The Skyfall Era Trilogy: Books 1-3

by Matt Larkin

  A Moon Scion tried to fight Loro Kidul on the lowest level. She Strode behind him and killed him in an instant.

  Another ran for a side room. Chandi drew her Blessings and chased. She bolted through the door just before he threw it closed.

  The man swung at her. Chandi dropped to the ground and kicked her legs together. She caught the man between them, sent him sprawling. She leapt to her feet and kicked him in the face as he tried to rise. His head jerked back and he lay still.

  The room was metal, though not a metal she could identify. A variety of jars lined shelves around it. But the vials on the table drew her attention. Two vials. She open one and smelled it, though its look of glittering moonlight told her what it was. Amrita.

  Chandi tucked both vials into her sarong. Her father had been busy. A vat of something bubbled and steamed in the corner. A metal rod extended from the ceiling, stirring the liquid in the vat. Was this how they brewed the Amrita?

  Maybe she should destroy it all. But Chandi had no idea what she was looking at. There were books on the shelves, but she had no time to study the priests’ secrets.

  The door opened, and Ben and Loro entered. Ben had his arm around her waist, grinning. The expression she gave him seemed caught between irritation and amusement, but she made no move to force him away.

  Chandi knelt by the unconscious Moon Scion on the floor. He had fallen on top of some carvings. She pulled his body into the main room to reveal them. Nine circles, each carved with strange Glyphs inside an inner ring, all arranged in a greater circle.

  “What is this?”

  Loro Kidul glanced down. “The Nine Spheres of Creation.”

  Meaning?

  But Loro had already headed back into the main room. The same strange metal composed these walls, but here, levers and dials abounded. What in Chandra’s name was this place?

  Blue crystals that reminded her of Kasusthali sat in the center of the room. Naresh had shown her the wonders of that city when she first came there. The Radiant Queen—not his mother, but one long before her—had actually grown the city under the sea. Were these crystals related?

  Loro raised her hand over the unconscious man. Drops of water fell from it, landing on his face, until he stirred.

  Chandi knelt beside him. “Where’s my father? Where’s Ketu?”

  The man rubbed his head. “Malin killed him when we took the Temple.”

  Not possible. No, she’d misheard him. She shut her eyes. Because her father was her only living blood relative.

  Someone had a hand on her shoulder. “Chandi,” Ben said.

  They’d taken the Temple. But they were too late.

  She kept her eyes closed. “Where’s Malin?” He had betrayed her. Broken his promise to support her father—murdered him. The tiger had gone beyond all redemption. She could find Naresh and let him have Malin.

  Except that Chandi wanted the tiger for herself.

  “Returned to Bukit,” the man on the floor said.

  She opened her eyes, turned to Loro Kidul. She should ask the spirit to release Landi. They’d taken the Temple. But the spirit had drifted over to another sealed door. She was looking at the strange sigils carved into the metal above it. Unlike any language Chandi had ever seen.

  “Can you read it?” Ben asked.

  Loro nodded, once. “All worlds tremble in the wake of the Lord of Time.”

  “What does it mean?” he asked.

  Chandi rose and approached. “It doesn’t matter. It’s time we ended this. Help me find Malin.”

  “Ah, Chandi,” Ben said, shaking his head. “My dear, it is finished. We’ve taken the Temple, we’ve defeated Malin’s encampment here. Rejoice.” He elbowed Landi. “Right? Time for some celebration. So, you know, I’d like my wife back. You can return her before or after we celebrate, Loro.”

  The spirit stared at him.

  “Malin may know how to use this place as a weapon, just as my father did.”

  Loro Kidul turned to look in her eyes. “Then kill these people. And I will help you get your vengeance, child.”

  The Moon Scion on the floor drew a sharp breath. Bendurana sighed.

  Chandi gritted her teeth. And she nodded.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FOUR

  The Macan Gadungan had not taken it well when Malin refused them the Amrita. He’d sworn those that had heard Ketu to secrecy. Tried to explain his reasons. But Malin understood the smoldering fury within them.

  He was losing control of his own people.

