Heir of Autumn Read online

  “Perfect timing, as usual,” Baelandra said.

  “You deserve nothing less,” the small man replied.

  “Scythe?” the leader of the guards said, incredulous.

  “Jarll.”

  “I didn’t know you were still here.”

  “And I thought your five years were over and you’d left Ohndarien.” Scythe’s dark eyes glinted. “Yet here you are with a sword in your hand. How does a broken oath taste in the back of your throat?”

  Jarll darkened, a frown growing beneath his mustache. “Stand aside,” he said, “or you will be killed.”

  Scythe smiled a thin smile. “Somehow, I doubt that.”

  “Enough chatter!” Jarll’s hand cut the air. “We’ll take him in a rush. On three.”

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Scythe looked purposefully to the cliff above the guards.

  A crowd of Ohndariens lined the edge of the Wheel, looking down at the guards. Merchants, sailors, dock rats, and whores all stood together with makeshift weapons at the ready.

  “I brought some friends.”

  9

  BAELANDRA URGED the other Sisters to continue up the stairs. Krellis’s red-faced guards stayed where they were, pinned under the cold gazes of Scythe and the crowd of Ohndariens atop the Wheel.

  “You’re making a mistake, Sister,” Jarll said. “If I have to return with more men, many of these people will die.”

  A dozen steps up, Baelandra paused and turned to him. “Tell Krellis we will be in the Heart. He is welcome to visit us there anytime, if he has the courage.”

  “He will tear your Heart to pieces.”

  Too late, she thought and began climbing again. Scythe followed her silently, but Jarll’s voice stopped them both one last time.

  “Scythe!” he snarled.

  Scythe paused, and Baelandra waited for him.

  “You can’t stay cooped up in that hole forever. You’ll have to leave sometime, and when you do, I’ll be waiting.”

  Scythe smiled. “Be sure to catch me in a dark alley, when the moon is thin. Bring Krellis, if you like.” His eyes glittered.

  “Enough,” Baelandra whispered. “We must leave.”

  Without a word, he turned and followed her up the stairs. The soldiers did not follow.

  At the top of the plateau, the mob of Ohndariens welcomed their Sisters. As she looked at their faces, Baelandra felt a surge of pride she hadn’t known in years.

  A tall, slight man with salt-and-pepper hair and a fiery gaze stepped to the forefront of the mob. “Lady J’Qulin,” the man said, bending a knee. “The Lightning Swords have returned. We are yours to command.”

  A lump caught in Baelandra’s throat at the mention of the House of Autumn’s legendary warriors. The slender man knelt before her. She knew him. Faedellin was the steward at her favorite restaurant, the Midnight Jewel.

  “Thank you, my friend,” she said, grabbing his hands and pulling him back to his feet.

  The man had the body of a waiter, but the eyes of a warrior. His profile looked chillingly like a painting of the great J’Qulin, the original leader of the Lightning Swords. The men and women behind him were just the same, fiercely willing and woefully unprepared. They were silversmiths, dock rats, young mothers, carpenters, and stonemasons. They were not warriors.

  With a few words, she could turn this mob into a militia. The thought of her beloved Ohndarien in Krellis’s hands made her guts twist. But this was not the moment. She would only be leading these brave lambs to the slaughter if she pitted them against trained soldiers. These people had just saved her life; now she must save theirs.

  “Hear me, loyal Ohndariens!”

  They quieted almost immediately. The morning sun lit their features.

  “You have done your city a great service this day. You have rallied to the protection of the whole and fought without spilling a single drop of blood. My Sisters and I are grateful. You have lifted our hearts, and we cannot thank you enough.”

  Several voices shouted assent, raising their spears, their knives.

  “Root the foreigner out of his house!” the host of the Midnight Jewel shouted.

  “Toss him off the walls!” said another.

  The swell of agreement rose. Baelandra raised her hands, and the crowd quieted again. Krellis would return with more soldiers soon. A confrontation could easily turn into useless bloodshed.

  “The Lightning Swords are reborn,” she shouted. “Now you must be true to your name. You appeared like a flash from the night sky, and now you must disappear just as quickly.”

