Leviathan's Blood (63 page)

Yet, thrusting her sword into the badly burnt woman was hard, harder than she had thought, and before the end, she questioned herself.

‘Well done,’ a deep, male voice said once she had finished. ‘Very well done.’

She found Anguish on the shadowed ends of the fence that Eira had lain against, its ink-black skin a darker shadow.

‘Jae’le and Eidan need your help,’ the creature said.

‘You smell of Leviathan’s Blood,’ Ayae said as she wiped her sword clean along her pant leg. ‘I thought you were hiding on top of the Enclave.’

‘The ocean.’ He moved out of the shadows and along the edge of the fence like a cat. ‘Beneath the waves her voice was dull to me. I could ignore her there. I could hide from
her as she searched Yeflam for me. But she was strong and each day I was forced to sink deep into the ocean to hide from her. It was on the last days that I found the first pair of her creatures,
waiting beneath the docks of Yeflam to rise out of the water. When they rose, I rose with them.’

Her sword slipped into its sheath. ‘That sounds a lot as if you answered her call.’

‘She is gone.’ He hissed the last word with joy. ‘Gone to the poor soul who spoke her name. By another god, he might have been rewarded, but from her – from her there
will be only suffering.’

‘And now here you are to beg for help?’

‘They will die without you.’

‘You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.’ Ayae began to walk out of the alley. After a moment, she heard Anguish scramble after her.

‘Please,
please
.’ He landed deftly on her shoulder, but before he could settle, she caught him. Beneath her fingers, she could feel no bone, no muscle, just a faint chill.
‘Don’t ignore me, please,’ he said, a thin wheedle entering his voice. ‘Eidan and Jae’le are in need of your help. I know you go to help Qian, but you cannot get
between him and Aelyn. That battle is not for the likes of you and me. But Eidan – Eidan
will
die, if you do not help. That is a fact. He was set upon by her creatures and hurt, but
his true danger comes from Leviathan’s Blood. He has fallen into it and his wounds have been tainted by her poison. Jae’le does not have the power to save him from that and from the
creatures.’

‘You disappear,’ she said. ‘You reappear. Your eyes are closed, but I hear Se’Saera’s voice in all of your words.’

The creature squirmed in her grip, but could not break free. ‘Do you not think it would be an easy thing for me to speak her words?’ he asked angrily. ‘I could be a pet, a
prized creation by her side, if I could but find my faith in her yet again. She created me. She owns me. And yet here I am, begging you to save a man whom she has tried to kill tonight. You might
think of that for a moment.’

The rain began to fall harder. Ayae contemplated ignoring Anguish, considered throwing him down the end of the alley and walking away. She did not trust him, but his words had rung true enough
to her, and that stilled her hand. If Jae’le and Eidan were in danger, Zaifyr would want her to go to them first, would want her to do everything she could for them, before she entered
Aelyn’s storm – though, as the density of that tempest grew, as the giant above Nale became more and more defined, Ayae was increasingly concerned that she would be unable to push
through it.

‘They are not far from here,’ Anguish pressed. ‘Please.’

‘Okay,’ she said, finally. ‘But if this is a lie, look behind you at Eira before we leave.’

Standing before the burning siege tower, the grey-haired woman introduced herself as Qiyala, but offered no rank.

Heast had not planned to set fire to the tower, but before he began to descend through its guts, before the Maosans rode into the ravine, he had fallen to his knees as the name of the child god
forced itself upon him.
Se’Saera.
He repeated it aloud, and again as he rose, regathering the crossbow as he did.
Se’Saera.
The intrusion angered him. The very nature
of it, the forcefulness of it – it was an invasion of his self. But he did not kick the lamps over inside the siege tower because of his anger. No, he kicked them over because neither he nor
Taaira had killed all the Leeran soldiers who had lain in wait in the ravine. At least two had fled, but with the name of their god revealed, he believed that those two would return quickly with
more soldiers. They would find the nearest outpost and then they would come back. Heast and the others needed to be gone before then. At the door of the siege tower, he lit the fire that now burned
strongly, and said exactly that to the nominated leader of the Maosans. He – a young, olive-skinned man by the name of Isaap – had cast his eyes to Qiyala, revealing what Heast had
suspected since he had first seen them approach in the dark.

