Awakenings

by C. D. Espeseth

  “A man and his son died,” Echinni said now turning to stare up at Yuna. “They died because we did nothing. We could have helped, could have forced them not to go out that night. But I ignored the feeling, not wanting to take the risk to anger my father, not wanting to step into matters I thought none of my concern. If only I had ordered them to stay, ordered them to leave in the morning instead. I didn’t, and the sudden squall which hit the coastline that night dragged their boat under.”

  “You don’t know that,” Yuna said, shaking her head sadly. It felt to Kai like this was an old argument between the two of them.

  “Yes, I do.” Echinni lifted her chin then, challenging Yuna to argue further, but it was the final nail in the coffin. Yuna’s resolve could not withstand Echinni’s conviction on this.

  At that moment, Kai saw a glimpse of his future queen, and he knew then that he was hopelessly drawn to her. He was in love. He was a fool and doomed, but he couldn’t help it. He was her man, no matter what. Kai sighed at how much of an idiot he was, but at the same time, he doubted he would have changed it even if he could.

  Yuna grunted, exasperated, “This is still stupid, no matter where Halom is leading you to by the nose. Leave the gods to their games, stay out of it, but I know there is no stopping you.” Yuna stopped and ground her teeth again, “You will stay hidden until we are in the tavern. No one will know of you leaving. You will wear a disguise the entire time you are on stage. Make up an alias, it doesn’t matter. No one is to know you are the princess. And you two!” Yuna stepped past Echinni and strode right up to Kai.

  Kai felt his knees buckle, but was proud to report that no urine left its station prematurely. He imagined Yuna wore the same face she was giving him when she cut men into little pieces with that bloody giant sword of hers.

  “Yes?” Kai managed to say with only the slightest squeak.

  “Kai Johnstone,” Yuna said and drew one of her knives.

  He put his hands up in front of himself. “I need to live! I’m an important part of the band!” Kai said, closing his eyes and shying away before he could stop himself. “Don’t kill me!”

  No stabbing sensation came, however.

  Yuna grabbed his hand and forced it open, palm up. “Do you swear on your life and everything holy, that you will do whatever is in your power to protect Princess Echinni? Do you swear to give your life before hers?”

  The question took Kai unawares. He wasn’t going to be killed. He was being initiated.

  However, he did realise he was almost definitely going to be cut.

  Better than dead, he thought.

  He looked past Yuna then and saw the strength and goodness in Echinni, and his strength returned. He had never thought of himself as brave, or selfless, but when he looked at her, he knew he actually would die for her. She was worth a cut. Worth thousands upon thousands of cuts. His heart slowed, and Kai looked up to meet Yuna’s gaze.

  It felt as if Yuna could see straight through him somehow. Under that stare, Kai had no secrets. Yuna had chosen him because she already knew what was in Kai’s heart. She had been watching him ever since this began, and she had sussed him out utterly and truly. “You know I will,” he said quietly, but with more confidence than he thought he could muster.

  “Then swear it,” Yuna whispered as her blade cut into Kai’s hand.

  Kai cursed under his breath but forced himself not to cry out. Yuna then drew the blade across her hand and then held it up to Kai.

  The blood oath was given.

  “Kai Johnstone, do you pledge your life in defence of hers, to ensure she is safe unto your last breath and to honour and obey our princess and future high queen?”

  “Yes, I do,” Kai said.

  Yuna nodded and placed her huge hand on his shoulder. “Good.”

  Yuna tossed Kai a linen from one of her pouches for Kai to wrap his hand.

  “You know that’s just plain dangerous,” Jachem said, shaking his head. “You can get all sorts of diseases and sicknesses from sharing blood.”

  “Where did you hear that nonsense from?” Kai said as he glanced towards Yuna apologetically for Jachem’s rudeness. Yuna didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

  “Chronicler Talbot told me. He said the Jendar used to research all sorts of things about blood and how the body worked,” Jachem said matter-of-factly. “I could probably find an old record listing all of the dangers of such a ridiculous ritual.”

