Witch king, p.27
Witch King, page 27
Kai held himself motionless, barely breathing, trying to imitate the statue-like stillness of the gold-clad expositor. This didn’t feel like a normal interaction between a group of people making plans, even a group like this. The Hierarch doesn’t believe you, he thought. He shouldn’t have tried to get Dahin out. Idiot. He should have remembered the burning remnants of Kentdessa Saredi and known that no one was getting out.
Raihankana stopped barely a pace away and met Kai’s gaze through the veil. In the Hierarch’s voice, Raihankana said, “You should not have left our sibling’s side.”
Since his first attempt to make up a clever story had gone so wrong, Kai didn’t try again. He told himself that if Raihankana could somehow see through the veil, all these expositors and legionaries would already be attacking him. He said, “My master sent me.” His voice sounded raspy with nerves and he managed not to wince.
Raihankana turned away then, but Kai didn’t let himself relax. In his own voice, Raihankana said, “It may be worth it. The Lesser Blessed is meant for the Well, he can be taken back from the Immortal Marshall later.”
Something in Raihankana’s tone told Kai he was the one making up a story now. He knows, they know, Kai thought. It felt like ice trickling down from the top of his skull through his veins. They may not know what or how, but they know Talamines is not in this room.
Raihankana paced toward the Hierarch. And Kai sensed a shift in the flow of power, something burning and discordant. It drifted up from the gold-clad expositor like heat from a banked fire.
Tahren had helped him in the Cageling Demon Court and he wanted to help Dahin for her. But at least if they both died here, Dahin would never be taken by the Well.
As Raihankana stepped past the gold expositor, Kai lunged forward. He made it two steps before something struck him in the back, hard enough to stagger him sideways. He cried out, shocked as deep agony tore through his side; it hurt so much more in this body than it ever had in Enna’s. He knew someone must have stabbed him in the back, that Raihankana must have signaled a legionary standing behind him. Kai tried to straighten up, felt something pull at his flesh. Hard metal scraped against his ribs. He choked on a scream as the blade was withdrawn.
Raihankana turned back toward him, saying, “Now, before you die, you’ll tell us—” And Kai stopped listening, because pain meant power now, the power to use the only intention he had learned from Talamines’ memories. He lifted his hand and called fire.
The air in front of Kai sparked into flame, a ball of smoke and fire that roared across the platform. Heat bloomed against Kai’s face and mortals scattered, screamed. Raihankana staggered back, and Kai lost his view of the Hierarch in the smoke.
It wouldn’t last, Kai had only moments to take advantage of the distraction. He slammed into the expositor, shoved a hand under the gold veil and grabbed his face. Kai felt a gasp against his hand as he ripped away at the expositor’s life. It gave Kai the instant he needed to drag the dagger out of his belt and stab him just below the sternum. He knew the expositor would resist him at least as hard as Cantenios; he had no time for a lengthy battle. The expositor went limp under his hand and Kai shoved away. A cursebreaker swung through the air he had occupied and hit the dying expositor instead.
Kai spun, dropped the legionary next to Dahin with a hand to the bare flesh of his arm. He grabbed Dahin by the tunic and ran for the pool.
The rim was under his feet just as the world went black. Then he slammed face-first into water. Sputtering, floundering, he still had a death grip on Dahin’s tunic; he must have been struck a glancing blow with a cursebreaker but it had only knocked him out for an instant.
On the platform, mortals shouted and scrambled away from the fading fire cloud, but the surviving expositors recovered fast. Kai felt the pressure in his head grow as they drew power from the Well to attack. His feet weren’t touching the bottom and this was terrifying. But he pulled the intention out of his chest and slapped it down on the water, and pushed all the life and pain he had left into it.
It would have been both fatal and embarrassing if the intention only caused a little fountain of water, or made a gentle rain fall. But Ziede thought there must be a good reason it had been on the wall behind the Cageling Court’s water source, and not in the basin itself. And what was left of Talamines had been certain she was right.