  People shook their heads. Brows furrowed in confusion.

  “Now is not the time for this fight,” she said, “but I will call on you soon. Go back to your homes. Be ready to strike again. Savor this victory, I promise it will not be the last. Ohndarien will be whole again!”

  The cheer was deafening.

  Baelandra looked out over the crowd with eyes blazing, nodding to them. The energy of their conviction buzzed through her. She waited a long moment, then held her hands up. The noise died down.

  “Go now. Quickly, quietly. Make Krellis’s soldiers believe you appeared out of the sky and disappeared just as quickly.”

  The crowd still hovered, not wanting to leave.

  Baelandra leaned forward and whispered to the steward of the Midnight Jewel.

  “Faedellin, if I linger, they will linger,” she said. “When I am gone, make sure they go, too. Send them safely home, my friend.”

  The slender man began shouting orders.

  Baelandra urged Lawdon forward as the crowd headed off in separate directions. The four Sisters followed the waterbug toward the Hall of Windows. A pair of dead soldiers lay slumped at the base of the Spring Gate. Their right hands had been severed from their bodies. Lawdon skirted around the corpses, hurried into the Hall, and ran down the amphitheater’s steps. She paused next to the hole into the Heart, her small knife still in hand.

  Hazel, Jayden, and Vallia disappeared down the ladder one at a time. Baelandra paused and turned to Scythe.

  “Thank you for returning,” she said. “I know the journey is not easy.”

  He nodded.

  “How is Brophy?”

  “The boy lives. I left him in Queen Ossamyr’s gentle hands.”

  She looked at him, her mouth open. “That woman will eat him alive.”

  “Perhaps. Her appetites are legendary.”

  She frowned.

  “I did not plan on delivering him to the queen,” Scythe said, “but a scorpion limited my options.”

  “Was he stung?”

  “Yes. But I was quick, and he survived.”

  Baelandra nodded. At least he was safe, for the moment.

  “Were you able to find Shara?” she asked.

  His dark brows furrowed, and he nodded. Baelandra bit her lip, expecting the worst.

  “She also lives,” he said. “The Physendrian sorcerer is still holding her at the inn on Bloody Row.” He paused. His anger was palpable. “She has been ill-treated. But I must make more arrangements before I can approach her.”

  Baelandra nodded. She wanted to know more, but now was not the time.

  “Do you need help?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “I will take the girl, Lawdon, as a lookout. That is all.”

  “Be careful and return as quickly as you can.”

  He nodded curtly and turned to go.

  “Wait. This entrance will not be safe. Let me tell you—”

  “I know another way inside,” he assured her.

  “How?”

  “I have a curious nature.” With a quick smile, the small man turned and left. Lawdon rushed to follow him up the amphitheater steps.

  Baelandra watched them go, pausing for a moment. What did I do to deserve such loyalty?

  When they disappeared through the Spring Gate, she descended the ladder into the Heart. It was a gloomy room, rough-hewn from the dark stone of the Wheel. Any
soldiers Krellis sent into the Heart wouldn’t get beyond this room.

  Baelandra heard the voice of the Heartstone like a distant song on a breeze. The stone’s power radiated from deep within the labyrinth, throbbing through the stone in her chest and singing lightly in her mind. She stepped onto the tiny antechamber’s floor.

  Baelandra hurried to a blank section of wall, found the tiny gem with her finger, and touched the red diamond in her chest. A door slid open, and she slipped inside. The Brother of Autumn could follow her through that door if he wished to face the four Sisters alone. But she doubted he was that foolish. The Heart of Ohndarien protected her own.

  Once the door was closed, Baelandra unlaced her dress and exposed her heartstone to light her way. The throbbing red gem lit the rough-hewn passage like a tiny fire.

  She descended a narrow spiral staircase into the labyrinth. The sprawling complex of natural caves extended throughout the Wheel and under the city. At the bottom of the stairs, she entered a large chamber filled with stalactites and stalagmites. A side passage branched off in each direction.

