I started before I go heading off on another wild chase.”

  “Not an option,” Deathless Pirate said. “We are pursued by enemies. There is no time to stop to let you off.”

  Etienne made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat.

  “Unless you want to swim for it.” Deathless Pirate sounded gleeful at the suggestion.

  “I’ll stay with you,” Etienne said curtly.

  Behind them, the gondola took off quickly with Anglarok and Liandari in it.

  “Then help me row, dangerous one,” Deathless Pirate said. “We have enemies to outdistance. And a woman to save from a clock.”

  Etienne leaned in close. “I know that you’re in there, Tamerlan, and when you resurface, I’m going to make you pay for this.”

  But he took an oar and threw his back into rowing as Jhinn stayed frozen in place at the stern, staring at their pursuers as he steered the gondola through the rainy canals under the light of the autumn moon.

  14: Ghostly Guardians

  Marielle

  IF IT HADN’T BEEN FOR the scent, she would have never found him. In this murky haze of souls forging their paths over one another, through each other, around each other, finding just one person was like finding the moment an idea was born. It was nearly impossible. But the scent propelled her on.

  There he was! His scent filled her like breath, licking up and over the edges of her walls until she felt like she could melt in it. She moved toward the scent, feeling in the darkness of time and space until she thought she might almost be able to touch ...

  A specter rose up – beautiful and terrible. Her long red hair whirled around her as her hand thrust out and she hissed, “He’s ours. Be gone!”

  And then she was tumbling away, spinning through time and space again.

  She needed to find him again. She knew now that she could. If she could find the scent she could follow it. But next time she would need a plan for dealing with the red-haired woman. Because she was beginning to forget and she desperately needed to remember.

  15: Cogs and Gears

  Tamerlan

  THE YAN CANAL WAS A man-made channel formed years ago to keep Yan City connected to H’yi and Xin. It bridged the space between the Alabastru and Cerulean Rivers. Barges headed up the river, loaded with heaping cargos – oranges and seafood brought up from the sea for the Autumngale feast, timbers and stone to finalize summer repairs and projects before the cold of winter, thick sacks of grain and crates of dried fruits to fill the storehouses. Family boats floated in both directions, filled with laughter, squawking chickens, the clang of hammers working, and the quiet conversation of the boat nomad peoples. It was a picture of bounty and culture and of the ever-moving nature of life on the Dragonblood Plains.

  Tamerlan glanced at Jhinn. Did he look at his people with envy? He didn’t have a family boat to return to like they did. Most of the gondoliers had a gondola tied up to a family boat. None of them lived in their gondola like Jhinn did.

  “I left that behind a long time ago,” Jhinn said when he noticed Tamerlan looking. “My gondola is better. I don’t need other people.”

  Tamerlan nodded. If the boy wanted to be alone, that was his business. Sometimes
Tamerlan wished he could be alone – even if only in his own mind.

  We only want to help you. The dragons must be stopped, and order restored, King Abelmeyer said in his mind. As the only living person we have a connection to, we want to help you save our children’s children.

  And how could he say no to that? But he was going crazy in the loudness of his mind. Crazy as he tapped his fingers along the gunwale of the gondola while Etienne slept in a heap of cloth at the front of the gondola. He should sleep too.

  Was Marielle going insane inside the clock?

  How did you know if you were losing your mind?

  His eyes scanned the canal behind them constantly. He’d lost sight of their pursuers at daybreak – but it didn’t mean that they weren’t still there. He didn’t have Deathless Pirate’s superhuman strength anymore. And just plain Tam didn’t have the strength to row like a machine. He should smoke again. He should let the Legends help.

  “Tamerlan? Tam?”

  He rubbed his eyes. He was vulnerable to them when he was tired. He needed sleep if he was going to hold off the constant temptation of smoking again.

  “King Abelmeyer?”

  Tamerlan looked up from the yellowed waters of the canal.