‘There are not many of us left,’ the woman said to him now, as they rode through the night away from the ravine. ‘Desertions, death – Iata has squandered most of his
veterans.’

‘Talon?’ he asked.

‘Second rank,’ she admitted.

The equivalent to a sergeant, then.
‘Why have you stayed?’

‘Family.’ Qiyala pointed along the line of horses which rode in single file without light. ‘I have a grandson. He’s not too smart, but at least he didn’t carry a
torch.’

‘That wasn’t your idea?’

She grimaced. ‘Isaap is First Talon.’

‘I see war has changed little in Faaisha,’ Heast said drily. ‘You can lead if you have the right blood, the right family and the right money.’

‘It is no different anywhere in the world.’

‘You have not seen the world, then.’

Qiyala offered him a lopsided smile that revealed a missing tooth. ‘Iata will be happy to see you, won’t he?’

Heast did not reply and she did not press him. She certainly knew who he was now, for when he had turned to her before the burning siege tower, she had saluted him and addressed him as the
Captain of the Spine. If that was all she knew of him, then she would know, at the very least, what he had said to Kotan Iata a decade earlier, when he had ridden up to Mireea.

‘He still calls himself Warden,’ Qiyala said. ‘If you are curious.’

‘I am not.’ Gently, Heast pulled on the reins of his mount. It fell behind the woman’s and into the darkness. ‘But thank you.’

As she continued onwards, two young men passed him, both giving him nervous glances, and then, after a longer pause, the tribesman Kye Taaira appeared. The Maosans had not been happy to see him
in the ravine, and they had kept their distance from him like children who feared a monster under their bed. There was more truth in that than he cared for, Heast knew, for the Hollow of the
Pacifist Tribes of the Plateau had become a fabled nightmare in the Kingdoms of Faaisha. For his part, the tribesman bore the looks cast his way with quiet patience, and he had slung his sword over
his back wordlessly before he mounted and fell into a slow walk at the end of their line.

‘You and I must talk,’ Heast said to him quietly. ‘If you want to continue with me to Maosa, that is.’

‘I will not apologize for what I did, Captain,’ Taaira replied without pause. ‘My ancestors are my responsibility.’

‘Is it your responsibility to be reckless and stupid?’

‘I was not—’

‘You were.’ Heast’s voice allowed for no disagreement. ‘You could have got both of us killed and it is unacceptable for you to act like that. You cannot disobey orders.
You cannot disobey
me
. I am aware that you have your responsibilities, but I have mine too, and I cannot be true to them if you keep battlefield secrets from me. It will serve neither of
us if you continue to do that. You cannot win a war by doing that. You do not keep your fellow soldiers alive by doing that. You risk not just yourself, but those around you, and I will not allow
you to bring such foolishness into this endeavour if you cannot understand this.’

‘I know all my ancestors,’ he replied evenly. ‘I know the horrors that each of them is responsible for. I know their flaws and their weaknesses. The risk is mine
alone.’

Heast’s hand reached out for the reins of Taaira’s horse and pulled it to a stop. ‘Understand me,’ he said, ‘very clearly.’

Taaira began to speak.

‘No, you will listen to me, for I will say this only once. In the war that is before us, I will ensure that you retrieve your ancestors, but you must obey me on the field for that to
happen. If you cannot do that, then you are of no use to me, and I will leave you dead on the ground here for scavengers in the morning. I will send your sword back to the Plateau with a note of
apology to the shamans who gave it to you. I will tell them what I have told you: that your reckless behaviour put in danger not just me, but the soldiers who fought by my side and the people who
relied upon me. Then I will tell them that I will deliver the remains of their ancestors in the weeks and months and that they need not bother to send another poorly disciplined warrior to be in my
presence. Do I make myself very clear, tribesman?’

The Hollow’s brown eyes held Heast’s and the Captain of the Ghosts did not flinch. Finally, Kye Taaira nodded, and said, ‘My apologies. It will not happen again.’

