Mirage (3 page)

As they walked up the ramp toward the palace, Hoku noticed the horses. Horses painted on the stone beneath their feet, horses engraved on wide pillars holding up the palace’s roof, horses embroidered on the black-and-red banners flying overhead. And the gold! Didn’t the Equians understand how useful gold was as a conductor? That it resisted corrosion better than a lot of other metals? And here they were, slathering it on every depiction of the sun in their artwork instead of using it in their tech.

“Send a good bolt of electricity through this place, and the gold might electrocute all the Equians at once,” Hoku muttered to Calli. She barely suppressed a giggle.

At the top of the platform, Mirage’s artificial wind snapped the banners and blew Hoku’s hair into his eyes. The High Khan stood at the center, surrounded by tables of food, piles of bright pillows, and a handful of advisers and servants all wearing Red Sky’s colors. The contrast between the stinky, smoke-filled market below and the High Khan’s breezy palace couldn’t have been more stark.

To the High Khan’s side, a handful of other Equians stood in a clump. They each wore different styles of clothes — some in elaborate embroidered and beaded layers, others in simple desert tunics. A ring of Red Sky guards surrounded them, blocking Hoku’s view. But if he’d had to guess, he’d say they had also arrived as guests and discovered that they were something else entirely.

High Khan Onggur’s presence dominated the pavilion. He was easily the largest Equian Hoku had ever seen — not quite as big as Great White, but just as impressive. Onggur’s muscled arms bulged. His black hair fell in one long braid at his side, a perfect match for the shiny black coat of his powerful horse body. Red and black had been worked into his tunic, wound into his tail, and enameled on his chest armor. He wore a large amulet of dull red around his neck, and the hilt of a massive sword jutted over his shoulder. Thin slivers of marred skin cut across his arms, his face, and his sleek horse flank.
Scars
. This man had already seen more fighting than Hoku ever wanted to.

“Who is that Human?” Dash asked quietly.

Borte’s flank shivered. He replied coldly, “Our newest ally.”

One of the servants moved, and Hoku saw her. A Human woman standing with the High Khan’s Equian advisers. She had dark-brown hair cut close to her head and styled into a swoop over her forehead. Instead of muted desert clothes, she wore a tunic of bright-red silk cinched at the waist with a fluttery black sash. Her pants were black and sleek and disappeared into the tops of her knee-high black boots. Not a very practical desert outfit, but a stunning one.

He would have dismissed her as a visiting Human except for her eyes. The ancients had long ago discovered not only how to fix bad eyesight but also how to improve on it: to give the Deepfell and the Kampii the ability to see in dark water, to give the Aviars distance sight, to help the Equians keep their eyes from burning out from too much sun. Even the Upgraders knew how to replace their eyes with special tech, tech that could read heat shapes or estimate distance down to the millimeter.

And yet this woman wore glasses. Black-rimmed glasses that Hoku was sure he’d seen somewhere before. Somewhere important.

“That woman is Red Sky’s new ally?” Aluna asked. “She’s barely taller than me!”

“Do not let her size deceive you,” Borte said. “She is a person of impressive cunning, and our High Khan listens to her council as if it comes from the sun herself.”

They approached slowly, following Borte’s lead. Hoku tried to watch the High Khan, but his eyes kept snapping to the woman, as if she were a magnet and he a bit of powerless iron. Her eyes found him and seemed to bore a hole through his head.

Borte stomped his foot. “Presenting to the High Khan, his allies, and his advisers a new batch of visit — prisoners. Two Kampii, one Aviar, and a failed Equian from Shining Moon.”

Hoku cringed but didn’t look at Dash. If the horse-boy could ignore the insults, then Hoku could train himself to ignore them, too. Aluna didn’t say anything, either. He glanced over and saw why. She seemed distracted, her gaze locked on the woman in red at Onggur’s side, her brow creased in thought.

High Khan Onggur spoke, his voice almost as big as the rest of him: “What brings such an odd assortment of splinters to Mirage, home of Red Sky?”