  He blinked as he glanced at Jhinn’s concerned face. “Oh, sorry. I missed that, Jhinn.”

  “You’ll get her out, Tamerlan. And you’ll find a way to calm your demons.”

  “Thank you,” he said gravely, smiling at the younger man. He paused a moment before adding, “You don’t need to keep transporting us, Jhinn. We can find another boat. You are too selfless, friend.” He put his face in his hands. He was so tired. When was the last time that he’d slept? “I don’t know why you stick by me when no one else cares.”

  Jhinn’s face turned hard. “Because I couldn’t help someone else – someone like you. He was a brother to me, but he roams the lands of the dead now. His spirit drifts like the winds. There should have been another way to save him.”

  “That doesn’t mean that you owe me anything,” Tamerlan said gently.

  “And you don’t owe Marielle anything. We choose who we’ll care about. And owing people doesn’t factor into that. Loyalty isn’t about who owes who. It’s about who you choose to tie strings to – who you choose to keep caring about even when no one else does. It’s not about reciprocity. It’s about ... I don’t know. But it’s not about that.”

  Tamerlan was silent for a long time. He pushed away the voices, trying to drown them out as they responded.

  You can use a person like that.

  Loyalty is a commodity that can’t be bought.

  Give yourselves to the great cause!

  That wasn’t how he felt. He felt – humbled.

  “I’m deeply honored by your friendship, Jhinn,” he said.

  “I’ll ignore the things your demons say about me,” Jhinn said with a sly grin. “They might be useful to me yet.”

  Tamerlan felt his cheeks grow hot. “How do you see them when no one else does?”

  Jhinn shrugged, looking away. Maybe he didn’t know why. Maybe it made him uncomfortable not to know.

  Tamerlan tried changing the subject. “How are we moving so quickly?”

  He’d just noticed that they were outpacing the barge next to them. And no one was rowing.

  Jhinn snickered. “Remember that device you were helping me with? Look.”

  Tamerlan followed his pointing finger to where he was pedaling in the bottom of the boat. What in the world was that?

  “It turns a gear that multiplies the power which twists a shaft that turns a propeller. And that propeller moves us forward with surprising speed. I’d thank you for it, but I’m relatively sure you had no idea that you’ve been helping me design this. Those ghosts of yours can be very useful if you catch them unaware.”

  He hadn’t had any idea. He’d been obsessed with finding the Grandfather. His eyes widened. Had Jhinn been fishing the knowledge of this out of his mind without him even knowing it? He really was going mad.

  “It will get us to Choan days faster than usual. We can even go upriver with it more quickly. Those demons won’t catch us with this.”

  Tamerlan felt his cheeks heat. “I’m afraid that they’re always with us. With me.”

  “I don’t mean your ghosts, boy. I mean those Harbingers.” Jhinn spat. “Devils. Both of them.”

  “And Etienne?” Tamerlan asked, amused.

  Jhinn shook his head. “That one should have stayed in Yan.”

  “I don’t think he had a choice,” Tamerlan said. Deathless Pirate wouldn’t have let him leave. A boat drifted by beside them smelling of the cinnamon tea that was so popular during Autumngale. His belly rumbled. “Do your people celebrate Autumngale?”

  “Not the same way. Autumngale for your people is the time to remember the civil wars. For us, it was the time that Queen Mer chose us and made us alive. It’s a time of creation. We celebrate by creating things.”

  “Like the gears and pedals on that device?”

  Jhinn shot him a proud grin. “Yes. Isn’t it beautiful? I can make more, too. When this is all over. But first we free Marielle from the lands of the dead.”

  “If you were smart, you wouldn’t stay with us. You’d go off on your own and build those machines and live a good life.” It bothered him that he was holding the other boy back.

  “I’m smart enough, but life on the water can be boring. Life with you is not boring. I plan to stick around. Now, think, boy. How do you catch this Grandfather? Stalking him has proven useless. You need a trap, Tam.”

