The Blind King's Wrath, page 1
Map
Map by Carly Miller
Dedication
for bithika,
yashka,
ayush yoda,
helene,
and
leia.
this gift of words and swords,
this forest of stories,
this ocean of wonders,
this epic of epics.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Map
Dedication
Dramatis Personae
Prologue: A Knife in the Dark
Karni
Jilana
Adri
Jarsun
Part One: Reunion
Yudi
Gwann
Dhuryo
Jarsun
Ladislew
Krushni
Arrow
Brum
Yudi
Dhuryo
Gwann
Arrow
Dhuryo
Yudi
Ladislew
Krushni
Arrow
Krushni
Ladislew
Shikari
Ladislew
Dhuryo
Yudi
Krushni
Adri
Part Two: The Beginning of the End
Brum
Arrow
Jarsun
Adri
Part Three: The Battle of Beha’al
Krushni
Yudi
Dhuryo
Jarsun
Yudi
Arrow
Dronas
Dhuryo
Dronas
Krushni
Jarsun
Krushni
Dronas
Krushni
Arrow
Krushni
Arrow
Krushni
Arrow
Jarsun
Krushni
Yudi
Krushni
Jarsun
Krushni
Jarsun
Krushni
Jarsun
Krushni
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
About the Publisher
Dramatis Personae
New Gwannland
Gwann
Ruler of Gwannland; husband of Vensera
Vensera
Queen of Gwannland; wife of Gwann
Krushni
Adoptive daughter of Gwann and Vensera, princess and heir of Gwannland; avatar of Krushita, daughter of Jarsun and Aqreen, princess and heir of Aqron, claimant and heir of Krushan empire
Drishya
Brother of Krushni, prince and heir of Gwannland; avatar of Drishya, Slayer of Tyrak
Dronasthan
Dronas
Former friend and present enemy of Gwann; legendary teacher of warcraft and guru to the Krushan heirs; king of Dronasthan
Shikari (Lady Goddick)
Betrothed of Dronas
The Reygistan Empire
Aqron (deceased)
King of Aqron; father of Aqreen
Aqreen (deceased)
Princess of Aqron; daughter of Aqron; estranged wife of Jarsun, mother of Krushita
Jarsun
Descendant of Kr’ush; husband of Princess Aqreen; father of Krushita; God-Emperor of Reygistan
Ladislew
Lover to Jarsun; Maha-Maatri of Reygar; a Morgol chieftain; widow of Pradynor
The Gods
Jeel
Goddess of water; former wife of Sha’ant; mother of Vrath
Artha
Goddess of land; the Great Mother (a.k.a. Mother Goddess); protector of the mortal realm; sister of Goddess Jeel
Shima
God of death and duty
Sharra
God of the sun
Inadran
God of storms and war
Grrud
God of winds and birds
the Asva twins
Twin gods of animalia, health, and medicine
Shaiva
God of destruction
Coldheart
Spirit of mountains and high places; forebear of Jeel; grandfather of Vrath
Brak
The Stone Father
Gnash
God of auspicious beginnings, remover of obstacles
Jaggernaut
A stone god
Lankeshva
A stone god
Vakaronus
Architect of the stone gods
Shaputi
Amsa of the stone god Shaiva
The Burnt Empire
Kr’ush (deceased)
Founder of the Krushan dynasty and the Burnt Empire
Ashalon (deceased)
A Krushan forebear
Shapaar (deceased)
Descendant of Kr’ush; emperor of the Burnt Empire; king of Hastinaga; father of Sha’ant and Vessa
Sha’ant (deceased)
Son of Shapaar; emperor of the Burnt Empire; king of Hastinaga; father of Vrath, Virya, and Gada; husband of the goddess Jeel and of Jilana; cousin of Jarsun
Vrath
Son of Sha’ant and the goddess Jeel; uncle to Adri and Shvate; prince regent of the Burnt Empire
Jilana
Dowager empress of the Burnt Empire; dowager queen of Hastinaga; wife of Sha’ant; mother of Vessa, Virya, and Gada; stepmother of Vrath
Vessa
Seer-mage; son of Jilana; biological father of Adri, Shvate, and Vida
Virya (deceased)
Son of Sha’ant and Jilana; husband of Umber
Gada (deceased)
Son of Sha’ant and Jilana; husband of Ember
Ember
Wife of Gada; mother of Adri; sister to Umber
Umber
Wife of Virya; mother of Shvate; sister to Ember
Amber (deceased)
Sister of Ember and Umber
Adri
Emperor of the Burnt Empire; son of Ember and Gada (legally) and Vessa (biologically); grandson of Jilana; nephew of Vrath; half brother of Shvate and Vida; husband to Geldry
Shvate (deceased)
Exiled prince of the Burnt Empire; son of Umber and Virya (legally) and Vessa (biologically); grandson of Jilana; nephew of Vrath; half brother of Adri and Vida; husband to Mayla and Karni
Vida
Son of Vessa; half brother to Adri and Shvate
Mayla (deceased)
Princess of Dirda; wife of Shvate; mother of Kula and Saha
Karni
Princess of Stonecastle; wife of Shvate; mother of Yudi, Brum, and Arrow
Geldry
Princess of Geldran; wife of Adri
Dhuryo
One of the Hundred; eldest son of Geldry and Adri
Dushas
One of the Hundred; son of Geldry and Adri
Kern
Foundling son (adopted) of Adran and Reeda, firstborn son of Karni by stone god Sharra and consigned by her to the river Jeel
Sauvali
Maid in the royal palace, lover of Adri, mother of his child
The Five
Yudi
Karni’s son fathered by the stone god Shima
Arrow
Karni’s child fathered by the stone god Inadran
Brum
Karni’s daughter fathered by the stone god Grrud
Kula
Mayla’s child fathered by the stone gods the Asvas; Saha’s twin
Saha
Mayla’s child fathered by the stone gods the Asvas; Kula’s twin
Prologue
A Knife in the Dark
YEAR 195 OF CHAKRA 58
(FIFTEEN YEARS AGO)
Karni
1
MAYLA HACKED AT THE ASSASSIN.
