by Joe Jackson
“I suppose I must, or what I tell you will make little sense,” Uldriana returned. She gestured toward her now-ivory coat. “A vulkinastra is one of my kind: a mallasti born with a white coat. When we have agreed to the prisoner swap, you must–”
“Prisoner swap?!” Kari interrupted, spinning around while she worked to get dressed. “Wait a minute, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Oh, gods,” Sonja gasped. “Kari, she’s–”
“I did not come with you to safeguard an item from my people,” Uldriana said, her arms folded across her chest in such a way that she looked to be hugging herself. “I am the thing my people had that Sekassus wants. As I was saying, once he has agreed to the prisoner swap, you must take Se’sasha and be out of this realm within six days. You must get out of Sorelizar as quickly as possible, and get off of Mehr’Durillia at all costs.”
“Screw that,” Kari said vehemently, drawing on Ty’s vocabulary. “I didn’t come all this way to trade one girl’s life for another. If that’s the deal Morduri came up with, then his payment is forfeit, because there’s no way I’m leaving you here. Gather your things; we’re getting out of Sorelizar now.”
Uldriana sighed through her canine nose. “Kari, think about this rationally. We have already exhausted nearly the entire Seven Days’ Grace. We would not have sufficient time left to escape the realm in any direction, and if we tried, we likely would not even make it out of the city. If you try to leave the city now, you are fair game to be hunted and captured, or killed.”
“I’ll take that chance,” Kari returned, marking well the surprise and uncertainty on her friends’ faces. “I made a promise to your mother that I’d bring you home safely, and I intend to keep that promise.”
“You cannot,” Uldriana said somberly. “Kari, that is why she spat on you when you made the promise! We were told to keep this from you, because King Morduri understood this would be your reaction. I have been offered up as a prisoner in trade, and at this time there is nothing you can do to change that. You must accept it, and please, please see to it that this sacrifice I make is not in vain.”
Kari wanted to hit something, and she gave in to the temptation. Her fist knocked some flakes of paint and dust free from the sandstone wall, but it hurt her a lot more than the stone. “I don’t understand; why? Why does Sekassus want you more than the syrinthian priestess he already has?” Kari asked, turning back to the mallasti girl.
“I am told that some centuries ago, King Sekassus received a portent that a vulkinastra would start a rebellion against him and bring about his deposition,” Uldriana answered, pacing back and forth. She was working hard to return the impassive demeanor she’d nearly mastered, but she was having little luck while staring imprisonment in the face. “He captures or kills the ones he is able to find, though if we are offered to him freely, we may at least live out our lives: bound to his will and control, but alive. This is why my fur was dyed, why my people tried to hide me.”
Kari growled low in her throat. “Gods, am I ever going to have choice words for Morduri when I see him again, and for Koursturaux if I ever have the displeasure of meeting her,” she said.
“Not just you,” Danilynn grumbled.
“King Koursturaux?” the mallasti girl repeated. “What has she to do with this?”
“Your king only agreed to this entire scheme because Koursturaux forced him into it,” Kari said. “That’s why he wasn’t happy about asking your people to give us…well, you. But now I owe him a favor, and I still owe Koursturaux her payment, and frankly, I’m tempted to tell both of them to kiss my rear end.”
“Worry about that another time,” Uldriana said, though it was clear the involvement of the Crimson Queen perturbed her even more than her current predicament. “Remember what you have been instructed to do, and all that I have told you. The moment the trade is made, your Seven Days’ Grace begins, and it is measured by days, not by hours. You must be out of this city immediately, for it will take you close to that long to escape the realm. Do not dally: get Se’sasha to Anthraxis as quickly as you can, and get home. Staying here or trying to find a way to get me released will only serve to ensnare you in some other plot, or be captured yourselves.”
“I could slap you for this,” Kari said gruffly, and Uldriana tilted her head curiously.
“You hate my people; why the concern for me?” the mallasti girl asked, but in her tone was curiosity, not venom.
