The Black King (Book 7) (57 page)

Arianna studied her. Coulter moved half a step forward. Gift crossed his arms.

“I thought being Black Queen was all about who was smartest, and who had the most Vision. I had the most Vision of any one I knew. I thought it would be simple once you were in power. I didn’t know how much courage it took and how much knowledge. I thought I could do it all, and now I know I’m just a baby compared to everyone else.”

“You want to do this to prove you have courage?” Arianna asked. “You could die. If you make a mistake, we both could die.”

Lyndred raised her gaze to Arianna’s. “I’ll have you with me to prevent me from making a mistake.”

“If we’re wrong about the Lights of Midday,” Gift said, “then you and Arianna might lose your magick.”

Lyndred paled. She obviously hadn’t thought of that. “How else are you going to get her to the palace? Is there anyone left there that she has a Link to?”

Gift looked at Arianna. Arianna shook her head. She hadn’t Linked with anyone while she was there.

“Then if you’re willing to take the risk with me, I’m willing to take the risk with you.” Lyndred looked directly at Arianna.

Arianna thought about it for a moment. “Lyndred and I—and maybe Con and Dash—can get off outside of Jahn and walk in. You sail in using the fog like we just did. We get into the palace, and how will you know that we’re close enough?”

“We need an open Link,” Coulter said. “Someone can shout a message through it.”

“Open mine and Ari’s,” Gift said.

“No,” Coulter said. We’re taking too many risks there as it is. Ari and I have a new Link, one we forged to get her to the golem. That might work.”

“And it might not,” Gift said. “Let’s go with established Links.”

“If we go with established Links,” Lyndred said, “then you should consider one more.”

“What would that be?” Coulter asked.

“Mine with my father,” Lyndred said.

“Have you ever traveled it?” Coulter asked.

“No,” Lyndred said. “But it’s there. Arianna can explain to me how to send a message through it.”

Gift shook his head, an ever-so-small movement that Arianna wasn’t sure if anyone else caught. But she did.

“I like the plan,” Arianna said. “It has merit.”

“It has too many risks,” Gift said.

“You mean, I’m the risk,” Lyndred said.

“Yes. You were the one who reminded me that Ace didn’t trust you. He was infatuated with you. He might even have loved you. And if he couldn’t trust you, why should I?”

“Then why does everyone else ask Skya for things?” Lyndred said. “You don’t trust her, yet you love her.”

Gift took a step backwards, as if Lyndred had actually struck him. Arianna started to go to him, but Coulter caught her arm. His grasp was light, and she doubted Gift even saw it.

“There are some things that Skya can do well,” Gift said, “and there are some things she refuses to do.”

“Well,” Lyndred said. “I may not be good with people, not in the way that Ace wanted me to be, but I’m smart and I’m one of the best Visionaries in the family. I can do this, and I won’t betray anyone. I’m not that stupid.”

“I don’t think the Empire’s future should be based on your test of courage,” Gift said.

“Why not?” Lyndred asked. “Because you didn’t have enough courage to take the Black Throne in the first place?”

“Enough,” Arianna said. “Ultimately, this is my decision, and I think Lyndred offers us the best plan. We’ll take the boat when we get close to Jahn. We’ll disguise Lyndred so that she looks bruised and bloody, and then we’ll find our way into Jahn.”

“Ari,” Gift started, but she didn’t let him finish.

“You’ll stay here with Coulter. Coulter will be the one who’ll use the Lights of Midday, and you’ll direct them toward Rugad, after you get the signal from us. Then we’ll see what happens. If we’re lucky, this will work.”

“And if we’re not lucky?” Coulter asked.

Arianna stared at him.

“I think you know the answer to that,” she said.

SIXTY-ONE

XIHU DIDN’T HEAR the plan until well after dawn. She had spent the night tending the injured from the last attack. Three more Infantry died, all of them young women who hadn’t yet come into their magick. One of them had died sobbing for her mother. She had been little more than a baby, sent to war.

