Beasts of the Walking City (29 page)

“Khalee.” Semper bows from the waist.

The podship comes in as close as it can, despite the wind, and Nadrune turns and leaps from the ledge down to it. She trails smoke all the way down, lands firmly on the roof, and allows the servants to help her into the hold. Then ship speeds away like a glowing beetle toward the fleet on the horizon.

Semper sits down on the ledge, and I join him. 

The night closes in around us and the wind blows in more rain. We can see lights and flares from the ships more clearly now. Lights that must be podships are in the air and circling, and beams of brighter light, magework, throbs between the vessels. The sound of what must be those great fireballs exploding echoes across the water.

“You’re big a fan of heights, I see.”

Semper turns to me, sheepishly. He’s still very pale. His topknot is entirely undone and the hair is plastered across his face from the rain. His two-color eyes are amused. “What gave you that impression? Actually, I’m
very
fond of them.”

I laugh. “You are one intense old human, Semper. Just promise me you’re not going to tell me about all the times some Akarii has met their doom by jumping off a cliff or something.”

He grins. “I promise you. Instead, might I ask you a personal question about your race?”

“Of course.”

“I thought your name was intriguing, Blackwell. Does it have special meaning?”

I sigh. “Sort of. Hulgliev believe you pass from this world into another when you die, the holding world. We wait there with our ancestors until we are to re-emerge from a new mother. We don’t have many Hulgliev women, so it’s understood we might have to wait a long time there, and it’s dark and cold. We wrap our dead in the leaves of the
vaaro
tree to keep them warm, place them in urns made from clay for the trip, and lower them into a deep well dug just for that purpose.”

“A ‘black well.’ ”

“Exactly. My thirdfather was a bitter man. He saw his people dying around him. So he named me after the passage to the world of the dead.”

“Your name comes from your third father?”

I nod. “Your firstfather gives you your face. Your secondfather gives you your rank. Your thirdfather gives you your outward name, and your mother gives you your breath, your true name, which in the Hulgliev language are basically the same thing. When a child is born, the second- and thirdfathers are chosen by lottery. We place our finger bones into a small clay jar, the
cvak
, and the mother chooses from them at random.”

“Your finger bones? I’m sorry if I’m asking too much, my friend, but this is truly fascinating to me. I haven’t seen any of this recorded in any of the archives.”

“It’s all right.” I reach under the robe and open up a small leather pouch I keep around my neck. I unwrap a small bone and show it to him. It’s pale, intricately carved with tiny images, and streaked with the traditional red and silver colors of the warrior. “I’m told this was my grandfather’s, my mother’s firstfather.”

“I wondered about that pouch when we brought you in.” Semper examines it closely, fascinated, then hands it back to me. I wrap it up again and put it away. “Are you, yourself, a father, then?”

I shake my head. “No opportunity. After my parents were killed, I lived with my mother’s sister, and what remained of our tribe. All of them were too old for children. We never interacted with other tribes, if in fact there are any other ones left.”

“What killed them?”

“You mean who killed them.” I look away.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“It’d be easier over bourbon sometime.”

“I can help with that.” Semper takes out a little flask and hands it to me, and my ears go up. I take a shot, and it’s some of the best bourbon I’ve ever had. I know Earth American’s claim you can only get bourbon from the United States. But where do you think they learned it from? The Solingi have been making bourbon for something like a thousand years. “Where’d you get this? I’ve looked all over the ship.”

“Nadrune technically doesn’t permit it,” he says. Then he tilts the flask back and drains it. “But I have my ways. Was it the Hunters?”

“Yes,” I nod. “I can still remember it. We were living near a lake, up in the northern Akarii Reserve. They swept down on us, a whole army of them in red robes. I was just a kid, and I hid under the bed until my secondfather pulled me out. My mother and firstfather were both warriors—they died defending the rest of us. Only most of the rest of us died, too.”

“Akarii scholars call them the Bloodknives, though I don’t know if they themselves use the name. An apocalyptic cult. There are considerable historical connections between them and the Akarii that you might find relevant, you know—it explains their fascination with birds, like us, but also their hatred of you.”

