Word of Truth

by Rhett C. Bruno

  Behind them and to the west, Whitney could make out Freydis and other warlocks punishing the city with their magic. Now that the opening no longer needed their prying, they flung elemental projectiles over the walls with no care for who they were hitting—friend, or foe.

  The enemy flowed through the breach and broke Sir Mulliner’s ranks in full, leaving a bloody, fiery massacre behind as the melee tore throughout the district. Others used the body of a dead chekt to scale the wall itself and fight for the parapets to claim high ground for their magic missiles.

  They’d planned to lure Freydis close by simulating an overwhelming victory. Instead, the opposite had happened. They’d drawn the bulk of her army away from her.

  Whitney surveyed the fields for Drav Cra stragglers. A plan was brewing, and he needed some new clothes.

  XLII

  The Caleef

  Mahi had heard her father’s stories about the fleet from Abo’Fasaniyah, the former home of the Babrak Afhemate. However, she’d never seen it in full until now. She wished that were still true. Babrak and his people had always claimed that their naval forces outmatched the al’Tariq afhemate. They were right. Strikingly so. Even before Awn’al al’Tariq’s horrible accident upon the seas, there was no way the fleet of Mahi’s predecessor could have been larger than this. From where she stood, a level above the docks, it looked like a solid wall moving toward them. So much more than was present in Latiapur.

  “There are so many,” Bit’rudam said, voicing what everyone was thinking.

  “Our defenses will hold,” Lord Jolly said.

  “You know that’s not true,” Mahi said, no room for argument in her tone.

  “Perhaps,” he said, “but it will buy the others time.”

  The vibrations of war had already begun to echo across the city. Things didn’t sound good at the walls, either. The sky was as dark as Mahi’s skin and equally unnatural. Others complained of the cold, uncharacteristic of this time of year, though Mahi couldn’t feel it.

  “Right, then,” Lord Jolly said. “It has been a pleasure coming to know you, Caleef Mahraveh. And you, Bit’rudam. My prayer is that Iam sees fit to see us through this battle, but if not, the Gate of Light doesn’t sound so bad. Nor does your Eternal Current. Fight with honor… when you can. But, no matter what…” He stabbed a finger toward Autla’s Inlet. “Kill them first.”

  “Yes,” Mahi agreed. “A lovely sentiment.” She bowed her head to the one-armed Glassman and tugged Bit’rudam, leading him by the hand toward a regiment of their archers.

  Having fled Latiapur with such haste, they hadn’t had time to gather many barbed arrows, but the Shesaitju were no strangers to the power of fire. They would use the simple arrows Torsten was able to provide, but their tips were wrapped tight in flammable cloth. The ships that managed to break through the initial line of defense, and also made it through the barbed chains crisscrossing the inlet and lower Dockside, would be met with flying torches.

  The arrows wouldn’t travel the same, and Mahi’s men would be at a disadvantage, but she hoped the sheer number of them would help.

  Surveying her army, each of them more fearful than the next, she couldn’t blame them for their trepidation… and they didn’t even know Caliphar was gone, along with the Sirens. They were on their own unless Iam decided to show. In the hands of a god who’d caused her people far too much suffering.

  “Are you ready?” Bit’rudam asked her.

  “Nesilia offered to have me lead her army. Instead, I am here, fighting alongside strangers we must call friends. To defy a god is to welcome death.”

  “I won’t let her touch you.”

  “I know you won’t. But, like Lord Jolly said, would the Eternal Current not be welcome, after all of this?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Bit’rudam said. “But I will trust your word.”

  Mahi placed her palm against his chest. “Today, trust this. Let it guide you. It is all we have left.”

  He raised his hand to cover hers and let it linger for a few seconds. Time seemed to pass slowly as he felt her breathing. Then he whispered, “I hope that’s not the truth.” He stepped back and bowed as if to beckon Mahi to go ahead.

