The Tyranny of Ghosts: Legacy of Dhakaan - Book 3

by Don Bassingthwaite

The goblin priestess was on her knees, blood running in a dark red ribbon between her eyes. The expression on her face, however, was rapturous. “You try to defy Tariic,” Pradoor said. “You try to defy the will of the Six. But you won’t. You can’t. Tariic will bring in a new age, and Darguun will follow the power of the Six once more!”

  It hurt to draw breath, but Ashi managed it. “The only power Tariic will allow in Darguun is him, Pradoor,” she spat. She dragged herself closer to the old goblin, raising her sword with shaking hands.

  “Fool,” said Pradoor. “Tariic knows and fears the power of the Six—as should you!” She flung out a hand. Shadows flowed from the gesture.

  The pain that shook Ashi seemed to intensify, sucking the strength from her limbs and driving her to the ground. Incredible weakness pressed against her. She couldn’t stay upright. She could barely breathe. She sank down against the soft carpet, her eyes level with Aruget’s.

  The changeling looked disappointed in her.

  Shuffling footsteps scuffed across the carpet behind her. Ashi tried to lift her head but couldn’t. Groping hands touched her shoulders, located her skull. Pradoor gasped with effort.

  And something hard and heavy drove thought out of Ashi’s head.

  A slap in the face woke her up.

  Ashi started and opened her eyes to bright light. Shock rolled through her, and the habit she’d cultivated for weeks drove fear into her. It was morning. The sun had risen, and she hadn’t renewed the protection of her dragonmark—

  No. She blinked and the light came into focus—an everbright lamp. She was lying on a cold, hard floor with the lantern close beside her, and someone was holding her arms up above her throbbing head. An open window in one wall showed the darkness of night beyond. Relief replaced shock. It wasn’t morning yet.

  Then another slap hit her, and she saw who was striking her. Tariic stood over her, still in his tigerskin cloak, still wearing the spiked crown of Darguun, still carrying the Rod of Kings. He smelled of wine and meat as if he’d come straight from his feast.

  The events of the night rushed over her. Tariic raised his hand for a third time.

  “Do it,” Ashi said, “and I’ll bite you.”

  He stomped down on her belly instead. Ashi convulsed and retched. Tariic stepped away from her. “You’re almost more trouble than you’re worth,” he growled. “Oraan is missing. I assume that changeling was him?”

  Ashi twisted her neck to follow him. She wasn’t in his chambers anymore, that was certain. The room was small and cold. She could hear the night noises of the Rhukaan Draal, but they seemed distant. A room in one of Khaar Mbar’ost’s towers, she guessed. She lifted her head a little and looked down toward her feet.

  Pradoor stood there. And Dagii.

  Anger darkened the face of the young warlord of Mur Talaan, but he stood still and silent as Tariic paced the room. Ashi tipped her head back to see who held her. The last of Tariic’s three deaf bugbears bared his teeth at her.

  Tariic’s foot thumped into her side, forcing a gasp out of her. “I asked you a question.”

  She glared at him. “Yes,” she said.

  “Was he Aruget?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you found out what I plan for Breland.”

  She didn’t answer that. Tariic’s words had an effect on Dagii though. His face darkened even further, and his ears lay flat. “You have no honor,” he snarled at Tariic.

  Ashi felt a moment of surprise. Dagii wasn’t under the control of the rod? What was he doing here, then?

  He was there, she realized suddenly, because of her. Tariic didn’t need the rod to command Dagii right then. All he needed was her as his captive.

  Tariic flipped Dagii a piece of paper. Ashi recognized the paper—no longer folded—that had been in her jacket. “The copy is terrible,” Tariic said, “but you should be able to make it out.”

  Dagii bared his teeth as he scanned her roughly drawn map. He looked up at Tariic. “This is a violation of the Treaty of Thronehold—”

  Tariic turned on him. “First,” he said, “don’t pretend you don’t already know.” He pointed at Ashi. “If Oraan was Aruget, then she hasn’t been as isolated as I thought she was. And if she wasn’t isolated, she was going to friends for help. Senen Dhakaan. You.” Dagii stiffened. Tariic sneered at him. “You should never lie, Dagii. You don’t have the talent for it.”

  “Second,” he added, “you need to get used to the idea, because you’re leading the attack on New Cyre.”

  Dagii’s ears flicked. “I won’t.”