“I told you, she’s a defender,” Sonja said, walking over to collapse on the edge of the bed. She sighed, and let her head drop into her hands.
Uldriana continued to stare at Kari curiously, and the demonhunter approached. A part of her wanted to slap or even punch the girl for being part of such a deception, but Kari understood that the girl probably wasn’t given a choice. The girl was making a noble sacrifice, willingly or not, and the mother in Kari was sad to see a young life threatened with going to waste. The two held their gazes locked for several long moments, but then Kari pulled her in for a hug. Uldriana accepted it tentatively, but Kari held her tight and fought the tears that threatened to roll free.
Kari wondered what was wrong with her; she felt like she had with Makauric, caring for something she’d been trained to kill. Everything about her livelihood and her training kept being thrown into chaos and doubt, but she recognized it was because she was finally, after all these years, beginning to see the truth of things. It was possible that a lot of it was just the fact that Uldriana was young, her mother had cared for her, and Kari’s own maternal instincts were getting the better of her. Her heart argued, however, that it was the fact that the girl had come willingly, ready to give up her freedom not just to secure that of a stranger, but one who could cause significant damage to her people and their kings. Even if Uldriana did it solely at the direction of her king, there was merit in it, and Kari couldn’t easily dismiss that fact.
They gathered their things and left the room, and the silent erestram guard led them down and out of the hostel to where the syrinthian courtier was waiting. He nodded vaguely to the four women when they approached, and soon he and his guards led Kari and her friends south toward the massive black pyramid that draped much of the city in shadow. Sorelizar was an interesting city, with a flowing, angular architecture that was unlike anything Kari had seen before. Like the features and the language of the snake people, the stone- and wood-work flowed, and there was a stateliness to all of it.
The people were not all that different a story: the syrinthians dressed in light, flowing garments that ensured modesty while remaining stylish and accentuating their natural forms. Sylinths were still fairly uncommon, though here and there Kari and her friends caught glimpses of the massive serpent-men slithering through the city. Beshathans seemed rare, and of those Kari and her friends saw, most were elestram. That seemed to make some sense, as the jackal-folk were said to appreciate warmer, arid climates. Still, the fact that they shared a city with the snake-people under the shadow of King Sekassus still seemed odd to Kari, even taking the bans on migration into account.
Uldriana’s white coat, no longer masked by the dyes she’d used upon herself, drew far more interest even than the three rir women. The syrinthian people seemed to understand just by looking at the passing, snowy-white mallasti girl that her fate was sealed. No one got in the way of the courtier or, more pointedly, his erestram escorts, though there was the occasional thing said to Uldriana in beshathan. Neither Kari nor her friends could make out any of it; Uldriana had barely managed to teach them any of her tongue.
They approached the massive black pyramid, and standing closer to it, even Kari could feel the arcane power that roiled off of it like waves rippling through the very air. At each corner of the structure was a spire that curved over that corner, and the spires glowed with a dark and sinister purple light. It dawned on Kari after a minute that it was going to be very hot inside the pyramid, just as the snake-folk preferred it, thanks to its black surface and the
strong sunshine of Sorelizar’s arid center. She tapped Uldriana’s shoulder and gestured toward the spires.
The mallasti girl thought to herself. “I believe you would call them anti-magic wards,” she said. “Only the king and his servants will be properly attuned with them to allow the use of arcane power within the palace. It is an extra layer of protection for the king and his family and servants, and also to help ensure prisoners cannot escape or be extracted through arcane means.”
“What of the divine?” Danilynn asked.
“It should hold true of divine power as well; your gods hold little, if any, power here,” she returned. Uldriana sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “You would not want to risk using either in the presence of the king, regardless.”
“Quite right,” the syrinthian courtier said in warning tones, glaring at the two rir women over his shoulder.