  She stepped up to the front of the warriors stationed in the middle of the docks. Each one snapped to attention, longbow to their side, and chin high. From this angle, they looked even more terrified. She looked beyond them, to the Glass forces lined up on Port Street, under the command of Sir Garihad Yuliz. The man was young, as many of the Glass leaders appeared to be, and those they commanded… They weren’t soldiers… not all of them. Many were commoners with weapons they barely knew how to hold. But these were their allies now, for better or worse. Mahi would let them find their own ways of motivation. As for her men, she only knew one thing that would give them the strength needed to carry out today’s battle.

  “I know this is not our land,” she spoke, “but we will fight like it is. You saw what happened to our great city. If this one falls, the Current will never return us home to take back what is ours.”

  There were murmurs, but not even Mahi could make them out.

  “This enemy wishes to divide us, just as we have been for so long. She offers false promises, even as she murders our children. But now, we all must survive together. Though I may not be the Queen of Sand and Glass as I was to be, is it not a wonder that glass is made when sand is put under flame? Could it not be that we are one and the same, deep down?”

  “Yes, Caleef,” they all said together. None of them sounded convinced.

  She’d already given this speech to the other groupings and would have to give it a dozen times more, and none could be done with less vim than the last. It was vital that each of these warriors felt the weight and gravity of this day.

  “We fight not for King or Queen, but for all life upon Pantego.” She pointed to the fleet upon the horizon. “It may be Babrak out there, that cowardly pis’truda, but he fights for Nesilia, the Buried Goddess. The one who saw to it that our God of Sand and Sea is not here with us today.”

  The murmurs now became loud grumbling.

  “What are you doing, Mahi?” Bit’rudam asked.

  “That’s right,” she said, ignoring Bit’rudam. “I was there when Nesilia swallowed Him like the sea gobbles up the beaches; when she buried Him like she had once been.”

  The look of confusion upon the soldier’s faces was evident.

  “I don’t think this—“

  She cut Bit’rudam off. “Winning this battle may be our only chance of bringing Him back. Let us show Him that He will not be forgotten. No, this day isn’t just for us, nor for the Glass. Today is a battle for our very God. For all those who dance upon the Eternal Current. For all those who one day will. If we do not win today, our spirits will wander like lost wolf pups. This cannot be.”

  “Yes, Caleef!” They all said, louder and with more conviction this time.

  “Fight with all the rage of the sea!” she shouted. “Kill them first!”

  She left them in a frenzy of spirits and began toward the next group of archers. Bit’rudam stayed behind, leading the men in a pre-battle prayer. They had no sages after they’d all stayed behind in Latiapur, but he did his best. Even though they now knew Caliphar would not hear them, they repeated his words with such respect, and she could tell, they meant every last word.

  They would rise upon the tide by the guided hand of God. They would cast down the enemy like a rip in the current, dragging them to the depths of darkness. The sea would feast upon their flesh and spit their carcasses out upon the rocks. This would not be the day they met their end.

  Mahi spoke the same words to each of the front lines throughout Dockside, and each received them the same way. It bolstered their faltering resolve to know that they fought for something bigger than themselves.

  By the end, Mahi almost believed it herself. Almost.

  But she’d been too close. She’d seen it—the end of all things. She knew that Caliph
ar wouldn’t be returning, not even if they won. The Sirens were gone, and she was His last voice in this realm. Things would never be the same.

  She considered the memories of all the former Caleefs and found herself wondering if that was such a bad thing. There’d been so much infighting and war that, perhaps, a fresh start where her people were no longer under the boot of the Glass, but hand-in-hand, might be best. There may not be a King—she may not be their Queen—but that didn’t mean something new and wonderful couldn’t sprout from the horrors of the world’s end.

  Horns sounded from the north end of the docks, tearing her from those thoughts. The sound indicated the first of Babrak’s ships had reached their blockade. A sudden inferno blazed upon the waters as the soldiers out in the water lit barrel after barrel full of whale oil. Small explosions sent shards flying everywhere. She could hear the hysteria, even from there, as Babrak’s men realized what was happening.

  As little men on little boats rowed away and back toward the docks, Babrak’s ships slowed, and for a moment, Mahi felt encouraged. Until she heard it, a loud crack before something massive tore through the sky.

