The Ikessar Falcon

by Villoso, K. S.

Nor got up from her seat to draw close to him. “They said you are no longer Queen.”

  “Rayyel’s doing.”

  “He claims Prince Thanh isn’t his.” Her face was like hard steel. “I once gave you the choice of leaving me dead or alive. I warned you I would question you if you chose the latter.”

  “I can count the number of people loyal to me with one hand,” I replied. “Will you leave me with less?”

  “There’s no time for this,” Khine said, his voice jerking me back to reality. I stepped back as he unlocked the cell. We walked out of the dungeons in silence, one that broke at the sight of Cho grappling with two men. I started to draw my sword when I heard someone sigh.

  “What did I tell you?” Dai asked. “A royal, through and through.” He reached out to grab me.

  ~~~

  A lesser man would’ve been down on the ground with a slit throat in an instant.

  But I had seen Dai fight. I knew his reputation, and didn’t want to stake my life against it. Instead of going for my dagger, I turned to flee. I was hoping either of my guards would engage him first, which would give me a chance to strike in my own time. Dai was way too big for me to face directly.

  I saw Yu-yan soldiers in the distance, headed by Huan, who had blood pouring down from inside his helmet and down both cheeks. He paused at the sight of me. Dai was standing between us.

  “Lady Talyien!” Huan roared. “You’re supposed to be back in the city!”

  “This is a surprise,” Dai said, turning to me with a shadow of a smirk. “What’s the plan, then? You take on the whole nation by yourself?”

  “If I have to,” I replied evenly.

  “I thought you were simply allying yourself with your own kind,” Dai continued in a low voice. “I had no idea you were a fool, too. I never did understand you royals.” He craned his head towards Huan. “Your chosen queen, the decision sealed with a blood pact between the warlords—your own father included. Yet the instant her missing husband decides to show his face and announce her a traitor, you stumble over yourselves to be the first to claim the prize.”

  “Don’t pretend like you’re not an ambitious dog yourself, Kaggawa,” Huan said, his voice seething.

  “I have never denied what I truly want,” Dai said. “Someone has to keep an eye out for this land while you royals are busy tearing each other apart for the smallest scrap of meat.”

  “Is this why you’re playing hero? Commoner rabble like you?”

  “You’ve got a head wound, Anyu,” Dai called. “My commoner rabble caused it, I’m sure. Better get it checked before your brains leak through your eye sockets.”

  He glanced at his men. They lunged—not for me, not for Huan, but for Khine.

  I froze, too stunned to react. Khine’s neck was between two naked blades.

  “Stop!” I bellowed, just as I saw Huan lift his hand to order his soldiers to attack.

  “With me now, Beloved Queen,” Dai said, drifting close to squeeze my shoulder. I resisted the urge to strike him. “And you, Anyu brat—I’m sure the last thing you want is to report that you got Talyien Orenar killed because of some hasty decisions.” He whistled. I saw more of Dai’s men appear at the fringes around Huan.

  “You won’t begrudge me of my guards, I hope,” I told Dai. “You do want my cooperation.”

  He gave a quick nod.

  His men dragged Khine down to the bank just as the rest attacked the Yu-yan soldiers. Agos and Cho strode through the sound of clashing swords and screaming men. I noticed Nor hanging back.

  “Captain,” I said.

  She gave me a look, one sharp enough to carve a hole in the pit of my stomach. No, I thought. I’m down to four people, Nor—please.

  “Captain,” I repeated. “Nor.”

  Watching her make that decision felt like forever. I wanted to drop to my knees to beg her to reconsider, to beg her not to turn on me, too. The feeling was followed by a twinge of shame. Was this how far I had fallen?

  Yeshin’s voice flared inside my head, that crack of lightning.

  If you had stuck to your path, girl…!

  “Cousin!” I could hear the anguish in my own voice.

  She turned away like I didn’t exist, drew her blade, and sank it into the nearest man. Dai’s. She was throwing her hat in with the Anyus. I was nothing to her now. I had done this. My own inabilities, my failures…

  It must’ve all happened in a flash, because I felt Dai squeeze my shoulder again. “Now, Talyien, before I change my mind and your lover stands a head shorter,” he growled.

