by Joe Jackson
Kari and Eli were escorted into the presence of the tribe’s chiefs, and Kari was surprised that this village had two. Unlike their cousins on Tsalbrin, even the chiefs of the tribe of Mandar-Czar wore no clothing, and only a few baubles, woven necklaces, and bracelets adorned their reptilian bodies. As with the chiefs, there were also two shamans who likely served as spiritual advisors and wore little in the way of clothing, instead relying on bright, colorful painted markings and tasseled walking staves to denote their positions. Kari made brief introductions, and though the czarikk were curious about her ‘strange’ accent, they were clearly impressed that she spoke their tongue so well.
“You honor us with your presence, daughter of Sakkrass,” said the first of the chiefs, called Alissis. “We welcome you to the Hill of Scales, and likewise, we welcome friend Eli.”
“It is an honor to stand among my father’s children,” Kari returned in their tongue as she bowed her head. It was an odd feeling for her to say such a thing: to speak of her father in a positive way. In doing so, Kari felt a bit of the pain that had broken free after giving birth go dim again. She found an untapped strength in speaking of Sakkrass as her father, and based upon the way the czarikk looked at her when she spoke, it was clear that they saw it. “I am curious why your family has two chiefs?”
“Friend Eli has not spoken of this with you? It is thanks to him and his companions; perhaps he will tell you when we share the evening meal. Will you stay long among us, our Lady?” asked the other chief, introduced as Saliil.
“Just the night, unfortunately. We have business to attend to elsewhere, hunting a very dangerous demoness,” Kari answered.
“As her father before her,” Alissis said, and Kari’s brows rose when the shamans said the czarikk equivalent of Amen in unison and then gave a shake to their tasseled walking sticks.
Kari smiled, thinking about her dream at the Earl’s castle, and soon she and Eli were led to where they could wash up and prepare for the evening meal. The marshlands became even livelier once the sun went down, the air filled with a cacophony of the calls of birds, amphibians, and insects. The village was warm and the air was relatively free of insects, which neither Kari nor Eli expected. They sat amongst a large communal gathering and shared their supper, which consisted of a number of different fish, a curious but tasty meat, and several types of roasted insects. Eli ate everything presented to him without complaint, and Kari found it both refreshing and amusing.
Kari wondered if the czarikk would perform a fire dance like their mulrassa cousins were so fond of doing, but during the meal, the people mostly left Kari and Eli to their food and their thoughts. It was apparent the people had been instructed to not impose too much upon their sacred guest, and Kari took the opportunity to ask Eli about why the tribe had two chiefs. The half-corlyps fixed her with that quiet, measuring gaze, though it seemed somewhat funny when he was crunching on a roasted dragonfly. He drummed his fingers on his armored thigh for a few moments, and the sound drew the curious gazes of the many czarikk until he stopped fidgeting under their stares.
“Who are you?” he asked her at last.
Kari was startled. She’d assumed he knew who she was, since word of her resurrection had spread quickly once she returned from Tsalbrin. She figured everyone knew who she was nowadays, but she could see from his expression that he either had no idea, or he was harboring the same doubts Erik had three years before. “Karian Vanador, Sword of the Heavens, by Zalkar’s grace,” she answered instinctively.
“So you really are the same Karian Vanador that trained under Suler Tumureldi, laid low the reds of the Dragonfire Mountains, and killed Etolivor?” he asked, and Kari couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Defeated, not killed,” she corrected him. “Like I told you in Lajere: unlike you, I’ve never actually killed an erestram. I’ve come close a couple of times, but those things are damned tough to kill.”
“No need to tell me that,” he returned. He continued to hold her under that even, red-eyed gaze. “So you were resurrected or reincarnated or something, right? It’s just…it’s been so weird getting to know you. I’ve heard a lot about you, read a lot about you, but you’re not really what I expected. Every time I think I know who you are, you say or do something I wasn’t expecting. I know you trained under Suler Tumureldi, that you killed red dragons, that you’re a high-ranked and accomplished demonhunter who once…almost killed an erestram in single combat. Then I find out you’re the adopted daughter of a god, that you can speak a language few non-czarikk can speak, that you killed the son of a demon king…and then you say you’re almost forty…when you don’t look a day over twenty-five. Like I said, you’re just full of surprises.”
