by Evan Winter
Fury tossed her head, and patting her neck, Tau liked to think it was her way of agreeing with him. They were close to the keep, and though the city had grown familiar, he considered how different everything looked. The past moons had seen Ihagu and Ihashe swell the city’s numbers, filling it to capacity and returning Citadel City to numbers it had not seen in generations.
So many new bodies, coming so quickly, could have easily overwhelmed resources and resulted in starvation and disease, but Tau had seen the queen rise before dawn and go to her rest later each night in order to manage their mission to the fiefs as well as the efforts in Citadel City. She’d pored over reports and sent Hadith countless edifications, directing his efforts and ensuring that food, clothes, water, and other essential resources were carted into the city’s walls in equal proportion to the newcomers.
The Dragon Queen and her grand general had prepared, outfitted, and organized her army so well that, in the days before battle, when everything was bloodless and defeat seemed impossible, Citadel City rumbled with chatter about the impending siege and inevitable capture of Palm.
“Citadel City welcomes Queen Tsiora Omehia,” Hadith said, standing in the shadows of the open gates to the keep.
Tau stood in his stirrups, as he’d seen Champion Abshir Okar do what felt like a hundred lifetimes ago. “Queen Tsiora Omehia, second of her name, first among the Goddess’s Chosen, and monarch of the Xiddan Peninsula, seeks the Guardian Keep’s hospitality.”
“I, Hadith Buhari, grand general to Queen Tsiora, would consider the Guardian Keep and Citadel City blessed by the Goddess, if my queen permitted me to wait upon her.”
The queen’s procession went on and inward as the crowd outside continued to cheer, and when the gates closed behind him, Tau breathed a sigh of relief and clambered down from Fury.
“Hadith,” he called, “how long until we can—”
Hadith and Uduak were greeting each other with a warm embrace, and when they parted, Uduak tapped Hadith’s face with an open palm. “Too long,” he heard the big man say.
“At least it looks like they fed you well, and it seems that you have a new sword …,” Hadith said, eyebrow raised at the black blade belted by Uduak’s side. “Were you not sleeping, though? You look tired.”
“Long nights,” Uduak said. “Your chest?”
Hadith’s mouth drew tight. “Long nights training?”
Uduak grunted.
“Is it worth the cost?” Hadith asked. “Will it make any difference?”
“It will,” Tau said, interjecting. “It will make all the difference.”
“Tau,” Hadith said, reaching out to clasp his wrist.
“Hadith … Grand General Buhari.”
Hadith blew air from his mouth. “Don’t give me that.”
“Why not? You’ve made it more than true. I heard a few of the reports coming in from the Edifiers. You’ve readied us an army.”
“Well, something like that.”
Tsiora walked up behind Tau. “General,” she said.
Hadith bowed his head and bent his body a little, scrunching up his face as he did. “My queen.”
“Rise, General. You’re not well enough to go around bowing.”
“Your Grace is kind.”
“How do you fare?”
“I’ll not win any footraces and need to be careful when I stretch in the mornings, but I’m better than I have any right to be.”
She smiled at that. “We are glad to hear it. And our army? What of it?”
“When counting the soldiers with you today, we have the equivalent of four and a half dragons in Citadel City. There are eighty-six scales of Ihagu, twenty-eight of Ihashe, and we can field one scale and one unit of Indlovu. My queen,” Hadith said, “your army is almost ready to march and it is ready to fight. The only trouble we seem to be having is coming from the—”
“Indlovu,” the queen finished.
“The Indlovu,” Hadith agreed. “If I can make use of Ingonyama Okar’s services? I think the Indlovu will react more smoothly to him than me.”
“You may have his services, General. However, we are tempted to deal with this another way. You are the one we appointed to lead our army and we are not amused by any resistance to that.”
“Thank you, my queen. I appreciate the support, and in other circumstances, I might also recommend action in line with your thoughts. My worry, however, is over the small amount of time we have before we plan to march. Punishment may have less of a positive effect than simply giving the Indlovu what they want.”
“And that is?” asked Tau.