  I didn’t have time to respond to his choice of words. I followed him down the steps to the riverbank, silently counting the number of men he had. There were six—too many for us to take at once, not when Agos was my only reliable swordsman left.

  The path led to a tunnel.

  “I don’t see why you’re so worried, Queen Talyien,” Dai said as we stepped into the shadows. “My agents are on their way to Oren-yaro as we speak. Your treachery aside, I will stick with my agreement—your son will be rescued, and not a moment too soon. After what your husband just did? His life hangs on the balance.” He retrieved a lantern from the wall and held it out.

  I blinked as light flooded the cave. The river was running right through the far end. I caught sight of a boat bobbing along a small dock, where a silent figure sat.

  “Beloved Queen,” Lahei said. “The preparations are ready. The river can take us underground, deeper in the heart of the Sougen.”

  I swallowed. My eyes skipped towards her right leg, which ended in a bandage-wrapped stump. She stared at me, blood seeping through the cloth. There were dark hollows under her eyes.

  “You left my daughter for dead,” Dai said grimly.

  “So I did,” I whispered. I turned back to him. “Is this what you want, then? An eye for an eye?”

  He glanced at Khine, who looked almost calm for someone with swords a hair’s breadth away from slitting his throat.

  “You know what I want,” Dai said in a low voice.

  “My son and I as hostages. Yes. You can see why I didn’t exactly warm up to the idea.” I swallowed. “Should I offer my own bargain, Kaggawa? Point out a chink in your armour? I have no desire to explore this region anymore than I already have. I want to go back home, to Oren-yaro.”

  There was hardly a flicker of concern on his face. “I’m not sure what else you’ve got that I’d be interested in.”

  “I know about you, Dai Kaggawa. I know you’ve got two souls in that body. You know I’ve heard it, too—that change in your voice, the way you’d swing from irritable to complacent. Our daughter, you said once. Did you think I’d miss it?”

  I had been expecting a bigger reaction and was sorely disappointed that he didn’t even seem concerned. He leaned back, crossing his arms in front of him. A shadowy expression flashed across his face for a moment. “Irritable,” he said at last, in that softer voice. “I love that. You do have a way with words, Queen Talyien.”

  I swallowed.

  It was his turn to grin. “Were you expecting me to change? Ah, but I think we’ve had enough excitement for today.”

  “After all the trouble you went through to convince me of the sort of situation we’re dealing with…”

  Dai walked over to Lahei, a thoughtful look on his face. The expression accentuated the dimples on his cheeks. He paused to press her arm. “I do love it here. There is so much to get attached to.”

  “Oh, Da,” Lahei murmured.

  A moment of silence followed. “This other you—you,” Khine broke in. “You’re not born here.”

  Dai nodded towards his guards, who took a step back, giving him room to breathe.

  Khine rubbed his hand on his neck. “I figured it from the way you talked. You lapse into a non-native accent when you carry that voice.”

  I blinked. “I didn’t even catch that.”

  Khine shrugged. “It’s something you pick up when you’ve had to learn to spea
k Jinan like I did.”

  “I was from the Kag, in fact,” Dai—or at least, what appeared to be the other Dai—replied. “From Hafod. I was born there a long time ago, and I died there a long time ago, too. So no—I am not exactly like these corrupt creatures. I am well aware of what I am, and what Dai had given me.” He paused for a moment, drifting into thought, before laughing. “Well. He wants a quick correction. I forced myself in, but Dai was gracious enough to let me stay.”

  “I still don’t understand the difference,” I said.

  “This happened a long time ago,” he continued. “Well before the destruction of Rysaran’s dragon. I am not part of whatever foulness resulted from that. The reasons I was drawn to Dai was…personal. My soul remains intact.”

  “I believe him,” Khine said. “The other thing, the one that spoke to me in the village, felt different.”

  “You’d leave this up to feeling?” I asked, trying to keep the horror from my voice.

  Khine sighed. “Like you, I’ve suspected as much with Dai. It couldn’t be a coincidence that he was acting so strangely, especially in a world where these incidents seem commonplace.”

  “You must have such a poor impression of our nation.”

