by L. W. Jacobs
This must be his surge. He wouldn’t waste it.
The prison camp below was jammed with people, an ocean of black hair bounded by wood walls and the stone jail. Across the clearing, whitecoat soldiers marched from the city toward the camp. He needed to stop them—but first, to save a friend.
He drew breath and tore a section of roof from the prison, peeling it back like melon skin. Tai tossed it into the whitecoats, tore another back, until the door of the torture chamber came clear. He shot down, Ella’s screams audible on the wind.
Tai sucked the door open, uai raging inside, and dropped to the exposed prison floor. People were circled inside, Ella tied to a table in the middle. “Tai!”
Rage boiled in him. He drew in air—
And slammed against the floor, a blurred spear descending for his throat.
“Tai!” Ella cried, unsure if she was dead or alive, the figure out the door a man or the Prophet himself come for her.
He descended to the ground in slow motion, dust and stone and chunks of ceramic suspended in slowed rotation around him. The men drew their weapons, shouting, and Ella saw he was very much real. He had come for her.
He touched down, mouth open in a shout that was almost subsonic, more felt rumble than human voice. All the sounds from outside the room were, she realized. As though the entire room were in slip.
The men ran for him, maybe realizing this too, and something clicked in Ella’s mind, a line from a Kellandrials: Now and then, I could almost swear my powers extend beyond my own body.
She was extending her slip to include all the men. All the men but Tai.
A soldier slammed a fist into Tai’s head, sending him backward as though through honey. Fear clutched her stomach. She had to extend the slip to him too—but how?
The soldier raised a spear.
“Tai,” she whispered, urgent. “Move!”
The blurring spear slowed above him, and Tai twisted, iron scraping into the ceramic where his head had been. Tai let out his breath, rocketing the man backward into air, out the missing roof.
The other men ran for him, weapons raised. Tai breathed out and they slammed against the back wall of the room, cracks spidering from their bodies.
He stood, holding them there effortlessly as a breath. “Ella. Are you okay?”
“Tai!” Her smile was beatific. “You came for me!”
He smiled. “Like you came for me.” He was over her now, blood on the stone but her face perfect. “Are you all right?” The restraints holding her snapped open.
“I’m fine, I—pleased my ancestors, I guess. What about you?”
“After they took you, I figured some things out. Saw through something that’s been holding me back a long time.”
She smiled. “Me too. And I might have put us both in slip.”
Tai looked around. “That’s amazing.”
Ella smiled. Someone groaned behind them, and Tai lifted them into the air, table and all, like two motes of dust. It felt like the uai in him would never end.
“Currents,” Ella said, face paling. “Are we…off the ground?”
Right—she didn’t like heights. “No! Not at all. Sorry.”
He swung them into the fields, tiny white soldiers frozen in slip beneath them. They filled the road from Ayugen, speckled with shining metal forms that could only be Titans.
Ella glanced around. “Tai. We need to get out of here.”
“No,” he said, certainty settling on him. “We need to get them out. Will you be safe here?”
“I can handle myself. But what are you—”
He squeezed her hand. “I’m going to try that better way we talked about.”
Tai shot into the air. Ayugen was awash in whitecoats, snapping back into motion as he left Ella’s slowed time. Boats were tied along the docks, lines of white soldiers like ants still disembarking, threading through Riverbottom and up the bluffs to Hightown, merging with white coats from Newgen in a stream flowing to the southwest. The prison camp.
He shoved that way, wind moving with him, screams and shouts and the heavy tromp of boots reaching him from below. The soldiers were forming a ring around the camp gate, cries of the panicked Achuri inside a single wail.
“Go.” Tai wafted above them, voice booming on the wind. “Leave this place and I won’t hurt you.”
Metal forms shot up to meet him, Titans moving faster than he’d ever seen wafters move. Tai sucked in air and breathed out four single streams, slamming the men back down. They crashed into the sea of white coats, ripples of men falling back from them like water from dropped stones.