Xihu had gone outside after the last death and had taken in the sunrise. Then she had gone to the kitchen for a bit of food. There she had noticed there didn’t seem to be the usual guards getting their breakfasts. She had commented on that to one of the cooks, who had told her about the attack on the river.

Gift, attacking ships? What had happened since she left him?

Xihu had tried to see Arianna, but Arianna had sent back a message that she was busy, and Xihu should try again later. So Xihu had no choice but to go to the Cardidas herself.

A cacophony of voices rose around her. The entire harbor was full of people. Soldiers of all types were gathered in units. Most of them were studying bows and arrows—apparently they had not seen that weapon before. The various Beast Riders were discussing ways to get to a ship in the harbor, and the Foot Soldiers had already commandeered the free boats. The warehouses were full of soldiers, many of whom leaned out the sides, and the shoreline itself was covered with Infantry.

She had no idea there were this many soldiers left in Jahn. She thought the force Arianna had sent to Constant contained most of the battle-ready. But she noticed that most of the Fey around her were extremely young. Some wore ill-fitting uniforms that had clearly belonged to someone else.

This army was assembled from leftovers. It was raw and untried, even more so than the one going to Constant.

A shiver ran down Xihu’s back. Arianna was doing this on purpose. She knew that stray arrows could hit Gift. She was hoping this inept group of soldiers would find a way to kill her brother.

Xihu grabbed one of the Foot Soldiers as he hurried past. He glared at the hand on his arm before looking up and seeing that she was a Shaman.

He was so young that he still had skin problems. He hadn’t reached his full height either. He must have just come into his magick.

“Tell me where your Leader is,” she said.

“How am I supposed to know?” he asked and shook her off.

She stared after him. Hadn’t they trained young people on Blue Isle to recognize their elders? Had everything fallen apart?

She stopped a young Infantry woman whose skin was too pale to be pure Fey and whose eyes had a touch of green to the brown. “Where’s your Leader?” Xihu asked again.

The woman pointed toward the eastern edge of the river, and Xihu thanked her. Then Xihu got off the road and walked down an embankment leading to the water’s edge.

The ground was soft and muddy after being trampled by so many feet. She hurried as quickly as her robes allowed her, catching snippets of conversation, most of which having to do with how to sink a Tashil ship.

A few of the Infantry had found slingshots and were discussing how to launch burning torches at the ship. Others were separating their units into those who could swim and those who couldn’t.

No one spoke of taking prisoners.

Xihu hurried on.

The farther into the mass of people she went, the clearer it became that no one led this group. But the woman had pointed this way, and that meant she thought there was someone who could help Xihu.

She had walked past three warehouses before she stumbled on a group of older Fey. They had their heads together and they were talking softly. She recognized none of them.

“Do any of you lead these soldiers?” she asked.

No one turned. She repeated the question.

Finally a man looked up. He appeared to be in his fifties, his skin craggy and his hair touched with gray. When he saw that Xihu was a Shaman, his eyes widened.

“What can we do for you?” he asked.

“I need to find whoever’s in charge of this,” she said.

“No one,” he said. “Some of the units still have their commanders, but most went on the excursion a few days ago.”

“You’re not a Leader?” Xihu asked.

“I am, but I retired after the Blue Isle campaign.” He patted his leg. “Nearly lost it in the Battle for Constant. The Healers fixed it, but I’m no longer capable of doing a forced march, even if I wanted to.”

“So you’re in charge, then.”

“Not really.” He swept a hand toward the five Fey behind him. “We were just discussing how we prevent this rag tag group from becoming a mob.”

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Nandar.” One of the older naming systems. That surprised her.

“How was this group even assembled?”

“Voluntary. People from the palace were going door to door asking, ‘Would you like to serve in the Fey army tonight’?” He shook his head. “That’s not how it was done in my day.”

“Mine either,” Xihu said.

“This new Black Queen doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing, does she?”

Xihu revised his age upward at least two decades. No one in his fifties would call a Black Queen who had been on the throne for fifteen years new unless he had lived a relatively long life.

“I think she knows better than most of us give her credit for.”

“A mob isn’t going to wage an effective operation.”