  “Don’t I? There’s time to play tourist later.” He grew serious. “That other thing back in the village was…sinister. Foul is a good word for it. The way it spoke sent shivers up my spine. You know that feeling, don’t you? When you’re around someone and everything they say rings empty—you’re just listening to how they string words together, words that don’t even fit. Like a coward babbling on sword-point. This one…” He glanced back at Dai.

  “Myar,” the old man replied. “Since we’re on the subject, my name is Myar.”

  Khine gave a quick bow. “Myar, you speak with the intent and grace of someone who not only lives in this body, but belongs to its world. You aren’t occupying it simply to further your life or drink in its experiences. The cares of Dai are your own. His daughters know about you, and love you as an entity separate from Dai. No—they are your daughters, too. They consider you a second father.”

  The old man broke into a grin. “I appreciate the observations, Khine Lamang. But you are wrong. I am here for all those reasons, and more. I lost my life far too young, and Dai’s was…so tempting. It’s why I’ve never left all these years.”

  Chapter Two

  The Man With Two Souls

  Despite Khine’s words, I did feel a chill descending on me then. I wondered if it was from the wind whistling through the tunnel.

  Myar seemed to have caught onto the expression on my face, because he held a hand out in a gesture of peace. “Dai knows this, of course. And for his part, for a while he was tempted to drift away from this body and leave it to me, returning to the agan. Both desires go against nature. A soul belongs to the body it was born to, and it must stay until the body dies. An intruder, over time, will find itself at odds with its host. A soul ripped unnaturally from its body, without the proper mechanisms of death, will become corrupt. They lose all sense of where they belong and instead of following the natural process of wherever it is souls go off to—another realm in the agan, maybe, or back here into a new life—they turn into predators, eager to jump into places, lives, where they ought not to be. If anything, our arrangement is a compromise. It keeps our natures locked in place while allowing us to indulge a little in our desires.”

  “So you do not stay for very long?” I asked.

  Myar shook his head. “I come but once a while. I dare not even stay an hour, else risk tainting this body.”

  I thought about Eikaro. How long had it been since he had taken over the dragon? “What happens if the other soul isn’t there?” I found myself asking. “If you had thrown Dai back into the abyss, then you wouldn’t be at odds with him, would you? There is no other soul to take over, no one else to hold at bay and cause these changes. This body would be your own.”

  “I ah, don’t think you should be giving him ideas,” Khine whispered.

  “Believe me when I say it’s crossed my mind once or twice,” Myar said. “But I wouldn’t dare. For one thing, in such a case, the possessed become mindless monsters. And I wouldn’t do that to Dai. Believe it or not, I do like the surly bastard.” He laughed after a moment, as if responding to an unheard statement.

  “So you wouldn’t know what would happen in that sort of situation.”

  “No,” he replied. “I think you’d need to have some sort of attunement to the agan to accomplish such in the first place, a thing which neither of us have. The circumstances of my attachment to Dai is…unprecedented.” He pushed himself away from the rails. “Does this answer your questions for me, Queen Talyien? Or do you have others?”

  “For you,” I said. “Not Dai?”

  He smiled thinly. “The entire realm knows how you are, Beloved Queen. Bold. Rash. Lovely qualities for a leader, mind, particularly if combined with wise counsel—”

  “Yours again, I’m assuming. Not Dai.”

  “If it was up to Dai alone, he would be content with setting the Sougen free of these creatures. But I believe the problem cannot be solved so simply. The concerns of Jin-Sayeng start from within, and until we fix it from the inside, we cannot hope to fix it from the outside. Marrying your son to our daughter will usher in a new era, the sort your ancestors have all been dreaming of. Consider how you and your people have botched your rule. If everything continues down this road, you will be faced with more trouble than you know how to deal with. I told you I loved it here. These lands, this nation, this people. The last thing I want is to see it go up in flames.”