  Barbed, metal bolts, large enough to tear through the hull of any ship at sea, did just that, shredding Glass vessels before any of them could fully realize their purpose as explosives. The Glass blockade had stopped a few of Babrak’s ships, and it was only meant to buy time. But as the bomb-ships crumbled, the already dark sky darkened further from a volley of enemy arrows peppering the inlet. They came down upon the fleeing Glassmen, and their screams could be heard above everything.

  None survived. It was as if Babrak had expected the defense, and Mahi realized he might have. It was similar to the tactic the Glassmen had used in Nahanab. Still, it was only meant to slow them down, and by the look of it, it was working, forcing them to waste crucial arrows and reveal the signature ballistae weaponry of Babrak’s fleet. Once meant to hunt large beasts that would threaten their fishing hollows, they’d been transformed into vicious weapons.

  The first of her archers, positioned to the north of the inlet, let loose upon Babrak’s stalled fleet. They would fire, then duck behind shanties while they prepared for their next salvo. The cluttered area of the city made their ranks disorganized, but that also made them unpredictable to the enemy.

  Mahi ran back to where Bit’rudam stood. “Prepare shore defense,” she said. “Take out as many as you can with the flying torches, and then fall back. Lure them in and set fire to the docks.”

  Sacrifice the few, her father had always said. She’d thought it heartless, but now, she understood better than ever.

  And she was ready to be sacrificed. They all were.

  Dashing past the lines of archers, she climbed the low bluffs on the north to where Lord Jolly stood, watching with his spyglass.

  His cheeks were red, and sweat poured down his face despite the bitter cold.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, lowering the spyglass and averting his gaze. “That should have been more successful.”

  “It was,” Mahi said. “In Nahanab, the first time our people saw such a tactic.”

  She didn’t mean for it to come out with such venom, but it did nonetheless.

  Lord Jolly turned, shock upon his face. It immediately turned to anger. “And what would you have done?” he snapped. “I didn’t hear you voice an objection in the Shield Hall.”

  In her past life, Mahraveh would have responded in like manner, but now, possessing centuries of wisdom passed down from great men of strong character, she withheld her ire.

  “You’re right,” she said. “I didn’t. This is no time to be at each other’s throats.” She turned to the approaching army. “And look, it did work upon a number of their vessels.”

  It was true. From at least three of Babrak’s larger warships, men leaped off and swam through fiery waters to the safety of other ships. Many didn’t make the journey, as Mahi’s archers picked them off. The initial defense wasn’t a complete loss. Though, for every ship thwarted, another ten pushed on.

  “Blackwood doesn’t burn so easily,” Mahi said.

  “Now what?” Jolly said.

  Babrak’s men returned fire, but they were nearly out of range, and Dockside offered cover they didn’t have out on the water.

  “Now, we hope our chains hold,” Mahi said. “And when they do not, we fall back and let the fires of war consume them along with Dockside.”

  Lord Jolly nodded. “Those things are devastating,” he said, his face returning to a static position. He, no doubt, referred to the ballista missiles that still tore ships and soldiers apart.

  “They are, but Babrak can’t help but waste his arsenal,” Mahi said. “He has no idea what’s coming. They approach the shallow water. Now!”

  Babrak’s lead ships cut the waters, and the sound of splintering wood against iron couldn’t be heard over the din of flames, screaming, and humming arrows. Mahi, however, saw it. As did Lord Jolly. The unnatural darkness caused by Nesilia was their undoing, making everything below the surface of the trap-laden inlet invisible.

  All throughout Dockside, zhulong attached to heavy cranks pulled, tightening the chains and bringing them to hull height. Jolly let a small smile play upon his lips, but Mahraveh knew better. She waited, watching as Babrak’s lead ship slowed abruptly, and soldiers were flung off the deck.

  Their minor victory was short-lived as a sudden explosion from the sea brought giant tentacles with it. They grasped the ship, dozens of them. In a display unlike anything either of them had seen before, the ship rose from the surface and came back down just beyond the initial, underwater barrier of chains. Its hull was damaged, but not disabled.

