The Immortal Walker

by McKellon Meyer

  Kaislyn knelt and began to gather the scrolls together again. Nisken watched her for a moment, then squatted on cracking knees to help.

  “You’re getting old,” she informed him.

  “It happens to the best of us.” He tossed some scrolls to her and Kaislyn stuffed them onto the shelves. “Enjoying your explorations of the palace?”

  “I was curious.”

  “Obviously. Otherwise you wouldn’t be in this old room.” Nisken straightened. He held several scrolls yet. He handed them to her, but when she reached for them, he didn’t let go.

  “Kaislyn, who are you plotting to stab in the heart?” His brown eyes were grave.

  She forced a smile. “Oh, no one. I was just talking to myself. It’s an expression I picked up in the mountains.”

  He let go of the scrolls and turned to leave, casting her one last serious look. “Be careful, Kaislyn. He’s no jesting matter.” The Royal Assassin disappeared.

  Kaislyn looked after Nisken and then down at the scrolls he’d handed her. They all had blue seals on them.

  Her head numb from useless information about taxes during Ikaros’ reign, Kaislyn was passing through a narrow dining hall when a telltale rattle drew her attention to a corner.

  A small group of off-duty guards sat clustered around a table. She recognized most of the guards from the gate yesterday. She hesitated on seeing Zarif with them, but she couldn’t resist walking over anyway.

  “What are you playing?”

  “Drowned Man’s Choice,” said Zarif.

  “I know it,” she said, interest growing.

  “It’s only just gaining popularity here,” said a thin, gangly guard at the far end of the table. “Where did you learn it?”

  “I learned it when I was a thief, but I perfected it in the mountains. Have to do something during those long winter evenings.” Other than freezing to death with Ikaros a few times.

  “You’re a thief?” said a different guard uneasily.

  “Nisken showed me the error of my ways. Mostly,” she said with an impish grin. She sat across from Zarif and pulled some loose blue stones toward her. “Who usually wins?”

  “He does,” said the gangly guard, pointing at Zarif.

  Kaislyn planted her elbows on the table. “Do you? I never lose.”

  Zarif shrugged. “Should be an interesting game, then. Copper buy-in.”

  What was different between this Zarif and the mad one from yesterday? She knew what mad looked like. It looked liked Ikaros jumping up and down and screaming at her. Not this blank wall.

  The guards were very good at the game and Kaislyn had to concentrate more than she expected. By design, Drowned Man’s Choice was a fast moving, chatty game full of small rounds that eventually culminated in a winner. Kaislyn enjoyed the idle conversation, gleaning more about each guard present. From a few dropped comments she also discovered that Raina spent most of her time in the nursery with the baby. It wouldn’t be as hard to avoid her as she’d thought.

  “I heard Nisken threw the phoenix out the window earlier today,” commented a guard named Marn.

  A few guards snickered. “Not the first time that’s happened.”

  “Apparently the phoenix wanted to play with the baby and woke it from a sound sleep. The phoenix’s as besotted with the baby as the queen is,” said Aiden, the gangly guard from the other end of the table.

  “Or paranoid,” said Kaislyn absently. “After Ikaros’ silly attack in the street, I wouldn’t let the baby out of my sight.” Zarif had to be cheating. There was no other explanation for how she’d lost that round.

  She looked up at the sudden silence. “What?”

  “That ‘silly attack’ lost us Paval,” said Marn quietly.

  “There weren’t any survivors. How do you know it was...” Aiden trailed off as Zarif rose abruptly from the table.

  “We’re both finished here,” he said in flat voice. Grabbing Kaislyn by the arm, he towed her from the room.

  “Am I under arrest again?” Kaislyn tugged uselessly in his grasp.

  “I saw you cheating. Don’t tempt me.” He didn’t speak again until they were at the far end of the hallway. “How do you know the Sorcerer was involved?”

  “One of the attackers had blue eyes. I know from my parents that’s how Ikaros controls people. Is this an interrogation? Let go!”

  Zarif’s grip on her arm did not loosen, and this close she had to tilt her head back to see his face. Not that she could read that impassive expression.