A deluge roared up from the pool and the level dropped so abruptly Kai thumped down onto the bottom, suddenly sitting in knee-high water. Throat burning, he coughed his lungs clear and clawed the veil off his face. Dahin huddled next to him, drenched and wide-eyed. Around them the water was a rippling wall, rising up through the chamber like a boiling pot, roaring like a storm. Somewhere nearby mortals screamed. Kai remembered there was still a Hierarch in here and a few expositors, though hopefully they were busy not drowning. In a croak, he asked Dahin, “Can you swim?”
“Uh.” Dahin managed a nod. “Yes.”
“Good, because I can’t.” Kai struggled to his feet, pulling Dahin with him. “We need to get to a window.” He knew there were openings in the far wall, which he could dimly make out through the translucent rippling mass. The water still rose toward the ceiling and once it got there it might flood the narrow column of air that had formed around the intention.
“Yes, but—Who are you?” Dahin said worriedly, sloshing toward the water wall with Kai. “Why are you helping me?”
Oh right, Kai had forgotten to mention that part. He was almost as bad at that as Bashasa. He pointed at his eyes. “Dahin, it’s me, Kaiisteron. I’m in this expositor’s body now.”
“Oh!” Dahin stared, then gasped a strangled laugh. “I didn’t know you could do that! You came to rescue me?”
“No, I came to distract and maybe drown the Hierarch,” Kai told him. He poked at the rippling wall, and was relieved it was no harder than sticking his hand in a running stream. “We didn’t know you were here, and your sister is going to be upset.”
“She’s going to be furious,” Dahin admitted. He took a firm hold of Kai’s wrist. “Hold your breath.”
Kai didn’t need to breathe as much as a mortal but he didn’t want any more water inside his body than there already was. He clamped his jaw shut and winced as Dahin pulled him into the liquid wall.
His feet left the floor as they were both shoved upward by the force driving the water. Dahin had grabbed Kai by the arm on his wounded side, and being tugged along hurt, but they had to keep going.
Kai knew about swimming in theory, he had seen mortals do it, and tried to kick and wave his free arm to help Dahin push them along. The water was cloudy with foam but shapes moved in it, other flailing bodies to avoid. The current flowing out through the archway nearly caught them and Kai helped Dahin wrestle away from it.
They bumped painfully into a wall, scraped against the figured gold as they shoved upward. Kai’s head broke the surface next to Dahin, who gasped and coughed. Kai didn’t know what powers or abilities Dahin had as a Lesser Blessed, but being underwater without breathing for long periods wasn’t one of them. He scrabbled on the wall, then hooked his fingers on a carved ornament shaped like a mountain range and wrapped his other arm around Dahin’s shoulders. Dahin clung to him and Kai managed to pull them both up to get a look around the chamber.
Bodies bobbed in the rising water, none of them recognizably the Hierarch, though the one in red might actually be Raihankana. Kai had to make certain. He couldn’t waste this opportunity. He looked up and had his first good view of the ceiling. It was crisscrossed by heavy wooden beams, and each met this wall a short distance above a window. On the far side of the room was a balcony, still above the rising water and obscured by the spraying geysers. Kai thought he saw something there, a shift of bright color that might be moving bodies.
Dahin stared in fascination at the enamel figures on the wall in a way that seemed strange, considering everything else that was going on. Kai hoped the water hadn’t turned his brain or something. He said, “Come on,” and pulled them along toward the bright daylight of the nearest window.
It was more than wide enough for both of them, open to the court outside. Kai struggled up onto the stone sill, resisting the pull of the water pouring out into the court below. A legionary’s corpse floated up next to them and Dahin frantically kicked at it. “Wait,” Kai hissed. He couldn’t drain life in the water and needed another weapon. As he leaned down to grab a stray arm, Dahin shuddered and looked away. Kai pulled it close enough to grab the long knife out of the sheath at its back, then pushed it into the swirling current. He tucked the knife into his belt and twisted around to look out the window.
“How far down is it?” Dahin gasped.
The court had two levels of galleries and a glass half dome stretching over it. The drop would have been too far for a mortal, except for the water already filling the space, trapped by what must be locked doors on the lowest level. It was fairly clear, swirling with leaves and other debris from the flooded planting beds. He said, “Don’t look,” but Dahin heaved himself up on the sill, looked down, and made a dismayed noise.
