“So much firemoss,” Ulmek said to Leitos, “shows Muranna’s success. One of those globes alone is worth more than a hundred slaves.”
“And how many hundreds would it take to pay for all the rest?” Leitos wondered aloud, his skin crawling at the thought of trading humankind for light.
“More than there are in all of Geldain.”
“My mistress does not trade in slaves,” their guide said over her shoulder.
“Then what?” Leitos demanded
“Swatarin, mostly....” She trailed off, her dark eyes wandering over Ulmek in a way that made the normally taciturn warrior fidget. When she spoke again, she had lowered her voice. “It was once thought that swatarin and firemoss only grew across the Sea of Drakarra, but Muranna has learned to grow them here. Even under the watchful eyes of the Faceless One’s minions, she is able to trade enough of each to secure herself, and all her household.”
“I would think that would be a close secret,” Ulmek said.
The woman’s eyes drank him in. “Besides Muranna, only myself and a few others know the truth. Such is the reason no one is allowed to enter her inner sanctum. But you, Ulmek, Brother of the Crimson Shield, have always been welcome.”
“You seem to know me,” Ulmek said, “but I’m sure we’ve never met.”
“I’m Sybeth. You would not remember me ... but I remember you.”
Ulmek frowned. “Sybeth....You were a girl, last I came here. Muranna’s handmaid.”
“So you do remember,” she laughed prettily, and Leitos noticed that she put an exaggerated sway into her hips. “Of course, now I’m neither a girl, nor a handmaid.”
“Then what are you?” Ulmek asked, just short of mockery.
That tone did not seem to sit well with Sybeth, and her seductive sway became a heavy-heeled stalking. “I’m Captain of Muranna’s House Guard.”
At Ulmek’s noncommittal grunt, Sybeth picked up her pace.
“You might have made an enemy in that one,” Leitos whispered.
“All the world is full of foes,” Ulmek said distractedly, his gaze flickering once more to Sybeth’s hips. “And the most dangerous are always the prettiest.”
Thinking of Zera, Leitos couldn’t disagree. Unbidden, he also thought of Belina. She was dangerous in her own hidden way, like velvet covering sharp steel. Most people, he was sure, didn’t see it for all of Nola’s dangerousness. He gave his head a shake, and distanced himself from thoughts of either of those three sisters. He needed no distractions, not now.
Sybeth came to another set of doors more grand than any others so far, layered in gold leaf and embedded with gems. She gave the ornate surface a gentle rap.
“Enter,” called a woman’s husky voice.
Sybeth swung open the door. “After your affairs with Muranna are concluded,” she said against Ulmek’s ear, “perhaps we’ll have a moment to ... catch up?”
“Perhaps,” Ulmek said thickly, and hurried into the chamber.
Leitos followed close on his heels. Sybeth was still laughing when the door closed, but Ulmek’s whisper put the woman out of Leitos’s mind. “Remember what I told you, little brother. The most dangerous are always the prettiest.”
Chapter 30
Ulmek’s warning faded as Leitos’s gaze swept over the chamber. Sheer pastel curtains hung at intervals from the coffered ceiling, partially dividing one colossal room into many. Through the gaps, Leitos saw a stunning abundance of wealth, from the thick carpets, to the elaborate furnishings, to the intricate tapestries on the walls. All was lit by firemoss lamps fashioned from glass blown into fanciful shapes. More than the treasures, it was the woman seated on a throne-like chair at the far end of the columned room that caught his eye.
“Ulmek!” Muranna said. “You have been absent so long I thought you’d been killed. It did not help that I had heard rumors of a great defeat that had befallen the Brothers of the Crimson Shield. Of course, we both know King Rothran has always been wise enough to spread dire whispers about the enemies of the Faceless One. Such keeps the rabble compliant and utterly hopeless. Not that they have much room in their lives for hope of any sort.”
Ulmek shrugged. “Yes, well, rumors are only rumors until proven true.”