  “It’s become common knowledge in recent years that the Sorcerer is not merely a madman but the queen’s great grandfather. A former, powerful, Phoenix King who neither ages nor dies.”

  “Oh, he does both,” Kaislyn snorted. “It just doesn’t stick.”

  Zarif looked at her.

  “So I hear from my parents,” Kaislyn added hastily.

  “You’ve met him.” It wasn’t an accusation or a question.

  Kaislyn didn’t answer.

  “I met Ikaros as a boy,” Zarif said after a moment. “He attacked the queen at her most vulnerable and most powerful moment. Have you ever seen someone you admire on their knees, broken? Tormented by something you can’t see or ever understand?”

  Kaislyn shook her head wordlessly.

  “The queen never talks about what happened that night. She’ll talk about her murdered family, Lord Tecwyn, or any unpleasant thing that’s occurred in her life. She ignores the Sorcerer. Pretends he doesn’t exist.”

  “Which lets him play god from the mountains and poison the Sabah river.” The harshness in her voice surprised her.

  Zarif’s grip tightened. “There isn’t much she can do against him. She banished him and in so doing, gave up a lot of the power she might have held over him. Not that you can do much against someone who doesn’t die anyway.”

  “Other than push him off a cliff,” Kaislyn agreed.

  Zarif’s eyes narrowed in a glare and he released her. “You’re a nuisance. Just go away,” he said disgustedly and stalked away.

  Her annoyance faded as she considered what he’d told her. Why had he told her all that? And what did he expect her to say? Do? He was the royal captain. It was his job to protect a queen too stubborn to admit Ikaros was a real threat.

  “It’s the baby,” Kaislyn called after Zarif.

  He stopped, but didn’t turn around.

  “You said yourself Ikaros is immortal. He just had to wait until the queen died to become king again. He was the heir if you will. Now there’s a baby and he won’t wait anymore.”

  “That’s why you’re here.” Now Zarif did turn to her.

  “Not really,” Kaislyn said brightly. “Like I said before, I was a thief. I’m just playing in a different city for a while.”

  “I need to talk to her.”

  This time, Kaislyn stayed silent as Zarif left. What if he mentioned to Raina that it was Kaislyn who had told him that Ikaros was behind the street attack? Raina might not believe as easily as Zarif had that she knew about Ikaros from her parents. Her parents certainly wouldn’t if they heard. They’d told her nothing about Ikaros.

  She’d rather get pushed off a mountain than try to lie her way out of anymore interrogations. Well, she had a decent grasp of how the palace was arranged. Maybe she’d go poke around Ikaros’ reign and see what she could discover about his birth life.

  Kaislyn caught a glimpse of her parents on the way out of the city. There was a bruise on Sveka’s cheek and Drazan moved with a limp. Just how bad was that ambush if they sported visible signs of it? Kaislyn ground her teeth and tried to ignore her worry. They could take care of themselves.

  The sun set and the hike to the mountains was accomplished under moonlight. A breeze rustled across fields and hills and an occasional bleat of an animal broke the otherwise peaceful night.

  She wanted to visit Ikaros near the end of his reign. He wasn’t one to give up power willingly and it seemed as good a place as any to start her
search.

  It wasn’t enough to simply find his birth life either. Killing Ikaros at a random point in his birth life was as futile as killing a shed snake skin. It still left the actual snake somewhere. She needed the precise moment he left his birth life. Once she had that, she needed to drag the immortal Ikaros there, restoring him to his birth life. Reuniting snake and skin.

  Perhaps the Serpent House was a better name than the Immortal House after all.

  Kaislyn was nervous as she Shifted. Was she breaking some unspoken truce? She never visited the Five Cities under Ikaros rule and he never... what? What did she get in return?

  She needed to be very careful they never met. It was hard enough dealing with him in the mountains and she did not relish the thought of having to deal with him as a powerful Phoenix King.

  Arriving near the end of winter in an early morning, she shivered as a chilly wind rustled past. The overcast sky went with the brown grass of the hills under her boots as Kaislyn started down the steep slopes to Ti-em. It was easier to keep her Shifts straight if she thought of the cities under Ikaros’ rule by their old names and under Raina by their numbers. So, the Second City became Ti-em.

