The Castes and the OutCastes: The Complete Trilogy

by Davis Ashura

  A few weeks later, the morning dawned sunny and bright, painting the sky a rosy blush. The blue skies were a welcome respite after weeks of clouds and rain. The forest stream, beside which they’d made camp, gurgled happily while barn swallows and purple martins loudly chirped their presence. The weather remained cold and the trees bare, but the morning had a spring-like bite to it. Down in this low, rolling hill country, life was returning as winter’s grip slowly loosened.

  The sense of spring was a lie, though. It would be months before winter released its icy hold; nonetheless, the weather today seemed an apt reflection of the thaw in Jessira and Rukh’s relationship. Of course, with all the changes the two of them had gone through, it was hard to keep track. When they had first met, they’d been enemies. Then they became allies. Then friends. And finally…well, they never had a chance to figure out what they might have become, but it could have been wonderful. Then Stronghold had come between them. Now Jessira had no idea what was going on.

  “Could you pack up my gear?” Rukh asked.

  Jessira looked up from her own work as she put away her bedroll. “Is something wrong with your arms?” she asked.

  “No,” he replied, “but after everything I went through in Stronghold, it just seems like you might want to do something nice for me.”

  Jessira sighed in irritation. “Get over it. You’re not the first person who’s had a tough time with their life, and….” She trailed off when she saw Rukh’s smirk. “What?”

  “It’s funny when you’re mad,” Rukh said with a grin.

  She rolled her eyes. “And you’re funny looking all the time.”

  “Also pretty,” he added.

  Jessira slitted her eyes, pleased by the compliment but annoyed by his attitude. Fine. Two could play this game. As she lugged her bags to the packhorse, she stepped by Rukh. His back was turned, and she goosed him. He yelped. “You’re cute when you scream like a girl,” she commented.

  She smiled as he mumbled something unintelligible under his breath.

  “I wanted to tell you something,” Rukh said after they got underway.

  “What? That I’m ugly when I’m not mad?”

  “No. You’re beautiful always,” Rukh said, sounding entirely sincere.

  His words took her aback. He thought she was beautiful? Rukh could be such a jackhole, but he could also be sweet. “What did you want to tell me?” she asked.

  “I’m glad you decided to come with me.” He hesitated. “And I’m glad you stayed with me even when I behaved like an ass.”

  Jessira’s nostrils flared. “You didn’t behave like an ass,” she replied, heat in her voice. “You were an ass.”

  “Does this mean you’re still angry with me?” Rukh asked, his voice contrite.

  Jessira’s face softened. “No. I forgave you a long time ago.”

  Rukh smiled. “Good. Are we friends then?”

  Jessira smiled with him. “Friends,” she pronounced.

  Later in the early afternoon, Jessira and Rukh walked along a muddy deer track as beams of sunlight peered through skeletal limbs of winter-bare trees. It lit the forest floor in dappled patterns of gold. The world looked so different when bright and happy. Yesterday, this same forest had been gloomy and oppressive beneath a heavy sky of gray clouds and frigid rain. Today, though, with the yellow sunlight breathing warmth back into the world, everything appeared so much more alive. Jessira inhaled the scent of moss and wet ground. Again, there was a subtle promise of spring arriving soon.

  Jessira laughed. It was a good day to be alive. “I’m happy,” she announced.

  “I know. You have this jumpy way of walking when you’re feeling chipper.” Rukh said, sounding smug in his certainty.

  Jessira shook her head. “How do you always manage to say the wrong thing? It’s not even what you say, it’s how you say it.”

  Rukh smiled. “A gift,” he replied. “And plus, most times, I only say what I do when I know it’s going to irritate you. It’s fun.”

  Jessira laughed. “And why do you insist on annoying me so much?”

  “Think about it long enough, and I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Rukh advised.

  “I’d rather not. Knowing why might have dire consequences for my self-esteem.”

  “So you don’t think it has anything to do with my winning personality and charm?”

  Jessira snorted. “If you had to rely on your personality and charm to make your way in the world, I’m thinking Cook Heltin might have poisoned you as a child. And I sure wouldn’t have come with you out here into the Wildness.”