  “Your lhesh commands it.” Dagii said nothing. Tariic’s sneer returned. “At the feast tonight, you accepted my request to lead the Iron Fox out of Skullreave. If you already suspected that the defense against Valenar raiders was only an excuse, then why did you accept? You were willing to do your duty then. You swore an oath to do it.”

  Dagii met his gaze. “I deny my oath.”

  Tariic laughed. “You? Dagii, son of Fenic of Mur Talaan? You’re not capable of it.” He looked at Ashi. “Any more than Ashi here seems capable of placing any value in her own life.”

  Some of Ashi’s own anger came back. “All your bracelets have done is keep me in Rhukaan Draal and my hands from your throat, Tariic,” she said.

  Tariic flicked his finger, and the bugbear holding her arms gave them a sharp tug. The pain made her gasp. Tariic smiled again. “True,” he said. “That’s why I think I need new leverage against you. Against both of you.” He pointed the Rod of Kings at Ashi. “You are going to remain my prisoner, though not in the comfortable surroundings you have been enjoying.”

  He pointed his other hand at Dagii. “You will command the assault on New Cyre, the hero of the Battle of Zarrthec at the head of my armies. If either of you disobeys me, the other dies.” His ears twitched and rose. “Is that simple enough?”

  Dagii thrust out his chest. “Command me with the rod. You’ll have my obedience then!”

  “You don’t understand, Dagii.” Tariic’s words rasped between his teeth. “I can command anyone. I command the Ghaal’dar clans. I command the Kech Shaarat who dared to come before me. I command the envoys of the dragonmarked houses and the ambassadors of the Five Nations. But that isn’t true power. That’s not how the emperors of Dhakaan truly ruled.” He held up the rod. “This is a crutch. Unless I put care into my orders, my power doesn’t extend beyond those who see and hear me. To rule an empire requires servants who serve because they want to”—he lowered the rod—“or because they have to.”

  He waited.

  Dagii looked down at Ashi, then his ears drooped, and he lowered his head. His fist rose to rap his chest. “I will command the assault, lhesh.”

  “Dagii—” Ashi said, but the instant her lips moved, the bugbear jerked on her arms again. Her words vanished in another gasp.

  Tariic ignored her. “Serve me well, and you’ll be rewarded,” he said. He gestured toward the door. “Now go, and remember what you have to lose.”

  Dagii walked out the door like a broken man. Tariic closed it behind him, then turned his gaze back to Ashi, gesturing for the bugbear to ease his grip on her arms.

  “I know you don’t care about risking your own life,” he said. “How do you feel about risking Dagii’s?”

  Ashi glared at him. “I saw the letter that you had forged. It doesn’t matter what Dagii does. You always intended to destroy me.”

  He drew his foot back to kick her again. Ashi braced herself, but the kick never came. Tariic lowered his foot. “Not always,” he said. “But I knew that in the aftermath of my attack on Breland there was a chance Breven might relent and ask you to return to Karrlakton. I couldn’t let that happen. You do know my secret—and my ‘crutch’ is very convenient.” He turned the rod in his hands. “I didn’t so much intend to destroy you as to make certain that no one outside of Darguun would want anything to do with you.”

  “Why not just kill me, then?”

  He sm
iled at her. “Because I don’t need to.” He stepped back. “I saw that you tore up my letter. There really wasn’t much point to that. I can have another one made. In fact, you’ve given me the chance to send Breven an even more impressive gesture of your disdain for Deneith.”

  He gestured, and Pradoor dragged out something she’d been hiding behind her back. Ashi’s bright honor blade. “In the new letter,” said Tariic, “you’ll be sending it back.” He took the sword from Pradoor.

  Ashi started to struggle, but her bugbear captor renewed the pressure on her arms. She forced herself to relax. She glared at Tariic.

  “I’ll stop you, Tariic. I swear I will.”

  “I don’t see how,” said Tariic. “Dagii is gone. Aruget is gone. Senen is gone. You’re out of allies. I’d suggest focusing on behaving yourself and keeping Dagii alive. His life is in your hands now.”

  He turned to the door. “Pradoor,” he said. “Hold her.”