“Thank you,” she said in thanks to his compliment, trying not to blush. It wasn’t an entirely unusual reaction: most people didn’t think Kari was older than twenty-five or thirty, at the most. The czarikk around them couldn’t understand their conversation, but several of them let out hissing chuckles when they saw her reaction to what Eli had said.
The half-corlyps gestured toward the two chiefs who sat before their gathered people and began, “These folk used to be two different tribes. One was always here, but there was another in a mountain valley not too far from Atrice. There’s hot springs up there, and their valley was misty and warm all year round, filled with a small jungle. Problem was: that’s where the syrinthians had hidden their temple and were working on building a portal to bring Sekassus to our world.” Kari sat up straight as Eli got into the details. “The first part of defeating Sekassus’ plan was simply to delay the opening of the portal, which was being powered by sacrificing people. At first I think they were sacrificing other syrinthians: slaves to Sekassus and willing members of his priesthood. After a while, though, they found the czarikk sharing the valley with them, and they started capturing and sacrificing the lizardfolk instead.”
“Oh, no…,” Kari said, putting hand to her mouth, horrified, and Eli reached over and touched her other hand.
He glanced briefly at the czarikk chiefs and they nodded toward him, and then he turned back to Kari. “It wasn’t long before Ciceria contacted Danilynn through some sort of telepathy or something. She told us that they had begun sacrificing the czarikk, and asked us to come put a stop to it. Otherwise, the ceremony would be completed a lot faster than expected and Ciceria’s plan would ultimately fail. By the time we reached the valley, though, the czarikk had fortified their camps pretty well, and the abductions had all but come to a stop. So we concentrated on rescuing those who had already been captured but not yet sacrificed.”
“You invaded the temple itself?” Kari asked, her sorrow turning back to surprise.
“No, we didn’t invade it,” Eli answered with a dismissive wave. “A few of us were able to sneak our way in with the help of a ‘poorly-timed’ call to prayer by Ciceria and a diversion by some of our czarikk friends. We lost a few of them in the process, but we were able to get most of them out and back safely to their home.” He gestured toward his left arm and the burn scars that ran up its length. “That’s when we ran into the elestram wizard that gave me these. The temple’s guards gave chase and we ended up in one hell of a fight with those bastards, but we killed a bunch of syrinthian warriors and drove off the wizard. I wish I'd gotten to kill that son of a bitch…”
“So all of this was because Ciceria asked you to come save the czarikk?” Kari asked, trying to keep him on point. She looked around at their reptilian hosts. She had a hard time believing that the syrinthians would do anything to help the czarikk, but that didn’t necessarily mean that Ciceria couldn’t have been an exception to the “rule.” Based on what she knew so far about Eli and his friends, Kari was willing to believe that Ciceria wasn’t at all what she appeared to be on the surface. It didn’t make the horror of the czarikk being sacrificed any easier to deal with, but Kari knew that it could’ve been much, much worse, and that the large family before her made up of two tribes was a testament
to that.
“Yeah. Like I said, she didn’t want to use the czarikk as sacrifices. It could’ve just been that she was worried about the plan not working, but I honestly think she took having to hurt the lizardfolk badly,” he said. He looked away, but Kari didn’t miss the moisture around his eyes or the way his breath caught as he trailed off.
“What happened that makes you so sure?” she prodded, perhaps not as gently as she would’ve liked. With the importance of unraveling the mystery, though, she could only afford to dance around hard questions so much.
Eli looked back at her briefly and then shook his head. “She died in my arms,” he said, leaving Kari speechless. His gaze dropped down to his upturned hands. It was as though he was looking at blood on his hands, and Kari was reminded of the way she’d felt after Makauric’s death on Tsalbrin. He clenched his hands and dropped them in his lap, sparing their czarikk hosts a short glance before he met Kari’s eyes again and continued, “Before she died, she said to me, ‘I deserve this.’ Her master tried to heal her, but she asked to be allowed to die. She just asked if we could find her daughter, and then she…let go.”