“We bring important news from the oceans and skies,” Aluna said, and Hoku felt a wave of pride at how strong her voice echoed in the stone pavilion. “A really old Human named Karl Strand — one of the ancients who’s found some way to stay alive — is trying to conquer —”

“Stop,” the Human woman said quickly. “The High Khan will hear no more of your lies.”

Dash grunted in surprise. Hoku guessed that it was unusual for anyone, and a Human in particular, to presume to speak for High Khan Onggur. But instead of putting her in her place, Onggur said only, “Does our honored ally wish to speak first?” His voice sounded calm, but Hoku could hear an edge in it, as if the High Khan were balancing his words on the edge of a cliff.

“I do,” the woman said.

Hoku saw several of the High Khan’s advisers shuffle their hooves and swish their tails. They seemed uncomfortable but unwilling to speak out. Why? Then Hoku remembered Borte’s fresh bandage and the bruises on his face. Maybe that’s how the High Khan rewarded insolence. Then, on the edge of his vision, he saw the Human woman move.

No, she
blurred
. One moment she was standing beside the High Khan, and in the next flash she stood half a meter away, her hand around Calli’s throat. Squeezing. Calli’s eyes widened, and she clawed uselessly at the woman’s arm.

“Stop!” Hoku yelled. “You’re killing her!”

Aluna and Dash attacked. Aluna leaped behind the Human and pressed the blade of her knife to the woman’s throat. Dash tried to peel the woman’s fingers away from Calli’s throat with his powerful mechanical hand. He could bend iron bars with that tech, but the Human’s grip barely faltered.

“She is too strong,” Dash said through gritted teeth.

“Not strong enough to resist a slice to the throat,” Aluna said grimly. Hoku wondered if she could do it. If Aluna could actually cut someone’s throat with a whole crowd of people watching. Then he saw the panic on Calli’s face and knew the answer. He’d do it himself if he could. Aluna’s blade cut deeper into the Human’s neck, but the woman didn’t budge. Didn’t cry out. And not a single drop of blood slid down her throat.

“She’s an Upgrader,” Hoku said. “Her tech is on the inside!”

The woman’s mouth twisted. “Allow me to introduce myself.” She turned as if Aluna and Dash weren’t attacking her and threw Calli to the ground in front the High Khan. Calli propped herself up on an elbow and gasped for air. Hoku was at her side in an instant, itching to hug her close. He settled for helping her to sit up. If the Human attacked Calli again, she’d have to go through him.

The Human swatted Dash and Aluna away as if they were guppies. Hoku watched Aluna stumble back, her expression shocked but her dark eyes still assessing.

The woman wasn’t even breathing hard. “This winged harpy and her people killed my brother,” she said. “I demand the girl’s life in recompense.”

Aluna crouched low and tucked her knife back in its sheath. “Ridiculous! Calli hasn’t killed anybody.” Hoku saw Aluna flick her wrists to ready her thin chain weapons.

“My brother’s name was Tempest. Sky Master Tempest,” the woman said. “These flying rats killed him in cold blood at the SkyTek dome.”

Suddenly, Hoku knew where he’d seen those glasses before. He’d seen them on an old photo of Sarah Jennings, the first Kampii, and her Above World family.

“Karl Strand,” he croaked, even though he’d meant to only think it. “You’re Scorch. You’re one of Karl Strand’s clones.”

Scorch smiled. “I am his daughter, yes. And you, Kampii, are exactly the sort of specimen my brother Fathom has been looking for. Perhaps I will send him you and the girl Kampii, wrapped up with a bow. I don’t agree with his experiments, but I do indulge them. We are family, after all.”

Hoku clamped his mouth shut, afraid he might blurt out something that would get them killed. Scorch didn’t know what had happened at HydroTek. She didn’t know how they’d defeated her brother and taken back the dome. Fathom was in frozen sleep, not dead, but he doubted Scorch would see the distinction. It was only a matter of time before an Upgrader made it to Mirage and told her the news.

“I don’t care who you are,” Aluna said. “You’re not killing Calli. You’re not even touching her. We’re here to see the High Khan, not you. And last time I checked, this city belonged to him.”

