by Nathan Long
A lot of the crew looked tempted. Even Captain Ku-Rho was thinking about it. So was I. I’d wanted to sign on with Kai-La and her gang from the first time I’d met ’em. Me and Lhan riding the sky, flying free, living outside of Ora’s stuffy, medieval society—I couldn’t think of a better life. The only reason I hadn’t taken her up on her offer the last time was ’cause they were slaving, criminal fucks. Now, however, they were starting to look like the good guys. I couldn’t think of a single reason why we shouldn’t…
Goddamn it. Yes I could. Two reasons, in fact.
I caught Lhan’s eye. He nodded. I sighed and picked up my sword, then looked up at Kai-La on the rail.
“I’m sorry. We gotta go back.”
She stared at me like I was talking pig latin. “Sister, you are mad. You were born to sail the skies. Why continue to deny it?”
“I swore to the Aldhanan as he was dying that I’d protect Wen-Jhai. I can’t break that promise.”
Lhan stepped up beside me. “Nor can I. Nor abandon Sai-Far. With the Aldhanan dead, I cannot think but that they will be next.”
“But what do you think you can do against the might of the church?” Kai-La was really angry. “You would have died here had I not intervened, and this miserable flotilla was nothing compared to what they can bring to bear. You won’t save your friends. You will only die beside them.”
“Then they will not die alone.” Captain Ku-Rho fell in with Lhan and me. “For I will go with them, and any of my crew who will follow me. I will not allow the church to go unpunished for this assassination, nor allow them another.”
From the rail, Lo-Zhar sneered. “Good riddance.”
Kai-La shook her head. “And what use will you be, though your whole crew goes with you, when I have taken your ship and your gold? You will walk into Ormolu a moon from now to find your friends dead and the church waiting for you.”
I shrugged. “So come with us.”
Kai-La whipped around, eyes bulging. “What?”
“Why not? You don’t like the church any more than we do. Shit, after Toaga, you should hate ’em! And you’d be doing the Empire another solid. They’ll probably pay you twice what you’ve got now if you help us get Sai and Wen-Jhai to safety.”
Lo-Zhar barked a laugh. “Pay us? They’d kill us!”
Kai-La snorted in agreement. “Stick my hand in a vurlak’s mouth to pull its tongue? My thanks, but no. I may hate the church, but I am not ready to sacrifice myself for their destruction. If you wish to fight them I’ll set you down and you may go to your deaths, and good luck to you.”
I tried to think of something to say that would change her mind, but nothing was coming. She was right. She’d have to be an idiot to come with us. It was certain death. I looked at Lhan and Ku-Rho and Sei-Sien. They didn’t have anything either. Then old Shal-Hau shuffled forward, holding a bandaged arm. He coughed.
“Mistress Captain, by your accent I suspect you are from Liaovan?”
She looked at him like he was a bug that had fallen in her coffee. “Aye. What of it?”
“Your parents were perhaps farmers there?”
Kai-La snarled and slapped her flat chest. “I was a farmer there. Until it dried up and blew away.”
“Ah. Yes. I thought so. The Great Drought of Liaovan turned many honest farmers outlaw. And what if I were to tell you that the drought was the church’s fault?”
She laughed, as bitter as chewing an aspirin. “Of course it was the church’s fault! They drove the price of water tokens so high none could pay for irrigation. My… My….” She swallowed, then continued. “We could do nothing but watch our ruktugs die and curse the bone-dry sky. Do you think you will change my mind with things I already know?”
Shal-Hau smiled and ducked his head like he was afraid he was going to get hit, but he kept going. “Forgive me, Mistress, but I did not mean the church’s practice of raising prices during a drought, though that of course was a crime as well. What I thought you might perhaps not know, what Mistress Jae-En has only recently brought to light, was that the church caused the drought in the first place. It was they who stole the rain. And, though you did not know it, it was they you cursed when you cursed the sky.”
Kai-La blinked at him. “What? What are you saying?” She looked around at Lhan and me. “Who is this old fool? I know first-hand the power of the church, but they are not gods, no matter what they think themselves. They cannot steal the rain.”