  The other Sisters were already there. Hazel helped Vallia clean the blood from her face. Jayden finished lighting a torch and fitted it into a wall sconce. The limestone chamber was packed with piles of bedding, barrels of water, and boxes of food. Baelandra had sent a message ahead to Charus, and the Hall of Windows’ warden had done exactly as she asked him.

  Hazel finished with Vallia’s bandage, came forward, and hugged Baelandra.

  “That was a fine speech, dear,” she said. “You have done us all proud tonight.”

  Baelandra wanted to cry. She tightened her lips and nodded, hugged the woman tighter. “I wish it had never come to this.”

  “Of course not. We all hoped Krellis was a true Brother at heart.”

  “None more than I,” she murmured.

  “It will be all right,” Hazel assured her. “This city is strong. You have seen it today. Ohndarien protects herself.”

  Jayden and Vallia came closer. The old woman kissed Baelandra on the cheek. Vallia nodded her quiet thanks.

  “We’re here,” Jayden said, looking at each of her Sisters in turn. “Now what?”

  Baelandra took a deep breath. “We need to send an emissary to the Summer Cities,” she said. “They don’t want Krellis in control of the locks any more than we do.”

  “The Summermen can’t agree that water is wet,” Jayden said. “They will make fickle allies at best.”

  “I know, but they must see where Phandir is headed after Ohndarien. We have to try.”

  The other Sisters nodded in agreement.

  Baelandra continued. “We must remain free, here in the Heart, so everyone knows that Krellis’s reach extends only as far as the tip of his sword.”

  “And keep hope alive,” Hazel added. “That’s the most important thing.”

  “Exactly,” Baelandra agreed.

  She looked to each of the other women in turn. Hazel and Jayden nodded in grim resignation, but Vallia shook her head.

  “I still say we kill him.”

  Baelandra sighed. “I know how you feel, but Krellis is not our only problem. He seems to have a plan for defeating the Physendrians. He certainly wasn’t worried about the attack. If we kill him, those plans will die with him. I’m not sure I could defeat that army.”

  Vallia’s thin lips set in a harsh line.

  “Trust the man’s ambition,” Baelandra said. “If he defeats the Physendrians, he will want to counterattack to reclaim the throne he lost so long ago. He can’t march his troops south if we are still in the Heart, ready to emerge with an army of loyal Ohndariens at our back. He will have to make terms with us. I know this man. He is ruthless when he wants something, and he wants revenge on his brother more than anything else. Ruling Ohndarien is not that important to him. It is a tactical advantage that he would happily trade for a superior one. We may not need to kill him to get what we want.”

  “We trusted you about him before,” Vallia said.

  Baelandra lowered her eyes. “I know. I was wrong about him. But right now, we need Krellis. And we need to trust what made Ohndarien beautiful. It is not our job as Sisters to remove him. I learned that the night I tried to kill him. If Krellis is no longer a worthy Brother, it falls to a young man of the blood to step forward, take the Test, and force him to step down. Who are we to second-guess the Heartstone? We must do what we can and wait for Brophy to return.”

  “Bae’s right,” Hazel said. “The only thing that makes us any different from Physendria is that we don’t kill each other over our disagreements. I don’t want to see any man dead, even Krellis. I believe Brophy will come back to depose him. We only have one hope, but that is still hope.”

  Jayden nodded. “Very well. We wait for Brophy, extend our web of allies, trust Krellis to defend the city, and emerge with claws extended when the time is right. Agreed?”

  The three Sisters looked to Vallia.

  “I am sick of waiting for men to return and save us,” she spat. The grim woman looked at the other three. “But I won’t let my anger stand in the way of our traditions. I disagree with your choice, but I will bow to the will of the council.”

  Baelandra closed her eyes. She felt like they were jumping off a cliff into the dark, but at least they were doing something.

  BAELANDRA AND her Sisters spent hours discussing the nuances of their plans. Fatigue told her it must be late at night, but it was impossible to tell so far underground. They eventually ceased planning and curled up in the bedding that the Hall’s warden had left for them. Baelandra tried to sleep, but it was impossible. The same overwhelming problems and tenuous solutions turned over and over in her mind, refusing to lock into place, refusing to make sense.