“They want to still feel bigger than me,” Hadith said.
“Kellan helps with that?”
“I’ll let them feel as if Kellan leads them.”
Tau shook his head. “Is this the nonsense you’ve been dealing with the whole time we’ve been gone?”
“This? This is nothing,” Hadith said with a grin. “You should have seen the fuss that was made when I ordered all food given out equally to Nobles and Lessers. Some nights I wasn’t sure I’d live to see the sun.”
Tau was not amused. “You’re laughing about treachery.”
“The aches of growth, Tau. It’s inevitable and expected. This is a lot of change in a very short time.”
The vizier walked over with a heavy bag slung from her shoulder. “My queen, if I may …”
“Nyah, of course, see to Chibuye. She must miss you.”
“I’ll be there for the meeting after the midday meal,” Nyah said. “It’s just been so long, and truth told, I can’t see Chibo soon enough.”
The vizier’s face looked … unarmed when she said her daughter’s name. Tau didn’t see her like that often.
“Maybe I’ll even have enough time to unpack this bag,” Nyah said. “I feel as if I’ve been living out of it for six seasons.”
Tau saw the edges of Tsiora’s lips begin to tremble, and he waited for it. She didn’t disappoint, and her face broke into the warmest of smiles.
“Of course,” the queen said. “We’ll see you soon.”
“Tau?” Hadith asked, leaning in.
“Neh?” Tau asked.
“Why have you got that silly smile on your face.”
“What smile? I don’t smile,” Tau said, running a hand over his chin and cheeks. “I looked silly?”
“Like you’d forgotten where you put your swords or something.”
Tau laid his hands on his hilts, making sure his blades were still there. “I’d never do that.”
Chuckling to himself, Hadith walked over to the queen, who was watching Nyah leave. “My queen, though I won’t impose on you for help with the Indlovu issue, there’s another place where I would greatly appreciate your assistance,” he said. “A few days ago, when the most recent food carts came in, we noticed that—”
“Queen Tsiora!” It was Gifted Thandi. She was with Kellan and practically running, making her Gifted robes swish back and forth like they were trying to dance with her. “Queen Tsiora, Vizier Nyah, you’re needed.”
Dropping her bag on the cobblestones, Nyah pivoted on her heel. “What’s happened?”
“An edification from Kigambe,” Thandi said.
Nyah strode over, the bag forgotten. “Saying what?”
Tau looked around them. Ihagu, Ihashe, and even Indlovu milled about, packing everything away, cleaning armor or weapons, and greeting friends they hadn’t seen in more than a moon. It looked as tranquil as a courtyard filled with armed men ever could, and Tau had the awful feeling that it wasn’t going to stay that way.
“It’s a raid, a big one,” Thandi said.
“On Kigambe?” Nyah asked.
“It won’t be,” Hadith said. “The walls are too big and the Xiddeen can’t have the full strength of their old alliance. Even if they did, they couldn’t sail and land enough ships to take Kigambe.”
“It’s not Kigambe,” Thandi said, “and Umbusi Oghenekaro can’t help. She sent all her
soldiers here.”
Tau’s world was falling apart. “Who can’t she help?” he asked, his flesh prickling.
“They’re climbing the mountains,” Thandi said. “They’re making for—”
“Kerem,” Tau finished. “It’s Kana. He knows I’m called the Common of Kerem. He’s coming for my home.”
BOUND
General Buhari, you told us the army was almost ready to march,” the queen said. “Get them all the way ready.”
Nyah moved very close to the queen. “Tsiora, we can’t travel to the Southern Mountain Range and take a fight with Kana’s forces. Don’t let yourself get distracted, not now.”
Tau saw the queen’s eyes move between Nyah and him.
“How large is Kana’s fighting force?” she asked Thandi.
It was like Daba, Tau thought, but this time the battle was coming for his home. This time the battle was coming for his mother, sister, and stepfather.
“It’s almost too few,” Hadith said, responding to whatever it was that Thandi had said. “Even though Kerem sent us their Ihagu, Kana will lose lives if he tries to take the fief with just a claw’s worth of raiders. It has to mean that the Xiddeen alliance did crumble. It means Kana is here with the few fighters still willing to follow him.”
