Authors: Rachel Aaron
Of course, if this was a play, Eli didn’t like the way the plot was going one bit. Clinging to the vibrating carriage, he glanced up at the rapidly approaching palace. It looked fine from this angle, but they’d heard the enormous crash a few minutes ago. From here, Eli couldn’t see what had caused it, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. Nothing good ever came of noises that loud.
“We’re turning,” Tesset said. “Hold on.”
The carriage careened sideways, nearly sending Eli and Nico tumbling into the street. Nico was back in her seat a second later. Eli took significantly longer to pull himself upright.
“What was that about?” Eli groaned, clutching his bruised shoulders as he watched the palace fly by on his left. “Stop! The palace is right there.”
“The fight’s on the western wing,” Tesset said. “We’re on the wrong side. If we stop here we’d have to walk through the palace. Better to drive around.”
Eli grimaced. “Just don’t take us into the front square. That’s where every—”
He cut off as Tesset careened the cart again. “Would you stop that?” Eli shouted, holding on for dear life.
If Tesset heard him, he gave no sign. They were darting through the rich neighborhood just below the palace now, weaving in and out of the growing traffic. But as they turned down a street that led to the palace square, Tesset reined the horse to a skidding halt, forcing Nico and Eli to hold on or be thrown.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Eli cried. “Not the square!”
Tesset ignored him and hopped down. Shaking and cursing, Eli followed, leaving the cart and the panting horses standing in the middle of the street. As Eli had predicted, the entrance to the palace square was blocked by a mass of people crawling over each other to see what was happening.
“I told you,” Eli said again, pointing disgustedly at the wall of backs. “We’ll never get through now.”
“What’s the matter, thief?” Tesset said. “Afraid of a little crowd?”
Eli started to tell him exactly what was wrong with that question, but before he could get a word in, Nico and Tesset stepped up to the edge of the crowd and began pushing people out of the way. Fortunately for all involved, the crowd in the square was too preoccupied to care about a little pushing. They were all staring up at the palace roof. Some were pushing toward it, but more were trying to get away. Eli didn’t blame them. The western side of the palace was a wreck. The palace watchtower was half gone, its northern side blown out completely, which explained the
boom
from earlier. Fallen hunks of stone littered the square and the buildings around it, especially the elegant building at the castle’s northwest corner, which seemed to have lost a large chunk of its roof. Eli was still wondering what could have caused such massive destruction when Nico grabbed his arm and pointed up at the palace roof.
Of course, Eli sighed. Who else?
Josef was on his back on one of the castle gutters with Adela
standing over him. Even at this distance, Eli could see it was bad. The stone beneath Josef was dark with blood, and the Heart was nowhere to be seen. Adela’s mouth was moving, but this far away her words were lost in the noise of the crowd and the endless wind.
“It’s a bad position.”
Eli glanced at Tesset, who had stopped pushing the crowd and was now eyeing the battle with professional interest.
“Liechten should be able to take a girl like that,” he continued. “She must have a gimmick, and he must have fallen for it hard if he’s on his back, especially considering how he took Sted. Still, won’t be long if he keeps bleeding like that.”
“Josef will win,” Nico hissed.
“I’m with Nico,” Eli said. “I would be an old man by now if I let myself panic every time I saw Josef at death’s door. He’ll win, I’m sure. Our problem is what comes after.”
Nico shot Eli a furious look. “What do you mean?”
“Listen,” Eli said, dropping his voice.
Nico and Tesset obeyed, falling silent as the noise of the crowd rolled over them.
“Go on, princess!” an old man shouted. “Kill the traitor!”
“Thereson is a murderer!” someone else shouted behind them. “He killed the duke! Avenge Finley!”
“He’s no prince of ours!” a woman cried. “Kill him! Kill the traitor!”
And on and on and on.
“I see what you mean,” Tesset said at last.
“They’re all idiots,” Nico said at the same time. “How dare they—”
“Nico,” Eli’s voice held a sharp warning. Nico glared at him, but shut her mouth. Eli smiled apologetically at Tesset and grabbed Nico’s shoulder, turning her around and leaning down so that their heads were together.
“Listen,” he whispered. “Josef’s going to win this fight, but it’s our duty to make it count.”
Nico nodded. “What have you got in mind?”
“We’re going to clear his name,” Eli said. “But first, I need you to find me a wind.”
Nico gave him a skeptical look, but she didn’t question him. Instead, she looked up, her eyes darting across the sky. “There,” she said, pointing up.
Eli followed her finger with his eyes. “You!” he cried, layering just a hint of power into his voice as his finger shot out, pointing at the same spot in the sky as Nico. “Can I ask a favor?”
He felt immensely stupid yelling at the empty air, but he hid it with a confident smile. Thankfully, a few seconds later, a strong breeze ruffled his hair.
“Good guess,” the wind whispered in his ear. “I’m impressed enough to hear you out, wizard.”