  One ship after another, the Current Eaters did the same. Some ships fell victim to the traps, but not nearly what was expected.

  Jolly swore.

  “Those are no mere beasts,” Mahi said.

  “We are fighting gods,” Lord Jolly agreed.

  Mahi brandished her spear. “They will be upon us shortly. Do you intend to die today, Lord Jolly?”

  He shook his head.

  “Nor I.” She clapped his good shoulder. “Your men fought valiantly. I suggest you fall back with Sir Yuliz and await landfall. Now, it’s my turn to send Babrak to the Currentless Realm.”

  She scaled down the bluff until her bare feet met the docks again.

  “Archers, ready!” she shouted. Her command trickled down the staggered line all the way to the south. They all lowered their arrows into fire pits. The sound of bowstrings going taut reverberated through the air.

  She met eyes with Bit’rudam across the harbor for but a second as she stalked behind her men. This was it. This was her final opportunity to show that the Shesaitju were the greatest warriors in Pantego, that Liam only conquered them because they forgot what it meant to stand united.

  She looked out to the sea and saw him. Babrak, large as ever, stood upon the prow of his flagship. A menacing looking fish with a sharp nose was carved into the prow of his ship, and the grin he wore made her sick. Never before had he been uglier than at that moment. He looked every bit the part of the villain, stretching his arm forth. She noticed then that he had his archers ready as well, with more arriving as Current Eaters heaved more ships over the chains.

  “Fire!” Mahi shouted, and she watched Babrak’s men do the same.

  Missiles joined in the air like two opposing forces. Many glanced off each other, there was such a number. Babrak’s volley landed just short of the docks, and her own missed as well.

  “Ready!” she shouted again. “Fire!”

  Her arrows went up, and a second later, so did Babrak’s. This time neither would miss. She stood there as barbed arrows rained down all around. She didn’t flinch, she didn’t move. The thunk, thunk, thunk diverged with the cries of her men.

  “Ready!” She could hear Bit’rudam shout. She echoed to her men as well.

  There was a hesitation to their pull this time.

  “Ready!
” she shouted again. “Fire!”

  Their flaming projectiles landed upon Babrak’s fleet. Blackwood was durable, but all the oil they’d dumped in the inlet and on their ships throughout the false blockade served as kindling. The flammable stuff was everywhere, catching on masts and sails, flaring on debris throughout the water. Those men who’d given their lives to feign a naval defense didn’t die in vain.

  Bit’rudam continued calling out commands to his archers. They moved as they shot, using the city for cover against Babrak’s return fire, all while enemy arrows and ballista ravaged Dockside beyond repair.

  Mahraveh had seen enough from her side. She rushed forward.

  “Shoot that thing, now!” she shouted to one of her archers, pointing at the Current Eater. Without hesitation, the warrior took aim and fired. His arrow plunged through the eye of one of the Current Eaters as it rose above the surface.

  “Aim for the beasts!” she shouted to everyone.

  Her men shifted their focus. After a few volleys, the Current Eaters disappeared beneath the surface. Babrak’s ships continued forward, cracking against the chains and further catching fire from the flaming debris. Left and right, the harbor-adjacent buildings and docks which held the chain’s anchors broke and pulled, dragging rubble and zhulong with them. Dozens of blackwood hulls came undone, and ships took on water.

  Still, thanks to the Current Eaters, Babrak’s army was close enough to land for many to swim. Other ships endured long enough to carry men closer, driving hard against the chains. A strong wind fully filled the sails, and the buildings began to topple. All part of the plan to funnel Babrak’s men in through central Dockside.

  With the Current Eaters out of sight, Mahi’s men now refocused on the enemy soldiers. There were so many overflowing the inlet now, they could aim anywhere and find one. But Shesaitju warriors in a coastal afhemate like Babrak’s were trained for naval combat and wore light armor. Those in the water dove down where arrows couldn’t hurt them, with trained lungs that allowed them to hold their breath for minutes at a time.