“They can, though.” I leaned on the pommel of my sword. “I saw it. I was inside the Temple of Ormolu, and you know what it was? A big fucking water tank. The whole thing. They use fans and, uh, gifts of the Seven, to suck the moisture out of the air and fill the tank. That’s why Ora is so dry all the time. All seven temples, Ormolu, Modgalu, all the rest, they’re moisture traps. They’re stealing the water from the land and selling it back to you.” I laughed. “You think you’re the greatest pirate in all Ora? You’re not a patch on these fuckers. They’re holding a whole country for ransom.”
Kai-La’s knuckles were white on the rope. She looked me in the eye. I couldn’t look away.
“Do you lie to me? Is this some trick to make me join you?” She pointed at Shal-Hau without looking at him. “Is he a mind reader? Does he know my life? My past?”
I had no clue. “I—I don’t think so. He’s just a professor. He teaches at the university in—”
“My—my husband died in that drought. He would not leave the farm. Just kept praying to the Seven to bring the clouds. They never came, so one day he went with some others to steal water from the Dhan.” She fisted her eyes. “They brought his body back and I buried him in the field with the lassi roots that never grew, then I went with the others when the Dhan’s men came for us.”
She raised her head like she was coming out of a dream, then snarled around at us. “But what has that to do with this? You ask me to save a pair of foolish children. In what way will this win me vengeance against the church?”
Shal-Hau bowed again. “It is the first step. Once the Aldhanshai and her consort are out of reach of the church, we can act without fear for their safety. We will be free to plan something more substantial than just stealing their hostages out from under their noses.”
Was he talking rebellion again? I hadn’t promised the Aldhanan anything like that. Or maybe I had. When exactly would Wen-Jhai be safe? Would she ever be safe with the church around? What the hell had I signed up for?
Kai-La was still standing on the rail. Still gripping the rope and staring at nothing. Then a sob choked out of her and she looked over at Burly. “Halan. He was your brother. What say you? What would he have had me do?”
There were tears in Burly’s eyes too. “You know already, sister. All he ever wanted was for the rain to come.”
Kai-La closed her eyes and hung her head, nodding, but before she had a chance to think it out one way or the other, Lo-Zhar pushed forward, snarling like a badger.
“No, Kai-La! You cannot be considering this! We are pirates, not rebels! Listen to these fools and it will Toaga all over again. Let us take their gold and throw them over the side!”
Kai-La gave him a cold look. “You are no crew of mine, Lo-Zhar. You may do as you like. Take a ship, take your share of the spoils, take as many as will go with you. But on my ship, I will make my own decisions, and this is my ship.”
Lo-Zhar glared at her, then shot a glance at her red-ballooned warship, which I suddenly recognized as the church ship she’d taken at Toaga with a new coat of paint. “As always, Skelsha, you claim the best for yourself. Our association cannot end soon enough.” He gave her a tight bow, then turned on his heel and faced the crew. “Well, brothers, will you stay and die for nothing? Or will come with me and live for gold!”
A substantial chunk of the pirates followed him as he strode toward the ship at the back rail, but more stayed, waiting for Kai-La to make a decision.
It was a long wait. She stood there, staring out at the horizon f
or so long I thought she mighta fallen asleep or died or something, but finally she turned back and looked at Ku-Rho.
“I return your ship to you, Captain. But you are under my command, aye?”
“It depends, mistress, upon your orders.”
Kai-La smiled like a shark. “All sails for Ormolu.”
Ku-Rho squared his shoulders and snapped off a salute that woulda made a drill sergeant come. “With a will, Captain!”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
BLIND-SIDED!
We came in at night, in the full dark, and even then, Kai-La and her remaining ships stayed just the other side of the hills on Ormolu’s west side. The spotters of the Oran Navy weren’t gonna miss a whole fleet coming over the skyline, but one lonely navy ship? Coming in toward the navy base? Nothing out of the ordinary about that, right? It wouldn’t even be too weird if we stopped over the palace. I mean, we’d done exactly the same thing when the Aldhanan had brought us back home after Durgallah.
