Southern Fire ac-1

by Juliet E. McKenna

  Jade and malachite, neither very common in the southern isles. Jade can be pale as mother's milk or dark as a rainy-season sea but any shade is a talisman to link you to all the wisdom of past lives in your domain. Malachite is a stone for truth and self-knowledge and of course the silver will promote cool and balanced judgement.

  Kheda's jumbled thoughts stilled to wariness as the man seated on the throne beckoned him forward with one slowly crooked gold-ringed finger. Shek Kul, warlord of this sizeable and strategically significant domain was a burly man dressed in a long tunic of black silk and green trousers tied at the ankle in the northern style. The loose cut of his clothes did nothing to disguise the powerful muscles of his arms and thighs, just as their informality did nothing to lessen the authority of his stern face. Dark eyes looked down a hooked nose, heavy brows just hinting at a frown. His skin was darker than many Kheda had seen so far in this domain though still appreciably lighter than his own. Shek Kul wore his coarse black hair long and swept back from his face with oil that glistened as well in his long, meticulously trimmed beard. Grey was spreading through both hair and beard, at his temples and beneath his full-lipped mouth.

  Daish Reik would have been much this age, had he lived.

  'Who are you?' Shek Kul's words echoed through the empty hall, voice as imposing as his face, deep and resonant from his barrel chest.

  Kheda halted in the middle of the green-stone circle. 'A traveller.'

  Shek Kul sat, elbows on his knees, staring down at Kheda. 'I hear the southern reaches in your voice.'

  'I have come from the south,' Kheda agreed cautiously.

  'Far from home,' observed Shek Kul sharply. 'Where would that be?'

  Kheda took another careful breath. 'I have no home.'

  'None that you may return to, perhaps.' Shek Kul's thick black brows knitted into an unmistakable scowl. 'Answer my question. What domain nourished your ungrateful, unworthy youth?'

  'I was neither ungrateful nor unworthy.' Kheda paused and moderated his tone. 'But my youth is past and may not be revisited.'

  'You chop your answers finer than my cook chops pepper pods. Very well,' Shek Kul continued with surprising silkiness, 'I will play this game until I tire of it. You may not revisit your past yet we are each and every one the sum of all we have experienced. Everything we have done forms a link in the unseen chains that tie past to future. Where are your chains?'

  'Back in the fortress on your shore,' Kheda said boldly. 'Your men did not think them necessary this morning.'

  'I trust their judgement in many things.' Shek Kul smiled but it was not an expression to inspire reassurance. 'Though they'll load you with enough chains to force you to your knees if I wish it.'

  'As is only right and proper, for men in service of so great a lord.' Kheda tried to sound suitably humble.

  Unexpectedly, Shek Kul laughed. 'Don't seek to flatter or grovel, traveller. It doesn't become you.'

  Kheda ducked his head submissively.

  'A traveller from the south,' Shek Kul continued thoughtfully. 'That's something in your favour, at least.'

  Kheda couldn't help himself. He looked up.

  Shek Kul was no longer smiling. 'You arrive on my shores, alone. No one knows where you've come from and you certainly don't care to share that information with anyone. You say you're looking for passage onwards but no one sees you talking to newly arrived shipmasters. No one knows which domain you're trying to reach. All I hear is that you read palms to fill your belly, which I find sufficiently curious to want to know more. You make safe enough predictions, I hear, nothing too outrageous, no promises of startling good fortune just beyond the turn of the stars. Any inadequate preying on men who prefer to work their way through life can do as much.' The warlord paused, eyes keen. 'Yet such parasites are far keener than you to spread word of their talents, hoping to bleed more victims dry with promises and blandishments. They don't, as a rule, insist on sufficiently unfavourable readings to be left abused and hungry. How will you win the reputation to keep you in idle luxury?'

  Kheda kept his face impassive and his mouth shut.

  'Still, you've avoided gloomy prognostications of general doom,' Shek Kul continued. 'As far as I've been able to ascertain, you haven't predicted death by disease or starvation or even drowning for anyone, though by all the stars, those travelling between the domains can fear that fate. My thanks for not casting such shadows over my domain with your skills.' The warlord's sarcasm cut like a lash.