  A noise from one of the side passages brought the four Sisters to their feet. Baelandra drew her dagger and hurried forward, peering into the darkness. Lawdon appeared out of the gloom. Scythe followed a few steps behind, carrying a large burden draped over one shoulder.

  Baelandra swallowed. It was a body.

  Scythe wordlessly stepped into the chamber and laid Shara on the stone floor.

  “Oh child…” Baelandra’s breath caught in her throat. She descended to her knees and touched Shara’s cheek. The young woman’s thin, pale face was all that could be seen at the top of the blanket that Scythe had wrapped her in.

  Jayden and Hazel joined her at Shara’s side. “Praise all that you found her,” Hazel said.

  Baelandra swallowed. “Did you run into any problems?”

  “No, but the men Victeris left to watch her have a few problems now.”

  Lawdon’s youthful face was pinched in grief. She knelt next to Hazel, managed to find Shara’s hand in the folds of the blanket and gripped it.

  Jayden felt for a pulse at Shara’s neck.

  “She will live,” Scythe said. “I had to drug her to get her out of that place. It isn’t wise to take chances with a Zelani, no matter what condition she is in.”

  Vallia brought a torch closer to shine upon Shara’s sleeping face. They unwrapped her naked body. She was a bony shadow of the beautiful woman she had once been. Shara’s knees were scraped raw, her legs caked with dried blood. The poor girl’s entire body was covered with cuts and bruises.

  Baelandra clenched her jaw.

  The other Sisters looked at each other. Even Hazel’s soft face seemed made of marble. Lawdon turned away, but she didn’t let go of Shara’s hand.

  “I couldn’t get her until nightfall. There weren’t any locks on the door,” Scythe said, “but the girl wouldn’t leave. Victeris must have some kind of hold on her mind.”

  Lawdon nodded, her eyes brimming with tears. “I watched her through the window. She was crawling naked around the room. I tried to talk to her. I tried to help, but she just kept crawling and crawling around in circles.” The young girl squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Finding her in that room is something I will remember forever,” Scyth
e said, in a flat tone.

  “Her knees were worn to a pulp and she was…” Lawdon’s voice broke. “She was leaving a bloody streak wherever she went. I wanted to take her away…but Scythe told me to wait.”

  “He was right. You see?” Hazel said. “She is here with us now.”

  “I’m sorry,” Baelandra whispered to Shara, leaning forward and putting her head against the young woman’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

  “How long will the drug last?” Jayden asked.

  “Several hours at least,” Scythe said.

  Vallia nodded, speaking for the first time in hours. “We will have to set up a warding to protect her before she wakes.”

  “And she will need food and drink,” Hazel added.

  “Can I help?” Lawdon asked, roughly brushing away her tears. “I’ll do anything.”

  Hazel looked to Baelandra. She nodded.

  “Come with me, child,” Hazel said.

  Hesitantly, Lawdon glanced at Baelandra.

  “Go on. It’s all right.”

  Vallia disappeared down one of the dark passageways. Hazel and Lawdon went over to their supplies and began sorting through them.

  Baelandra left Shara with Jayden and took Scythe aside.

  “Scythe…” she said.

  His eyes narrowed as if he knew what she was going to say.

  “You cannot take revenge upon Victeris.”

  “You are wrong,” he said. “I have made no oath about that man, and I will not.”

  “Scythe, we are all angry. Don’t you think I’d rip that bastard’s heart out if I could?”

  “It doesn’t matter whether you could or not. I can.”

  “No!”

  Scythe raised one of his thick, black eyebrows.

  “Listen to me, my friend,” Baelandra pleaded. “Shara’s wounds go deeper than you can see. Her body will heal, but the force that held her in that room is the most dangerous wound. Zelani magic is subtle and powerful. We cannot kill the man until we undo what he has done.”

  Scythe’s jaw muscles worked. He breathed for a moment before answering.

  “And then?”

  “And then vengeance, if it comes, belongs to Shara, not you.”

  Scythe hesitated, then nodded. “Very well. What do you need of me now?”