by Matt Larkin
“My lady, I assure you, you don’t need to call for help. I’m not trying to accost you, much as I might enjoy the pleasure of having you sprawled atop me.”
Chandi grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. “Bendurana, it’s me. I need your help.”
“Ah, Chandi. Things are tense now. Can this wait?”
Chandi dragged him toward the Arun Guard mess hall. “Is Landorundun in there? What we’ve done—”
“Yes. The Ignis will bring death here in their quest for freedom. I wanted to get some people out of the city before that happens.”
Chandi pulled him behind her. “It’s happening now. The Radiant Queen knows. And I need to get to Bukit. Now.”
Bendurana laughed. “In the middle of a war? I do like a challenge, and there might even be profit in it. But first we must deal with the situation here, my lady.”
Chandi grabbed him by the shoulders. “You know what it means to love someone the rules say you can’t have.” Bendurana coughed at her assertion, but she continued without pause. “You know how it feels, the weight of tradition keeping you from what you want. And I say damn tradition. I love Naresh, and now he’s been captured, taken to Bukit. They’ll kill him, unless you take me there and we save him.”
Bendurana rocked back on his heels and whistled. “Well then. Well, well then. A daring rescue. Braving great danger in the name of love. And breaking all the rules in the process. Finally something worth my not inconsiderable talents.” He grinned. “I do love a challenge.” Then he glanced back at the harbor. “But your taste in men leaves something to be desired, if you’ll forgive me, my lady. And I can hardly leave …”
“My taste?” Chandi released his shoulders. “You warned me about Naresh all those years ago when you brought us here. But you were wrong. He’s a good man. Can you let him die alone in a Lunar dungeon?”
Bendurana’s grin returned and he put a hand on her shoulder. “No. No, I can’t.”
With a nod Chandi turned to rush for the Arun Guard mess hall. Instead she found Landorundun standing behind her. The Guardswoman’s fist caught Chandi by surprise and sent her sprawling to the floor. “You’re a fool to come here after what you’ve done.”
“Landi,” Bendurana said, but she waved him back.
Hand to her lip to wipe away the blood, Chandi snickered as she rose. “You’re the second woman to say that to me this phase.”
The Guardswoman’s hand drifted to her keris. “I don’t know where you’ve been hiding these past days. Naresh didn’t want you killed, but he’s not here and he’s not in charge. Surya knows you deserve it.” The blade began to inch free of its sheath.
“I deserve it.”
“And it’s time you had it.” The blade lurched free. “You’ve lied to us for years. He told me who you really are. You pretended to be a servant to spy on us. You pretended to care about him so I’d trust you. You pretended to be human when you’re a Moon Scion.” Landorundun’s voice rose with each accusation.
Chandi backed away. “I am human, and a Moon Scion, yes. But I never pretended to care about Naresh—I love him. If you believe nothing else I’ve ever said, please, please believe that. I swear on the moon, I swear on the sun, I’ll swear on the Igni’s sacred flame, I love him.” A tremor ran through her. “Grief overcame me, lunacy from my Blessings. That’s no excuse, and I know you can’t really understand the latter problem, but I swear, I swear—”
Landorundun pointed the blade at her. Rather than move to defend herself, Chandi raised her chin to expose her throat. Without the Guardswoman’s help she could never save Naresh. If Landorundun wanted to kill her, let her. But her resolve didn’t stop her from trembling.
Bendurana cried out, but the Guardswoman didn’t look at him. And then her arm fell to her side, the fire gone from her eyes. Once proud, now she seemed only haggard.
“Please help me ,” Chandi said. “I know you don’t love him, but if you care about him—you must, you’re marrying him—you must help me save him.”
“I can’t do anything for him. By now he’s halfway to Bukit. I couldn’t help him even if I could leave Kasusthali, and I can’t. An attack may come at any time.”
Chandi held her tongue. She should tell Landorundun about the Igni rebellion, about what it meant, but if she did the Guardswoman might not help her.
“And I’m not marrying him,” Landorundun added.
“What …” Chandi fought to control her voice. “What do you mean you’re not marrying him?”