  'You might care to be grateful in return. If you were sharing your skills with an eastern accent, had your insights promised ill fortune for those drifting through my waters, you'd have vanished from my beach before the tide had washed away your footsteps. I'll not have my enemies sending false augurs to spread ill feeling in my domain, stirring up dissatisfaction and dissension where they may. I find even the cleverest, most treacherous tongue can be stilled by decapitation.'

  Shek Kul paused to let the threat hang menacing in the empty hall. 'I have to ask myself though, are you merely biding your time before setting rumblings of disquiet along my beaches, rumours casting doubts over my future and that of all who stay loyal to me?' He leaned back, face hard. 'I'll have your answer to that, traveller, or my men will beat it out of you.'

  'I am no soothsayer to speak ill of your domain.' Kheda shook his head vehemently. 'I only read palms and those can show no more than the life of one person.'

  'So say all the sages,' agreed Shek Kul, voice cold. 'And those books that none outside a domain's inner circles generally ever see. There's another puzzle for me.

  'You're a man of many puzzles, traveller. You deny you're a soothsayer yet you wear a dragon's tail around your neck. Granted, a galley rat might wear such a trinket, if he had won it in trade, but he'd just as readily trade it for a full belly and a night out of the rain. You won't give it up, preferring to chance the mercy of the skies and grubbing up weeds in a reckal patch for the sake of a meal.'

  Shek Kul leant back in his throne, folding his formidable arms. 'More puzzles. You'll scrabble in the earth willingly enough but you show more interest in healing plants than those that'll fill a hungry belly. You're also a slow and clumsy worker. Do you realise what a poor bargain you offer? Is that why you can't accept what you earn with dignity?'

  Kheda was stung into replying. 'I offer the best bargain I can.'

  Shek Kul nodded as if the younger man had confirmed something. 'Ah, but you are just not accustomed to trading your labour. You're not in the habit of fleeing a domain's swordsmen either. Sezarre tells me you plainly had no expectation that they might be coming for you, until they were all but on you.' Shek Kul nodded beyond Kheda to the slave guarding the door and smiled.

  'Everyone else on that beach ran, either from knowledge of their own guilt or, to be fair, from simple prudence. There are lords in these reaches who'll beat everyone friendless on a trading beach, for the supposed sins of one or two. Indai Forl tells me it helps keep the innocent honest as well as rebuking the guilty.' He raised a hand. 'But I am straying from the question. Other puzzles hang around you, traveller. Your workmate yesterday might be more used to trading his labour but he's not in the least accustomed to dogs. Few travellers are. Why else do you think I keep those particular islanders so well provided with the largest and most intimidating hounds I can breed? Though you didn't find them in the least unnerving. I ask myself this: where would you have learned such familiarity with dogs other than inside a warlord's compound? So I ask you once more; where is your home domain?'

  Kheda swallowed. 'I have no home.'

  'You've your own jewels safe between your legs, I'll say that much for you.' Shek Kul sounded more curious than approving. 'Do you realise what you risk by defying me like this? Do you want me to turn you over to Sezarre, to Delai, to have them wring the truth from you?' The warlord nodded again towards the door and then jerked his head towards his own bodyguard, Kheda's erstwhile jailer. 'Of course you don't. Then why are you prepared
to run that risk?'

  This was plainly no rhetorical question. Kheda chose his words with exquisite care. 'For the present, I have no home. I have no domain. I did once, obviously. There are those I left behind. I would not see them suffer for my sake.' As soon as those words left his mouth, he regretted them.

  Shek Kul bent forward in one swift movement. 'You've done something that warrants punishment?' Delai clapped a hand to a sword hilt before he could restrain himself and a shiver of chainmail from the door suggested Sezarre had done the same.

  A guilty quiver ran down Kheda's spine. 'I have nothing to answer for in your domain,' he managed to say.

  Not as long as Godine sailed north as he said he would.

  'You seem to speak the truth and yet not all of the truth, if I am any judge.' Shek Kul relaxed in his throne again. 'You have remarkable eyes, do you realise that?'

  Kheda was startled by the abrupt change of subject. 'I'm sorry?'

