Heirs of the Fallen: Book 04 - Wrath of the Fallen (25 page)

“Victory—true, hard-fought victory—will rid us of our enemies forever.”

Muranna sipped wine, her dark eyes giving nothing away. “How?

“Give me the seeds of an army to conquer Zuladah, and those few seeds will grow into a force to rival the armies of the Suanahad Empire. And when Geldain is ours, we will then begin to reclaim the rest of the world.”

Muranna sat back. “You seem to be forgetting the Faceless One. With enough of these
seeds
, you could grow an army large enough to rid Geldain of Alon’mahk’lar. I have often plotted the same myself. But what of Mahk’lar? Spirits of demons call no one realm home, but travel where they will, unhindered. Zuladah and the surrounding lands are protected by the Faceless One’s decree, but once you launch a war, that protection will no longer hold. How do you intend to keep so many safe from possession?”

“Rumors have it that King Rothran retains a vast store of stones of protection.”

“Rumors are not enough to win wars,” Muranna said. “And you still have not explained how you mean to defeat the Faceless One, a being no one has ever seen.”

When Leitos saw the look of defeat cross Ulmek’s face, he leaned forward. Muranna’s eyes widened when she looked at him, and he knew that until that moment, he had been below her notice.

“You are not Geldainian,” she said. “The sun has darkened your skin, but the blue of your eyes speaks of the north—Izutar, I would guess, since the Faceless One has a certain love for enslaving your people.”

Leitos saw no reason to speak of his ancestry. “The Faceless One is a lie.”

“Leitos—” Ulmek began, but cut off when Muranna shot him a hard look.

“Tell me, dear Leitos, what Ulmek would keep back.”

After the Yatoans had disregarded his warning and his plea for aid, Leitos was in no mood to hold anything back. “I killed the Faceless One.” Her eyes went wide with disbelief. She began to speak, but he overrode her. “I killed the Faceless One, and he wore the face of my grandfather, Kian Valara, the King of the North.
Peropis
is the true power behind that myth.”

Muranna stood up. “You are deluded fools, and your presence here is surely a threat to me. It is time for you both to leave.”

As she made to turn away, Leitos caught her arm. She tried to pull away, but he held her. He had to convince her, or he would end up like Ba’Sel, wandering about Geldain, collecting just enough orphans to keep the false hope of the Brothers of the Crimson Shield alive. It was not a life he wanted. The time to act was now, but that window was fast closing.

“Instead of gains,” he said, “I’ll tell you what you and the rest of us stand to lose. Peropis is preparing to escape the Thousand Hells, not as a spirit, but a being of flesh
and
spirit. She will fill the world with her kindred, and send the last of humankind to the Thousand Hells. And from that place, we will never escape. Out of her hatred for Pa’amadin, she will torture us for all eternity, and feast on our misery. There will be no hope of Paradise, no hope of anything, save unending death.”

When he released Muranna, she took a measured step backward. “Have you brought a priest into my midst, Ulmek, or a madman?”

“I stood at his side when he learned what he told you.” Ulmek spoke the lie so smoothly, Leitos almost believed it.

Muranna’s face clouded, and her eyes twitched over the carpeted floor, as if searching for something. “If I give you an army, I want something in return.”

“Name your price,” Ulmek invited.

“King Rothran’s throne.”

“You would be Queen of Zuladah?

An eager light replaced the hesitancy in her gaze. “Who better? Besides, I grow weary of ruling over bones in crypts. It is more fitting that I should climb out of this warren, and rule in the light of day. But you underestimate me. I would be queen not of a mere city, but all of Geldain.”

Ulmek tugged his chin. “As queen, what will you do for me?”

“What all good queens do, keep
my
army in soldiers and supplies.” Before Ulmek could speak a word of promise, she added, “First, I want to hear how you intend to take the city, for if you cannot do even that, then you will never conquer Geldain, let alone anything else.”

Ulmek quickly detailed who would act when and where. As he spoke, Muranna nodded often, and asked pointed questions.

When he finished, she toyed with her pendant with a languid finger. “If this works, I think perhaps I will make you my king.”

Ulmek gave her what Leitos considered a genuine smile. “And, perhaps, I would accept your offer.”

Leitos held his tongue until he and Ulmek had put the Hall of Bones at their backs, and climbed the winding stairs back to the sewers.

Only when they were again walking the stinking black alleys of a night-cloaked Zuladah, did he speak. “Can we trust Muranna?”

“No, little brother, not even in the best of times would I trust the likes of Muranna. At least, not fully.”

“Then why did we go to her?”

“While I do not trust her, I do trust her love of wealth and power. Those two things, which I will give her, are the chains that bind her to us. And besides, there is no one else. We are alone and weak in a world of stalking nightmares, and she is our only hope.”

Chapter 31

“What do you mean he’s gone?” Ulmek demanded. The moonlight cast deep shadows in the hollows of his eyes and cheeks. “How do more than a score of guards let one crazed man escape?”

Damoc’s chest swelled with anger. Before he could lash out, Adham inserted himself between the two men. “Ba’Sel might be insane, but he’s no fool. If he got it into his head to escape—‘Hide,’ I believe he kept saying—then that’s what he will do.”

Ulmek looked out over the desert. “We must find him.”

“We have already tried,” Damoc said.

Ulmek glared at those gathered round. “Then we try again.”

“It’s no use,” Adham said. “Ba’Sel is gone. We should not risk what few lives we have on your friendship.”

“My friendship is not the reason I want him back. He knows too much. If he is caught and tortured, he will lead the enemy right to us.”

“I believe we discussed this problem before,” Damoc said coldly. “I also believe it was you who said you would keep Ba’Sel close at hand.”