“He broke it off because of you. And because of Ben and me.”
No, he had said they could never … Laughter bubbled out though she wanted to cry. Perhaps she’d gone more lunatic than she thought.
“He’s beyond our power to help, now, Chandi. I’m sorry. He was a good man, but we need our forces to protect Kasusthali. A siege on Swarnadvipa would be doomed.” Landorundun pulled her into an embrace with her free hand. “Doomed and a waste of life, even for a good man.”
Chandi slipped free from the Solar woman. “We don’t have to lay siege to it. Give me a ship. One ship won’t make a difference here.”
“I can’t send away our military forces in time of war, Chandi. I’m sorry.”
“No,” Ben said. “I’ll take her.”
“Absolutely not.”
Bendurana had already started from the room, and Chandi chased after him. “Sorry, my dear,” he called over his shoulder. “But you cannot order me not to go. I won’t leave Chandi without recourse.”
“You know I damn well won’t let you go alone, Ben.”
Chandi ran on, unable to find the words of gratitude she owed them. The intersection where the Circuit should have joined the south tube was gone. Smooth crystal sealed off the west wall, cutting off access to the Igni District. Had Aji Bidara sealed the Ignis inside?
Bodies lined the tube, both Igni and Solar soldiers. But the carnage inside didn’t prepare her for the sight as they entered the harbor.
Dozens, maybe hundreds of Lunar ships clogged the harbor. The Radiant Queen stood upon a pier, glowing like the sun. As she stretched out her hand, the waters trembled. Waves rushed away in all directions and crystal spires hundreds of feet tall launched themselves from the bottom of the sea.
The spires ripped Lunar ships to pieces. Chandi slipped in blood and fell to the pier, unable to take her eyes from the sight. Smaller spears grew from the sides of the giant ones. Those spears flew from the spires like arrows from gandewas, splintering even more ships.
As the awe passed, scores of Ignis rushed the Radiant Queen. The goddess would annihilate them with a thought. But Chandi saw fear flash over Aji Bidara’s eyes. She vanished, appearing a short distance away. Not far enough.
“Your Radiance,” Landorundun shouted, Striding to her side, sword in hand. The Ignis swarmed over the women. Landorundun cut down one, and another. She was gone. She was everywhere. With each Stride Ignis died.
Chandi forced herself to her feet and ran for them. Landorundun could never keep it up. An Igni clubbed Aji Bidara over the head. The Radiant Queen fell limp. Landorundun screamed. No longer Striding, she chased the murderers down on foot, hacking down one after another.
Lunar sailors had begun to climb from their wrecked ships onto the piers. Chandi knelt beside Aji Bidara’s body. Dead.
Chandi spun at the hand on her shoulder, grabbed the assailant by the throat. Kakudmi.
Chandi released the Solar emperor, who rubbed his throat. She raised her hands in surrender. How does one apologize for trying to throttle an emperor? And then her eyes narrowed. She owed this man no apologies.
“Why? Why did you trust the Stranger?” Chandi blurted. “Why bring such a man here?”
Kakudmi knelt beside Aji Bidara’s body and closed her eyes. “He knew this would happen, and he was right. It’s why I asked him to take Revati to safety.”
Chandi wanted to hate him for that. For sending Revati away. But he’d saved the girl’s life. And she found
no words.
Landorundun returned and fell to her knees at the body. “I’ve failed her. I’ve failed in my duty as First of the Arun Guard.”
Bendurana had already boarded the Queen of the South Sea.
“We’ve all failed ourselves,” Kakudmi said, “and now we pay for our sins.”
“What on Chandra’s dark side could possess you to trust Kala?”
Landorundun grabbed her arm and squeezed. “Speak with respect.”
Kakudmi rose, holding up a hand. “No, it’s all right, Landorundun. I made many mistakes, but this was not one of them. Even you can see Rahu had to die. War was inevitable from the time the Macan Gadungan sacked the Astral Temple. Maybe it was always inevitable and my own desire to restore the Pact blinded me.”
Restore the Pact? Joint custody of the Temple for all three dynasties?
