Witch King, page 8
He reached the clearing where Captain Kentdessa’s tent stood. It was on fire; someone must have knocked over a brazier when they fell. The smell of smoke and sudden death choked him.
He sank to the ground near the burning tent. His connection to the underearth was still silent, cold, severed.
He sat there until Tahsia and two fighters with Raneldi sigils came from the direction of the hill fort. Arn-Nefa staggered after them, blood dripping from her ears. It should have been a relief to see that not everyone he knew was dead, but he couldn’t feel anything right now. Kai watched Tahsia and the others stride by, but Arn-Nefa grabbed his arm. She dragged him to his feet and shook him like a rattle. “Kai-Enna, are you still here?”
Being touched made his skin crawl. He jerked his arm free, snarling, “Get off me.”
“Kai-Enna!” she snapped. “Find a horse and ride to the landing. Tell the Erathi boats to flee. The mortals they sent to stand with us are dead, the rest will be slaughtered if they wait. Here.” A Raneldi demon he didn’t know ran toward them and stumbled to a halt, holding out the black and green Erathi totem. Arn-Nefa snatched it and shoved it at Kai. “Give them this.”
He took it automatically. Arn-Nefa said, “Now go! Then follow us to the last meeting point.”
Kai stumbled away from her. He searched until he found a horse either too stunned to dislike his scent or just so grateful to be led away from all the death that it didn’t resist him, and rode away from the ruin of the camp.
He reached the cove in time to warn the Erathi ships. On the way he ran into a lost band of Hierarch legionaries, and proved to himself that even without the underearth, he could still drain the life from mortals. But when he got to the meeting point, only a few demons were there among the mortal fighters, and Arn-Nefa and the Raneldi demon who had been with her never appeared. Tahsia was the highest in rank and so, with her leading, they rode on through the plains back to the main camp.
When they arrived, the Saredi clan tents were already burning.
FOUR
Leaving Sanja with Ziede, Kai climbed down from the platform to make his way back to where the whale drifted beside the breakwater. He suspected it might like this plan a lot better than he did.
The smoke-laced wind was already gusting, driving waves and spray further up the tumbled rocks. The shell swayed under Kai’s feet as he leapt back to it, but the motion subsided as he found the whale’s mind again and sunk into its consciousness. I need to change our bargain, he told it. I need you to take me somewhere, not far, just to the strait on the other side of this island. Then we’ll be finished with each other. But first I’ll remove the shell.
The whale’s sharpened interest washed the murk from its thoughts, leaving the stream fresh and clear. Kai concentrated on turning his plan into a series of images it could understand.
When the whale agreed, Kai took off his skirt, leaving him in the expositor’s long tunic and leggings. He wadded it up and pitched it over onto the breakwater. He didn’t know if he would be able to retrieve it later but it was nice to have the option. Then he swung over the side of the shell’s platform and climbed down to place his bare feet carefully on the whale’s slick hide.
It was smooth and cool, with a very slight give. Kai let his breath out in an uneasy hiss. He didn’t trust easily, something he felt was validated every time some supposed ally murdered him and stuck him in an underwater vault. And it was ridiculous to expect the captive, abused whale to trust him. But its consciousness had never felt vengeful and he was hoping being set free would buy him enough gratitude for it to fulfill its part of their agreement.
He crouched to put both hands on the curved ribbed surface of the shell, sinking into the web of intentions that held it in place. It was fitted onto a chain harness that stretched around the whale’s body, but it was the expositor’s design that really anchored it. Undoing the structure took hardly any pain at all, and Kai picked apart and broke the strands of power until something under the shell cracked.
He edged back, closer to the whale’s blowhole, and stamped his foot twice in their prearranged signal.
The whale’s body rocked as its fins propelled it away from the breakwater. Kai leaned down to keep his balance, bracing his hands on the whale’s cool skin. The sky was growing darker, telling him he needed to hurry.