  The goblin priestess murmured a prayer, and once again pain burned through Ashi’s body. While she writhed, the bugbear released her and lumbered to his feet, taking the lantern with him. By the time she could breathe again, Tariic, the bugbear, and Pradoor were all at the door. Tariic clapped the bugbear on the shoulder. “You already know your new jailer,” he said. “Don’t bother screaming. Nobody is going to be coming for you.”

  She managed to raise her voice. “The dragonmarked envoys will miss me.”

  “No,” said Tariic. He lifted the Rod of Kings. “They won’t.”

  The door closed. The room plunged into darkness. Ashi heard the rasp of a bolt being slid home on the other side of the door. Two bolts. And a key in a lock.

  She sat up slowly, utterly alone in the cold darkness.

  CHAPTER

  NINETEEN

  24 Vult

  The riverboat drew in its oars and glided into an empty berth along the docks of Rhukaan Draal. Thick hawsers flew over the side, were caught by dockmen and made fast. A few moments later, the gangplank slid out.

  Ekhaas and the others were down it as soon as the lower end touched the dock. “Good luck to you,” the captain called after them. “Find your fortune and live to spend it!”

  “We’ll hire you a better cook for your galley,” Ekhaas shouted back with false levity, then turned away and said to the others, “Let’s get off the docks and find out what’s going on.” Her fingers touched the reassuring weight of the shaari’mal within her pouch, a habit of the last ten days.

  They’d slipped out of the varags’ territory as quickly as they could. Fortunately, the savage creatures were still cowed by what had happened at Suud Anshaar—they heard the varags’ shrieks in the distance but didn’t so much as catch a glimpse of them. If the ancient construct that lurked in the Dhakaani ruins still wailed, they didn’t hear it.

  The power of the Shield of Nobles was a revelation. Ekhaas had barely been able to sleep. She’d lain awake, listening to the jungle and imagining what they could do. One shaari’mal had weakened the hold of the Rod of Kings on Midian. Two had shattered it. They had three of the disks. What effect would waking all three have? Who would they give the third disk, the one Tenquis carried hidden in his vest, to?

  Dagii’s gray-eyed face had risen in her memories.

  Tooth, restored by rest and more healing magic, led them north out of the jungle. Several days later, they’d arrived at the town of Rheklor and the mouth of the Ghaal River, where boats traveled upstream to Rhukaan Draal in a constant flow of river traffic.

  Unlike Arthuun in the south, they’d found the town alive with excitement over Tariic’s plans for defense against the Valenar. The news had given them a convenient excuse for traveling to Rhukaan Draal—when they’d approached a boat’s captain to arrange transportation, they claimed to be mercenaries looking to take Lhesh Tariic’s coin—at the same time as it had made Ekhaas’s stomach tighten with fear. A few inquiries established that no Valenar had been seen since Dagii’s triumph at the Battle of Zarrthec. What was Tariic up to? What had happened to Dagii and Ashi?

  They’d also bid farewell to friends at Rheklor. Tooth wanted more rest before he made the journey back to Arthuun. Marrow refused to board a boat or enter Rhukaan Draal. She would return to her pack across country. They’d said good-bye and boarded their boat a party of five once more. Ekhaas. Geth. Tenquis. Chetiin.

  And Midian.

  After he’d stopped screaming, the gnome had begged for the chance to take his revenge against Tariic. He’d poured out a story that, coming from anyone else, would have roused Ekhaas’s pity. Coming from Midian, it only made her glad of his suffering. At the same time, though, they all agreed on two things. First, that freed of the influence of the Rod of Kings, Midian hated Tariic as much as any of them did.

  Second, that they would need all the allies they could find. They had a shield against the rod’s power, but Tariic still had an army to throw at them.

  Beyond the docks, the streets of the city were strangely empty.

  “It was like this when Haruuc died,” Tenquis said. “Everyone went to watch him be laid to rest.”

  “I guess it would be too much to hope that Tariic has died, then,” said Chetiin.

  “I’d be disappointed if he had,” growled Geth. The shifter adjusted his cloak and cowl. Of all of them, he was the most recognizable, having held the throne of Darguun as Haruuc’s shava after the old lhesh’s death. “I’d miss the chance to bring him down.”

  Ekhaas spotted a figure moving on the street ahead—a scruffy hobgoblin staggering along as if he’d just left a tavern. “Wait here,” she said. “I’ll see if I can find out what’s happening.” She had her answer quickly enough and returned to the others. “Everyone who can has gathered at the arena,” she said.