  'There's no question over your southern origin,' mused Shek Kul. 'Your skin makes that plain, as does your speech. You're recently come north too, no local dialect's coloured your words. But those eyes show mixed blood, there's no question of that.' He waved a ring-laden hand in an airy gesture. 'Hereabouts, that much closer to the barbarians, we see all shades of skin, hair and eye, thanks to slaves traded down from the unbroken lands. Plenty get traded further on south. Are you some slave's get? Are you some slave? That would explain your familiarity with the ways of a warlord's compound. Should I be sending word south to enquire if any of my brother rulers seek a runaway of your description? Such a runaway must have committed a grave crime, to be fleeing so far north. I am not inclined to shelter such a guilty man, even if he has done nothing to warrant punishment in my domain.' His words were chilling.

  'I am no slave.' Kheda lifted his chin and stared defiantly at Shek Kul.

  Read the truth in my eyes if you can.

  'No, you'd have had that arrogance beaten out of you, if you were.' A slow smile curved Shek Kul's generous lips. 'So where did you get those curious green eyes? Hereabouts, our wives heed their duty to bring new blood into the domain and many choose their own body slaves to do the honours. Is that the way of the southern reaches? Let's consider that notion. If you'd been born into a warlord's household, that would solve a great many puzzles. It might even answer the greatest mystery of all. Just how is it that you know how to draw the entire compass of the heavens from the barest squint at the skies? Come now, you don't imagine I would imprison you and not have someone keep a watch on you? Delai was quite fascinated, especially when you set your dragon's tail in the circle. He knows enough to recognise such things, though he would never presume to try them himself. That does incline me to believe your assurance that you are no slave.'

  Kheda felt as cold as the marble beneath his feet. A tremor began in his legs and he couldn't stop it shaking the rest of him. He stared at the green swirls in the black floor and tried to think what to say. He came up with nothing.

  'Mixed blood from the south, where it's comparatively rare among the free islanders, yet most assuredly no slave and as well versed in star gazing as any man I know' Shek Kul heaved a sigh. 'What else could you be? You're not some zamorin set adrift to safeguard an elder brother's rights. A second son acknowledged lest some disaster befall the heir apparent perhaps? Are you a son raised to support an elder sister born to rule by right of age and suddenly superfluous now that she has married a man to rule her swordsmen for her? No, I cannot bring to mind any domain where any such circumstance applies.' The warlord fell silent.

  Noises floated through the high windows set just beneath the eaves of the imposing hall. Someone ran up a gravel path, followed by laughter. A single fluting call prompted a liquid torrent of bird song. Breezes stirred the banners hung high in the ceiling and the silk pennants made soft snapping noises. The bird song took on a wary note. Another distant rumble of thunder sounded. Within the great hall, all was hushed expectation. Kheda looked up to find Shek Kul studying him intently.

  'Daish Kheda is dead,' Shek Kul said in measured tones.

  'I have heard that said. 'Kheda found he was no longer shaking. 'Though his body has not been found.'

  'No man of such stature could return from the dead.' There was warning in the Shek warlord's words. 'An islander, a fisherman or hunter given up for lost in a storm or an earth tremor, they might return and such good fortune would be celebrated. For a ruler declared dead to return and challenge the right of his son's succession, that would be a calamity to blight a domain for a full cycle of stars.'

  'That would depend on the circumstances, surely, and such portents as were observed,' said Kheda forcefully.

  'The Daish year thus far has been all disaster,' Shek Kul observed bluntly. 'The loss of their lord in such ill-omened circumstance would have been calamity enough, yet they're assailed with magic as well, if all I hear is true.'

  'The Chazen domain was all but lost to savages with wizards' magic backing their attacks,' said Kheda grimly. 'The Daish domain still held out when I came north. I don't know how long they can last. The most powerful lords of those reaches couldn't see beyond their own squabbles to the necessity of joining forces against a menace that could destroy them all.'

  'Such bickering played a part in Daish Kheda's untimely demise?' Shek Kul looked thoughtful.

  'I have heard that said, 'Kheda replied evasively.

  'Dawn will always follow the darkest night.' Shek Kul looked him straight in the eye. 'My sources tell me Ritsem Caid, Redigal Coron, Sarem Vel and Aedis Harl have all massed substantial numbers of heavy triremes at their southernmost outposts. At the first signal from Daish Sirket that these invaders are coming north, they will sail in his support.'

