by Matt Larkin
“Kala?”
“That’s his name, the Stranger. Now tell me. I want to understand the connections.”
Semar opened his odd blue eyes. The intensity of his gaze reminded her of the Stranger. “It’s not your place to understand every connection, Chandi. What do you think would drive a man to come so far? What would be enough to make you pursue an enemy across such a gulf?”
Chandi bit her lip. All this made her head hurt. Kakudmi had brought in a foreign warrior with the power to challenge Rahu, and a reason to hate the War King. Small wonder Rahu had acted so erratically upon seeing him.
“Perhaps you had better concern yourself with the situation you created with the Ignis. They will soon rebel.”
No. “I came here to stop that. I said I wanted their support if war came. Not that they should start a war.”
“Once you light the flame, it’s too late to worry about whether you dug the fire pit in the right place.”
Chandi rose, pointed a finger at the priest. “You can stop them.”
“I am not their master. If it’s not war you desire, perhaps you should decide what you do want. Tarry too long in finding what matters, you risk losing it all.”
And what did she want most? Peace? Naresh? Malin? The question only served to highlight the clouds in her mind.
“If the Lunars come, the Ignis will crack the domes.”
Chandi stared at the priest, uncertain what she had just heard. Even if the domes could be cracked, no one could control what would happen next. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, would drown in the chaos. She shook her head as she spoke. “That’s madness. We never wanted that.”
“Didn’t you? What did you think your talk of rebellion meant? Of alliance? The Ignis are workers, merchants, engineers, not warriors. When your people come, and we both know they will, Kasusthali will drown.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Malin kept to the shadows as he trailed Chandi into the Igni District. Not that it mattered—the girl was far too preoccupied to notice him. She never should have been a spy. Yet more of Rahu’s arrogant madness, thinking he could shape everyone to suit his needs. As he had shaped Malin.
Any doubt of Rahu’s lunacy had left Malin this morning. The War King had summoned him to his chambers. “Where is it?” the man raved. “Did you take it, tiger?”
Rahu shoved him with one hand, as though Malin were a meddlesome child. The impact staggered Malin.
Rahu closed the distance, speaking right next to Malin’s face. “Where is the Amrita? Did you think to take it, to become like us? You think you could be a Moon Scion?” The man’s eyes were wide and wild and his breath smelled of spiced tea.
Under those smells, Malin caught the faint scent of milk, thick and sweet, just as he had smelled on Chandi last night. Rahu’s sudden backhand snapped Malin from his thoughts.
“Tell me, tiger. Do you have it?”
“No.” Malin spat blood on the floor, then turned his lips up in a snarl.
“Oh. No, not smart enough, the beast. But you can find the thief. Yes. Smell him out. Kakudmi? Is it him? Use that nose and return what was stolen, tiger. Now.”
Malin had wandered the palace, puzzling over Rahu’s words. They could not mean what they seemed to. It was impossible such lies could have been perpetrated for so many generations.
And then he had seen Chandi leaving, and followed her. She had taken this Amrita. Everything led back to her. It had always led to her. Perhaps his whole life had.
Without doubt she sought the Igni priest, Semar. Supposed wise man, caught up in his own sense of superiority and mysticism. Malin had heard many stories of this man. A meddler, but a slave, the leader of an oppressed people. Easy to feel a sense of kinship, perhaps, but Malin couldn’t forget the man was dangerous. After all, what wouldn’t Malin do to advance his people?
He waited some distance outside the shrine, and soon all the other patrons and worshippers were ushered out. With a start Malin realized Chandi must hold more sway over the Igni priest than he had thought, if he would grant her a private audience. Indeed, many of those driven out glared back at the shrine, or muttered curses that Malin’s superior hearing just caught.
Agitated, he bought nagasari from a vendor. A crate in an alley provided a secluded perch from which to watch the shrine.