  “I know, but I can’t think of anything, and I don’t want to lose my other eye – not unless I have to.”

  “Catching the Grandfather is like trying to net a fast fish. You need to drive him into a set – into a net or trap he can’t get out of.”

  “How do you trap a Legend?”

  “With bait. Stop chasing him and let him come to you.”

  It sounded so simple, but he had no idea how to do it. “What can you use to bait a Legend?”

  Jhinn shrugged. “Find something he wants. Easy.”

  But it wasn’t easy and as the day wore on and they reached the Alabastru river, Tamerlan still hadn’t thought of anything and he was beginning to think he could see that gondola in the distance upriver – following them. How long until it would catch them? And what would those Harbingers do if they ever caught up again?

  The ruins of H’yi rose in the distance – partially burnt out buildings and blackened ruins. A gleam of light in the center of it might have been sunlight glinting off the clock. His heart lurched at the thought. She was just over there. It felt as though there was a string from her to him, pulling him all the time and the further away he went, the harder it tugged at him.

  Two months hadn’t been long enough for the city to be rebuilt after the fires. Not long enough for the population to be restored. Not long enough for plants to grow over the ruins of Jingen city on the back of the slumbering dragon next to the riverbank. He’d put that dragon there with his eye. But at what cost?

  Was saving the world worth losing a person you cared about? Marielle had given everything for H’yi and no one even remembered her name.

  He was still deep in his musings hours later as he took a turn pedaling the boat so Jhinn could sleep.

  Just let us out and you can forget. Maid Chaos whispered in his mind. I’ll take you for a merry ride.

  You want to plan a trap? I’m the master of traps. We can start in H’yi. You want to go there, don’t you? That was Lila.

  He played with one of his paper rolls and thought about who might cross the Bridge of Legends and come to him. Their voices all the time were wearing through his resistance. Wouldn’t be easier to let one out? Then he’d only have one voice in his mind, controlling his thoughts, driving him slowly insane.

  “I hope you aren’t thinking of doing that,” Etienne said grimly, sitting beside him to look out over the devastation.


  “Why haven’t you jumped into the river and swum back?” Tamerlan asked a bit harshly. “If you had plans back there, you know I can – won’t stop you now. You could just go.”

  Etienne hesitated. “I’m not sure there’s any point to that now. Last night I might have changed her mind. But today ... not today.”

  He was reading a slip of paper over again. With a sigh, he handed it to Tamerlan.

  “I suppose there’s no more point in keeping it from you.”

  E.

  It’s been a pleasure. But if you see no way to the future I want, then I see no way to the future you want. The Whisper withdraws our support. We’ll back another.

  A.

  “’A’ is Allegra,” Tamerlan interpreted aloud. “A dangerous woman.”

  Etienne snorted. “That’s like saying that the dragon Jingen over there is dangerous. It’s true, but not true enough.”

  “What did she want from you?”

  “Something I couldn’t give.”

  Him, Lila said. Trust a woman’s intuition. That’s bitterness in that note. She wanted him.

  Tamerlan watched his face. Watched the sorrow, disappointment and bitterness washing over it.

  “When did they buy you for the government?” he asked bluntly. “Were you in your teens?”

  “I was five when they bought me to be heir of Lord Mythos. I didn’t even know what it meant. I wasn’t even from Jingen. I was from Yan. I grew up with the Lord Fable as the legendary ruler of our city, not the Lord Mythos. They are the same, of course, but even the name was foreign to me. But they wanted a clever boy. Clever and malleable.”

  “I wouldn’t call you malleable. Neither would Allegra.”

  “Well, that didn’t stop them from molding me.” The bitterness hung thick on his tongue. “For all the good it did me. My city ruined. My people destitute. They stand in line for bread. It hollows their souls.”

  “And Allegra won’t help you? She won’t use that secret organization of hers to back you in ... what? Opposing Yan and Decebal in ruling that city? Is that what you wanted? Revolution?”