The half-corlyps rose to his feet with a deep sigh, and added, “I…can’t talk about this anymore right now. I’ll tell you more when we get to Barcon, if that’s all right.”
“Yes, of course,” Kari said. She grasped his hand lightly as he started to walk toward their temporary abode. “Thank you, Eli.”
He sighed through his nose but nodded. Their stares met briefly, and in the darkness of his crimson eyes Kari could see so many emotions: pain, guilt, even what she would’ve described as a blatant sense of worthlessness. She supposed the last may have had something to do with not honoring Ciceria’s last request, doubly so since Kari was pretty sure Eli considered the syrinthian priestess a friend. He pulled away gently but wordlessly, and continued toward their tent. Kari decided not to dwell on it too much.
Instead, she went to sit among the chiefs and their shamans, and asked them to relate the tale as they had lived it. The tale they told her was the same on the surface, but they spoke with much more awe and gratitude toward Eli and his friends. Ultimately, they filled in the part Eli had left out when his emotions got the better of him: that the half-corlyps and his friends had escorted the czarikk over the mountains and through the thick Sandur Jungle, until they reached the freshwater marsh of Mandar-Czar. The two tribes became one, and they were very thankful to Eli, Tor, and the others for that.
What really impressed and confused Kari, though, was the fact that they really had a syrinthian priestess to thank for it, and they had no idea.
Chapter X – Unexpected Welcome
Rain set in shortly after they left Mandar-Czar, keeping them grounded for long stretches as they turned northwest and continued on toward Barcon. Eli stayed quiet on the subjects of his past and the work he’d done for Bosimar for a few days, and it wasn’t hard for Kari to tell that he was upset. She wasn’t sure if he was upset with her for lacking in sympathy toward his friend, or just upset over dredging up bad memories. They slept under one of Muireann’s wings during the rain-drenched nights, and Eli shared Kari’s blanket to lend his half-demon warmth to her. Even in so intimate a position, he still remained distant and quiet. He wasn’t unpleasant toward her, but Kari found his silence uncomfortable.
The storms cleared up before they reached Barcon, and they circled around to approach from the northwest, where the stable square was. They kept their mounts grounded to avoid being viewed as hostile by the city’s defenders. Kari motioned for Eli to hold up as the city came within sight, and he had his griffon trot a circle around Muireann and then stand close beside her. Eli had proven to be a capable rider, and he bonded fairly easily with his griffon, which he treated with a good deal of respect. Dougal was what Charles described as a “pride leader,” and was both a loyal mount and a fierce fighter. He was also Muireann’s mate, and together the two were thankfully very easy to manage.
Barcon stood dark and cold as Kari beheld it from a short distance away. Memories of her stop in the city at the end of the War came back to her, and she couldn’t help but contrast them against the memories of arriving in DarkWind on the return trip from Tsalbrin. DarkWind had its problems, to be sure, but the sight of the city instilled Kari – and, she imagined, most other people as well – with a sense of awe and hope. DarkWind was a city of opportunity, and it had the strength of its Temple District and the campus of the Demonhunter Order to dispel what ghosts the presence of the Blood Order conjured in peoples’ minds. Consequently, for all its problems, DarkWind was one of the most populous cities outside of the closed-off Strekan Province, and was a popular destination for tourists and migrants.
Barcon enjoyed no such pleasantries. From Muireann’s back, Kari thought the city resembled a great black dragon, its head the ebon tower wherein its resident Earl, Kaelin Black, lived and watched over it. Aeligos had been quite certain that this entire scenario was a trap, and Barcon seemed like the sort of city that would swallow an unsuspecting person whole – even a demonhunter. Kari had no delusions that everyone in the city was evil or would be opposed to her; more likely, most of the people would support her efforts and wish to see her succeed. But the city as a whole, with its unpredictable Earl, the Black Dragon Society, and now a half-syrinthian, half-succubus assassin prowling its streets, represented one of the most dangerous tests of Kari’s long and storied career.
Kari glanced at Eli and wondered if he really knew what he was getting into. He had faced the syrinthian-succubus without hesitation, but she’d disabled him and made him look somewhat foolish for his efforts. Kari wasn’t sure if Eli was prepared to deal with that, the possible involvement of the Earl, and, more pointedly, the city’s laws against the presence of serilian-rir.