“You sound like Rahu,” Chandi said. “Nothing is inevitable. We create the world we live in. Right now, Naresh is on his way to Bukit, if he’s not there already. And I for one won’t give way to inevitability. I may not be able to help Revati, but I know where Naresh is.”
“Then you must find him,” Kakudmi said.
Landorundun waved her hand at the devastation. “Your Radiance, we cannot spare anyone for a rescue mission.”
“Naresh is the son of the Radiant Queen. With her fallen, it makes him a powerful symbol for our people.” Kakudmi paused, then looked Landorundun in the face. “He’s the son of Aji Bidara. And of Empu Baradah.” Landorundun started to sputter something, but he waved her to silence. “Naresh doesn’t know. I don’t think his legal father knew either. But I promised Empu Baradah I’d look after him. I ask you to keep that promise and help me uphold what honor I have left.”
Landorundun bowed, then left. Chandi remained a moment, meeting the emperor’s gaze. “I know who you are,” he said. “Before judging me, look to your own part in all of this.”
Once it would have surprised her that Kakudmi knew her. Now she too bowed and left. Landorundun cast a last look at Aji Bidara’s body.
“I won’t let her son share her fate,” Chandi said.
Landorundun boarded the Queen of the South Sea without a word. Chandi rushed up the gangway as the crew untied the last lines from the dock.
“And now, ladies, you’ll see just how swift the Queen of the South Sea is,” Bendurana said from the poop deck.
His crew must have seen what happened, by the solemn look on their faces, but they handled the ship without faltering. Bendurana threaded the dhow through the Solar naval vessels moving to defend the harbor. Lunar ships approached.
“They won’t take time to consider we’re not military,” Bendurana said as Chandi and Landorundun joined him.
Sure enough, a Lunar dhow broke off to pursue them. Ben’s crew redoubled their efforts at his shouts. Men rushed about, while Chandi and Landorundun watched the approaching Lunar vessel from the rail.
“Ben, they’re gaining on us.” Landorundun started to draw her sword.
Chandi grabbed the woman’s arm. “No! If they know we have Arun Guard aboard they’ll be more likely to pursue.”
“Gandewas,” Bendurana called. A half dozen of his men rushed onto the poop deck and readied the Solar bows. “Let the moon fall from the sky.” Then he noticed Chandi. “Sorry about that, my lady.”
The crew loosed two volleys at the pursuing ship. Chandi watched, wishing she could help. Even if they closed the distance, she didn’t want to risk drawing her Blessings. After a third volley the Lunar ship began to fall behind.
As the Queen of the South Sea turned with the wind she sped away from the slower ships. The crew let the support yards out perpendicular with the wind. Chandi had never felt such a sense of speed.
“They’ll want glory today in battle, not days chasing merchants,” Bendurana said as if she had asked. “Our bigger threat will come in the journey ahead.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
The sea burst through the Circuit in a torrent that swept away men and women and children and drowned their screams in the rush of water. It poured into the Civic District from all around. Ratna shrieked, pulling up short. She’d been running for that very passage. Where was Malin? He was supposed to get her out of here before this happened. Sweet Chandra, she was really going to die, wasn’t she?
She drew her Potency Blessing as hard as she could and made a mad dash for the next entrance to the Circuit. There had to be some way out of this city. There had to be. She was not going to die. She couldn’t die. Revati needed her.
Water pouring in through the Circuit was rapidly filling the Civic District. The rush of it carried her off her feet and flung her against a building. Staggered from the collision, Ratna was pulled under by the currents. A mouthful of seawater seared her lungs and she burst back to the surface, coughing, hacking the water back up only an instant before she was pulled under again.
Once more she was thrown against a building, smacking her head so hard she almost lost her Blessing. If that happened, she might lose consciousness and it would be all over. Whatever happened, she had to hold onto that Blessing.
A woman reached for her—or toward her, for the woman was too far away to touch Ratna. Shaking herself, Ratna rose, struggling to regain her feet in the now waist-deep waters. What she saw almost knocked the Blessings out of her grasp.