“A claw of raiders,” Nyah said. “We could wipe them out if our army were in Kerem, but it’s not and we can’t get it there in time.”
“Two scales is enough,” Hadith said to her. “With a hundred and eight soldiers, we can move quickly and Kana’s raiders will outnumber us by less than fifty. We’ll be too strong for him to face us.”
“Why would Kana risk the few he has for vengeance on Tau?” Kellan asked the group. “It makes no sense to make a sacrifice swing that won’t end the fight even if it lands.”
“I would do it,” Tau said, seeing Kana’s face the night that Warlord Achak died. “Were I Kana, I would go to Kerem and burn it to ash.”
Hadith put a hand on Tau’s shoulder but spoke to the queen. “It’s not just vengeance. Kerem is a proving ground and if Kana razes the home of the man who killed the Xiddeen warlord, the victory will be a rallying cry.” Hadith took a step toward the queen. “He’s trying to re-form the Xiddeen alliance and this could give him the means to do it.”
It was a convincing argument. It might even be true. Tau turned to the queen. She was already looking at him.
“No. We’re not doing this,” Nyah said. “Tsiora, tell them you’re not doing this.”
“Kana’s ships were seen by Kigambe scouts?” Hadith asked.
Thandi’s eyes slipped to Nyah first, but she answered him. “Yes, Grand General.”
“Good. It means that Kana came ashore near the city. If we move fast, we can find the ships and sink them, preventing his escape.”
“Kana will have scouts of his own,” Kellan said. “When we attack the ships, they’ll go to warn him. You’ll be forcing him to flee through the mountains to get back to the Curse. He’ll have to fight his way to freedom, killing hundreds more than he would if we let him have his boats.”
Hadith shook his head. “He won’t get the chance to hurt anyone else. We’ll pincer Kana between us and the soldiers we’ll call up from the Southern Fortress. We’ll trap and finish him in the mountains.”
“Do it, General,” the queen said.
Tau released the breath he’d been holding.
“We’re not thinking this through,” said Nyah.
“Gifted Thandi,” Tsiora said, “send an edification to the Southern Fortress. Tell the inkokeli that his Dragon Queen calls on him.”
Thandi bowed her head.
“Hold, Thandi,” Nyah said to the Gifted. “My queen, the fortress’s inkokeli is no friend of ours. What’s to stop him from mimicking General Bisi and claiming that his men are duty bound to keep guard of the fortress? If he won’t help and we sink Kana’s boats, we’ll be forcing the warlord’s son to cut his way out of the peninsula. We could lose more than just Kerem.”
Tsiora’s mask was up and Tau had no idea what she was thinking.
“Queen Tsiora?” Nyah asked.
“Gifted Thandi,” she said, “tell the inkokeli of the Southern Fortress that his queen rides to Kerem. Tell him she rides to battle and that he is honor bound to defend her.” Her eyes found Tau’s face. “Let’s get you home,” she said.
ALIKE
By nightfall they were marching away from Citadel City with three scales of the queen’s army. Hadith was with them, and so was Kellan, though the grand general had wanted to leave him behind. Hadith had told Tau that he worried about the Nobles’ loyalty and he thought leaving Kellan in the city with the Indlovu would help.
Kellan had been the one to solve the problem, explaining that they should take more than the two scales that were originally planned because the queen was going with them. To increase their numbers, he’d suggested they have all the Indlovu in Citadel City join them.
“Give us action and purpose,” he’d argued. “Let us be part of the fight to which we have committed ourselves. You worry about loyalty? Let us prove ours.”
“So be it, Inkokeli Okar,” Hadith had told Kellan. “I’ll admit, having all of you with us will make things easier, and the Ihashe and Ihagu we leave in the city should be able to keep things settled.”
Tau had noted what went unsaid. If the Nobles living in Citadel City decided they were better off bowing to Queen Esi instead of Queen Tsiora, the city’s Lessers, alongside the army stationed there, could make that decision a fatal one.