“When I passed through Barcon a few years back, they were forbidding serilian-rir from entering the city,” Kari explained, and Eli nodded shortly. “I figure worse comes to worst, I can probably get you in as a deputized demonhunter. They should respect my authority as a hunter, especially since I’m here by Black’s request, but I’m not sure how far they’ll push the point with you.”
Eli snorted. “They’re pretty insistent about it, but being unwelcome is something I’ve gotten used to over the years,” he said with a grim smile. “We’ll go with your idea first if they don’t let me in the city. If that doesn’t work, though, I have this to fall back on.” He raised the sleeve of his tunic to show the Five Clans marking on his right shoulder, and nodded again as he let the sleeve fall back into place. “There’s a pretty big assassin’s guild in this city, always trying to take control of it from Kaelin Black. They’re a nasty bunch, but they’re mortal enemies of the Blood Order in DarkWind, so my tattoo will pique their interest.”
“Black’s having issues with an assassin’s guild?” Kari asked. It seemed odd that a notorious crime lord like Black would be getting grief from an assassin’s guild. It made her wonder why they didn’t just work together. “You don’t mean the Black Dragon Society?”
“Yea, the Black Dragon Society. Everyone’s pretty convinced that Black himself is the head of it, but make no mistake: they’ve been trying to kill him for decades. They know how profitable his businesses are, and they don’t like the fact that they can’t buy his favor as the lord of this county. So they’ve been trying to get rid of him and set up someone they can control as the new Earl,” he explained.
Kari wondered how Eli had so much insight into things, considering how long it had been since he was a member of the Five Clans, but she figured old habits die hard. After all, she still recalled many of the tricks of the trade of being a thief and a street urchin from her own younger days so many years ago. She suppressed a chuckle as she thought of the first time she mentioned picking a lock in front of Erik. At the very least, she was glad to see that Eli’s tongue was a little looser than it had been since they left Mandar-Czar, but her brow furrowed when she considered his comments. “Wa
it, his businesses?” she queried. “Isn’t he a criminal boss?”
“Kaelin Black?” Eli returned with his own brow furrowed. “Why would he need to be a crime boss when he’s the Earl? Southwick is a big county, and a lot of business goes through it – and Black gets a piece of everything that goes through just on account of his taxing authority. No, you’re confusing him with BlackWing, the head of the Black Dragon Society; contrary to what a lot of people think, they’re not the same person. I’d be willing to bet most of the crime Kaelin Black gets accused of is just people griping about taxes and the fact that he’s filthy rich, which isn’t surprising given how long he’s been around. Or it could just be BlackWing and the assassin’s guild trying to hang their deeds on him to make him look bad. I mean, you can argue what Lord Black does is immoral, but it’s hard to be considered criminal when you make your own rules. Why break them when you can just change or manipulate them?”
“Hmm, interesting point,” Kari said. She dismounted to lead the griffons into the stable plaza. “But BlackWing and Kaelin Black aren’t the same person? My Order has believed they’re the same man for, well, for as long as he’s been in power here.”
Eli met her stare evenly but shook his head. “A lot of people make that mistake,” he said. “More than likely, that’s what BlackWing wants, and something Kaelin Black has had to fight against for a very long time. Not surprised your Order treats them as the same person; that’s probably why Bosimar tried to keep us out of politics, especially in this county.”
“And how do you know all this?” Kari pressed.
“Well, it’d take a while to tell you everything, but the short bit of it is that Olgaryn – who was the second in command among the brys, and the head of the Five Clans – allied with the Black Dragon Society from time to time to try to fight the Blood Order. BlackWing was so dangerous that - if you can believe this - even Seril didn’t like having him in the city,” Eli explained, and he chuckled at Kari’s reaction. “Yea, there’s something about him that gave even the Devil Queen pause. Had he been the same person as Kaelin Black, she probably would’ve exposed that and then made a play to take over Barcon for her southern forces. Of course, that’s just speculation from someone who’s used his head as a shield for too many years.”