“Go!” he repeated, dropping closer. Then he saw what was happening.
The Achuri had been released, pushing out in desperation against the ring of whitecoats. They were being cut down, men and boys giving what resistance they could. It was a massacre.
With a yell, Tai breathed out, shoving a wall of air between them. Shouts rose, cries, and Tai forced a line through the whitecoat army, men and bodies and swords lifting in the winds as he cleared a path.
Dark-haired figures poured through it. Tai spread the gap wider, pushing the army back toward the water. More figures rose to meet him, and arrows and spears and knives. Tai stopped them with lines of air, uai an unending tempest inside. He pushed back on the army, away from the camp, creating a wall of air a thousandpace long, two thousandpace, forcing the whitecoats back toward Riverbottom.
Men screamed, turning to flee, pushing against each other, discipline of the army breaking. Tai lifted them all, pushed them like ants in a flash flood. They flowed though the streets of Hightown, carts and cobblestones and rooftops caught in the current, over the side of the bluffs and down the hillside, men tumbling and spinning with the winds, a foaming tide of humanity rolling back to sea.
Tai pushed individual walls of air through the streets of Riverbottom, the town familiar as his own flesh, panicked shouts rising in a single roar. He pushed them over the Iron Market and to the docks, lines of men spilling back onto their boats or into the river itself.
There were too many, the ships too disorganized to hold them all. With a crack, Tai broke the docks from the earth itself, shoving them into the river like so many more barges. Men screamed and he pushed the flotilla into the current, rage like a thunderstorm inside him. Sunken ships and burnt dockhouses were swept away in the tide, and Tai followed above them in air, uai rushing from him like there was no end.
He pushed them past the ruins of Newgen, past the bluffs to the west of the city, farther, downstream, batting Titans and arrows and spears from the sky like insects. They pushed past Stoneforger’s Bend, past the end of the farmland and the clearings of hermits, the Genga running like a spooked beast before his power.
They came finally to Gendrys, to the Councilate fort rising out of the confluence with the Ein. Tai let the ships go, pulled downstream in the rush of current, men and docks and lacquered ships a human flood.
A vicious ache began in his spine, but Tai drew in more air. “Not yet. Ancestors, stay with me.”
He pulled on the ground, gouging boulders from the bluff and slamming them into the river.
The Genga roared, water foaming around the giant rocks. Tai pushed backward, drawing more stones out, dropping them higher up the river’s course, creating an impassable rapids, a hundredpace, two hundred, three—
With a gasp, his uai guttered out. Tai fell from the sky like a stone.
43
No flower blooms without roots.
—Achuri proverb, Markels, Travels among the At’li and Achuri
Rebuilding a city was hard work. Ella grunted as she pushed a mass of shingles off a rooftop. “Lumo,” she panted. “Sure you can’t do this alone?”
“Ha,” the heavy Minchu laughed, catching the chunk easily and heaving it into a wagon. “I am not Tai, to solve the world’s problems by myself.” Up and down the street, other teams worked, clearing away the rubble and the remains of fighting.
“I had help,” Tai said from the roof next to her, eyes focused as he wafted a broken timber down to the trailer. “If it wasn’t for Ella, I’d still be trapped inside that prison.”
Lumo pulled at his pipe, waiting for the next load of shingles. “What about me? You do not mention me, Tai. I am the one who taught you to waft.”
“Or me,” Aelya put in, resonance crackling as she pulled a ruined handcart from the alley. “None of you meckstains would have even met Tai if I hadn’t kept him alive the last seven years.”
Tai grimaced. “You all helped equally.”
Aelya snorted. “When did you start talking like a lighthair?”
“When the whole city started treating me like the Descending God returned to earth.” He was getting stares even now from the other work crews.
“Try not defeating a whole army in an afternoon.”
“And then disappearing so long we thought you were dead,” Ella said.
“As I recall, neither of you were disappointed to find me alive.” Tai set the timber down.