  Once in the city, it took a few circumspect questions to place Ikaros’ reign. Athalia was in her twenties, which meant she would soon become queen. Was this also when Ikaros left his birth life? If he hadn’t already left it?

  Kaislyn slipped into the palace with the daily arrival of fresh fish from the river. From there, it was easy enough to explore. Ti-em’s palace was dazzling compared to Raina’s. It teemed with servants, guards, and officials. Tapestries and carpets covered the floor and walls, cutting the draftiness, and there were decorations everywhere. A hall of ornate floor vases here, a stone wall painted to depict a scene of Tie-em’s markets there...

  Actually, the vases were useful, Kaislyn decided, ducking behind a large purple and brown one in an alcove when she heard the approach of a large group.

  “No,” said an all too familiar voice. Ikaros. “Lord Fen has tried my patience too many times. Let him hear I only lack an excuse for taking his head. At the very least his squirming will keep me amused.”

  What was wrong with his voice? Why did he sound muffled?

  There was a murmur of assent broken only by, “Lord Fen enjoys the patronage of Princess Athalia.”

  “The princess is in disgrace. Showing such devotion to her is akin to treason. Ah! There is my excuse. You can pass that along to him as well.”

  There it was again. An edge to his voice Kaislyn had never heard before. She’d almost say it was restraint.

  There was no protest this time.

  Kaislyn waited until it sounded like everyone had passed her hiding place before peeking around the smooth vase at the vanishing party. She caught a flicker of a black robe in front of the group. There was no sign of the phoenix.

  So Ikaros wasn’t getting along with Athalia? She wondered who started it? Rubbing bleary eyes, Kaislyn had enough for the day. She’d already missed sleep by Shifting, and the multiple hikes to and from the mountains added to her tiredness. The prudent thing to do would be to leave Ti-em, go back to the Second City, and get some needed sleep. Stay anchored in her own birth life.

  Kaislyn returned to the kitchen and met with a nasty shock. It was snowing. It came down thick and fast, completely obscuring her view of the courtyard. She could go out in it and do her best to endure freezing to death, but why subject herself to an unnecessary death when there was a warm fire behind her?

  “Hey there! Shut the door! What are you trying to do? Make us all sick?”

  Kaislyn shoved the door closed and turned to the speaker. The man was in his middle years with thick arms and a sooty face. Head cook, Kaislyn decided. “I don’t recognize you. And if I don’t know you then you don’t belong in my kitchens. Get out.”

  Kaislyn jerked her thumb at the door. “That’s what I was doing.”

  “Huh.” His posture softened a fraction. “Go away somewhere else.” The cook turned and went back to the long tables set up in front of the large fireplaces. There had to be at least two dozen people here, Kaislyn decided. With more coming in. Must be nearing dinnertime. Her stomach rumbled an agreement.

  Kaislyn trailed after the cook—Gav, she soon heard someone call him. She listened to him issue orders or inspect chopped vegetables or a spit of meat. “And I thought making oatmeal was hard,” Kaislyn muttered.

  Gav glanced over his shoulder at her. “I was about to assign you the spit over there, but if oatmeal defeats you I’m not about to waste a perfectly good haunch of meat.”

  Kaislyn issued a short bow. “Very wise of you.”

  He turned away again and Kaislyn lost him in the growing crowd of servants and cooks. She waited until a servant bent to get a jar under the table and snagged a round loaf dotted with dried fruit.

  “Hey! New girl!”

  Kaislyn spun to see Gav gesturing her to the far wall. It was amazing how his voice carried over the din. She began nibbling the roll as she strolled toward him. Gav ignored the bread in her hand and pointed at a large silver tray on a table.

  “Make yourself useful and take that tray to Princess Athalia.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t like you.”

  “Is she sick?” Kaislyn asked. “Why isn’t she eating with everyone else in the royal hall?”

  “The princess can’t leave her rooms.”

  “Why not?”

  “Where have you been living? The princess is under house arrest.”