Leitos struggled not to stare when Muranna stood off her chair. The dark-haired women wore a gown of crimson silk that was thinner than a dream. Her slim hips and generous breasts strained against the delicate fabric. A lapis and gold pendant the size of gull’s egg glimmered at the top her cleavage. When he felt a stirring in his middle, he dropped his gaze to his feet. Beside him, Ulmek appeared bold and sure as ever, but there was a wooden quality to his face.
Muranna stepped down off the low dais, her movements a slow, seductive dance. “So, are any of the rumors true?”
Leitos thought sure Ulmek would lie, but he did not. “Yes, as it happens. My order has fallen.”
“A pity.” Muranna sauntered closer, a silver goblet hanging carelessly from her fingers. “I also regret that if you have come for boys to fill Ba’Sel’s sad little band, I have none to give you. Things have changed in Zuladah, of late.”
Ulmek drew himself up. “I do not seek a few orphans, but an army.”
A brief flicker of surprise crossed her oval face, and was gone just as quickly. “So Ba’Sel has finally decided to stop playing his ridiculous game?”
Ulmek took a deep breath. “Ba’Sel has nothing to do with my request.”
A slight frown pinched her brows. “Surely nothing ill has befallen our great leader?” Leitos sensed true concern from her.
Ulmek swallowed. “Ba’Sel is hale of body but ... his mind is broken.”
“Perhaps that is for the best ... if it puts you in charge.”
“It’s nothing I would have wanted.”
“Of course not, good Ulmek, but circumstances are what they are.” Her concern for Ba’Sel had evaporated. “Yet, as you have come looking for an army where there is none, I must worry if Ba’Sel’s madness hasn’t touched you?”
“We both know you command a great number of ruffians.”
“Thieves, smugglers, and liars are no army. But even if they were, what need have I of armies and the wars they would fight? And that is what you are talking about, is it not? For why have an army unless one also means to make war? Furthermore, as there is only one true enemy of humankind, that would mean making war against the Faceless One.”
“You have never been a fool.”
Muranna sipped her wine. “No, I have not. That is why I reside here—wealthy, pampered, and wanting for nothing. War is for desperate fools who will give over their lives for dreams better left undreamed.” She smiled at Ulmek’s frown. “But sit, friend, have a taste of wine, and tell me all that you hope to gain.”
“Why waste my breath?”
Muranna laughed. “Because we are old friends, and that’s what friends do. Talk, reminisce, and....” she trailed off, leaving Leitos to wonder what she had left unsaid. By the look in Ulmek’s eyes, Muranna and the Brother might have been rather intimate friends, at one time.
Now she spoke again. “Besides, if you expect me to fund this rebellion of yours, and risk all that I hold dear, I would learn how you mean to ensure success. Mine and yours.”
Ulmek’s face was hard. “There are no promises I can give you.”
“We shall see.”
Muranna led them beyond a fall of gossamer curtains, and sat at an ornate table. While Leitos and Ulmek took their chairs, she poured herself more wine from a tall flagon, splashed more into another two goblets. Reclining in her seat, she crossed one long leg over the other.
“The trick, dear Ulmek, is to change my mind. Speak plainly—it is, after all, what you have always done best.”
Ulmek laughed. “I want an army, as I have already said.”
Muranna sat forward, the amorous creature becoming a shrewd-eyed bargainer. “Will I gain more than I lose?”
“If we succeed, you will gain your fre
edom—true freedom, in place of this gilded cage.”
“Will those gains linger, or will they be short-lived? I do not want a taste, only to have it ripped away when I am at my happiest.”
“Victory—true, hard-fought victory—will rid us of our enemies forever.”
Muranna sipped wine, her dark eyes giving nothing away. “How?
“Give me the seeds of an army to conquer Zuladah, and those few seeds will grow into a force to rival the armies of the Suanahad Empire. And when Geldain is ours, we will then begin to reclaim the rest of the world.”