“My father and I are allies of Red Sky,” Scorch said. She turned to the High Khan. “I ask for the life of the bird-girl, as is my right, and for the two small Kampii to send as gifts of goodwill to my brother. Only three inconsequential lives.”

Hoku had almost forgotten about High Khan Onggur and the other Equians. Why had they done nothing when Scorch attacked? He saw the High Khan’s advisers stomping nervously and staring at their leader. A few fingered the hilts of their swords.

High Khan Onggur’s face remained calm, but his words bit into the air. “No one is killed or attacked in my presence without my permission.” Scorch’s arrogant sneer faded slightly. Onggur held up his hand. “However, in light of the generosity your father has displayed to our people, we do not take offense. Soon you will better understand our customs, and such incidents will be merely a memory.”

Scorch started to retort, then clamped her mouth shut and offered the High Khan a stiff bow. “Of course, Great Khan,” she said. “I acted on impulse, and as you can see, the traitors are unharmed.”

Traitors
, Hoku thought. Nice how she worked that in there.

Onggur nodded briskly. “It is forgotten. Furthermore, I see no reason not to grant you the lives you have requested, to do with as you wish.”

“Y
OU CAN’T HAVE CALLI,”
Hoku said to Scorch. He felt Calli’s wings brush his arm. He stood taller. “And you can’t have us, either.” He glanced at Aluna, hoping she’d back him up with more than just words. She nodded, her face grim.

“If you want to kill us, you’ll get a fight,” Aluna said.

Hoku heard a
snick
and saw Dash’s retractable sword expand to its full, deadly size. Dash said nothing. He didn’t need to. Calli struggled to her feet, her face still red from Scorch’s attack. She didn’t carry a weapon, but she glowered anyway.

“Wait,” a new voice said. Everyone looked toward the group of Equians penned in at the khan’s side. A young woman a few years older than Hoku clomped forward. She had skin almost as light as his and wore her long brown hair in two braids woven with dark-blue and white cords. Her horse flank was a deep reddish brown and turned to black at her hooves and tail. “I am Tayan, khan-daughter of Shining Moon, and I claim the lives of Dashiyn and his three companions.”

Scorch started to interrupt, but the High Khan spoke over her. “By what right?”

Tayan spoke calmly. “The boy known as Dash is Shining Moon. He has broken his exile and must return to our homeland to face trial and punishment. I claim his companions as accomplices under herd law, until such time as their innocence can be determined.”

There was a saying back in the ocean:
Escape a shark and find a Deepfell
. Just when you thought things were bad, they got a whole lot worse.

“Oh, we’re definitely accomplices,” Aluna said with a growl. “Whatever happens to Dash happens to us, too.”

“This is ridiculous,” Scorch said. “You’re going to listen to these children?”

“I will listen to herd law,” High Khan Onggur said. “Tradition must not be overlooked. It makes us strong.” He turned to Tayan. “The
aldagha
and his companions are yours.”

Tayan touched two fingers to her heart and bowed, but Scorch wasn’t done. “Karl Strand will not be pleased to hear of this.”

“Hold your threats,” High Khan Onggur said impatiently. “I am not done.”

Scorch raised an eyebrow and took a step back, giving the khan room. Onggur turned to the Equians penned in at his side, including Tayan. “Emissaries of the Equian herds, I give you this message to take back to your khans: the desert goes to war.”

Hoku sucked in his breath and shared a look with Calli. He saw Aluna and Dash doing the same thing with each other. They’d come here to warn the Equians about Karl Strand, and they’d been too late. Way, way too late.

The High Khan waited until the Equians’ shocked murmurs and hoof stomping subsided before continuing. “This year, the Thunder Trials will be more than contests of strength and skill. All herds will meet in peace, as we have done for hundreds of years. But when the games end and I once again earn the Sun Disc and am made High Khan, we will leave as an army.”

“You will become the swift blade of Karl Strand,” Scorch said, and Hoku could hear the pride in her voice. “You will become the agents of my father’s justice throughout the land, from desert to ocean to mountaintop stronghold. Your High Khan will be king of all of that, and more. As payment for your loyalty, my father will give you our technology. If you want water brought to the desert, then we will turn the sands to rolling hills and fill the empty skies with clouds.”