Unmoored, the shell shifted with the motion, then rocked sideways. The nacre underside was slimy, pocked with seawater parasites that had wormed their way under it. The whale’s deep blue skin was mottled with bruises and scars and raw wounds. The harness below the shell was a raised ridge of netting, made of knotted cables woven from braided scaled hide and secured with chains. Kai hadn’t been sure how it was constructed and it was a relief to see it would work for his purpose.
He crept back toward the harness, wary in case the shell toppled in his direction. They needed to leave soon; a haze rolled over the water as Ziede’s air spirits drove the smoke down to the sea’s surface.
The whale half rolled again and the shell toppled into the water with a tremendous splash. Barely keeping his balance as the spray rained down, Kai stretched forward and grabbed the edge of the harness. The whale could easily throw him off, could roll and dive fast enough for him to lose his grip, but it didn’t. It waited until he climbed around to face forward, finding handholds and footholds in the old gaps and tears in the netting. He signaled he was ready with a slap on its hide. Now for the awful part, he thought. It had been a long time since he was a young demon in a mortal body, easily made helpless by water and expositors’ intentions. But the sea would still inhibit his power and water was an impossible element for witchwork. Not that he would have time to create a cantrip if he was drowning. This whole plan was objectively a very bad idea for a being of the underearth or a Witch. Not that that had ever stopped him before. He huddled down and squeezed his eyes shut.
Kai felt the whale tilt down. He tightened his hold as cold saltwater slammed into him. A ball of terror formed in his throat and the urge to scream was almost overpowering. He forced it down, thinking of Ziede and Sanja on the island. If this didn’t work, they could be trapped or recaptured. The harness ground into his hands and feet. He could last without breathing for the time it would take to reach the ship but water leaked into his throat and lungs despite his clenched jaw. He told himself how much worse this would be if the whale was actually trying to dislodge him.
The dive evened out, the force of the water lessened. Kai steeled himself and opened his eyes.
The water was clearer than he expected. The whale was still fairly close to the surface, moving slowly. He couldn’t make out much except startled fish and rocks as the whale curved away from the shadow of the breakwater, but it was so strange under here that it almost made him forget how terrified he was.
The expositor’s amalgam was still out here somewhere. A perfect choice of opponent for a demon; since its life was created only by an expositor’s design, Kai couldn’t drain it. But it should follow him specifically, ignoring Ziede’s presence on the island. And it would have been designed to track his position but not try to stop him.
Out of the dark water a long, lethal shape arrowed toward him. Or maybe it was meant to stop me, he thought, frustrated. He took one hand off the net to draw Tarrow’s knife. The drag of the whale’s motion made him sway back and he huddled closer to its body. It would be nice if just one thing was easy.
The amalgam swooped down, sharp fins cutting through the water, close enough for Kai to see the oddly shaped skull was actually a jumble of human and bulbous squid heads. Multiple eyes tracked the whale as the tentacles stretched out, their obscenely human hands reached for him. Kai ducked and stabbed at the nearest hand, but the water slowed every motion. He had to keep it back. If it hurt the whale enough, his ally might scrape him off against the nearest rock.
As Kai tried to think of something clever, the amalgam circled toward him again. Then the whole world went sideways.
Kai dropped the knife to grip the harness, helplessly dizzy, realizing the whale had rolled. Then suddenly he was right side up again. The rocks and the shadow of the island were gone; this must be the more open water of the strait. Whatever the whale had done, the amalgam was nowhere in sight.
Then the whale pushed upward hard enough to flatten Kai against its body. In the next instant they broke the surface as foaming waves rushed down its slick hide.
Kai clung to the harness, hair dripping in his eyes, trying to quietly hack up a lungful of water. When he had spat out enough to get a breath of smoky air, he tossed his hair back and looked up. The sky was invisible past the now dense smoke but the embossed coppery curve looming beside them was the hull of the Immortal Blessed ship. It sat dead in the water, angry muffled voices sounding from the upper deck.