  'That is indeed good news, for that domain.' Kheda didn't mind letting Shek Kul see his relief, not, in truth, that he could have concealed it.

  Shek Kul watched him closely, discreet amusement deepening the crow's feet around his eyes. 'I hear there is some rift between Ulla Safar and Viselis Us, though I've yet to hear what's caused it.'

  The warlord spoke as one equal to another and Kheda replied in kind. 'I imagine Ulla Safar would turn greedy eyes to the northern isles of Sarem if Vel was sending his forces south. Aedis and Sarem have been allies since -since their warlords' great-grandsires' day. Safar would doubtless suggest Viselis Us move against the Aedis islands at the same time.'

  'Viselis Us would not be interested in such conquest?' enquired Shek Kul.

  'Without the threat of magic in the south, he would be tempted.' Kheda pursed thoughtful lips. 'It must have been Redigal negotiation that persuaded the Aedis and Sarem lords to ready their forces. Viselis Us will not want to fall out with Redigal Coron.'

  Shek Kul nodded. He looked down and rubbed some smudge from a sparkling diamond ring. 'You're plainly well versed in the intricacies of southern diplomacy. More than that, you appreciate the wider interests of those reaches, rather than the narrow pursuit of a single domain's advantage. I am surprised that such a man would turn tail and flee north, when danger threatened his people.' If Shek Kul wasn't looking at Kheda, the faithful Delai was watching him closely.

  'Triremes, warriors, every defence that the Daish domain can muster is drawn up against the savages and those that wield their magic. One sword, my sword could add little to that strength.' Kheda folded his arms, challenge in his stance. 'There are other weapons and one of the most important is knowledge of your enemy. We in the southern reaches know little of wizardry, still less of how it may be defeated if force of arms proves inadequate in the face of magic. You in the north live constantly on your guard against barbarian wizards. One man could carry such lore to the south and bring more help than an entire domain's invasion fleet.'

  Shek Kul slowly raised his face. 'How does that search bring you to my domain?'

  'I have heard that your wisdom and resolve rescued your people from the peril of magic some years since.' Now Kheda looked Shek Kul in the eye. />
  'That's what they're saying on the beaches and across the galley decks?' The warlord's question was harsh.

  'It is. Any soothsayer hinting otherwise would find scant belief filling his bowl,' Kheda added boldly.

  'I wonder that my neighbours fail to read such wisdom in the skies,' Shek Kul muttered sourly. 'You seek lore to counter magic? There are those who'd beat you bloody merely for that curiosity. Others would drive you into the sea, just on suspicion that the magic plaguing the south might have touched you. Has it?' he snapped.

  'No.' Kheda hesitated. 'I have seen the foulness wrought by magic. I have seen those it has burned alive and done my best to tend their hurts. I— That is, I was with those who went to discover Chazen Saril's fate. We found sorcerous monsters made from the very beasts of the domain and we killed them. We burned the isle their tread had contaminated to black ashes,' he emphasised.

  Shek Kul said nothing. The silence lengthened. All at once, the Shek warlord rose from his throne. 'I must think on this.' He swept past Kheda, striding for the far door. Delai kept one pace behind him, the warrior's hand on his sword hilts. 'Sezarre. See him fed and kept secluded. He is to speak to no one.' Shek Kul left the great hall, the slam of the door echoing through the empty vastness.

  Kheda turned slowly to look at the swordsman Sezarre and ventured a reassuring smile. 'I give you my word I will not go against your lord's wishes.'

  Sezarre looked back, still aloof. 'Come with me.' He opened the door and stood waiting for Kheda to go through. After the cool of the great audience hall, the gardens outside were warm and humid. Sezarre nodded towards a distant bower. 'That way.'

  Kheda walked where he was bidden, Sezarre close behind him. The bower was an arch of fretwork laced with nerial vines whose dull green buds were just splitting to reveal white and purple petals furled within. Kheda was disappointed to note the quality of the woodcarving was nothing compared to the finesse of the Ulla domain's wares.

  'Wait here.' Sezarre gave Kheda a stern look.