  “Then why did you come?” Rukh asked.

  Jessira smiled and patted his cheek. “Think about it long enough, and I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

  “I really am sorry for taking my frustrations out on you,” Rukh said, changing the subject.

  “I know,” she replied. “I could tell two days ago. You have a mopey way of walking when you feel like you’ve done something wrong.” She gave him a knowing look, waiting to see how he would react.

  He grinned in response. “Well played.”

  She smiled back at him. “This feels good,” she said.

  “Laughing with one another,” Rukh said, guessing her thoughts.

  “Yes,” Jessira replied.

  They walked through the silence of the forest, but unlike the earlier part of their journey, this wasn’t a quiet full of tension but one full of the stillness of serenity. Soon, they came upon the banks of a narrow river with foam-capped water rushing over a bed full of boulders. Dangerous eddies swirled about. They trekked the near bank to find an easier place to cross, going a mile out of their way in order to do so. It still ended up being a harrowing crossing, and once on the opposite side of the river, they paused to rest.

  “Why are we going to Hammer?” Jessira asked, as they sat upon wet leaves and soft moss.

  Rukh shrugged, looking mulish. “It was as good a place to go as any.” He bit his lip, hesitating as he stared out over the river. He threw a rock across the water before turning to Jessira. “My nanna’s final letter to me mentioned The Book of First Movement,” he finally began. “He said it was important, and if I ever had a chance to recover it, I should. He was pretty adamant about it.” He shrugged. “So here we are.”

  Jessira gave him an incredulous look. “We’re going to Hammer for a book?”

  “Nanna is never wrong about things that are important,” Rukh said, defensively. “If he says recovering The Book of First Movement is worth the risk, then it is.”

  Jessira shook her head. “Unbelievable. You dragged me on a journey to Hammer because your nanna told you to go and get a book.”

  Rukh glanced at her and smiled half-heartedly. “Would it help if I told you how much I trust him?”

  “No,” Jessira replied. First Mother! Sometimes Rukh did the most idiotic things.

  “Watch out for the puddle,” Rukh advised.

  “What pud—” Too late. Jessira’s feet were completely soaked when she stepped in two inches of muddy water.

  It may very well be through our funeral pyres that our dreams of peace are achieved. Death’s sickle will free us from Mother Lienna, but who then amongst the Chimeras will walk the righteous path?

  ~From the journal of SarpanKum Li-Dane, AF 1938

  Li-Choke stumbled to his feet. Blood leaked from his ringing ears, and he could hardly stand without falling over. But his eyes and nose worked just fine. The smell of blood and offal clung to the air. All around him, flung about in scattered bits and pieces, lay the broken remains of his brothers. These had been the last Baels of the Eastern Plague of the Fan Lor Kum.

  After their escape from the Chimera breeding caverns, Li-Choke had taken Rukh Shektan’s advice and led his brothers here, to the Hunters Flats. They’d found refuge amongst the Kesarins and had built for themselves quiet, if uninspiring, lives. Summer had turned to fall and fall-to-winter, and yet, their presence had remained undiscovered by t
he other Chimeras. And with each passing month, they had allowed themselves to hope and, in some cases, believe that they were safe.

  They had all been mistaken.

  Mother Lienna had found them. She had not been pleased with their betrayal. The Queen had shredded their illusions of safety, pouring down from the skies as an avenging storm of fury and might. She had torn the Baels apart.

  The cries of his brothers echoed in Li-Choke’s mind, and he wondered why Mother had left him alive. Even now, She hovered above him, a whirlwind cloud of lightning and chaos. But Choke stood before Her, swaying on his feet and refusing to bend knee as he awaited his fate.

  “Bow before your Queen,” Mother said. Her voice, usually a screaming cacophony of bones snapped to pieces, was now soft and measured. Even the lightning and swirling clouds of her whirlwind seemed calm in comparison to their usual appearance. “You need not fear me, Li-Choke.”