“Maybe another time?” I really wishing he hadn’t downed the rest of the bourbon.

Semper nods. “I will look forward to it.”

We sit for a time in a comfortable silence, watching the pyrotechnics in the distance. It’s hard to tell who was winning, or really who was even on which side, but they sure were putting a lot of effort into it.

“I wish you could sense her,” Semper says after awhile, meaning the Sister. He gestures in the air with his hands. “She is like this tremendous orb, this great sphere of…”

“Semper, it’s a big round head. There’s a reason it’s like a big orb.”

Semper grins, and I can see the white of his teeth in the flares. “I’m being inarticulate.”

“I think I understand.”

“Do you? I know you’ve seen power, Blackwell. But this! She is like a whole world of life, all contained just beneath the surface of her skin. Such a massive hive of interconnected energy.”

I think about this. “Have you seen the Twins?”

“On the knife, of course. I haven’t actually been in their presence.”

“It’s a lot like you describe,” I say. “A lot of… density. Compacted intelligence spinning for it’s own sake. It
is
hard to put it into words.”

“You’ve been in their presence?”

“I have.”

“Did they…” he pauses for a moment. “Did they speak to you?”

I laugh. “They did not, of course. Why would you ask that?”

“Because I think this one wants to.” 

Off on the horizon a ship bursts into fire then, and a moment later the wind brings the sound of the explosion to us. Below, on the rocks, a horned seal flips into the water and the rest of them follow suit. I guess life sucks when you’re meat. 

I shake my head and gave a small laugh. The rain increases in strength, coming in sheets across the water until we can’t see much but the rocks around us. I move to the edge of the ledge and look down at the relic. It hasn’t moved. I slide back to Semper. I have to cup my hands around my mouth and lean in to his ear to be heard.

“If it does, it’s being pretty subtle about it, don’t you think?”

“I’ll grant you that.” Semper leans in so I can hear him. “But I did have just that sense when I was communing. I’m not sure the relic is here for Nadrune, Blackwell. I think the relic may be here for you.”

“Unless, of course, the relic has always been here, and we’ve just been the first ship to pass close enough to find it.”

“This close to Tamaranth?” Semper shakes his head. “I find that unlikely.”

“As unlikely as a relic talking to some random Hulgliev Retriever?”

“Dekheret Akarii was an outcast and a wanderer when the Sisters spoke with her. How much different are you?”

“Now that hurts.” I grin.

“You understand what I’m saying.”

“I do." 

"Why don't you give yourself more credit?"

"You don’t seem to understand that I’m really nothing special, Semper. Hulgliev are dying out. I’m just one of the last ones around, and someone trained me as a mage so I could make a living. I don’t want to be someone who talks to relics.”

“What do you want?”

I sigh loudly, so Semper will hear it. “You really want to know? I want to drink bourbon and smoke leaf with my secondfather again. I want a roof that doesn’t leak on a small house near the Old City in Tamaranth in a neighborhood where there aren’t any dogs. I want a good noodle stand nearby. I want what’s left of my tribe around me, and to drink and argue with poets and farmers about things that don’t really matter. All of these politics? All of this family fighting, all of this war? What’s it all for? The wells will open for us all in time. We all go into that same darkness. I’m just looking to make my way. I want people to stop asking me what I want, and I want to leave the world changing to people who are really interested in changing it.”

“Like Nadrune?”

“Sure. Like Nadrune.”

“She will not be stopped now, Blackwell. Not with a Sister behind her. She will roll over Tamaranth and move on to the rest of the continent.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted, Semper. Aren’t you convincing me to stand up with her? To be the good Akarii pet? Aren’t you Akarii too? That sounds almost disloyal.”

“Maybe it’s the bourbon talking.” Semper looks at the horizon, tightens the sodden wrap that lies around his neck and pushes the hair back out of his eyes. Water streams down his head and drips from his sideburns. “I’m still loyal, Blackwell. The Akarii are my blood and my bones. I’m loyal to the family that raised me, that trained me, and that now gives me a position of weight and importance, and a lot of money to go along with it. Nadrune’s father will be dead someday, and then it will likely be Nadrune or Bakron who leads the First Family next, and so I am loyal to myself. I am selfish, yes? I work to preserve what I have gained.