“Next time I tell you don’t look, don’t look,” Kai said, annoyed. “Just take a deep breath, and when you come up, swim for that gallery.” He grabbed Dahin’s arm. “Keep going in that direction.”
Dahin nodded and squeezed his eyes shut, muttering, “The Well of Thosaren blesses us, the Well of Thosaren protects us, the Well of Thosaren—Wait, aren’t you coming with me?” Then he shrieked as Kai toppled him out of the window.
Kai waited until he saw Dahin surface, splutter, and flail. He twisted around, evidently searching for Kai, then looked up and waved urgently. Kai pointed emphatically toward the opposite gallery. Splashing indecisively, Dahin pushed away a floating branch, then finally gave up and swam for the gallery. Kai pushed up into a standing position, balancing on the ledge as he turned his back to the window. Then he crouched and leapt for the beam overhead.
He caught it, fingers digging for purchase on the smooth wood before he could drag himself up onto it. Talamines’ long arms and legs were unexpectedly helpful. He climbed along it rapidly, knowing he didn’t have much time.
As he neared the balcony he saw a legionary officer on his feet and three figures half collapsed behind the railed balustrade. Two wore veils caught in the ornaments in their hair, which would have told Kai they were expositors even without the whisper of power. The last was someone short in stature, wearing gold robes, wet white hair plastered to their skull. The Hierarch.
Kai dropped to his belly and crawled along the beam, hoping that for mortal eyes he faded into the shadows. Between his sopping wet clothes and hair, dragging himself along like this wasn’t easy; he missed the sinuous body of his original form, another thing he would never experience again.
The legionary strode off through the door at the back of the balcony. One expositor leaned over the Hierarch. Kai pulled himself up into a crouch, drew the drowned legionary’s long knife, and leapt.
He landed on the expositor’s back and whipped the blade across his throat. As he fell forward Kai shoved off him and lunged for the second expositor. He drove the knife up under the man’s chin. The force of it knocked the expositor against the stone railing and the cold power of his hurriedly drawn intention dissipated harmlessly into the damp air. Kai pulled the knife out and grabbed a handful of his skirt, upending him over the rail. He splashed into the roiling water, blood spreading as he struggled weakly. Kai turned.
The Hierarch crawled toward the door. Kai felt that stir of power again, sluggish like cold mud, but a wave of it could still drown him. He lunged forward and drove the knife through the Hierarch’s back.
Kai stood over the Hierarch, aware now that terror pounded through his veins along with Talamines’ blood. He watched the struggle to breathe, the hands that clawed at the marble floor, the gradual sinking as the last breath left the lungs. Bashasa had killed a Hierarch and Kai still hadn’t believed it was possible. But under all that power, they were just flesh.
From the corridor, there was an echoing crash of stone, then distant, frantic shouting. Kai realized his feet were cold and looked down to see water creeping up his ankles. It was pouring in from down the corridor now, onto the balcony. “Oh. Uh-oh,” he muttered aloud. Was the water just … not going to stop?
He yanked the knife free and used it to saw the Hierarch’s head off. Between the rush of water and a knife not designed for the purpose, it took forever. He used the dead expositor’s veil to hastily wrap it up and tie it to his belt.
Kai climbed onto the railing and jumped for the beam again. Water poured out the windows in waterfall torrents. He scrambled along the beam and across the chamber, then had to drop down into the water to get to the windowsill. Fighting to hold on against the flow, he saw the open court outside filling up, the treetops sinking under the surface. At least there was no sign of Dahin floating dead anywhere.
As he braced himself to jump, another crash and a roar made him turn. A wall of water slammed toward him, carrying chunks of stone, wood, and corpses. Kai launched himself backward out the window.
TWELVE
Dahin stared, more affronted than frightened. “Who are you? What—” He squinted into the dark.
“It’s me.” Kai felt cold. He didn’t know what this meant, Dahin being here in secret, in the flooded ruin of the Summer Halls. “It’s Kai.” Dahin couldn’t possibly recognize him; he was in a different body, his eyes concealed by the body-stealing ghoul’s, wearing clothes the worse for days of travel on a rotted river barge.