  Her composed pronunciation of his name was almost more fearful than what She had done moments ago to his fellow Baels. Li-Choke swallowed back his fear, wondering how Mother was maintaining Her sanity. He had been there when the Queen had first discovered the betrayal of Her commanders, the Baels. She had screamed out Her anger and somehow poured Her madness down into the rest of the Chimeras of the Eastern Plague. The Queen’s insanity had set Her so-called children to murdering one another with vicious abandon. So crazed had they been with Mother’s fury and bloodlust that they would have killed one another unto the last. As a result, the Queen had been forced to retrieve much of Her madness, but still She had retained enough sanity to turn Her dread glare upon SarpanKum Li-Dirge, and the rest of the Baels. She had obliterated him and most of his command with a thunderous blow, flattening the earth upon which they had stood for hundreds of yards around.

  Until today, it had been the last time Li-Choke had seen Mother. As time passed, his link with Her had faded, and he had hoped She had forgotten them, thinking all the Baels of the Eastern Plague were dead.

  Obviously not.

  “I have need of your service and worship once more,” Mother said, speaking again in calm, cool tones. “Hearken unto My words and learn wisdom.”

  Li-Choke was frozen in fear, but it wasn’t for his own life. He was more concerned about Mother’s state of mind. How was She maintaining Her sanity? Where was Her madness? Were Her Chimeras even now tearing one another apart? The world was doomed if She had found a way to rid Herself of Her insanity.

  “I will not serve You,” Li-Choke managed to get out past his terror.

  “You will,” Mother replied. “Else all the Baels of this world will be ended. Thus far, only those who served the Eastern Plague of Continent Ember have been killed. Should you defy Me, I will spread My reach far wider. I will destroy them all, every Bael from every Plague—both here on Ember as well as those on Continent Catalyst—will be utterly purged. And I know the rest of your brethren may be every bit as traitorous as those I killed from the Eastern Plague. Consider well your decision to serve. This will be your only chance to save the Baels.”

  “If You believe them traitors, You’ll kill them anyway.” Choke couldn’t believe he was arguing with Mother. A year ago, such a possibility would never have crossed his mind. No Bael in history had ever dared speak to the Queen in such a manner.

  “The Baels will live if you serve,” Mother promised. “They can be returned to the path of righteousness. Even you.”

  Li-Choke didn’t believe Her. Once She had Her use of him, She would kill him and all the other Baels anyway. “Why did you choose me?” he asked, prolonging the inevitable.

  “I keep what is Mine.” She paused. “Will you serve Me, Li-Choke, or will you witness the death of all your brothers?”

  Li-Choke considered Mother’s words, trying to reason past his hatred. What She had done to the Baels, tinkering with Devesh’s creation and birthing killers and murderers…it was an unforgivable sin. All beings who could reason should be brothers, and yet Humanity and the Baels, the only such creatures who could do so, were mortal enemies. And it was Mother’s doing. This being of lightning and storm was a plague upon all of existence.

  Still, if his actions could keep the Baels alive for a while longer; if he could find a way to thwart Mother’s plans—he had to try. In the end, there was no choice. Choke fell to his knees and began canting the Prayer of Gratitude.

  By Her grace are we born

  By Her love are we made

  By Her desire are we shorn

  By Her passion are we unmade

  And are reborn once more

  Mother’s triumphant laughter was a rumble of thunder.

  Hours earlier Chak-Soon had felt Mother’s call. He had left the encampment of the Eastern Plague and made haste to a nearby rocky knoll. He knelt to receive Her blessings, intoning the Prayer of Gratitude.

  Stretched out before his bent head was the Eastern Plague. They bivouacked just north of the Hunters Flats, an area bordered by a rise of ice-rimmed rocky prominences, stretching north and south of the Fan Lor Kum encampment. It was a few hours before dawn, and the air was chill. Snow blanketed the ground, and a wind cut through the valley, carrying with it the freezing air from the heights of the Privation Mountains to the north. Cook fires burned as the Chimeras readied themselves for the coming day. It was one of the few areas wherein the Eastern Plague managed to maintain a semblance of order.