I still kept my fingers crossed as we sailed in, even though I couldn’t imagine how they’d know what had happened in Modgalu yet.
Ku-Rho kept his ship on the correct flight path until the last possible minute, then drifted west toward the palace and started dropping down. Lhan, Shal-Hau, Sei-Sien and I looked over the palace as we got lower. It all looked pretty normal at first. Quiet, calm, the guards going on their rounds as usual, but then I noticed a lot of orange happening, and my heart seized up.
“Hey, are those paladins?”
Lhan looked closer. “Indeed. There seem to be as many of them as there are palace guards.”
I swallowed. “Does this mean Sai and Wen-Jhai are already—”
“Do not speculate, Mistress. We will know soon enough.”
Ku-Rho trimmed sails and brought us to a stop just over the Aldhanan’s balcony, then dropped a rope ladder.
Shal-Hau bowed to us and crossed his wrists.
“Return swiftly, pupil, Mistress.”
Sei-Sien bowed too, then lifted his chin and looked noble. “And if you do not, be sure that we spread the tale of your bravery to all corners of Ora. You martyrdom will inspire us all.”
Lhan returned their bows, but I shivered and turned away. “Jinxing bastard. Fuck off. We’ll be back in five minutes.”
I had a weird little deja-vu moment as we started down when I realized that this was almost exactly like when we had gone to rescue Wen-Jhai in Doshaan and Kedac-Zir had swung through the window and snatched her out from under our noses, only this time it was us doing Kedac-Zir’s rope ladder trick.
Unfortunately for us, the palace was a little better guarded than the house of the guy we’d rescued Wen-Jhai from, and we didn’t get halfway down the ladder before we heard guards shouting and lanterns started to swarm around in the courtyards below.
“Hurry, Mistress.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I gave up taking it one rung at a time and slid down like a pirate. Skinned the hell out of my hands and thighs, but what the fuck else were we going to do.
There wasn’t any time for sneaking around when we reached the balcony either. The fuckers already knew we were there. I kicked through the door into the Aldhanan’s suite and we looked around. The lights were on, but nobody was home.
“Fuck. Where are they? Check the side rooms.”
Lhan raised his voice as we crossed toward the doors. “Wen-Jhai? Sai-Far? Are you here?”
There was a shuffling noise behind the bedroom door and it opened. Wen-Jhai stepped out, dressed all in see-through white and looking like she’d been crying. Her top heavy maid, Shae-Vai, stood behind her, peeking over her shoulder.
“Sai, did you call? Have you returned to your senses at—” She stopped and gasped when she saw us, hand over her mouth, eyes wide, the whole thing. She looked like something out of a silent movie.
“You!”
Lhan stepped to her, bowing, as Shae-Vai kept her from falling. “My Aldhanshai, where is Sai-Far? We are here to save you from the priests.”
She backed into Shae-Vai’s arms, still doing her damsel in distress routine. “No! I cannot! And you must leave! The priests say you have killed my father!”
“They told you already?”
Fucking priests and their fucking teleporters. It didn’t matter how fast we flew. They were always gonna beat us home with the news. I felt like a Cherokee looking at a telegraph pole.
“We did not kill your father,” said Lhan. “Though I count our failure to prevent his death as great a crime. But it was the priests who assassinated him.”
“Think you I do not know it?” Wen-Jhai was pushing at us now, trying to get us to go back to the balcony. “You would never have betrayed him. But it matters not what I know. The priests will kill you for it just the same. You must go!”
“And you gotta come with us. Both of you.” I took her arm and beckoned to Shae-Vai. “Come on. Show us where Sai is.”
“You don’t understand! Sai will not go! And if he does not, I cannot!”
Lhan and I stopped and looked at her.
“Sai will not go?”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because he—”
The door to the Aldhanan’s study opened and Sai stepped out, looking around.
“Beloved? Who is it you speak to? You are interrupting my studies with—” He stopped dead when he saw us, and stared, then called back into the room behind him.
“The assassins! Master, the assassins are here!”