Another scent came to him, approaching from the alley. He knew that scent, the Stranger. He had first caught it in the Astral Temple, and put a face to it in the palace. The green-eyed foreigner headed right toward him. If the man sought confrontation, Malin would not run. Oh, how he had grown tired of backing down from those who thought themselves superior. Rahu, Ketu, Naresh, all the same. No more.
Malin set down the plate and rose to his full height. The foreigner was taller, but not much. The man moved with purpose but neither threat nor haste, never taking his eyes from Malin’s.
“Malin,” he said, as he neared, his voice soft.
Malin looked the man up and down. Without doubt a warrior, with that physique, with the way he carried himself. “How do you know me?”
For a moment he paused. “I know you. Semar told me you have more reason than most to hate Rahu. Something we have in common.”
Malin narrowed his eyes, but suppressed the urge to bare his teeth.
“He is a common problem for all of the Skyfall Isles,” the foreigner said. “The lunatic king who will destroy the future. A megalomaniac whose machinations have ruined empires, shattered lives, and enslaved your people. How far will it go before someone draws the line and ends his reign?”
Now Malin did show the man his teeth. “You think a few fancy words will make me trust you? Or the Igni priest? You spoke with Semar, and you spoke with Chandi. I can’t say whether you hold the priest’s confidence, but I doubt you have Chandi’s, and you certainly don’t have mine.”
“Chandi has a good heart, an innocence that prevents her from seeing the truth of what must be done. But you are a realist. There will come a time when you’ll know my words are true and that Rahu must fall.”
The Stranger slipped by him, stepped into the light of the open street.
“Even if I trusted you,” Malin called after him, “I could not face Rahu in combat.” It galled to admit it, but after this morning, he had few illusions about his strength compared to the lunatic’s.
“You won’t be alone,” the man said without looking back.
To end Rahu, to betray the man who had given him this power… it seemed an impossible choice. But then Rahu had betrayed him as well, betrayed him with years of lies and virtual slavery. And Malin had grown tired of both.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Naresh found Landi waiting for him in the mess hall, sitting in shadows cast by a single candle. When the Guardsmen took meals here dozens of candles cast the place in perfect illumination, but Landi seemed content to sit in near darkness. The guard hall before it stood empty, as it would until the lingsir kulon phase. He sat across from her without speaking.
“I heard about yesterday, in the harbor,” Landi said without changing her expression. So she knew already. Maybe everyone knew. After a moment his future bride spoke. “The talks will fail, I think. Pak Kakudmi may not be so willing to capitulate as he seems.”
“Maybe.”
“If he was going to cave it would have happened already.”
Naresh rose to look at the map of the Skyfall Isles she had unrolled on the table.
If Chandi was right, Rahu would never let the peace hold. He pointed at Puradvipa. “Maybe we could get a ship of Arun Guardsmen to the Astral Temple without their knowing it. Perhaps a civilian ship.”
Landi ran her tongue over her teeth. “You mean like the Queen of the South Sea.”
He watched her a moment before answering. “Yes, like Bendurana’s ship. But filled with the Arun Guard. We could Stride ashore and overwhelm their defenses before they knew we were among them.”
Landi stared at the map without see
ming to see it before answering. “No, we need to prepare for after the talks fail. We cannot count on the element of surprise. Do we know how many Macan Gadungan there are?”
“At least three or four times our number.”
“Moon Scions?” she asked.
“Harder to estimate. Probably over a hundred, though not all strong enough in Moon Blessings to pose a threat.”
Landi raised an eyebrow. “Moon Blessings?”
He had spent so much time talking to Chandi, her words, her culture had begun to seep into his way of thinking. She had become an inseparable part of his life. “What they call their powers.”
She watched him for a moment; in the candlelight, he couldn’t read her face. “My parents want to move up the wedding, in case peace talks fail. Want us married before we leave for war.”
He sighed. Not this. “We don’t have time. And we can’t be expected to think of marriage now. And what if we did? Should I leave you a widow soon? Or it could just as easily be you that dies tomorrow, or the next day.”