The smoke hung in such a thick cloud now that everything above the hull seemed shrouded in gray veils. He had hoped the smoke would force the crew to halt the ship or at worst slow down; even an Immortal Blessed craft had to be careful of ramming into rock. Kai wasn’t sure exactly where they were; the smoke blocked any view of the island that should be on his left. A pale hand floated by, still attached to the torn remains of an arm: all that was left of the amalgam
Kai patted the whale. Good job, friend. He used a little effort to draw out what little life remained in the braided hemp cables of the net, just enough to shrivel the fibers to brittleness and unravel the knots. He felt the cables sag under him until they were loose enough to come apart during the whale’s next dive. Kai pushed to his feet and padded carefully across the whale’s skin to the side of the ship.
The copper hull was figured with flowing wave and wind designs embracing and surrounding the sun imagery of the Immortal Blessed. Kai crouched and jumped, caught the bottom ridge of a raised band. He looked down to watch the whale sink almost silently below the surface, its dark shape disappearing under the hull. At least one of us got out of this whole mess better off, Kai thought.
He scrambled up, finding footholds in the other sacred symbols. He couldn’t hear any voices or movement. He peered through the oar port expecting an empty rowing bench. Shadowy figures loomed and he jerked backward so violently he almost fell off the hull.
Kai hung from the port, cursing under his breath, waiting for someone to raise the alarm. But nothing happened. How is it so quiet, he wondered. No jostling movement, no coughing. No breathing? Mortals were never that quiet. Demons were never that quiet.
Kai pulled himself up again. The figures on the bench hadn’t moved. They were shoved together, maybe six human shapes crammed into a space meant for only two Immortal Blessed. He risked his head to lean further in and get a view down the length of the rowing deck.
The whole space was filled with silent bodies. All mortals, they were locked in absolute stillness. The air was tainted with fresh blood and rot and unwashed skin.
It was obvious now that expositors’ intentions hung heavy throughout the deck. From a distance Kai had mistaken it for the Immortal Blessed’s Well of Thosaren, which could be used to sail the ship without any human effort. The Blessed only rowed their ships on ceremonial occasions, or during the war, when the Hierarchs would punish them by restricting their Well. They would certainly never let mortals corrupt their property by touching even one sacred oar. Someone else had control of this ship now.
Kai pulled himself up and wriggled through the port, glad this new body was agile enough to manage it. Inside he balanced on the oar, blinking as his eyes adjusted and he made out more detail.
Rank after rank of frozen mortals filled the benches. Their clothes were ragged, the wood beneath their hands was stained with blood and pus. They stared straight ahead, their breath shallow, eyes unblinking. Kai grimaced, sickened. And confused.
Someone had created a life-well here, had enchained these people with intents and designs to drain their lives, as a way to power the ship in place of the Well of Thosaren.
Maybe these mortals had been brought aboard, told they would be rowers, and once they were seated at the benches the expositor had sunk them into this half-life, draining them to build the intention that let him keep the ship in motion. An expositor could be executed under Rising World law for something like this. Kai had caught and executed lots of them for similar crimes, if not on this scale.
Kai stepped along the oar, carefully avoiding the rower’s hands. Their eyes gleamed in the dim light, and he had the suspicion they were just aware enough to know someone was here. There had to be at least one expositor aboard to keep this tanglement of obscenity working. Kai hopped down to the catwalk and ran silently toward the narrow spiral stair at the stern.
Just as he reached it, the wood creaked and the rope handrail twitched. Someone above had put their weight on the top step. Kai slid sideways into shadow. Booted feet came into view, then a mortal in a long sleeveless coat with a cursebreaker slung over his shoulder climbed down. As he reached the bottom and turned toward the rowers’ benches, Kai slipped up behind him and clapped a hand over his mouth.
Apprentice expositor, Kai identified, as he drained the man’s life. He could always tell. He stored the vitality and power like another heart in his chest, burning a little with its fresh intensity. He was sure he would need it soon. When the convulsions ended, Kai dropped the desiccated body to the deck. The last bench was unoccupied so he picked up the cursebreaker carefully by the handle and eased it out the oar port. The splash was fairly quiet. Kai took the long curved boat knife off the man’s belt, tucked it into his own, and started up the steps.