A guy in orange robes stepped out of the study and stood at his shoulder. It was Duru-Vau. He smiled a chinless smile.
“I wondered if they would arrive. Fear not, my Aldhanan. The guards are already on their way.”
***
I stared at Sai, gobsmacked. “Sai, what the fuck is the matter with you? Kick that sleezebag the junk and let’s go.”
Sai looked at me like he didn’t know me. “You killed the Aldhanan, my beloved father-in-law. You tricked him into rebelling against the Seven. You are heretics in the eyes of the church and traitors in the eyes of all loyal Orans.”
I blinked, stunned, then turned to Lhan. “What the fuck? What’s wrong with him?”
Wen-Jhai moaned behind us. “I told you. I told you.”
Lhan shook his head. “Sai, what is this? How can you believe that Mistress Jae-En, who helped return you to your beloved Wen-Jhai, and who saved the life of the Aldhanan not two moons ago, could wish to harm him or threaten Ora?”
I stepped forward. “Sai, the church kidnapped you, remember? They tortured you and threw you in a hole! How the fuck are you on their side now?”
“They drove your evil influence from my body. I am purified now. I—”
“Evil influence? What the fuck did I ever do to you except save your ass every five minutes? Who’s been feeding you this crap?”
Well, actually, that was pretty obvious. He was standing right there behind him, simpering him like a smug fish.
Beside me, Lhan choked. “By the One, it was Sai. The church’s replacement for the Aldhanan. It was Sai all along!”
I gaped at him. “Oh fuck!”
Sai just kept talking and pointing. “You are a demoness. A disruptive entity from a nether hell, sent here to overthrow all that is good and decent in this world. You corrupted my wife, making of her a harlot, and turned my father-in-law into a heretic before you—”
I spread my hands, pleading. “Sai. Come on, dude. You know that’s bullshit. I—”
“No. It has all been a ruse, from the beginning—befriending me, helping me. All just a trick to get close to the Aldhanan and win his confidence so that you could turn him from the church.”
Wen-Jhai balled her fists. “Sai! Stop!”
He ignored her. “And when he began to rebel against you, when the Aldhanan’s true nature began to reassert itself and he wanted to break from you, you killed him.”
I rolled my eyes. “What the fuck, Sai? You sound like that mouth-breathing pe
ncil-neck has his hand up your ass and he’s movin’ your lips for you. You’re the one who needs to reassert yourself. Wake the fuck up!”
Lhan looked toward the stairs. “‘Ware, Mistress. They come.”
“I hear ’em.”
I turned to the door, hefting my sword. The sound of running boots boomed from behind it, then it exploded open and the room flooded with paladins, spears out. They surrounded us and started to close in as we turned this way and that, braced to fight.
“Call ’em off, Sai. You’re the Aldhanan now. Call ’em off!”
Sai didn’t say a word, but Duru-Vau stepped forward, slipping through the ring of guards. “No need, brothers. I have a clear shot.”
And before I could figure out what he was talking about, he thrust his hand at me and Lhan, just like he had the last time—only this time he was closer, and it was worse. We flew back like we’d been hit by a fire hose and crashed through the guards to slam against the far wall. I slumped to the ground like my bones had been turned to oatmeal. I could see Lhan twitching beside me out of the corner of my eye, but I couldn’t turn to look at him. I couldn’t move a muscle. My heart hurt like somebody was squeezing it in a trash compactor. I couldn’t breathe, and my vision was starting to get dark and fuzzy around the edges.
The guards moved in, raising their spears like they were gonna finish the job, but Duru-Vau waved them off.
“No. To the temple with them. They are to be questioned first.”
We couldn’t do a thing to stop ’em. They just grabbed our ankles and wrists and walked us toward the door like we were hog carcasses. I could still hear and see, though, and heard Wen-Jhai going to town on Sai.
“Stop them, husband! Do not let them take our friends into the temple! They will never be seen again! Have you no honor? Have you no courage?”
Sai turned on her, as cold and dead as before. “You would defend those that killed your father? It is you who have no honor.”