“Or maybe we could all die.” She hunched into her chair and didn’t meet his gaze.
They both turned as Bendurana swaggered in and stopped at one end of the table. The glance he and Landi exchanged was brief, but her muscles unfurled and she sat up straight again. Chandi was right. Maybe she was right about everything. In truth, Naresh could no longer imagine life without her.
Bendurana turned to look at him and pulled papers from a satchel slung over his shoulder. “Pearl harvesting has fallen off in the Outer Isles.”
Naresh spread his palms on the table and tapped them up and down. “You brought me this before, about the pirate attacks. This is still a matter for the Ministry of Finance.” The ministry oversaw taking a cut of every pearl crop. If profits fell, they’d know.
“Ah, Guardsman, not if the Lunar Empire is involved.”
“Involved how?” Landi asked.
Bendurana’s customary smirk grew thin when he looked at her. “You’ve heard reports about werecrocodiles?”
“Myths to frighten fishermen and entertain children,” Landi said. Naresh watched them, their eyes locked together.
“Saltwater crocodiles have always gotten a few divers, my dear,” Bendurana admitted. “But too many divers are missing this year. We can hardly let this go without investigation. Disrupting the pearl dives will disrupt our economy. You built an empire with that economy.” He spread his hands as if take in the whole palace. “Wouldn’t you hate to lose it the same way, Guardswoman? Ketu left the city without explanation two nights ago. One can hardly imagine what could be more important to the brother of the War King than talks over the Astral Temple.” Bendurana shrugged like an innocent child. “Commanding werebeasts, perhaps?”
And still they didn’t know why he’d left. Some reported Chandi’s father left with severe injuries. Bendurana seemed to know as much about it as Naresh himself did.
Landi snorted. “You think Ketu is commanding werecrocodiles to attack divers?”
The captain flashed a grin. “I’m saying someone should look into it. The answers have to be interesting.”
Naresh rose. “I agree. Let us know what you find out.” He began ushering Bendurana out of the room.
“Ah, not me, Guardsman. There’re lots of fine captains who—”
“Who better? You found the pattern. You have a civilian ship—and a fast one, I hear. And you love sticking your nose where other people don’t want it.” Whether the captain’s expression was meant to be a glower or smirk, Naresh ignored it. “You’ll do nicely.”
“But what—”
“You’ll be compensated based on the quality of the information you bring back.”
Bendurana hesitated at the doorway, watching Landi. That was it then. He had just gotten back into port and didn’t want to set out so soon. Despite the impossible situation, she kept him here.
“Ben, give us a moment,” Landi told him.
The captain bowed with a flourish, then backed out of the archway between the Arun Guard’s mess and the regular mess hall. Naresh caught the smile Landi tried to hide.
He waited until he could hear the captain’s footfalls well down the hall. Bendurana would do his duty. No one lives for themselves, Empu Baradah had said.
He loved Chandi, and he’d marry Landorundun. Landi loved Bendurana and she’d marry Naresh. Bendurana loved her, and he’d stand by and say nothing. And then maybe Empu Baradah was right, maybe they’d all remain quiet about the affairs that would unfold in the dark. And they’d all return to the Wheel of Life no wiser and no better than they had left it.
“They don’t respect your wishes, so why should you respect theirs?” Chandi had asked him.
Landi watched him as he slumped back into his chair, but he hardly saw her.
She leaned forward but paused before she spoke. “Naresh?”
He met her gaze then. Concern filled her eyes. But nothing deeper. “Neither of us,” he began, then stopped. “Neither of us really wants this marriage, I think.”
She ran her tongue over her teeth but said nothing.
“Chandi asked me how we could be happy if duty came before everything else.”
“Chandi’s a Lunar.”
She said that as though Lunars were monsters.
“Chandi is a Lunar. And maybe she’s right about some things. I don’t know. Your parents threw us together just to keep you from Bendurana.”