The sword met only air.
She screamed and swung again and yet again, but Jarsun was long gone, vanished through the portal and now a thousand miles away, or a thousand worlds distant, only a few threads of fabric from his cloak, a spot of blood, and exotic odors from a distant realm marking his passage.
Mayla sank to the floor of the hut, weeping, her sword slipping from her hands. A roar of grief tore itself from her throat, filling the hut, the clearing, the whole forest with her agony. Her children echoed her rage and grief, weeping, hitching their breaths, their little heads shaking in disbelief and denial. Only little Brum, fierce and resistant as always, clenched her fists and ground her teeth in fury, like a maddened wolf.
Karni’s ears heard her sister wife’s grief, but she herself felt too many strange conflicting emotions to yield to the same impulses. Instead, she watched and listened, curiously detached in this moment of devastation. An observer in her own home. Witness to her own life’s ruin.
Mayla’s weeping was echoed by the shrill cries and shouts of five young throats. The children of Mayla, Karni, and Shvate approached the prostrate body of their father, their little arms raised, or held out, or clasped around their chests in panic, striving to make sense of this madness.
The only other person in the hut, standing by the open doorway, a hand raised to cover half his face, the other hand outstretched against the wall to support himself, was Vida, Shvate’s half brother, who had come from Hastinaga to warn them. Warn them of another attack, this one a supernatural one perpetrated by Jarsun. He had been as easily deceived as they were when Jarsun appeared in the form of Vessa and assassinated Shvate.
Never a fighter or man
of action, he had watched helplessly as Jarsun slew Shvate in the blink of an eye, with just a single slash of his fingertips delivering five tiny but potent snakebites that carried instant death. Vida stared down in bewildered shock and grief at the very tragedy he had sought to warn them against, and hopefully avoid.
Karni’s husband, Shvate, still lay sprawled where he had fallen, his face and neck bulging from the five snakebites received from Jarsun’s fingertips, his upper body from the chest upward turning a garish blue as the poisoned blood cooled in his veins. An albino since birth, he had been named for his condition—Shvate meant “white-skinned or colorless one” in Ashcrit—and the toxic blue of the venom in contrast to his otherwise pale color was more shocking than blood. His eyes lay open, translucent pupils staring blankly up at the ceiling of the hut.
Karni was in shock. Frozen to the spot. She could not bring herself to think, to acknowledge, to believe. Surely this had not just happened. It was a dream, was it not? A terrible, strange, nightmarish delusion . . .
They had built this hut together, Mayla and Karni and Shvate, using only the materials of the jungle, their blades, and bare hands.
Karni looked around at her ruined life, at the rustic but clean hut and its meager items: straw pallets for beds, wooden blocks for stools, a thatched roof that leaked during the rainy season and inevitably collapsed and had to be rebuilt after the autumn storms; her sister wife, Mayla, weeping and prostrate with grief; the five children they had birthed together.
They had left Hastinaga with nothing but the clothes on their backs, and yet they had managed to find happiness here in exile, she thought.
We built a home here in the wilderness. We built a house with mud, straw, timber, and love, and made it a home. We filled it with our laughter, our despair, our hopes, our sorrows, our love.
And in a single instant, one man walked in and burned it all down.
No. Not a man.
Jarsun.
Enemy of his own kith and kin.
Shvate’s own blood relative, exiled from the Burnt Empire on pain of death for his transgressions and crimes committed decades ago, in the reign of Emperor Shapar, father of Sha’ant and Vessa and, from an earlier liaison, of Jarsun himself.