“If you and Kellan come with us, who leads the city?” Tau had asked.
“I wasn’t idle the whole time you were gone,” Hadith told him. “I’ve a decent chain of command in place.”
Tau hadn’t asked anything else. His only other concern was getting to Kerem. So, for the second time that day, Queen Tsiora and Champion Solarin rode at the head of a small army. Beside them, riding together on a horse, were Nyah and her daughter. The vizier had been unwilling to leave her daughter again.
Behind them marched the Ayim, a few Gifted, the Indlovu, and two scales of Ihashe. They were moving fast, and the plan was to keep moving until they reached the beach where Kana had landed his ships.
It would be a long march, ending in a battle, and that came close to being too much to ask of their force. Still, Tau worried the extra efforts they were making wouldn’t be enough, and he struggled against the urge to lean close to Fury’s neck and let the horse run.
He wanted to leave everyone behind, race the sun to Kerem, and face the man who’d come to take vengeance on his home. He’d have done it too, if he thought his two swords enough to stop Kana and the Xiddeen with him. They weren’t enough, though. Tau needed every single one of the people marching behind him, and that knowledge anchored him to their pace.
“We’ll get there,” Tsiora said, riding her horse closer to him.
Tau nodded, saying nothing, his worry battering him.
Two nights later, after marching almost nonstop, Tau was at the beach not far from the place where he’d nearly drowned as a boy, staring at the dark shapes of eight beached Xiddeen longships with Kellan and the Ayim.
“They burn no fires and light no torches,” Kellan whispered. “Kana could have left ten or a hundred to guard his ships.”
Tau, Kellan, and the Ayim had skulked through the dark and were lying on their bellies in the tall grass ringing the sands that led to the Roar.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Themba.
“What doesn’t?” Kellan asked.
“Their numbers.”
“Really?”
“However many they have, we’ll come with our soldiers and do them.”
“If they have any scouts out, and they should, we need to find them first. Champion, you agree?” Kellan asked.
Tau knew why they had to sink the ships, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were wasting time.
“Whatever we do, let’s do it quick,” h
e said. “Kana will have gone with enough fighters to overwhelm Kerem’s defenses, and they’ll need our help.”
Kellan nodded and went to work. “Yaw, you’re the slipperiest of us. Head south, along the grass line, toward the mountains. The scouts are most likely to be positioned on the higher ground.”
“Ramia, go with him, will you?” Tau asked. “There’s not a scout alive who’d hear you coming.”
The handmaiden gave him a slow blink, accepting the task.
“The rest of us should move north together,” Kellan said. “We’ll get as close to the ships as we can, and that means there’s a decent chance we’ll bump into more than just a few scouts.” Kellan looked to Jabari. “You won’t be able to keep up with us if we’re crawling through the grasses, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need you. Return to camp and bring everyone here. By then we should have a better sense of what we face. If I give the signal, we charge the beach. Understand?”
Jabari, the hood of his cloak up, nodded without turning to face Kellan and skulked back through the grasses in that stiff-legged way he had.
“Goddess go with you all,” Kellan said.
“May we walk ever in Her grace,” Yaw said, before crawling off with Ramia.
“Let’s go,” Kellan said, leading the way.
As they crawled through the grasses, Tau kept thinking something wasn’t right, and it bothered him that he couldn’t figure out what that something was. He tried to recall everything he knew about the man he’d soon face. He’d known Kana only a short while, but the queen and Nyah often spoke about him. He was clever, they said, very much so.
“Found something,” said Kellan.
“Something like what?” asked Themba.
“Three large bags. There’s … food, clothes … a hatchet, water gourds. It’s Xiddeen.”
“Scouts?” Uduak asked.
“I don’t think so,” Kellan said. “Scouts wouldn’t need this. There’s enough here for days and days of ranging.”
“Stay bright,” Auset said. “The owners could be close.”
Tau scanned the dark. “I don’t see any…. ”
Several strides away he saw a face in the grasses, and about to call out to the others, he reached for his swords; then it vanished.