He climbed upward, past the landing for a service deck. From the way these ships were usually designed, it should be closed off from the rest of the lower compartments. He paused only long enough to make sure it was silent and empty.
At the hatch at the top of the stairs, he took a cautious peek first. This was a large stern cabin, the space lavish, with a central hall lined with cushioned benches built against the walls. Above them were gold-embossed panels depicting soaring mountains and deep valleys. Curtained arches led to smaller sleeping cabins. At the stern, below the two eye-shaped ports, was a platform with a petal-carved throne for the Immortal Marshall who would use their power to sail the ship. It was currently empty.
The Immortal Blessed would go shit-raving over the idea of an expositor controlling this craft. But then they would go shit-raving just the same over Kaiisteron or any other Witch putting their dirty feet on one of their sacred decks.
Gradually he had the sense of a live body in the room, someone breathing. He spotted a figure curled up on a couch, apparently asleep, just a shape buried under a silk blanket. The one bare leg hanging out was pale white. Not the light but weathered skin of Menlas’ unfortunate archipelago crew, but the white of a light-skinned person who was never let outside.
Kai climbed up onto the polished wood floor. His clothes were still dripping seawater, his wet hair stuck to his chest and shoulders. He stepped toward the figure, and lightly nudged the leg with a knee. The person sat up abruptly and stared at him. They were young and small, probably female, with a gossamer mane of light-colored hair, barely dressed in a silk wrap. A jeweled collar with a bone binding token was clamped around her neck, put there by the expositor who had enslaved her. She frowned up at Kai, confused, as if expecting him to be someone she knew. Then her eyes widened and her breath hitched. She had seen his eyes.
Kai raised his brows and held up two fingers for silence, tapping them against his lips in case she didn’t recognize the gesture. She nodded and briefly pressed her hand to her own mouth, then her throat, which was Witchspeak for compelled under an intention. So not just an enslaved mortal, then. A Witch, turned into a familiar. Kai signed back that he understood.
Kai eased closer, trying not to alarm her, and took the bone-carved token between thumb and forefinger. The expositor’s intention buzzed under his skin like a trapped bee. He drew it out, released it into the air to fade, and pressed down on the suddenly weak material. It turned to powder between his fingers.
The familiar pressed a hand to her chest and drew in a shuddering breath.
Kai stepped away and paced toward the open hatchway at the far end of the cabin. He stopped when he was close enough to see outside. The open deck was shrouded in smoke; he could barely make out the first mast and the bow might as well have been lost in another world. Ziede would be out there somewhere, waiting for his signal.
Just outside the hatch was the upper deck, ringed with more of the low couches stuffed with white cushions. In the center stood the metal pillar housing the ship’s steering mechanism and the sacred relic that was supposed to connect the hull to the Immortal Blessed’s Well of Thosaren. An expositor stood next to it, dressed in a ruby and purple coat and skirts, fine enough for the court of an Arike city-state. Two other mortals stood with him, in similar dress but far less rich. One was probably another apprentice, and the other wore the chain and leather armored tunic of a soldier or bodyguard over the finery. Expensive armor, with snake heads on the pauldrons. Silk rustled as the freed familiar crept up to stand beside Kai.
The expositor spoke to someone on the lower deck: “—defenses arrayed above us. The demon can’t get past the water.”
Kai didn’t snort.
A voice below, muffled by the heavy air, replied, “… whole ship. You don’t know that.”
“Insolent,” the apprentice commented.
“If we didn’t need her, I’d throw her over the side,” the expositor agreed, his voice dry.
“Surely that would be a waste.” The apprentice seemed worried. “She could be useful, if we need a death for another set of intentions.”
“We have plenty of fodder. I might still throw her over the side, and the spy with her.” The expositor was unconcerned, confident, secure in his power. “We’re close now and I have no intention of losing our quarry.”
The odor of perfume hung on the damp smoky air of the deck, overpowering the light incense that clung to the fabrics in the cabin. Kai grimaced. It reminded him of the Benais-arik palaces, of why he was so fucking angry right now.