  “Don’t be so rude,” Kai said. “Yuna is perfectly healthy, as any sane person can clearly see.”

  “You never know. I just don’t see how sharing blood makes an oath more binding.” Jachem shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn’t care less. “So?.. are we taking the drum to Keef’s?”

  “No!” Echinni gasped with a horrified look on her face. “Didn’t you hear whose drum that is? It’s a holy artefact, why Maestro Percival has it down here in the first place is beyond me.

  “I think it’s probably to do with that storeroom of his. It’s amazing, perfect conditions for keeping the leathers and woods in optimum condition in there. Warm, not too humid, but also not too dry so that the leather and wood dry out completely–” Kai rambled on before he saw Echinni’s look. “Oh-oops, not helping. I see.” He thought for a minute about what might deter Jachem. “People won’t be too happy if they are forced to bounce up and down on the tables like puppets now would they Jachem? Just think of all the spilt drinks! Mr Keef would tan our hides.”

  Kai tapped his wrist subtly with two fingers, his and Jachem’s sign for Jachem to stop talking. They had worked it out years ago once they both realised Jachem had real difficulty understanding social cues.

  Jachem sighed. “I guess you’re right Kai,” Jachem said mechanically as was his signal back to Kai that he understood.

  “Good,” Echinni said. “I’ll make arrangements to have you two taken off your duties; we need all available time to practise. I will have to visit you between classes so as not to alert Father any more than usual. Jachem, are you able to get time away from the Artificium?”

  “Chronicler Talbot and the new boss, Mr Euchre, said they didn’t care what hours I kept as long as I continued to unlock the Jendar relics and report to Mr Euchre directly about anything like pistons, or steam engines, or artillery, or locomotives, or gunpow–”

  “We get the picture, Jachem.” Kai held his hand up quickly to stop his friend who would no doubt recite every topic this Mr Euchre wanted him to look into. “As long as your research progresses, you’ll be able to find practice time. Got it.”

  “Good,” Echinni said. “I will request Maestro Percival to accommodate us; he is a Maestro not only of the drums but also of just about any instrument you can imagine. You two might as well head over to the Oratoria now and start practising. Pick some of your most complicated songs, maybe something sad, but with a message of hope if you have anything like that, and I’ll return in two bells’ time.”

  Kai smiled to himself as he imagined just how one-sided that request to Maestro Percival was going to be.

  “Yuna you will have to ensure Father’s spies have a hard time discovering what we are up to. You know what to do,” Echinni said.

  Yuna nodded. This was obviously not the first time the two of them had pulled the wool over the royal spymaster.

  With her orders issued, Echinni smiled, and Kai felt his heart melt just a bit more. “I’ll see you both shortly. We will be great. I just know it!”

  With that, Echinni and Yuna left, leaving Kai and Jachem to their own devices with a room full of priceless instruments. Kai couldn’t help but smile.

  “We’re taking the drum, right?” Jachem said as soon as the door had closed.

  “Oh, definitely.” Kai nodded. If they needed to do something good for the people, Kai could think of nothing better than to share that wondrous music with as many others as possible.

  “Ok good, I thought I had misunderstood all that. Phew.” Jachem grinned and started rummaging th
rough the racks of lutes and guitars around the walls for one he liked.

  This was going to be the best performance of their lives. They had the Princess Echinni in their band, and they would be performing at the legendary Keef’s Tavern.

  Maybe there was something to Jachem’s dream of becoming famous throughout Salucia. Kai could almost believe it. That is, as long as there were no riots on the day, or no-one tried to hurt Echinni thus making Yuna kill every living soul in the area, or as long as the High King didn’t find out and crush each of them into pulp with his bare hands.

  Kai forced himself to stop thinking of possible consequences before he made himself sick.

  18 - Council Duty

  Before this all started, we ran the numbers, my teams were flawless, they did their calculations right. I must tell myself everything was well within acceptable limits nearly a hundred times a day. I know we were – that I was – justified. Our civilisation had gone too far, we were far too pacified by our perceived brilliance.