“M-Mother?”
The current shoved her forward again, and Ratna blinked. The apparition—if that’s what it was—now stood some distance away, down another alley. Ratna rushed after her mother, diving into the current rather than trying to struggle against it, suddenly grateful for all those swimming lessons with Malin.
Blessings still grasped, she kicked off a building, launching herself forward as far as she could. Water continued to rise, forcing her upward just to catch a breath.
“Mother!”
Ratna turned about, treading water, trying to spot the ghost or whatever she had seen. A flicker, a shadow passed out down one of the tubes. She had hit her head. She was chasing a hallucination into a watery grave. But what else was she going to do? This part of the Circuit had not fully filled with water, but it was rapidly doing so. She’d never swim this.
Damn, this was going to kill her even if the waters didn’t. Ratna drew her Gliding Blessing as well, centering her gravity on the tube wall and running sideways along it, above the water level. She passed what should have been an intersection but was now sealed off by crystal. That was why this tube hadn’t flooded yet. Somehow, the Solars had sealed it off, creating an escape, if a rapidly dwindling one.
Heart pounding so hard it felt ready to burst, Ratna ran on. The Circuit would carry her around to the Harbor District. She ran past Solars and Ignis struggling to keep up with the current, but she wasn’t going to be able to stay ahead of the rising water level. She just wasn’t fast enough.
Here, though, the water was coming in from the districts, meaning its own current was forcing her in the direction she needed to go. Ratna released her Gliding and sucked down as much air as her lungs could hold, then dove into the water. She didn’t fight it, instead, using the current to speed her swimming as she surged toward the final intersection that would lead up to the Harbor District.
To freedom.
The current had grown so strong it was likely to sweep her right past the intersection. Close to the wall, Potency still drawn, she caught the edge with her fingers. Momentum yanked her shoulders so hard she couldn’t hold back the grunt, losing her air when she did so. And still, she pulled herself into the intersection.
Her head broke above water and she gasped for air, then crawled up the tunnel on her hands and knees. She’d lost her Blessings and couldn’t reach them. A persistent tremble built in her chest and all she wanted to do was collapse and weep.
She pulled herself upward and out into the harbor, pausing on the pier, ready to collapse.
A group of Solars stood there wailing, and Ratna couldn’t shake the sick feeling that
ran through her. Still on her knees, she crawled forward until she saw there were two groups of Solars. They had gathered around the bodies of Aji Bidara, their Radiant Queen, and of Kakudmi. Other bodies lay around them, Ignis who had been torn to pieces.
Ratna sat, staring at her dead husband. Blood still seeped from numerous fresh wounds, but it had slowed to a trickle. Ratna retched, coughing up more seawater and everything else in her stomach. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real.
Let the Demon Queen take you, Kakudmi.
No. That wasn’t what she’d meant. It wasn’t what she’d wanted.
Her mother had been a witch, had had power over spirits. Was it possible Ratna had brought this on her husband, had killed him with a curse placed in anger? Or maybe that was far too easy a solution, one she could almost absolve herself of, claiming she hadn’t known. But she had known what the Ignis planned and she had done nothing to stop them. Indeed, she had aided their mission.
Ratna, the Empress Traitor.
And what had it bought her?
Revati was gone. Her father was gone. And now, even her uncaring husband was gone.
Finally, she let exhaustion claim her and sunk to the pier. Nothing mattered any more.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
At night, Bukit was beautiful. Malin didn’t like cities, of course, but Bukit was far preferable to Kasusthali. Instead of crystal domes and the stifling sea, above him, the moon and a million stars. Without such a reminder of their place in the universe, the Solars’ decadence came as little surprise.
Two dozen of the Macan Gadungan followed behind him, spread out in a fan, combing the streets. The wooden buildings and dirt roads were more natural, too, far more than the grand architecture of Kasusthali.
Maybe when Chandi returned they could fix things. Despite everything, he couldn’t deny he still desired her. Despite her lies and betrayal. But how could she not lie and betray, given the Moon Scion who had raised her, who had sent her to Kasusthali to become spy and betrayer?