“In that,” Ulmek admitted, grinding the words between his teeth, “you are right. I should have left Ba’Sel on Yato. Be that as it may, we must find him before an Alon’mahk’lar patrol does.”

“I don’t think he will allow himself to be found,” Adham said.

Ulmek gusted a sigh. “We have but a few hours before dawn. We search until then. If Ba’Sel is not found, then we return here and prepare for tonight.”

“I hope this plan of yours makes more sense than bringing Ba’Sel along in the first place,” Damoc said dryly.

“If we keep attacking each other,” Belina said, “it will not matter what we intend, because we’ll all end up killing each other before our enemies can.”

“The girl makes sense,” Adham said.

Ulmek and Damoc considered each other a long time. The wind sighed around them, rustling brush. No one else stirred or seemed to breathe. “Agreed,” they both said at once, and their glares intensified.

Adham barked laugher. “Let’s find Ba’Sel,” he said, “so that I can get some sleep.”

No one disagreed, and the company quietly broke into pairs. Leitos was heading for his father, when Belina caught his arm.

“We can search together,” she said. Leitos caught Nola watching them a few strides away. Sumahn whispered something to the girl, and a faint smile turned her lips. Sudden unease tickled Leitos’s belly.
What are they up to?

“I was hoping to speak with my father,” Leitos said, edging toward Adham.

Adham glanced between them with raised eyebrows. “Morning is soon enough,” he said, and turned away before Leitos could think of a counterargument.

“I suppose that settles it,” Leitos said with forced pleasantness.

In short order, the pairs had picked routes and slipped into the night. Leitos and Belina headed back toward Zuladah, taking a route that would lead north of the city. He gave her a sidelong look, but her attention was on the ground at her feet. The Sleeping Widow, sinking toward the horizon, provided enough light to see by, but scarcely enough to find any tracks, unless they were obvious enough to trip over.

“Did Ba’Sel say anything before he left?” Leitos asked quietly.

“Much the same as always. A good deal about hiding, and something about Peropis being close and on the hunt.”

“I still don’t understand how he got away.”

Gray moonlight flashed in her eyes. “Are you taking Ulmek’s side against my father?”

“No, it’s not that. I just don’t see how—”

“You don’t see half as much as you think you do,” she spat, and went back to searching.

Leitos looked after her, wondering at her edginess. Shaking his head, he caught up with her. “Why did you want to come with me?”

“Who says I did?”

He barely hid his astonishment. “
You
did. Or do you not remember all but begging me to join you, instead of my father?”

“Begging? I never begged, you arrogant fool. I’m here because someone needs to keep you alive, someone who knows how important you are.”

“I can accept that you might have had a dream or two about someone who looks like me, but they were just
dreams
. I’m no savior, and I’m certainly not this man of shadow and steel you have dreamed of.”

“Are you certain?” Belina insisted. When he did not answer, she added, “Even if you and everyone else are right, and I am wrong, you still need someone to keep you from getting yourself killed. Your hate for our enemies makes you reckless.”

“Pardon me?”

“You ran headlong into the Throat of Balaam, eager to confront the Faceless One. And when you found out he was actually your grandfather, you didn’t hesitate to kill him.”

“He had made himself the enemy of humankind. And besides, he wasn’t really my grandfather, but Peropis.”

“You didn’t know that until after you killed him.”

“What difference does it make? One way or another, he, or she, was the Bane of Creation.”

“Would you kill your father as easily, or Ulmek, or me, if you believed we had become your enemy?”

An ache was forming in the center of Leitos’s head. “If you became my enemy, what choice would I have? But that would never happen.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t ... that is to say ... why would it? Do you feel as though a Mahk’lar is in you?”

“Do
you
?” Before the last word faded into the night, a mortified look passed over her face. “I’m sorry. I should never have said that. I didn’t mean—”

Leitos caught her shoulders. She flinched away from him. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, dismayed. “Here, sit down, and tell me what is bothering you.”

She drew away. “We have to look for Ba’Sel.”

“Ba’Sel is gone. If we ever see him again, it will be his choice.”

Belina reluctantly took a seat on a rock. Leitos joined her, making sure to sit a comfortable distance away, so as not to trouble her further.

For a long time she sat in silence, concentrating on weaving a few strands of brittle grass into a thin braid. “You remember what happened on Witch’s Mole?” She asked it so quietly that he almost missed the question.

“Yes,” he said cautiously. She had told him the Kelrens had not ravished her, but now he feared she had lied. He wanted to comfort her in some way, but the set of her shoulders was a high, strong wall against him. He waited.

“Do you remember what happened to you?”

Leitos kept his features placid. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t remember anything
strange
?”

Leitos remembered the golden spindle, and how for a moment all had gone still, and how when that moment resumed, he had vanquished his foes as easily as if they were lifeless dolls. “Not really,” he lied. He had never been able to fully explain to himself what had happened, so how could he expect to tell it to Belina?

She peered into his eyes, and he looked away. Belina went back to braiding grass.

The sky was brightening to the east when she spoke again. “I need to stay near you.”

“Have you appointed yourself my guardian?”

“Why not me?”

He began speaking before he had a chance to think over the words. “When Peropis learns that the last of the Valara line has decided to make war against her, she will do everything she can to destroy me, my father, and anyone near us. I ... could not bear to watch you die.”

“We all die, sooner or later,” Belina said softly, and tossed her braid of grass. She stood and walked back the way they had come.

Leitos sat alone, knowing he would have to do everything in his power to ensure that he kept Belina away from him. He did not want her death on his head, especially if that death came because she was trying to protect him.