  “You heal even faster than other Jadian,” Pohaci had said on the dhow back to Bukit.

  Maybe he did. The Amrita? Malin had wanted to tell his people the full truth about it. Doing so might break the Moon Scion hold on the Lunars forever. It might also incite his people to riot, drive them to try to become the next Moon Scions themselves. Malin had done so. Perhaps he had no right to deny it to others. Still, the idea of lunatic weretigers rampaging across the Skyfall Isles did not sit well with him.

  Pohaci, though, he could trust. She said nothing as he told her of the lies the Moon Scions had told. Perhaps they could already fall no lower in her eyes. She only grunted when he admitted that Chandi had granted him the last vial. That he had taken it.

  A delegation already awaited his arrival in Bukit. With the Hill Palace destroyed, and his own house too small, Malin had no choice but to meet at Indu Palace, down on the beach.

  “They say you saw my son,” Mahesa’s father, Gantangan, said, while Malin waited for the gathered Moon Scions and Jadian to sit in the courtyard. “Does he live?”

  Malin stared at the Moon Scion before answering. “Mahesa refused to join our alliance. I released him. I think he stole a boat with Ratna. After that, I neither know nor care.” And it was almost true.

  “So we’re just assuming the werecrocodiles didn’t kill him?”

  Pohaci spoke without stirring. “The Buaya Jadian didn’t kill the boy.”

  “And we’re supposed to trust you? Do you not lie, steal, and murder as a calling?”

  Malin couldn’t hold back his snarl, which sent several Moon Scions scampering backward. Rangda take them. “Pohaci is one of us. She helped overthrow Ketu. Some of you are alive today because of her courage.”

  “Being an assassin is not courage,” a Moon Scion said.

  “Let’s get to the real question, here,” Sunten said. The Macan Gadungan folded his arms. “Are you our new War King, Malin?”

  At that, several Moon Scions murmured, cursing under their breath, unaware or uncaring that Malin could catch every word.

  Chandra help him. Malin cracked his neck. “The war is over. The Solars are broken, Ketu is dead. We need no War King.”

  Gantangan rose. “So be it. We return to the way things were before the Fourth War. Each House, lord of its own domain.”

  “No.” Malin stood. “The Lunars are no longer going to be ruled by the Moon Scions alone. We all fought together, we rule together.”

  “If you think we’re taking orders from Macan Gadungan or Buaya Jadian—” one Scion began.

  “I think you’re done giving orders!” Malin slapped a tree, sending splinters flying.

  Mahesa’s father took a step toward him. “You really did it, didn’t you? You killed Ketu without giving a thought toward how you were going to administer this new Lunar Empire.”

  Had he? Two steps brought him face-to-face with the man. He grabbed him by the baju and lifted him off his feet. “Maybe what we need is not a War King. Maybe we need a Lunar Emperor after all.”

  Murmurs ran through the assembly. Murmurs that Ketu had said the same thing. Malin dropped the Moon Scion.

  “Perhaps what we need is a council to govern the empire,” Pohaci said.

  Sunten chuckled. “You don’t really think the Moon Scions and the Jadian are just going to sit around and get along, do you?”

  More Scions bristled. Several rose to their feet.

  “Enough,” Malin said. “I’ll entertai
n suggestions. Emperor or council, we will discuss this tomorrow afternoon. Sleep.”

  Malin pushed his way out of the courtyard before anyone could object. Rangda take politicians.

  Maybe he never understood the burdens Ratna bore. She used to climb the cliff to think. Malin hated sitting and thinking.

  He took the path back up from the beach and sat watching the harbor. Chandra’s face had risen in the sky when he heard someone climbing up after him. Few people took this path. It was faster than traveling through the hills, but the slope was treacherous and narrow.

  Pohaci crested the ridge, then sat down beside him.

  “I should have kept Ratna here. Tried harder to make her understand.”

  “She has too much of her father in her,” Pohaci said. “She wasn’t going to understand.”

  “They’re right. I have no idea what to do next.”

  “Can you be emperor?”