“Ridiculous. You don’t even look like—Wait, are you implying that you’re Kaiisteron in a different body? You’re not even a demon.” Dahin peered at him. Kai was certain he had an Immortal Blessed weapon nearby. There were a few different tools near his hand, nothing Kai recognized. Dahin was dangerous in a completely different way than any Witch or expositor. “Even in mortal bodies, demons’ eyes—”
“I borrowed these, from a body-stealing ghoul.” What Ramad said about Dahin meeting with an official of Nient-arik went through his head.
“Well, that’s disgusting.” Dahin hesitated, regarding him with wary skepticism. “If you’re really Kai, tell me something only you know.”
Distracted by unwilling suspicion, Kai said absently, “Your great-aunt Kavinen thinks your nine-volume history of the Hierarchs war was a boring waste of time.”
Dahin let out a breath that was half laugh, half gasp of outrage. “Yes, but she never said it to my face. You scared—I almost shit myself, Kai!” Dahin pushed to his feet and demanded, “What happened to you?”
Kai shook his head a little. He fought the urge to pretend like nothing was wrong, to fall into their old relationship. He had to know the truth. He stepped to the edge of the tarp. “Dahin, first tell me why you’re here.”
Suddenly evasive, Dahin dropped his gaze. “I’m working on something.” He made an airy gesture at his camp, and turned to collect his scattered papers. “Are my sister and Ziede here, too? What are you doing? You’re going to tell me why you’re in a different body, right? Who is—was this person?”
Kai struggled with doubt. The obvious reluctance to say what he was doing was typical; Dahin had always been secretive about his work. Kai couldn’t afford to be careless, but he was certain that if Dahin had really betrayed them, he would do a better job of it than this. “How long have you been here?”
Tucking the papers into a waxed leather case, Dahin looked up at him again, frowning. “A month, a little more. You smell like a dead turtle; were you in the canal mud? How did you get here? Why are you looking at me like that?” His eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
Someone was going to have to break and answer a question. Kai picked the least revealing one. “I had to revivify a rotting river barge to get here, parts of it were still oozing.” Ziede was impatient in his head, demanding to know what he had found. With her just outside the ruined building, he let her hear through his ears, so he wouldn’t have to explain. He didn’t want to be suspicious of Dahin, but he needed a second opinion. “Why didn’t you tell us you were coming here?”
Dahin shifted uneasily, brushed some dirt off the case and set it aside. “I just … didn’t want to be disturbed.” When he was younger, he had always had an open face, had never been reluctant to show his true emotions while everyone else around him went to pains to conceal theirs. Now he looked guarded and guilty, but not the kind of guilty that said I have betrayed my family and friends. He huffed in exasperation. “I knew what Tahren would say if she knew I was here! Now can you tell me what happened to you? Did your old body die? I didn’t think that was possible.”
Kai felt his heart unclench just a little, despite himself. It was just so good to see Dahin again. “We were caught, Ziede and I. They put us in an underwater tomb. We’ve been there for most of the year. We only escaped days ago.”
Dahin’s head jerked up as he met Kai’s gaze. His face went through shock, dismay, horror. “Where’s Ziede? Is she all right?” He plopped down and patted the tarp in front of him. “Kai, sit down.”
Kai should have been braced for an attack, but he just felt tired suddenly. And if Dahin was the one plotting against them, maybe it was time to give up. He sat down on the tarp. It was thick and waxed to stay dry, but slipping a little against the muck underneath it. “Ziede’s here. Dahin, we don’t know where Tahren is. The last we heard of her, she was looking for you.”
Dahin had stopped trying to distract Kai and was all attention now. His hands had gone limp, his brow furrowed. It had been rare in recent years to get Dahin’s full attention, but Kai had it now. Almost plaintively, Dahin said, “But … She must be … No one could touch her.”
Kai shook his head. “Ziede can’t find her pearl. We were told she didn’t go to Benais-arik for the coalition renewal. She’s not at Avagantrum. They haven’t seen her since she left to look for you.”