  Hubris.

  Bah, every time I think about the way it was, it fills me with rage, and I feel a thousand-fold justified in what I’ve done.

  They will break the cycle one day.

  I know they will. They must.

  I need to have faith in the planet and the Tiden Raika.

  - Journal of Robert Mannford, Day 292 Year 008

  Echinni

  The Red Tower, New Toeron, Bauffin

  “I must not have heard you correctly,” the High King said with a look of disbelief. “I thought you just said the Storm Wall is gone.”

  “That’s what I’m telling you, Your Highness, it is gone,” Liam Cross, a trusted knight of the realm, said for everyone in the room to hear.

  Echinni found herself holding her breath. It had taken weeks to gather the rulers from the other nations to try and get to the bottom of what was happening in Kenz, but they had gathered enough intel to discover many of the rumours of a foreign army attacking Dawn were in fact true. The struggle in a country nearly a thousand miles away was now becoming incredibly real.

  “We escaped Dawn as it fell, and I ordered the crew to sail north to Gideon’s Reach to see just how the invaders could have made the cross. The rumours were true. The Storm Wall wasn’t there. I saw clear sea as far as the horizon in all directions. These Kutsals are invaders from another land, Your Highness.”

  “And Dawn fell in only two days?” High King Ronaston was standing, his giant hand felt the handle of his giant war hammer as he digested the news.

  “Yes. They used some sort of explosive on the walls, blew a hole big enough for a siege engine to roll through. The numbers and organisation of their army, Your Highness, the way they fight, it’s like nothing we’ve seen before. It’s almost mechanical.”

  Liam was speaking to Echinni’s father now as a comrade in arms rather than as a subordinate. Liam was from Asgur and had been there with her father at the beginning of the Union Wars. She knew her father would take Liam’s words with the gravity they were meant to convey. The news was terrible. Things to the west were far worse than anyone had imagined. Echinni could feel the Will start to buzz in her core once again. Times were becoming more and more desperate.

  It only made her conviction to play at Keef’s that much stronger. She needed to start something big, to give her people the resilience and hope needed to battle the dark days ahead.

  “And they’ve captured the entire northern peninsula of Kenz? So they made landfall at Alansworth, marched through Kenz in less than a month, and nothing could slow them? Did you see any of the other cities?” High King Ronaston summed up in utter disbelief.

  “No sire, I was part of the force sent to Alansworth, we were expecting them to stay behind the walls, to secure their position and settle in, but we met them two days’ ride outside of Alansworth, we fought a withdrawing battle after that. We could barely keep ahead of them at full retreat, and they were on foot. Almost no cavalry.”

  “And the contingent of Syklans at Dawn? Did they have no effect?”

  “The Syklans led a force with the Dawnish Hafaza, and we broke their initial siege line. Their strange ranks of foot bowmen suffered heavy losses, but they regrouped and outmanoeuvred us. They have shock troops of their own, expert swordsmen and highly skilled practitioners in a wide array of martial arts. Combine that with the coordination and discipline of what looks like an entire army of professional soldiers, we were outmanned and outmatched. If it weren’t for our siphoning abilities and the Hafaza’s singing enhancements, they would have rolled over us in hours.”

  “So the rumours are true,” Executor Mason said at the side of the High King. “I’ve had letters flying in by carrier pigeon, but now it is confirmed.” Executor Mason had also been with her father when this all started, they had even grown up in the same village. Archibald Mason was the logistical wizard backing up her father’s battle acumen, and it was a role which had taken them both from small noble houses to become the most influential men in the Nine Nations.

  “Forgive me for interrupting, but I have a question for Sir Liam,” Chronicler Cornelius Rutherford interjected. He was Head of the Research Wing at the Academy and a specialist in Physics and Chemistry. He had held his seat on the council since the founding of the Academy just before the end of the Union Wars. Many within the Singer Faith still thought it heresy that a Chronicler should sit on the council, but Echinni could see the wisdom of it.

  “Please, Cornelius, any insights are welcome,” Ronaston Mihane said with a grim nod.