  Malin scratched his arms. The tiger wanted out tonight. The moon called to it. “I don’t think so.”

  “Then why not leave it all behind? What do we care for the Moon Scions? We can take Bangdvipa and leave them all.”

  Malin slapped his knee. “No! We’re not leaving. For more than two decades we served them. Strength rules the Lunars, always has. It’s time we got what they owe us.”

  Pohaci shrugged. “So establish a council. One member of each remaining House, plus two members from each of the Jadian bloodlines.”

  “That’s a lot more Moon Scions than Jadian.”

  She twisted to look at him, just a bit. “That’s the point. They’re more likely to swallow such an offering.”

  Malin grunted. Clever.

  After a long time, Pohaci spoke again. “I don’t remember much before I became Buaya Jadian. It’s my whole life, really.”

  He looked over at her. “Calon liked to take them young for the Buaya Jadian. I didn’t realize she took any so young they wouldn’t remember.”

  “I remember flashes. I think we had a nice house. They said my parents died in Rahu’s war. With no one left to care for me, I was the ideal candidate.”

  He squeezed her shoulder. “We all had our reasons for joining. I never understood what it meant until after.”

  “Reasons?” She stopped, looked up into his eyes. “I didn’t join. The witch, Calon, came and tied me down. She drew marks on my naked body in blood, crocodile blood, maybe. I didn’t understand her words. Then I felt it crawling up through my soul. I felt it taking over my body, felt myself lost to the beast forced inside me by the War King’s wife.”

  Malin caught himself snarling. Almost a shame Rahu was dead. Malin would like to kill him again. Forcing the transformation on someone …

  “Did Ketu know about this?”

  Pohaci shook her head. “I don’t know. I never knew him. Only Rahu and Calon, before she died.” She blinked, then, and turned to him, trembling. “Now you know my secrets, too. My whole life, I’ve been nothing but this slave.”

  Malin wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “The Buaya Jadian are free now. You can go wherever you wish.”

  She leaned back against him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE

  Malin’s stomach grumbled. He should take his evening meal before returning to Indu Palace, but it was best to get this over with. The arrogant Moon Scions had summoned him. Malin was done being summoned. House Soma had treated him this way for years, but every last member of that House had fled Swarnadvipa or died.

  The palace doors stood open, inviting him in. Fitting. He glared at a guard until the man averted his gaze, then stepped through and wound his way back to the courtyard.

  A dozen Moon Scions had gathered. Those who had fought for him, those who’d fought for Ketu, now all stood in a cluster watching him. As if he was now the enemy.

  “Where are the Buaya Jadian representatives?” he said. “Where are the other Macan Gadungan?”

  Gantangan spoke. “You seem to speak for the Jadian, so we summoned only you.”

  Malin glared at each lord and Moon Scion in turn. “This was to be a meeting to discuss the new Lunar council.”

  “We have already voted against that plan. We will return to Moon Scion jurisdiction of the empire, as before Rahu’s rise.”

  Malin cracked his neck. Nonsense. “So you’re telling me the Moon Scions voted to place themselves in charge.” He bared his teeth at one who opened his mouth. “The Lunar Empire is in shambles,” he said. “We have to consolidate. We have to find those who will join us now that Ketu is dead.”

  “That’s part of the problem,” one Moon Scion said. “Ketu had a lot of support. The stories about you ripping out his throat with your bare hands have spread. No one trusts you, Malin. You’re violent, chaotic.”

  “So was Ketu. So was Rahu.”

  A woman scoffed. “And you killed them for it. Maybe it’s time you stepped down. Rumor is someone declared himself the Ratu Adil on Suladvipa. Maybe we should join them.”

  Others murmured approval. They spoke of making alliance with Solars or Ignis. They whined about how he’d left Macan Gadungan and Moon Scions in joint custody of the Astral Temple. They complained that he’d allowed Buaya Jadian to remain there, to carry authority, even.

  As though Pohaci and her people hadn’t helped form this alliance. As though their efforts hadn’t helped bring down Ketu.

  It shouldn’t surprise him. Rahu’s war had united the Houses, but only after he’d destroyed those who opposed him.