  “The arena?” Geth asked. “Are there games?”

  “Not exactly.” Ekhaas put her ears back. “Tariic gives blessings to the commanders of his army. They ride out today to take charge of the defense against the Valenar.”

  Geth grunted. “More soldiers riding to the border of the Mournland leaves fewer soldiers in Rhukaan Draal for Tariic to command. That helps us.”

  “Not when one of those commanders is Dagii,” said Ekhaas. They’d made loose plans on the journey upriver, not knowing exactly what they’d find in Rhukaan Draal. Most had involved slipping into Khaar Mbar’ost—with Chetiin’s and Midian’s skills it would be relatively easy—and freeing Ashi, but all had involved gathering allies before they confronted the lhesh. Dagii had always been at the top of that list.

  Chetiin looked to Midian. “What are Tariic’s intentions for him?”

  “I don’t know,” said the gnome. “I’ve been away from Rhukaan Draal almost as long as you, and Tariic didn’t discuss everything around me. I was his slave, not his adviser. It’s surprising, though. While I was here, Tariic was keeping Dagii away from the action. He was using him as a figurehead, the hero of Zarrthec.”

  “Maybe that’s what he’s doing now,” said Tenquis. “Sending him to repeat his victory against the Valenar.”

  “If there are Valenar,” Ekhaas said. She tried to put her feelings for Dagii aside. “We can use this chance to get into Khaar Mbar’ost more easily. We’ll find other allies. Munta the Gray could help us.”

  Geth bared his teeth. “Dagii hasn’t left Rhukaan Draal yet,” he said. “We can still intercept him and get the shaari’mal into his hands. There’s no one else I’d want to have as part of the shield—especially if Tariic has made him one of the commanders of Darguun’s army. I say we go to the arena.”

  Ekhaas’s ears rose. “Tariic will be there. Are we ready to face him?”

  No one answered her. No one had to.

  The great arena lay on the other side of the city. If a crowd had already gathered, they needed to hurry. Dagii wouldn’t waste any time beginning his march north after receiving Tariic’s blessing. She pointed along one of Rhukaan Draal’s crooked streets. “This way.”

  The windo
w of Ashi’s tower room looked out over the wide square before Khaar Mbar’ost, too high up to think of climbing down, but more than high enough to offer a spectacular vista of Rhukaan Draal. She wondered if Tariic had chosen the view deliberately. The square was where she and the others had tried and failed to kill him. Vounn had died down there. Ashi almost had too.

  When Ashi saw troops parading in the square, she was certain the view was deliberate. Even from the tower window, she could make out the standard of the Iron Fox company. Tariic was taunting both her and Dagii. She could see the arch of the bridge over the Ghaal River as well. When Dagii led his troops north, she would be able to see them leave.

  The Iron Fox wasn’t the only company to parade before Khaar Mbar’ost. Ashi recognized the precision of the Kech Shaarat too. They’d been first on the list of companies for the assault of Kennrun. If Dagii was leading the attack on New Cyre, presumably Riila Dhakaan—or more likely Taak—would be leading the attack on the fortress. Ashi felt a flash of hatred for the two Kech Shaarat, over and above what she felt for their role in Senen’s mutilation. She’d almost challenged Taak to a duel in the hall of honor. She wished that she had.

  Her deaf jailer brought her food and water once a day, Pradoor waiting behind him with a prayer on her lips in case Ashi tried anything. Her days passed slowly and her nights, cold on the hard floor, even more so. Marks on the wall, scraped into the stone with the buckle of her belt, counted the days ahead to 28 Vult. The day of Tariic’s attack on unsuspecting Breland.

  Maybe the Brelish weren’t so unsuspecting as she feared—but she doubted it. Tariic seemed awfully confident that his false aggression toward the Valenar, together with whatever misinformation he was providing through the ambassadors of the Five Nations, had fooled everyone.

  Maybe the lhesh had been lulled into overconfidence by the Rod of Kings. Maybe the Valenar had gone to the lords of the Five Nations to tell them they had no intention of attacking Darguun again. Maybe Brelish scouts had slipped into northern Darguun and worked out Tariic’s plans on their own. Maybe Aruget had somehow survived, returning to his natural form to lull Pradoor and Tariic into a false sense of security before escaping from the castle and fleeing to Breland to warn his masters in the King’s Citadel …