He said nothing more, and led the four women to the entrance to the pyramid, a wide archway that opened to a ramp ascending into the structure. Two massive sylinths guarded the archway, one to either side, and their bladed spears were serrated and deadly-looking. They wore white tunics and skirts embroidered with heraldry that must have denoted them as palace guards. Their discipline was such that they didn’t even turn their heads or eyes to look at the white-coated mallasti or the three rir women.
The courtier led the four women up the ramp, and within minutes, Kari’s legs started to cramp up. The pyramid was huge, and though the ramps were easy to keep one’s footing on, they were still rather steep. The courtier and his erestram guards led the four women up ramp after ramp, which doubled back on themselves again and again leading higher and higher toward the pyramid’s summit. It seemed Sekassus’ throne room was at the top, and the figurative and literal meanings of that were not lost on Kari.
The final ramp up to the throne room was much shorter, and Kari worked to keep her breathing steady as she approached the very throne of a demon king. Sonja and Danilynn both had looks of determination on their faces, and Kari was glad to see their veteran status holding fast. Uldriana was doing all right herself, but Kari reached over and laid her hand on the girl’s shoulder anyway. The mallasti girl turned and met Kari’s gaze, and she gave a thankful nod for the demonhunter’s attempt to lend her comfort.
The inside of the throne room was decorated to look more like a clearing in the center of a rainforest. Its edges were lined with plants and stunted trees that reached up toward the peak of the pyramid, which was transparent from the inside and allowed strong, steady sunshine to enter. Under the shade of the trees, on benches and lounge chairs, sat other courtiers of both syrinthian and sylinthian varieties, and to either side of the door, just as at the entrance, stood a pair of the large, disciplined sylinth guards. A harmauth stood with its arms folded across its chest to the left of the doorway, and the ram demon snorted when the four females entered behind the syrinthian courtier. The erestram took up positions beside the sylinth guards, and the courtier approached the throne.
And so we’re trapped, Kari thought soberly. She had to trust in the laws that supposedly kept them safe. If Sekassus did anything to violate those laws, it would cost him in the end, she was sure: Koursturaux and Morduri would make sure of that. It would be little consolation to Kari and her friends, and even less to their families, but again, she reminded herself to trust in the punishments that awaited Sekassus if he betrayed them, if nothing else. And, of course, that was to say nothing of the body count Kari would try to amass before she was killed herself. She and her companions stepped forward at the direction of the courtier, and soon they stood but scant yards from the throne of King Sekassus the Calculating.
The demon king was certainly imposing. Even seated, he was nearly as tall as Kari or any of her friends, including Sonja. Kari guessed he had to be close to nine feet tall, or perhaps a little more than that when standing upright. He had legs, unlike the many sylinths that served him, and in a haunting way, he resembled the cobra-man that Kari had seen in her dreams in Lajere a couple of months earlier. When she considered his appearance and that of Sakkrass, a part of her wondered if they were somehow related. Despite all the animosity she felt toward him and the fact that he was a thoroughly evil and vicious demon king, he was handsome in a serpentine fashion. His features and his grass-green scales were smooth, his golden eyes were intense and discerning, and he held himself with the dignity and poise that was the trademark of royalty. Perched on the right arm of his throne, clenched between two clawed fingers, was a glass of wine, and only then did Kari notice there was another man standing beside the throne.
The other, almost assuredly one of Sekassus’ princes, was nearly the image of his father, but for the darker hue of his scales and the scowl upon his features. In that scowl, Kari could see the murderous nature of the demon king unmasked. She tried to recall the name of Sekassus’ firstborn son from her trip to Tsalbrin, and she remembered his name was Amnastru. He may have been his father’s firstborn and quite powerful, but whatever he had in power, he lacked the poise and the calculating look of his sire. There was no subtlety to his evil.
“Karian Vanador,” Sekassus said, his voice strong but oddly unaccented. The courtier beckoned Kari forward. Kari moved up to stand before the demon king, and her mind and her heart debated only briefly on whether or not she should bow. She did so graciously, if not quite genuinely, and the demon king turned his head slightly to the side in surprise. “I must say, I never expected I would meet you here, in my own home, after you dispatched one of my sons.”