Karni tried to remember the complex genealogy of her dead husband’s family tree and gave up almost at once. What did it matter if Jarsun was a great-uncle or great-whatever? He was kin to Shvate, an elder of the family, a fellow Krushan, sharing the same relationship to stonefire as Shvate. Their only conflict had been as players of the game of war, back when Shvate had still served his duties as prince of Hastinaga, leading the armies of the Burnt Empire against Jarsun’s forces in several clashes: the Battle of the Rebels and the Battle of Reygar being the two most notable. Shvate had left that service behind him when he abdicated his claim to the Burning Throne, handing over sole control to his brother Adri before he went into lifelong self-exile with his two wives years ago.
Why come after Shvate now? Why disguise himself as Vessa, his own half brother and Shvate’s biological father? Why not as Vida, or as . . . as anybody?
What did it matter?
What did anything matter now?
Shvate was dead.
Her husband, her lover, her friend, her wonderful, inspiring, despairing, beautiful, infuriating-at-times, but also charming-when-he-tried, Shvate, beloved Shvate, was dead.
Her mouth filled with the ashes of despair, her heart swelled with pain, her body screamed vengeance.
But first, she had work to do.
She alone, because Mayla, ever the quickest of temper and fastest of sword and foot, had already shot her arrows of endurance and emptied her quiver. She was a broken mess, weeping and wallowing in the black waters of grief.
The children were . . . They were children. Babies, really. All of an age, none even three years on this earth as yet.
And Vida. Vida was a guest, a visitor, a friend; he would soon depart for Hastinaga, carrying with him the sorrow of Shvate’s passing, leaving behind his commiserations and sympathy, but little more. He did not share their exile, their life, their circumstances. He would advise and help from afar, but he could not do much more at this moment of crisis.
It was all up to Karni.
She was the strong one, the pillar, the stanchion of this family.
She was the only one who could carry them through this.
“Mayla,” she said softly, bending to touch her sister wife. Mayla’s back shuddered beneath her fingertips, her body racked by all-consuming sobs. She was so far into her own mourning, she seemed not even to be aware of her children, wailing and crying beside her.
“Mayla,” Karni repeated, louder and more firmly.
Movement by the doorway: Vida lurching outside, a darker silhouette against the dull gloam of dusk. Then the sound of his retching as he purged his belly outside their threshold. At least he was thoughtful enough not to soil our home, Karni thought with ice-cold clarity.
Mayla’s sobbing continued unabated.
Karni bent down and took the younger woman by her shoulders. Gripping tightly, she hauled her to her feet. Mayla’s knees buckled, but Karni was strong enough to hold her upright. She looked her in the eye. Mayla’s face was smeared with tears, her eyes brimming, lips parted soundlessly.
“I need you to help me with the children,” Karni said.
Mayla wailed. “Shvate . . .”
Karni resisted the temptation to shake or slap her. Instead, she moved her grip from Mayla’s shoulders to her head, grasping it on either side, pressing her thumbs against the woman’s temples.
“Listen to me,” Karni said, hearing her own voice, steel-hard and sword-sharp, yet low enough that it would not alarm the children further. “There will be time to grieve later. Right now, we are all in danger. This may not be the end of Jarsun’s attack. We have to protect the children and get them to safety right away.”
Mayla seemed to come into herself for a moment. Her eyes focused on Karni and saw her briefly through her fog of tears and pain. “Shvate . . .” she moaned.
“Is gone, yes. I grieve for him too. But now is not the time for grief. Now is the time to survive. To protect ourselves. To stay alive.”
Mayla stared at her, and Karni felt a rush of relief as she seemed to be calming down. “Alive,” Mayla repeated. “Alive . . .”
Mayla looked down at the body of Shvate, now almost entirely blue from the venom, his face and throat swollen and bulging obscenely, purpling in patches. Her eyes widened at the alarming rapid deterioration. She shook her head vehemently. “I don’t want to be alive,” she said in a perfectly sober voice. “I don’t want to live with Shvate dead. I don’t want to live.”
“Shut up,” Karni said softly, dangerously. “Don’t talk like that in front of the children. Look at them. They’re devastated. They just saw their father murdered, and they’re still babies. They need us. We need to act quickly and keep our heads clear. More trouble may already be coming for us. For them.”
Mayla stared at her as if she were a stranger met for the first time. Her eyes drifted downward again. Karni caught her chin and forced it up, compelling her to keep looking at her.
“Get hold of yourself. You are not just a wife. You’re a mother. Your children—our children—need you. I need you. I can’t do this alone, Mayla. Those five are a handful on any given day. It will take both of us to pull them away from their father. Wake up, Mayla!”
These last three words were not spoken in a raised voice. Karni’s pitch remained level, her tone urgent. She was still unwilling to pour more emotion and conflict into this already brimming home. But she could see that she was not getting through to Mayla. The younger woman was too far gone in her grief.
She’s young and brash, Karni thought. She thought she had lost Shvate before, when they were cursed by the sage. Then, again, when Shvate tried to take his own life. When he survived both times, and we continued to live together and the children were born, and then we got busy with nursing them and raising them, they filled our lives completely. She found comfort and security in our little world, our family.