  “Then help me,” I said. “If you truly desire to serve the land, you will not look at me as an enemy.”

  “We are not, Beloved Queen. We still acknowledge your title.”

  “My son and I—are we to be mere puppets in this new regime? One noose in place of another?”

  “You are being overly dramatic. I don’t see a noose around your neck. Did you not have a warm bed in our home? Good food? This man, your lover—” He nodded towards Khine.

  “He isn’t,” I bristled.

  “Is that right?” Dai asked. “Why hide it now, after your husband’s announcement? The way you look at each other…”

  “I met him in the Empire. In any case, if I support you, if I dare proclaim my son’s betrothal to your daughter, we are all as good as dead.”

  Myar’s eyes turned back to me. “We will protect the both of you. You have my word on that.”

  “And therein lies my noose,” I snarled. “I will not be able to walk two steps in any direction without one of your men shadowing me. You told me once that you needed to show me what was happening in the Sougen. That you would risk war to save us from that. Well, there is no need for war. I’ve seen it with my own eyes—let me return home. Once I have cleared this mess with my husband, I will send people to you.”

  “Don’t you understand yet, Queen Talyien? You have nothing to bargain with. Change cannot happen without sacrifice.”

  “My father would say such things,” I whispered. “How are you planning to stand against the entire realm? Your sellswords? Do you even have enough? You’d dare talk of war as if it was a game…that’s more arrogance than a mere rice merchant ought to have.”

  “Ah, but see, Dai is the rice merchant,” Myar said.

  “And you?” I asked, realizing the source of my trepidation. I had been looking at from Dai’s point of view. I never once considered the ambition of the other.

  “Well,” Myar replied. “You could say I was once a king’s son. My father was Agartes Allaicras, hero of the Kag.”

  I frowned at the name. A part of me couldn’t blame people for wanting the Dragonthrone. It was, after all, a tasty prize, one that others had died and killed for. My own father had given up so much for the chance to sit on it. I suppose I don’t need to go through a history lesson to convince you. Power is power. Everyone thinks they want it. I knew
Dai did, but it caught me off guard to what extent. What began as an innocent suggestion to undermine Jin-Sayeng’s ruling class was now a full-fledged intention to turn everything upside-down.

  I should’ve seen it coming.

  As Queen, such things were my responsibility to ward against, were they not? To maintain the balance of power, break the legs of any who dare rise higher than they did. But embroiled in my own personal affairs, I had neglected to look beyond the obvious. Dai Kaggawa’s friend, a certain Myar Allaicras. I recalled reading about him once in a half-hearted translation of prominent Kag figures in Jinan. Myar Allaicras was a footnote in it. Son of an old hero, an important general and would-be king. The boy was cut down before his twelfth year, along with his entire family—slaughtered by Dageians, as the story goes.

  I watched Dai—Myar—whoever he was. Three men to me. Six to him, plus him and Lahei. I blinked, realizing that. Lahei. She was very close to me, barely managing to sit straight. By all rights she should be recovering on a bed somewhere. I think they had all forgotten she was now an invalid.

  In the blink of an eye, I had my dagger at her throat. I saw her father’s eyes widen. “Myar, you careless fool!” he thundered. Dai’s voice.

  “Into the boat,” I told my men.

  They hesitated. It was Khine who moved first, shrugging his way out of the arms holding him. Cho quickly followed.

  “Princess—” Agos began.

  I turned to him. “What?”

  “I think he is remarking on the foolishness of this,” Dai said. “How far do you think you’ll get before one of your enemies catch up? The whole world is against you. We’ve offered you something valuable here, Beloved Queen.”

  I smirked and threw Lahei towards him as I jumped into the boat. After a quick grumble, Agos clambered in after me. Khine finished untying the rope and kicked the boat off the dock.

  Dai didn’t move a muscle. He remained watching as we drifted down the river, away from the sounds of fighting.

  “You should know,” he called out, when we were halfway down the channel, “that Zarojo landed in Kyo-orashi several days ago.”