The Black God's War (49 page)

“Ah,” Duilio raised his bushy white eyebrows and rocked forward and back, “we think and worship differently than you do. We have faith. We don’t want victory through cunning, or hiding behind walls, or guile. We believe in the courage to fight on no matter the odds. In doing so, we prove ourselves worthy.”

“To your gods?” Indrajit began pacing in front of Duilio’s cell, keeping his eyes upon his enemy. His footsteps beat out a hypnotizing rhythm.

“Yes, and also to ourselves. You see, we know we can always push ourselves to do more, to be stronger than you or any other enemy.”

“Are you really that simple?”

“We are singularly focused on the very greatest things, on faith and courage.”

“Strategos, you will be glad to know the royal daughter escaped from our prison. Though it embarrasses me to say this, she was aided by our prince.”

“Well, isn’t that a surprise?”

“Unfortunately it was a surprise to me, too. Just today, because of the storm, I had ordered her to be killed.”

Duilio frowned and his eyes nearly shut. “Where is Lucia now?”

“We don’t know. I have sent men to find and kill her and our prince. Because of her interference in her brother’s duel, her death is owed to Pawelon.”

“I couldn’t possibly talk you out of that, could I?”

“No. I’m here because, in the meantime, Rezzia must pay interest on its debt. Beginning with you.”

“I see.” The old man rotated his jaw as if he were chewing something, but he seemed to accept Indrajit’s statement.

“I won’t risk losing two prisoners. Before I end this war for you, is there anything more you would like to say?”

“Would you allow me such an indulgence? My final words?”

“After this long,” Indrajit said as he began walking toward a flimsy wooden chair against the left wall. “You deserve to speak your piece. What will it be?” He pulled the chair back to the center of the room and sat, waiting.

“This is it, then?” Duilio’s eyes looked up to the right, up to the left, and then back to center.

Indrajit nodded once.

“Understood.” Duilio came to his feet and dusted himself off. “All these years, I found you a suitable foe. Congratulations on your victory. It has been good to spend these final days in solitude. You have my eternal gratitude for that gift.”

Duilio became more animated as he spoke, walking in front of his bars like a veteran orator, moving around his left hand, often holding up a single finger. “Now for that indulgence, General. I worship The Lord of Miracles. Of course, I have prayed to him while here, and naturally I have asked him for help. His grace must not be coming to me, then, but I know that men do not control the gods. Perhaps the miracle has gone to Lucia instead.”

“We’ll see.”

Duilio nodded and continued, “You asked me about our
stubbornness
. Let me tell you about our faith. My god, Lord Cosimo, has taught me what faith really means—yes, he has. We have a word for faith in our ancient tongue. Originally, faith did not have much to do with belief. The ancient meaning of the word has to do with loyalty and commitment to something.” He paused for dramatic effect. “To an ideal. It meant to deeply value something noble, to do your best to uphold those values. It is when we have such faith that we attract miracles.”

“Then perhaps I, too, could be blessed by a miracle,” Indrajit said, enjoying the sarcasm in his voice.

Indrajit pulled out his long dagger from his belt, focusing on the center of Duilio’s chest. He brought his arm down, his hand forward, and released the handle. The knife flew to its target and passed between the iron bars, landing deep within the old Strategos’s gut.

Duilio released an involuntary, wet scream and fell to his knees. Blood ran down his legs and pooled around him on the stone floor. The old man crumpled.

Indrajit watched until his adversary closed his eyes and stopped twitching.

“Get my dagger,” he yelled to the soldiers outside the room. He started for the prison’s exit and the tower. He was late for his meeting. Devak would be, too.

Chapter 73: The Old Dagger

INDRAJIT CLIMBED THE TOWER STAIRS to the second floor. There he expected to find his highest-ranking officers waiting to discuss the day’s events. Quiet conversations echoed above and below him in the stairwell. Despite having worn a heavy cloak in the rain, his uniform dripped streams of water onto the stone steps. His body still shivered.

His strongest guards surrounded him. For this, more than ever, he was glad. He stepped into the conference area and saw each person he’d hoped to see. Around a wide, crumbling stone table lit by tall candles sat his six brigadiers, but no Devak. The officers stood and raised their fists. Indrajit saluted them as he walked to his high-backed wooden chair. The seats to his left and right—Devak’s and Briraji’s—were empty.

“I had some business to deal with,” Indrajit said as he sat. “Any news?”

Stern-faced Brigadier Karikala put his calloused hands on the table. “There’s been no change in the storm since the Rezzians retreated to their camp. In some areas, the stone is actually crumbling and falling.”

Curse you, Rao.

Indrajit nearly screamed involuntarily as he said, “If it goes through the night, and if the storm’s power should increase tomorrow, we may have to worry about tens of thousands of Rezzian dogs climbing over that wall.”

“Then we’ll be ready for them,” said his youngest brigadier, Sudas, a man who still believed sheer force could accomplish anything.

“Perhaps, but we cannot let this happen. Today, I gave Briraji the order to kill the king’s daughter. Unfortunately that did not happen. Before he could do it, Prince Rao freed her and used his powers to assault our men and escape the prison with her. He left one Pawelon soldier dead inside the prison. Based on my conversations with Rao and the things he has told the Rezzian woman, I am certain he intends to go to Rezzia’s king and exchange the king’s daughter for mine. I don’t know where he is.”

No one wants to follow my words. Good.

“I gave Briraji a new mission, to hunt them down, most likely outside the citadel, and kill the royal daughter.”

“What do you intend to do about Prince Rao?” asked Samudragupta, his darkest-skinned general.