Anguish directed her to the Ghaam docks. It was not a true dock, not like the long, multi-lane stone constructions that spread like fingers across the black water at the edges
of Yeflam. Instead, it was a single stone dock that enabled small skiffs to draw against it, with a launch ramp alongside. It was one of the ways that merchants shifted their produce from city to
city without using the streets.

It was at the southern edge of the city and, as Ayae made her way to it along a road that was awash in heavy rain, she had her first glimpse of the wreckage around Nale.

Fiys, the city that lay between Ghaam and Nale, had begun to slide into Leviathan’s Blood. The bridge that had lain between it and Nale was gone, as was half of Nale itself. It had fallen
into the churning sea, which was littered with the debris of buildings as well as the bodies of men and women, and of children and animals. Most lay surrounded by clothes and small pieces of
furniture, such as chairs and tables and splintered doors. There were, however, still some people alive in the poisoned water, and they were swimming and pushing towards Fiys as if they would find
safety there. They would not, because Ayae could see that the city was damaged. The four stone pillars that had held it reached up like broken fingers from the water, the damaged platform clear to
her even through the driving rain.

Then she saw Jae’le at the end of Ghaam’s stone dock.

He stood on the far edge, his hair and beard flattened by water against his skin, giving him the appearance of being so emaciated that he could only be a victim of a terrible starvation. Yet, he
stood without flinching before his enemy, his sword drawn to protect Eidan, who lay in the shallow water beneath his feet. He was so still that Ayae could not tell if the large man was alive or
not, but on her shoulder, she felt Anguish tense.

At first glance, the creature that paced around Jae’le appeared to be an animal, for it moved on its feet and hands much like an ape would. But what she took to be a body of
brown-and-white fur, she realized, was no more than pelts that it wore. Yet, no matter that it might be human by birth, it made feints and lunges like a predator, skittering out of
Jae’le’s sword, never in range, but always a danger. Its behaviour was like a hunting pack animal’s, for its attacks were intended to divert its prey from another attacker. In
this case, a large, lean figure with bones emerging from its shoulders that had begun to emerge from Leviathan’s Blood behind Jae’le. Ayae did not know if she could reach him before the
creature was upon him. Her right foot fell on the stone platform, followed by her left.

‘You cannot kill the two Jae’le stands before.’ Anguish was forced to shout into her ear to be heard over the wind and rain. ‘Leave him to fight them and take Eidan away
from there!’

She had lost most of the heaviness she had felt since Faise’s death and her feet finally felt as if they were moving at a natural speed.

‘Few can kill these creatures!’ He screamed desperately into her ear. ‘You are not one of them!’

‘Are you?’ Ayae shouted back.

‘No!’

She drew her sword as she left the ramp; her feet splashed through the shallow water of the dock; and before the creature could turn from Jae’le, she used its hunched back to vault into
the air. If she could have, Ayae would have called out to Jae’le, would have warned him, but as the roar of the wind increased, and the rain became harder, she let flames run down the blade
of her sword instead. Her body grew warmer with the action, and her hand felt as if it was on fire, as if the flames were igniting from her blood, but the pain did not linger. Clearing
Jae’le’s head, she brought her burning blade sweeping down on the lean creature . . . only for the sword to be caught in metal-wrapped hands. From her shoulder, Anguish leapt free of
her soaked shirt and launched his ink-black body at the creature’s face, causing it to flinch, releasing one hand to grab at the dark shape, and in that moment, Ayae’s sword slid free
and she slashed deeply across its chest.

Forgetting Anguish, the tall creature turned to her, its hands lashing out. With Jae’le at her back, she could not retreat from them, so she met the blows, turning each aside, feeling her
opponent’s strength in each strike, but relying on her own speed to keep her ahead. After a series of sweeping slashes, Ayae realized that although the flames on her sword began to wear out,
washed away by the storm, the world had begun to slow around her. She could see the grimace in the creature’s face contort into snarls and shouts, and she could see the torn skin around its
left eye flap, just as she could see Anguish scamper through the water to Eidan. The control she had gathered to herself in Sin’s Hand remained, and the frantic, burning rush that had been in
her body weeks ago, the gnaw of anxiety that had been building in her ever since Samuel Orlan’s shop had caught fire in Mireea, was absent.