Ella blushed. “Hey,” she said, pointing a finger. “Isn’t that Marrem?”
The stout Achuri woman had taken charge of much of the cleanup process, organizing infirmaries and work crews and mass kitchens under Tai’s guidance. Tai leapt from the rooftop, wafting just enough to land softly on the street next to the healworker.
She shook her head. “Ancestor’s teeth, boy, you’ll give an old woman a heartseize.”
Tai grinned. “But not this one.”
Marrem pursed her lips. “I wanted to talk you about the food stores.”
“Aye. Any luck finding the Councilate’s supply?”
She shook her head. “Still nothing. Seems most of Newgen and the mines were relying on weekly shipments from downstream.”
“Okay. So, we harvest a little early.”
“And we are doing that, but there isn’t enough food in those fields for Ayugen plus our guests for the whole winter.”
Tai rolled his shoulders. “They’re not guests, Marrem. The rebels are here to stay, lighthairs or not. They fought with us and died with us and deserve a place in our city.”
“Well, maybe you can ask them to write home for some food supplies. Though I don’t reckon the shipments would make it past your new set of rapids.”
“We’ll think of something. Everything else okay?”
“Aye. Though we’ll need to find a longer-term solution for the fighters than keeping them in the camp. Some of the people are saying we’re no better than the Councilate, to shut them up in there.”
“Right. Maybe we can use the Tower. Or just give them a few boats and send them downstream.”
“As you say.”
Tai ran a hand through his hair. “You know you don’t need to run all these things by me, Marrem. I trust you to do the right thing.”
Marrem smiled, taking her younger girl around the shoulders. “I do. But the people don’t. It’s been years since we had a real circle of elders. Till we do, you’re it. Fool boy or not.”
Tai heart clenched, meeting the daughter’s wide-eyed gaze. She reminded him of Fisher, whom they’d found in the forests yesterday, wide-eyed and mute again. “Right. I’ll think more on that. Maybe we can call a meeting when the cleanup is done.”
“You might not want to wait that long.”
“Tai!” Ella called from the roof, a note of urgency to her voice. Tai looked up, hearing other calls from down the street. “Something in the sky!”
Tai struck resonance, shooting above Hightown to get a better look. There was indeed a figure in the air, sun glinting off metal plate. A Titan. Tai shoulders knotted. Ancestors send this wasn’t the first wave of another assault. He couldn’t summon that kind of strength on command. Might not ever be able to do it again, if Lumo was right.
The Titan was carrying someone holding two flags crossed in the sign of truce. A messenger, then?
They landed in the field outside Newgen and Tai came down a few paces away. No, not a messenger. Or at least, not a normal messenger. He broke his mind into competing conversations, then met the man’s eyes.
“Arbiter Sablo. What brings you here?”
“An offer of parley,” the older man said, glancing at the Titan. “Among other things.”
“If you’ve come to kill me, I’d urge you to reconsider. I don’t wish any more violence between us.”
Ella arrived in a zip of rent air, a scowl appearing when she saw who the Titan had brought.
“Far from it,” Sablo said, nodding to Ella. “I’ve come to personally guarantee your safety if you’ll follow me to Gendrys. Ten of the twelve Houses are represented there and wish to discuss the terms of your surrender. Ella, you would be welcome as well, if you wish to come.”
“Our surrender?” Ella demanded. “You have to be kidding.”
“We refuse,” Tai said. “Anything else?”
Sablo straightened the starched cuffs of his kurta. “You cannot defeat the Councilate militarily, Tai Kulga. It is a matter of numbers.”
“No, it isn’t,” Tai said. “Not anymore. You’ve seen what I can do.”
“Ah, but can you do it again?”
Tai felt a twinge of fear. Had the man seen into his mind? But no, his protection was still in place. A bluff, then. “I don’t see why not.”
Sablo glanced at the Titan again. “Because there are only so many revenants to overcome, and no one can do it on command.”