Muranna sat back. “You seem to be forgetting the Faceless One. With enough of these seeds, you could grow an army large enough to rid Geldain of Alon’mahk’lar. I have often plotted the same myself. But what of Mahk’lar? Spirits of demons call no one realm home, but travel where they will, unhindered. Zuladah and the surrounding lands are protected by the Faceless One’s decree, but once you launch a war, that protection will no longer hold. How do you intend to keep so many safe from possession?”
“Rumors have it that King Rothran retains a vast store of stones of protection.”
“Rumors are not enough to win wars,” Muranna said. “And you still have not explained how you mean to defeat the Faceless One, a being no one has ever seen.”
When Leitos saw the look of defeat cross Ulmek’s face, he leaned forward. Muranna’s eyes widened when she looked at him, and he knew that until that moment, he had been below her notice.
“You are not Geldainian,” she said. “The sun has darkened your skin, but the blue of your eyes speaks of the north—Izutar, I would guess, since the Faceless One has a certain love for enslaving your people.”
Leitos saw no reason to speak of his ancestry. “The Faceless One is a lie.”
“Leitos—” Ulmek began, but cut off when Muranna shot him a hard look.
“Tell me, dear Leitos, what Ulmek would keep back.”
After the Yatoans had disregarded his warning and his plea for aid, Leitos was in no mood to hold anything back. “I killed the Faceless One.” Her eyes went wide with disbelief. She began to speak, but he overrode her. “I killed the Faceless One, and he wore the face of my grandfather, Kian Valara, the King of the North. Peropis is the true power behind that myth.”
Muranna stood up. “You are deluded fools, and your presence here is surely a threat to me. It is time for you both to leave.”
As she made to turn away, Leitos caught her arm. She tried to pull away, but he held her. He had to convince her, or he would end up like Ba’Sel, wandering about Geldain, collecting just enough orphans to keep the false hope of the Brothers of the Crimson Shield alive. It was not a life he wanted. The time to act was now, but that window was fast closing.
“Instead of gains,” he said, “I’ll tell you what you and the rest of us stand to lose. Peropis is preparing to escape the Thousand Hells, not as a spirit, but a being of flesh and spirit. She will fill the world with her kindred, and send the last of humankind to the Thousand Hells. And from that place, we will never escape. Out of her hatred for Pa’amadin, she will torture us for all eternity, and feast on our misery. There will be no hope of Paradise, no hope of anything, save unending death.”
When he released Muranna, she took a measured step backward. “Have you brought a priest into my midst, Ulmek, or a madman?”
“I stood at his side when he learned what he told you.” Ulmek spoke the lie so smoothly, Leitos almost believed it.
Muranna’s face clouded, and her eyes twitched over the carpeted floor, as if searching for something. “If I give you an army, I want something in return.”
“Name your price,” Ulmek invited.
“King Rothran’s throne.”
“You would be Queen of Zuladah?
An eager light replaced the hesitancy in her gaze. “Who better? Besides, I grow weary of ruling over bones in crypts. It is more fitting that I should climb out of this warren, and rule in the light of day. But you underestimate me. I would be queen not of a mere city, but all of Geldain.”
Ulmek tugged his chin. “As queen, what will you do for me?”
“What all good queens do, keep my army in soldiers and supplies.” Before Ulmek could speak a word of promise, she added, “First, I want to hear how you intend to take the city, for if you cannot do even that, then you will never conquer Geldain, let alone anything else.”
Ulmek quickly detailed who would act when and where. As he spoke, Muranna nodded often, and asked pointed questions.
When he finished, she toyed with her pendant with a languid finger. “If this works, I think perhaps I will make you my king.”
Ulmek gave her what Leitos considered a genuine smile. “And, perhaps, I would accept your offer.”
Leitos held his tongue until he and Ulmek had put the Hall of Bones at their backs, and climbed the winding stairs back to the sewers.
Only when they were again walking the stinking black alleys of a night-cloaked Zuladah, did he speak. “Can we trust Muranna?”
“No, little brother, not even in the best of times would I trust the likes of Muranna. At least, not fully.”
“Then why did we go to her?”