“Prince Rao has committed treason. He probably believes he is doing the right thing. This is exactly my problem with our young prince. He possesses the ignorance of youth, which leads him to believe that Rezzia might actually give up the war after they give us a simple girl in exchange for a woman who commands their gods, a woman who appears to be another Haizzem. Rao should have never joined the fighting here.”

All eyes remained on Indrajit. Two of his men nodded.

“Our rajah is not here yet because I wanted to speak to you all first. I am concerned that Devak will not take this news well. He listens too much to Rao, and I fear this has made him soft.” Indrajit laughed. “He believes Rao was sent to save us.”

Chanakya, his most veteran brigadier, spoke in his venerated tones, trying to be a voice for reason. “Let’s hope Briraji can find them. Once she is dead, the storm may weaken.”

“Agreed,” Indrajit said. “Strange times are upon us. Unfortunately, at this time our rajah cannot be relied upon. Until this storm is defeated, I must ask you all to follow my command, regardless of what your rajah tells you. Do we agree that he cannot be objective about his son at this time?”

The men nodded in affirmation. A few of them said “Yes.”

“Good. We are going to need a strong leader to get us through this, for the good of Pawelon. I will not allow a rogue boy to undo all that we’ve fought for.”

“General, I mean no disrespect by this question, but Rao has helped us in our fight, hasn’t he?” young Sudas asked him.

Of course you mean to disrespect me.

“At times, but he’s never intended to see us actually win. In his first battle, he wouldn’t attack our enemy until we were nearly routed. Even before then, he was pushing for some kind of passive settlement. He still believes the Rezzians can be reasoned with, and he is about to take this notion and destroy us with it unless he is stopped. He’s going to give Rezzia their royal daughter, who bears the markings of a Haizzem, at a time when we cannot afford to give any ground.”

The six officers either looked at the table or looked Indrajit in the eye, but no one disagreed.

“Does anyone have a problem with following my orders?”

“Of course not, General Indrajit,” Sudas said.

“Then be prepared for anything. You all know our assignments should Rezzia breach our walls, but let’s go over them again tonight. I will meet with you all here when the moon rises. In the meantime, let’s hope our sages find a way to stop the storm.”

Indrajit stood and gave his salute. The brigadiers did the same.

“You are all dismissed.”

The six vacated the room and took their guards with them. Indrajit took slow steps around the circular table, reflecting on what was to happen once Devak found him.

He brought his left boot up to rest on one of the other officers’ chairs. With two fingers, he felt the cold, black metal handle of his grandfather’s dagger tucked into the fabric.

Indrajit continued stepping mindfully around the table with one hand clasping the wrist of his other arm behind his back. Occasionally, he heard a unit of soldiers run up or down the stairs outside the sealed room. Mostly, he heard his own deliberate footsteps.

The sages can’t counteract the storm, and there’s nothing we can do about it … This war is likely coming to its end. A great fortress that has stood for centuries, crumbling under the powers of two Haizzem. Two.

He fell into his own chair and leaned his head back, looking up at the ancient stone ceiling.

Nearly ten long years pushing myself to command these men, to defend Pawelon. Each painstaking step, for thousands of days, and now this.

He remembered the ceremony when Devak promoted him to his position, two years before the war began. Indrajit had been living in this tower ever since. Devak joined him after the war began, and it had taken some time to get used to answering to another man again. But Devak was fair-minded. He allowed his general to set his own strategy and rarely interfered.

All this time. Everything changed when Rao appeared.

The soldiers removed the slab of wood blocking the door. Devak entered with his thundering voice. “What in death’s name is going on? You said you would meet me in my chamber.”

Indrajit rose to his feet and saluted him. “I apologize, my Rajah. Too much has been happening. I briefed our generals and then I remained here when I should have gone to meet you.”

“You didn’t even send word.”

“I humbly apologize. It has been a very difficult day.”

Devak took his customary chair, to Indrajit’s left. “Tell me what’s happening.”

“The storm continues and our eastern wall is slowly crumbling. Have you heard about Rao?”

“No.”

“He freed the king’s daughter and escaped with her. He killed a Pawelon soldier in the prison. Rao is now hiding. I assume he and Aayu have already left the citadel. Aayu is no longer in his cell.”

Devak grabbed the arms of his chair and swung his head around, clenching his jaw. “Impossible.”

“I wish it were a joke. One of my men explained that Rao intends to negotiate with King Vieri. He wants peace, and I am sure that he and Aayu want Narayani back.”

Devak stood and threw his chair far across the room. It smashed against the grey rock. One of its legs broke off.

Soldiers poured into the room.

“Get out of here,” Indrajit said. “Leave us alone and
don’t
interrupt us again.”

“Do you think he would go to them right away?” Devak asked.

“If he does, we may not be able to stop him. I have already sent Briraji and a team to look for him. He has orders to kill the king’s daughter.”

“We didn’t discuss that.”

“No, my Rajah, we didn’t. Our sages found two Rezzian goddesses were responsible for the storm. I had to act quickly and I gave the order to have her killed right away. But Rao,” Indrajit restrained himself, “interfered.”

Devak lunged around the room, grunting and building up more anger. Light from the candles and shadows danced across his body.

“Rao may also be waiting for the morrow.” Indrajit remained seated and watched his rajah steam. “In fact, that seems more likely. If he goes to them tonight, he’s more likely to be captured. If he can signal to their army from the empty field, he might be able to arrange a neutral meeting to negotiate. He would also have a much better chance to escape during the day in case they do not grant him an audience.”

“Maybe you’re right. Rezzia’s less likely to try their tricks during daylight. Rao and Aayu are likely concealed right now. They won’t be easy to find.”

“If anyone can do it, Briraji can.”

“You think we need to kill the royal daughter to weaken the storm?”