There it is, Kari thought. She had no delusions that Sekassus would forgive or forget, but she had held out a sliver of hope that it might not be brought up in this situation. “That makes two of us…Your Majesty,” Kari said, amending her blunt humor with his title of respect. There was no point to provoking him by being disrespectful; in his realm and especially his court and throne room, Sekassus was the king, and Kari knew she had to treat him with the respect that position deserved.
There were scant chuckles among his courtiers, and the serpentine demon king glanced at them with what seemed to be the barest of smiles. “Indeed,” he agreed, opening his mouth just enough to show his fangs, the centerpiece of his serpentine grin. “So then, Lady Vanador, you have brought to me a vulkinastra to negotiate something in good faith; as is the law of the Overking, I grant to you the rights and privileges of an ambassador. So tell me: what is it you ask in trade for this vulkinastra? Or is this your apology for the slaying of my son?”
Kari had to make a conscious effort not to scoff or laugh at the last, and instead she folded her arms across her chest. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, your son got what was coming to him,” Kari dared. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or unnerved when the demon king smiled; it was quite possible he felt the same way, given Ressallk’s failure, but that didn’t mean he was thankful to Kari, obviously. “We come to offer this…vulkinastra, Uldriana, in exchange for the release and unconditional freedom of Se’sasha Solaristis. She will be accompanying us out of your realm and your service, should you agree to this bargain.”
The prince at the arm of the king’s throne scoffed so hard he nearly spat. “No bargains will be struck with you, bitch,” Amnastru hissed. He unfolded his arms and clenched his fists as if ready to rush forward and assault the demonhunter.
“Mind your place, young prince,” Sekassus said with hardly a change in tone. “These are our guests, and we will afford them that distinction as long as required by the Overking’s laws.”
Kari didn’t like the sound of that, despite what it appeared to mean on the surface. She knew her life and those of her friends were going to be in danger no longer than six days after they left the palace. Still, there was something to be learned from the brief exchange between father and son: Amnastru was volatile, and lacked whatever grace and poise Sekassus seemed to possess. It was pleasing to Kari to find that the kings and their own princes weren’t necessarily alike or in agreement on th
e way to run the kingdoms; any dissent among the royals and nobles could only work in her favor in the future. Kari kept her thoughts to herself, though, and waited on the demon king’s attention.
Sekassus held the demonhunter and her companions under a stern gaze for several long, silent minutes before he said, “This offer makes me think perhaps Aesiasi is more valuable to me than I had imagined. For what purpose do you seek her release?”
“If I may?” Danilynn offered from several paces behind Kari. King Sekassus turned his attention to the fures-rir woman and waved her forward casually. There was no missing how relaxed he was, which came as little surprise in his own throne room, but to Kari it spoke of how content he was with his own power. Where kings like Arku were vicious and had to lash out at those around them to demonstrate their power, a king like Sekassus demonstrated it by treating others as if they were of little threat or concern to him. He took a sip of wine while Danilynn approached, and the king settled that unblinking, yellow-eyed stare on the priestess. Danilynn said, “Lady Vanador was kind enough to accompany me here, Your Majesty, but it is I who seeks Se’sasha’s release, to fulfill a promise made…to her mother.”
Oh gods, that was a stupid thing to say, Kari thought. She had to resist the temptation to close her eyes and sigh or put her hand to her head in exasperation. It was already enough of an issue that Kari had killed one of Sekassus’ sons; for Danilynn to admit to ruining one of his plans and causing the deaths of possibly a hundred or more of his servants was not going to help.
“Who are you, little woman?” Sekassus asked Danilynn evenly, his expression barely betraying the anger Kari was pretty sure had just flared up below the surface. His Calculating title seemed quite fitting: where his son seemed full of rage before anyone had even spoken, the king kept his emotions and even his power carefully in check.