“While I do not trust her, I do trust her love of wealth and power. Those two things, which I will give her, are the chains that bind her to us. And besides, there is no one else. We are alone and weak in a world of stalking nightmares, and she is our only hope.”
Chapter 31
“What do you mean he’s gone?” Ulmek demanded. The moonlight cast deep shadows in the hollows of his eyes and cheeks. “How do more than a score of guards let one crazed man escape?”
Damoc’s chest swelled with anger. Before he could lash out, Adham inserted himself between the two men. “Ba’Sel might be insane, but he’s no fool. If he got it into his head to escape—‘Hide,’ I believe he kept saying—then that’s what he will do.”
Ulmek looked out over the desert. “We must find him.”
“We have already tried,” Damoc said.
Ulmek glared at those gathered round. “Then we try again.”
“It’s no use,” Adham said. “Ba’Sel is gone. We should not risk what few lives we have on your friendship.”
“My friendship is not the reason I want him back. He knows too much. If he is caught and tortured, he will lead the enemy right to us.”
“I believe we discussed this problem before,” Damoc said coldly. “I also believe it was you who said you would keep Ba’Sel close at hand.”
“In that,” Ulmek admitted, grinding the words between his teeth, “you are right. I should have left Ba’Sel on Yato. Be that as it may, we must find him before an Alon’mahk’lar patrol does.”
“I don’t think he will allow himself to be found,” Adham said.
Ulmek gusted a sigh. “We have but a few hours before dawn. We search until then. If Ba’Sel is not found, then we return here and prepare for tonight.”
“I hope this plan of yours makes more sense than bringing Ba’Sel along in the first place,” Damoc said dryly.
“If we keep attacking each other,” Belina said, “it will not matter what we intend, because we’ll all end up killing each other before our enemies can.”
“The girl makes sense,” Adham said.
Ulmek and Damoc considered each other a long time. The wind sighed around them, rustling brush. No one else stirred or seemed to breathe. “Agreed,” they both said at once, and their glares intensified.
Adham barked laugher. “Let’s find Ba’Sel,” he said, “so that I can get some sleep.”
No one disagreed, and the company quietly broke into pairs. Leitos was heading for his father, when Belina caught his arm.
“We can search together,” she said. Leitos caught Nola watching them a few strides away. Sumahn whispered something to the girl, and a faint smile turned her lips. Sudden unease tickled Leitos’s belly. What are they up to?
“I was hoping to speak with my father,” Leitos sai
d, edging toward Adham.
Adham glanced between them with raised eyebrows. “Morning is soon enough,” he said, and turned away before Leitos could think of a counterargument.
“I suppose that settles it,” Leitos said with forced pleasantness.
In short order, the pairs had picked routes and slipped into the night. Leitos and Belina headed back toward Zuladah, taking a route that would lead north of the city. He gave her a sidelong look, but her attention was on the ground at her feet. The Sleeping Widow, sinking toward the horizon, provided enough light to see by, but scarcely enough to find any tracks, unless they were obvious enough to trip over.
“Did Ba’Sel say anything before he left?” Leitos asked quietly.
“Much the same as always. A good deal about hiding, and something about Peropis being close and on the hunt.”
“I still don’t understand how he got away.”
Gray moonlight flashed in her eyes. “Are you taking Ulmek’s side against my father?”
“No, it’s not that. I just don’t see how—”
“You don’t see half as much as you think you do,” she spat, and went back to searching.
Leitos looked after her, wondering at her edginess. Shaking his head, he caught up with her. “Why did you want to come with me?”
“Who says I did?”
He barely hid his astonishment. “You did. Or do you not remember all but begging me to join you, instead of my father?”
“Begging? I never begged, you arrogant fool. I’m here because someone needs to keep you alive, someone who knows how important you are.”
“I can accept that you might have had a dream or two about someone who looks like me, but they were just dreams. I’m no savior, and I’m certainly not this man of shadow and steel you have dreamed of.”
Heirs of the Fallen: Book 04 - Wrath of the Fallen Page 18