Ella let out a small gasp, and Tai hid his surprise. What did Sablo know about revenants?
“Don’t be so sure of that,” Ella said. “We may know things you don’t.”
She shot Tai an encouraging smile. They’d already been talking about their experiences with Lumo, and she had a lot of theories to test. She’d also told him about Sablo’s strange books, and the symbol they shared with a pendant Odril wore, a circle pierced with nine spears.
“Be careful what you find out,” Sablo said. “Some things are secret for a reason.”
That was a bluff. “And you know those things?” Tai asked. “They didn’t seem to help you a week ago.”
Sablo cleared his throat. “Military force is not the Councilate’s only option. They are already working on something in Gendrys. Something your powers will do little against.”
“What, then, assassins? Disease? Whatever it is, we’ll handle it.”
Aelya ran up to him, resonance thrumming. “These meckrings giving you trouble, Tai?” Lumo wasn’t far behind her, with a few of the city’s burgeoning militia. The Titan bristled, striking resonance.
“Don’t be foolish, Tai,” Sablo said, raising his voice. “We need to talk on this more. Privately.”
“Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of my friends.”
Sablo eyed them a moment, then turned to the Titan. “You can go.”
“Sir?” the man asked, sounding surprised.
“You’re dismissed, soldier.”
After a moment, the Titan snapped a salute, then wafted toward the forest.
Tai frowned. “You know we can’t let you go, right?” He gestured to the militiamen.
“I’m counting on it,” the older man said, for all the world like he wasn’t being taken hostage in a rebel city. The men clapped hands on him. “Seek me out, Tai Kulga. I’m the only one who understands what you’re up against.”
One of the militiamen raised an eyebrow and Tai nodded. “To the camp, for now.”
They stood and watched the men go, a silence descending on them.
“Stains was that about?” Aelya asked.
“Probably nothing,” Tai said. “A bluff, because they don’t have anything else.”
Still, he shared an uneasy glance with Ella. The threats could be a bluff, but how did the man know about revenants and the limitations of overcoming?
And if it was all a bluff, why would he let himself get taken hostage?
“Their funeral if it’s not,” Aelya said, slapping him on
the back. “We’ve got Tai.”
He coughed. “Right. Though I might need a little help next time.”
“I will face them with you,” Lumo rumbled.
“As will I,” Ella said, holding her one fist up in the rebel salute.
Aelya and the others followed suit, and Tai’s spirits lifted. “With an army like us? They don’t stand a chance.”
ALSO IN SERIES
BEGGAR’S REBELLION
PAUPER’S EMPIRE
APOSTATE’S PILGRAMAGE
ACOLYTE’S UNDERWORLD
From the Author
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, consider leaving me a review or some stars on Amazon. Authors live or die by their reviews these days, and every one means a lot to me. For previews, deleted scenes, and a free novella not available anywhere else, click here for Beggars and Brawlers: the Resonant Saga Newsletter. Or if you prefer audio, check out the Beggars and Brawlers podcast!
Things get more epic in Pauper’s Empire, where the Councilate unveils a terrible new weapon, Tai and Ella discover the secrets they need to fight back, and we learn more about the significance of a circle pierced with nine spears…
Acknowledgments
This book wouldn’t be what it is without so many people—I worked on it for so long, through so many revisions, it’s hard to even remember all the people who read it, so apologies if I miss you—but to my BSFWW oldies Laura and Neal, thank for your edits. To Kyle for being my fellow traveler on this indie journey, epic emails and all. To Rawley for gently telling me the book sucked the first time around. To Katheryn in particular for convincing me Ella shouldn’t be a sex worker. To Alex for last-minute proofreading, and Amy, Debbie, and Heidi for post-last-minute proofreads. To the SPFBO community, and Fantasy Book Critic in particular, for lending me some much-needed credibility and visibility. And to CJ Aaron and everyone at Aethon Books, for taking that visibility to the next level.