  Without the leadership of the Baels, Mother’s warriors had fallen to fighting amongst themselves, killing one another over the slightest of insults. It was Ur-Fels battling Braids and both breeds baiting and ambushing the dull, stupid Balants. And the Tigons, striving to bring order to the chaos, but more often than not, adding to it. Their natural inclination was to solve disputes with tooth-and-claw, and it led to either an escalation of the problem or put a bloody, but unsatisfactory, end to it. The only members of the Fan Lor Kum unaffected were the Bovars, but they were just dumb beasts of burden.

  Strangely, some of the Bovars had recently birthed a few Baels. Why Mother would allow such conceptions to take place remained a mystery. It made no sense, especially considering Her complete eradication of the former commanders of the Eastern Plague months prior. But having no instructions on what was to be done with the infant Baels, the Tigons had decided to let them live. There was no one to teach the young ones, though, and Chak-Soon wondered at their fate. Perhaps with this meeting, he would have a chance to ask Mother Her desire on the matter.

  “Rise, Chak-Soon and serve your Queen,” Mother said, arriving as a gentle breeze. “I give you a purpose.”

  Chak-Soon lifted himself off his knees and rose to his feet, trembling with suppressed fervor. Today was the second time he had been granted an audience with Mother. It was two conversations more than he had ever expected to have. Until last summer, when the Queen had eradicated the Baels, it had been long understood that only the bull-like Chimeras would ever have the honor and privilege of hearing Mother’s words spoken aloud. As the old saying went: ‘From Her voice and through the Baels’ lips was the Queen’s will known’.

  Everything was changed now, but Chak-Soon didn’t believe it was necessarily for the better; not with the convulsions tearing apart the Eastern Plague.

  “I know My children suffer without the Baels to lead them,” Mother said, echoing Chak-Soon’s thoughts.

  The Tigon was momentarily taken aback but quickly realized he shouldn’t have been. He was a child of Mother. Who better to know his unspoken thoughts than Her?

  “I bring you glad tidings: that error will be soon corrected,” the Queen continued. “Even now, one comes. The last Bael of the Eastern Plague. The only one who remained true to Me. Greet him, for he will lead you and several other holy warriors on an urgent mission.”

  “It will be as You command,” Chak-Soon said, his head bowed in reverence. To be personally tasked by Mother…it was the most fervent dream of all Tigons, maybe all Chimeras, including the dastardly Ur-Fels. But even through his pas
sion, Chak-Soon wondered about Mother’s transformation. The manner in which She spoke had been like a Bael: calm and sure. It was so different from the first time he had met the Queen. Then, Her voice had been edged with raging thunder. Even Her appearance now was changed. The chaotic tumble of lighting and swirling clouds was still present, but they seemed more sedate.

  “The Bael who comes is named Li-Choke. Serve him as you would serve Me. Here is what you must do: gather a claw of Tigons as well as two traps of Braids and three Balants. Await My Bael’s arrival. Li-Choke will explain much, but here is all you need know: you hunt the Human who killed your brothers in the Privation Mountains. The creature is Hume. Only he possesses the skill to murder so many of My children with such arrogant impunity. And after the performance of his infamous deeds, he hies to Hammer, seeking to escape My just punishment within the safety of that wicked city’s Oasis.”

  Chak-Soon nodded, hiding his dismay. Everyone knew of the legendary Hume. He was the Human nightmare, the unstoppable killer of Chimeras. He was the fearful specter of the dark who snatched up traitorous Tigons and slayed them in a horrific fashion. He was also dead, as was his city, Hammer. How could the Queen not know this? Worse was the cursed city’s reputation. No Chimera ever ventured near Hammer. The animals living nearby hunted Mother’s children with an unreasoning vengeance, taking mortal blows in order to kill any Chimeras that crossed their path. It was for a good reason that Hammer was called ‘The Bone Place’.

  “Child, do you not wish to speak and tell Me your thoughts?” Mother asked. Her voice was gentle.

  Chak-Soon’s mouth gaped in shock. Mother wished to hear his opinion? He ducked his head, overwhelmed with emotion. “To know I have been considered worthy of Your trust is all a Tigon could ever hope to achieve in this life.”