“But I’d be a fool not to be aware of Nadrune’s shortcomings, and how her way of battering down all resistance with force sows the seeds of her own undoing. And a fool to imagine the Akarii are still what they once were. I’ve read the diaries of great people, Blackwell. Great people in great times, who made the world a better place for those who were living in it. The library in Tilhtinon holds books that were written in their own hands.

“Nadrune is a woman of great power. But she’s not a Dekheret. Dekheret didn’t conquer all the other Families by force—she united them to a common purpose, and inspired them with a vision. She may bring everyone together, but she’ll do it with the edge of her knife. Though I will say Bakron would do worse.”

“I think I’ve struck a nerve.”

Semper shakes his head and smiles to himself. “Maybe. But I believe that Nadrune can
change
, Blackwell. Over time, if we’re consistent, if we put the right people around her? Maybe she can become better than she is. And I’d like to think that you’ll be one of them. You want to know why I’ve been spending time with you? That’s why. I think Akarii needs people who aren’t interested in positions of power, people like Dekheret and Farsoth who aren’t so concerned with watching what everyone else is doing, but who can step out and make the family just a little bit better.”

“That’s some bourbon.”

“I’m serious, Blackwell. The family needs you. I hope you can see that. Despite who and what Nadrune is now, I hope you’ll decide to stay, to look past that.”

The sounds from the horizon are growing louder, and the lights are brighter. A faint smell of ozone is in the air. What can I say, that I’d be more inclined to help out if I wasn’t wearing a collar?

“Speaking of watching and being watched,” Semper says, “don’t have any illusion that you have any secrets either, Blackwell. With all the broadcasts Nadrune is doing on the knife now, you’re a very visible figure. And the ship is full of people who make your business their business. That’s only going to get worse now with this new Sister. I delight that you’ve taken enough of an interest in our art to use it as your subterfuge, but don’t be naïve enough to think that your meetings with that, well, that woman
,
are any secret to those who have an interest in having you watched. Which, by the way, is just about everyone.”

It’s dark, so I don’t think he can see my fur going black. I have that sinking feeling, and I realize that of course he’s right. Is that why Mircada hasn’t responded these last few days? Yet again, I’m feeling stupid.

“Thanks,” I say. “I guess.”

“Just be careful. Do you know her well? Do you know her motives?”

I shake my head, though I don’t think he can see me. “Back off, Semper.”

“Backing off,” he says. “I do have another flask, if that helps.”

It does.

We sit in a largely comfortable silence after that. On the horizon the lights begin to dim, and the sounds of the battle diminish. Either the fighting has died down, or the ships have drifted away from us. There's no way to tell in the downpour now, but then there’s a light high up above our heads and it’s descending, and it’s a podship, one of the larger cargo ones. It draws level with the ledge and opens its hatch, and a mage from inside, a Stona, beckons us aboard. I pick up Semper and leap across, landing awkwardly on the wet metal flooring.

“What news?” Semper asks the mage.

The Stona dips his beak at Semper, not willing to meet my eyes. “We have prevailed, of course. Four ships out of Tamaranth disguised themselves as merchants, and fired upon us as we drew close. They had a large number of mages aboard, but they could not stand against us. Three of their ships were destroyed, and the fourth has been taken intact. We lost one of our own to the rocks, the
Geneken Kai
.”

“A supply ship.”

The Stona nods. “Some of the crew perished, but most of them were rescued and most of the supplies were salvaged.”

Semper looks at me. “Four ships? Surely they couldn’t hope to eliminate our fleet with four ships.”

I shrug. Semper turns back to the mage. “What Family were they?”

“Kerul, we suspect. But possibly Ciordoi.”

“Nadrune has instructed us to bring the relic back to her vessel. You have brought the necessary equipment?”

They confer, and the pilot moves the ship underneath the ledge, as close in to the relic as she can get. The bigger ship is definitely more stable in the wind and rain. The crew throws ropes and netting around the Sister and makes them all tight to the combat nets, and the pilot attempts to pull away slowly.