  Malin growled. It started low in his stomach, and the Moon Scions continued their yammering until the growl rose into his chest. “Silence!”

  Several stood with their mouths agape. Perhaps no one had ever spoken to them thus. Perhaps someone should have.

  “We have an alliance, an arrangement. Moon Scion arrogance created the last civil war. And here you aim to repeat Ketu’s mistakes.”

  Gantangan stepped forward, though Malin could smell the fear radiating off him. “Not at all. The Jadian are free to leave. We’ll even cede you Bangdvipa. You need not remain part of the Lunar Empire. The children of the Moon God grant you liberty. Take it.”

  Huh. Pohaci had said the same thing. Malin looked around at each face, then edged closer to the man. “You’re serious?”

  “Yes.”

  Malin shoved him. Hard enough the man flew backward into his peers and sent several of them tumbling to the ground. “We are Lunars! Most of the Jadian were born on Swarnadvipa, born into the Empire. We didn’t fight to escape it, we fought to join it.” Someone tried to speak, but Malin just shouted louder. “Children of the Moon God? Even now you perpetuate these lies? Form the council, or all Lunars will know the secrets you keep from them.”

  Several of the Moon Scions look at each other, murmured.

  “Yes, I’m talking about the Amrita.”

  One woman gasped. A couple of men raised their hands into fighting stances. The spirit shifted under his skin, itching to get out. Of course, he probably couldn’t actually defeat them all.

  “Get over your arrogance and grant us our due, or all the Skyfall Isles will know the truth you’re so eager to hide.” He leaned toward the woman whose mouth still hung open. “I’ve tasted it. Sweet. I’m sure other Lunars would like a taste. Maybe even some Ignis … or Solars?”

  Mahesa’s father rose. “You wouldn’t dare …”

  “Let’s not find out.” Malin spun on his heel, but shouted over his shoulder. “I expect everyone here tomorrow night for our council elections.”

  Maybe his grand dreams of equality were foolish idealism. Maybe he should declare himself emperor.

  Instead of ending the problem, Ketu’s death had illuminated the cracks in Malin’s alliance. He’d not meant to kill the man. Ketu had a special talent for infuriating Malin. But then, Malin never controlled his temper well.

  If this all fell apart around him, he had no one else to blame. Malin brushed past the startled guards at t
he door and stalked down the beach.

  He’d been a fool. Thrown together these people on promises and his dreams of vengeance. He had vengeance now. It all left a foul taste in his mouth.

  But what was the point of second-guessing himself? He’d made his choices.

  Choices that would forever separate him from Chandi and Ratna, the two people he’d cared for most. Even if they lived, he’d probably never see them again. Neither would forgive him for what he’d done, regardless.

  He caught himself snarling at nothing in particular. For a long time, he walked up and down the beach. He had to leave Chandi and Ratna behind. He’d likely never see either again, and if he did, it wouldn’t be pleasant. No. Too much had gone.

  Time to move forward.

  At last he slipped into the Buaya Jadian communal house. He’d given them the choice to move into proper Bukit, but most remained here. Chose not to face the fear and persecution.

  Pohaci lay there, nestled among the congregation of her kind. Malin watched her for a moment before he knelt beside her. As usual, she wore only one button on her baju done up. He put his hand on her neck.

  One of her eyes popped open. The only movement she made, but he could feel the sudden rise in her pulse. Smell her excitement.

  Damn all consequences.

  He reached his hand under her, and another arm under her legs. She slipped her arm around his neck, her eyes never leaving his face. He lifted her up, carried her from the house.

  She hardly blinked as he carried her along the beach, or up the cliff path to Bukit. Malin shouldered his way into his house.

  As they passed the threshold, Pohaci leaned up into him. Her lips pressed on his, her teeth. The salty taste of her mouth filled him. She nuzzled her neck against his, ripped open her baju with one hand.

  Malin couldn’t catch his breath. He tossed Pohaci onto his bed.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SIX

  “If it makes you so unhappy, we could leave this all behind,” Pohaci said. “You and me.”