She clenched her jaw.
“And why? Because he’s a few steps above a pirate? If he’s an opportunist, he’s also provided a valuable service to the Empire. It doesn’t matter, anyway. If you love him, you can’t marry me.”
“And you love her?”
“Yes.” For the first time, he was sure of it.
She didn’t quite hide her smile. “Our parents will not be happy about this.”
“They had choices in their lives, even if they chose not to take advantage of them. I won’t make that mistake.”
Maybe they could find a way to make this work. Perhaps not in Kasusthali, but somewhere, somehow, they could try. He had to see Chandi.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Malin grabbed Chandi by the arm as she walked out of the Igni District and yanked her against the side of the dome. His hot breath smelled of sugar. Hadn’t Malin once disdained the Lunar sugar addiction? Chandi squirmed under Malin’s grasp, until her scowl made him release her.
“Living under these domes is unnatural, Chandi. Listen.” He glanced up at the dark morning sky above them.
“What, Malin?”
“It’s pouring rain and you can’t even hear. I can’t even hear it.”
“Malin,” she said, backing away, “I hope you didn’t manhandle me to discuss the weather.” Little did Malin know the Ignis plotted to bring the dome he hated so much crashing down on their heads. The sea would reclaim its domain.
“No. We had a deal. I told you everything I knew about Rahu and your father. Reciprocate.”
She motioned for him to follow her into the tube leading out of the District. Best to have this sort of conversation on the move where casual eavesdroppers couldn’t catch much, and dedicated ones would prove easy to spot. “What are you talking about?” she asked when they had entered the tube.
“For more than two decades the Jadian have been subservient to the Moon Scions. It’s time to change that. We are just as blessed by Chandra as you are. And you damn well know it. You once told me that what the Solars did to the Ignis was wrong. The Ignis are another people. The Macan Gadungan are part of your people. It’s time to start acting like it.”
She didn’t have time for this now. Rahu was bringing them into the Fifth War. His old nemesis Kala pursued him from some ruined homeland. The Ignis were going to destroy the city. And Naresh was marrying the wrong woman.
“Malin, this is not the time. Once Rahu is removed, once things are calmed with the Solars, then we can speak of social changes. I promise I will help you, t
hen. First we have to weather the storm, then—”
“You think Ketu will agree to terms once he has the advantage? He needs us now, while we have a position of strength.”
“The transition between leadership will be tumultuous enough without this, Malin. Please don’t do this now.” She paused in the tube and reached out a hand for his shoulder.
Solars stared as they passed them by. Malin glared at them until they scurried away, leaving her almost alone with him. He took her hand from his shoulder and held her by the arms. Her pulse raced as he leaned in. What if he was right? What if Naresh was forever lost to her? She should consider her other options.
A cry escaped her as Malin’s grip tightened. He lifted her off her feet and shoved her against the tube wall. “Give me the Amrita, Chandi.”
She trembled in the weretiger’s grasp, unable to swallow. Her breath faltered as he leaned closer, his eyes boring into hers. Calm. She drew her Moon Blessings, then shifted her gravity to the tube wall and shoved him backwards.
More Solar passersby stared at them. Had they seen her stand on the wall? Nothing she could do about it now. “How do you even know about that?”
Malin stalked closer but didn’t seem about to attack her again. “Rahu was raving about it this morning. I knew I smelled something different on you last night. Imagine my surprise when I put the pieces together.”
“Rahu revealed the biggest secret of the Moon Scions? To you?”
“Not on purpose. Your theft seems to have pushed away the last of his sanity. You should be careful. It took him decades to go lunatic, but you use your Blessings more than he ever did.”
Chandi nodded, backing away from him, back toward the Igni District. “Do not ever touch me like that again, Malin. I have nothing to give you.”
Malin didn’t follow. “You will regret this, Chandi. You’re breaking our agreement. I’d have made a fearsome ally and a loyal mate. And I’ll make a terrible foe if you cross me.”