  Chronicler Rutherford steepled his hands. “This explosion, was it a sudden burst, or more of a sudden collapse of the wall?”

  “No, it was an explosion, Chronicler, in the complete sense. Huge chunks of the wall were flung into the air. The Kutsals knew what would happen as they had pulled all their forces back, they must have done something in the night. Some flaming arrows came flying in from about two hundred paces off from some of those damn footbows. The arrows hit something at the base of the wall, and the world seemed to erupt in a cloud of fire and smoke …”

  “And the colour of the smoke? White or dirty grey would you say, Sir Liam?”

  “Ah …” Liam hesitated, and his eyes went distant, “it happened so fast, but ... white. Yes, bright white smoke came from the flame. The colour of snow, which was odd.”

  “Gunpowder. Did you happen to remember a distinctive smell in the air? It reminded you of when two rocks get smashed together, yes?”

  “Yes ... but how did …”

  “It is referenced in several of the Jendar’s history texts we have translated. Some of my apprentices think they may have even uncovered a formula for its chemical composition. We might have been well advanced in such technology and weaponry if it wasn’t for several historical setbacks.” Chronicler Rutherford made a point to stare at Seraphim Eldora, the highest representative of the Singer Faith in New Toeron as the Hierophant had been in Dawn when it fell.

  “The exact sort of evil the Faith had wanted to bury in the past,” Seraphim Eldora snapped staring right back at him.

  “Ignorance is bliss, is it? Do you think burying our heads in the sand will stop this foreign power from using these ‘evils’ against us? It is not evil, it is science, it is technology. It is only actions which may be construed as good or evil – for instance, hanging someone for their beliefs – most today consider such behaviour barbaric.”

  “Enough,” The High King interjected. A word which cut the conversation off as cleanly as the edge of a blade. “We all know your old arguments, this is not the time or the place to air them again.”

  “Here, here.” Remus Beau’Chant, King of Nothavre, pounded his fist on the table in support.

  Each of the other rulers of the Nine Nations held a permanent chair on the council, yet only King Remus and Queen Gianna Rossi of Tawa were in attendance today, though you might have mistaken Queen Gianna for some sort of disapproving statue given the amount she usually contributed
to council meetings.

  The High King held up his hand, and Echinni thought it was probably in annoyance with King Remus thinking he needed support.

  “Thank you, Chronicler Rutherford, for your insight,” the High King said clearly for all to hear. “I want anyone you can spare to uncover everything you can on how they might be using this gunpowder. Is it similar to what the Xinnish use in their fireworks?”

  “The idea is similar, but the refinement and sophistication are quite different. I don’t think you appreciate how serious this is, sire. Again, if the Xinnish had been allowed to work with this technology without interference, we may have been further along.” Chronicler Rutherford held his hands out in exasperation.

  “You overstep, Chronicler.” King Remus’s stare at Chronicler Rutherford was akin to thrown daggers. His smooth and eloquent voice gave his quiet words an immediate threat. “Your High King has already told you once, or do the Chroniclers need reminding of their proper place?”

  Chronicler Rutherford’s eyes darted about the table quickly. Echinni could see the effort with which the proud old man restrained himself from snapping back, but in the end, the King of Nothavre’s stare cowed the older man.

  “Halom save us!” the High King said, looking to the ceiling. “We’ve fought wars before, and we will adapt. Get me answers and tactics, Chronicler, not conjectures or speculation, and Cornelius ...” Ronaston Mihane took a moment to give the Chronicler a genuine nod of appreciation, “thank you for your insights. They have given us more clarity about what we face.”

  Chronicler Rutherford nodded gratefully at the High King but kept his eyes down.

  Echinni didn’t know how she felt about seeing such a wise and respected man cowed in front of everyone like that, there must have been another way to have gotten them back on task, yet she could not doubt how effective King Remus had been.

  “We shall hold a great mass and fill the Oratorio with the faithful to pray and sing for guidance and salvation from these heathens Your Highness,” Seraphim Eldora decreed.