“It is,” Xihu said, “if your goal is the Black Heir.”

He glanced at the river as if it had suddenly overflowed its banks.

“You saw it too, didn’t you,” she said. “All that blood on the water. You saw it.”

Nandar nodded. “I’m a minor Visionary, but I’ve been privileged to listen to the Powers once or twice. I’ve seen blood on this water since I was a little boy.”

Then he was meant to be here. Xihu didn’t like that.

“Do you really think she’s trying to kill the Black Heir?” He ran a hand through his thick hair. “Does she know that he’s on the ship?”

“It’s his ship. She may say she doesn’t know for sure, but I do. Where that ship is, Gift is.” She didn’t bother to tell this minor Visionary that if Gift wasn’t on the ship, he was in Constant, where the other Infantry was headed.

“So if she claims she has an untrained army who got overzealous, there’s no disproving her, right? The Powers’ll let this go?”

“It’s a gamble,” Xihu said. “But it’s probably a good one.”

Nandar shook his head. “And I’ll be a part of it.”

“Not if you help me.”

He looked at her. “How?”

“Inform these Fey that the Black Heir is on board. Tell them the penalty for killing a member of the Black Family.”

“That might not stop some of the Foot Soldiers,” he said. “They attack first and think later.”

She knew that, and she had seen a lot of young Foot Soldiers who weren’t battle trained. Most of them probably didn’t know how to handle real blood lust yet. All they had learned was how to hold it back. When it was released, it would be very dangerous.

“Then you’re going to have to take control of this mob,” she said. “Make sure they understand the orders are to take the crew of the ship prisoner, not to sink it.”

“I hadn’t heard that order,” he said.

“You’re hearing it now.”

“From a Shaman? You can’t participate in military matters.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I can participate in preventing Blood against Blood. Do you want to be a party to that?”

He shook his head.

“Then do as I say. Get this mob together.”

Nandar scanned the area, and she could almost read his thoughts. He knew what an impossible task organizing these soldiers would be.

“What if it was supposed to be this way?” Nandar asked. “What if the Black Heir is supposed to die here?”

“Then he will die,” Xihu said. “And maybe the rest of us will too.”

SIXTY-TWO

LYNDRED SAT IN THE CENTER of the boat, the cool wood against her thighs as she watched the
Tashka
disappear into its veil of fog. She felt her heart sink and wondered, for the first time, if she was up to this.

I hope so,
Arianna said.
Because it’s too late to change now
.

Lyndred started each time Arianna actually spoke. Lyndred hadn’t experienced a Link, let alone had someone else inside her mind. It felt odd, as if her head had expanded slightly, as if it were a place she didn’t really recognize.

Arianna had said that it was possible to block thoughts, but they weren’t going to be together long enough for that to matter. So, for the next half-day, they would have to listen to each other.

Lyndred glanced at Con. He was at the stern of the boat, rowing for her, and Dash was at the bow. They were along for protection. When they got near the shore, they would don their cloaks and no one, not even Lyndred, would be able to see them. She would have to trust they were there.

Don’t worry,
Arianna said.
I’ll help you through this.

If Lyndred closed her eyes, she could actually see her cousin inside her mind. This Arianna was so different from the other two that Lyndred had met. Unlike the stone Arianna, this one had fluid movements. Unlike the Arianna that Rugad was pretending to be, this one had an innate grace. This Arianna was a beautiful woman and no one would have ever said that she looked cruel.

I’ve never done anything like this before.
Lyndred had already learned that she didn’t have to answer Arianna aloud to be heard.

I’m aware of that,
Arianna said.
You’ll have to listen to me if the time comes. Otherwise, just do as we instructed.

Lyndred nodded, and then wondered if Arianna had known about the movement.

Of course I do,
Arianna said.
Now open your eyes. You’re making me nervous.

Lyndred opened her eyes. The morning was clear and calm and very cold. Precisely the kind of morning they didn’t want, Gift had said as he helped her onto the ship. They had hoped for low clouds and a heavy rain, something that would discourage the troops waiting on Jahn’s bank.