  “Is she?” Kaislyn toyed with her necklace. What was Ikaros up to? She put her nibbled loaf on the tray. “In that case, I’m delighted to be so helpful.”

  She pretended to listen to the directions to Athalia’s rooms and then set off. This was proving to be a very interesting visit.

  Athalia’s rooms were on the far side of the palace at the end of an ornate hallway. The double doors were inlaid with beads and two guards were stationed outside of it.

  “About time,” said one of them as Kaislyn arrived with the tray.

  “You’re new,” added the second guard, eyeing her clothes.

  “The snowstorm,” Kaislyn said with a casual shrug of her shoulders.

  “I don’t envy you. She’s in a bad mood today,” said the guard, shaking his head. He opened the door for her.

  The suite of rooms beyond were huge with arched ceilings. Fires blazed in multiple fireplaces and tapestries covered the walls. Kaislyn set the tray on a low table and started to explore. Two sitting rooms, a private bath, changing room, and bedroom. Opening one of the doors off the sitting rooms revealed a balcony.

  Kaislyn tested a couch out, and sighed as she sank against the soft cushions. This was very nice. Why didn’t Nisken offer her something like this?

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Kaislyn craned her head around to see a woman emerging from a second balcony door. Behind her, the snow swirled in heavy patterns. There was a stairwell leading from the balcony downwards, presumably to private gardens.

  The woman was tall and thin and moved with a smooth elegance all too familiar to Kaislyn. She removed the cloak protecting her from the snow. Her loose hair was threaded with gold and shimmered against the cream wool of her dress. A gold and ruby bracelet slid along her arm.

  “Oh,” Kaislyn said, sinking back into the couch. “It’s just you.”

  “Just me?” the woman said icily. She hung her cloak on a silver wall fixture.

  “You’ve scared me often enough, I’m glad I could return the favor.”

  “Who are you? Why did my guard let you pass?” Athalia’s gaze shifted between Kaislyn and the closed doors with the guards beyond.

  Kaislyn blinked. This was different. She was accustomed to everyone knowing who she was in a Shift. Hezere knew her, Ikaros knew her, the Dead knew her. “I’m the Immortal Walker, but you can call me Kaislyn if you like.”

  “I don’t like. And
I don’t like you.” Another glance between Kaislyn and the closed doors.

  A slow smile crept across Kaislyn’s face. “Are you afraid of me, Athalia? Is that why you linger by the door?” She spread out her hands. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

  Athalia’s red lips thinned in anger. “I will have my guard remove you from my rooms and—”

  “What? You’re under house arrest. There’s not much you can do about anything right now. Which reminds me!” She swung booted feet back to the floor. “What did you do to set Ikaros off?”

  The princess tapped a foot against the floor. She nodded her head in some decision and glided across the room. By the time she reached the couch across from Kaislyn, she’d exchanged her boots for slippers, draped a shawl around her shoulders for added warmth, and drew a blanket over her lap as she tucked her legs up under her on the couch. On anyone else the posture would have seemed girlish. Athalia looked elegant.

  “You are not from the Five Cities. It isn’t wise to refer to the king so informally.”

  “Speak respectfully of Ikaros?” Kaislyn rolled her eyes. “We don’t exactly get along.”

  “Indeed?”

  “It’s a long story,” Kaislyn said airily. “But what about you? Why aren’t you and Ikaros getting along? And what did Fen do that he’s being threatened with treason?”

  “He’s what?” The princess’s icy calm disappeared. She inhaled sharply and curled her hands tightly in her lap. “You lie.”

  “Since I don’t know who Fen is, I don’t see how I can lie about him. I overheard Ikaros talking to some of his ministers. He wants it known that Fen is in trouble.”

  Athalia’s fingers flexed and curled again. Just like Ikaros, Kaislyn thought.

  “House arrest is nothing unusual for me. I have spent my life in and out of the king’s favor. He is simply using Fen in an attempt to provoke me.”

  “Now who’s lying?” Kaislyn didn’t doubt what Athalia said. She doubted what she didn’t say. There was something different this time around. Her reaction about Fen proved it. Ikaros was playing a game here and Kaislyn didn’t know what the rules were. But once she did...