“You’re too kind,” Eli said. “I have a bit of an odd task for you, but I promise I’ll make it worth your while.”
His shirt fluttered as the wind turned in a circle. “I’m listening.”
Eli glanced at Nico with a wry smile and launched into his plan. Beside him, Tesset listened with growing interest. By the time the wind agreed and blew away, he was grinning as wide as any of them.
“Never boring with you, is it, Monpress?”
Eli flinched at the mention of his name, but he hid it flawlessly, turning on Tesset with a winning smile.
“I should hope not, Mr. Tesset.”
He would have said more, but Nico smacked his arm and put her finger to her lips. Eli nodded and turned back to Josef, who was still lying on his back looking at Adela, who wasn’t talking anymore. The seconds crawled by, and then, without warning, a great wind picked up around them.
That was his cue. Eli cleared his throat and cupped his hands over his mouth. A small, thin flow of air whistled through his curled fingers. Eli licked his lips as the wind brushed over them and very softly began to speak.
High above the crowd on the palace roof, Josef held Adela’s gaze, his lips pursed in exaggerated consideration as he made a show of thinking her offer over. But his attention was on the wind in his ears and the familiar voice it carried.
“Josef,” Eli’s disembodied voice whispered. “If you can hear me, give a sign.”
Josef shifted his knee, nudging a chunk of broken stone so that it clattered down the roof.
“Good enough,” Eli said. “I’m guessing Adela has come clean as a traitor by now?”
Josef nodded without thinking, and then froze when Adela’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“
Powers
, don’t do that,” Eli hissed in his ear. “Listen, before you roll out whatever you’re planning, I need you to follow my instructions to the letter.”
It took all his willpower not to roll his eyes, but Josef stayed still, listening to Eli’s plan. Adela tilted her head at his silence, obviously growing impatient, but by the time she got mad enough to show it, Josef knew exactly what to do.
“I grow weary of this,” Adela said, edging her sword a little closer to Josef’s neck. “Which will it be, Thereson? Die here and doom your island, or surrender and spare yourself and your people?”
Josef leaned back. “You tell me.”
Adela paused. “What do you mean?”
“This is the day you’ve been preparing for all your life, right?” He jerked his head to the east. “Your Immortal Empress is finally
coming, and you’ve dutifully done everything you could to pave the way for her. You killed Duke Finley and his son, poisoned the queen, probably burned the clingfire stock too, now that I think about it. Doesn’t really matter anymore, I guess.”
Adela’s hand tightened on her sword. “What are you playing at?”
“I never play, princess,” Josef said, his voice deadly serious. “It’s no secret I’m a terrible prince to Osera. I don’t even know what’s going on half the time. Now you’re standing there asking me to make decisions about the country’s future?” He shrugged as far as he could with his wound. “How should I know? Traitor or spy or whatever your true colors, the sad truth is you’ve done more as Osera’s princess than I ever did as her prince. This is your moment, Dela, not mine. So you tell me, what should Osera do?”
Adela lowered her sword with an exasperated look. “Leaving his country’s fate to her betrayer? You truly are a terrible prince, Thereson.”
She stabbed her blade point down into the roof and leaned on it, the loose strands of her dark hair blowing wildly in the strong wind. “You want to know the fate I would choose for Osera?” she said, smiling down at him the way she used to when they were kids. “Fine. I want it to burn. All of it. Do you know what it was like, growing up here? You people are barbarians, with your insistence on blood lines and noble houses. My mother grew up in the bosom of the Empire. She told me stories of a perfect land where everyone is judged on merit and loyalty. Where disobedient idiots like you are cast away while people like me become leaders because of our skill, not our birth. People still die of hunger here. Can you believe it? In the Empire there is no war, no famine, no natural disasters. Spirit or a human, everything there is clean, ordered, and perfect, and all the Empress asks in exchange for this perfection is obedience.”
She flung out her arm, pointing at the city below. “You can’t know what it’s like!” she cried in disgust. “To
know
that paradise exists while you are trapped in this pigsty. But my exile is over.” She grabbed her sword and swung it back toward him with a mad, enraptured smile. “My mother and I have fulfilled our purpose. We have cleared every obstacle that stands in the Empress’s path and offered up this pathetic excuse of a kingdom to her like a peeled grape on a platter. When the Empress arrives, we shall be rewarded beyond anything you can imagine, and when I’m standing at her side, I will look down on the burning shell of Osera, and I will laugh. I will laugh and sing my Empress’s praises while her soldiers slaughter every last one of you ignorant, barbaric savages.”
“Then you’re not sorry,” Josef said, leaning away from the quivering point of her sword. “Not about killing the duke and his son? Or about the years you’ve spent poisoning my mother?”
“Of course not.” Adela laughed, her voice echoing in the wind. “I’d kill Finley again if I could, the pompous bore. And Henry. I can’t tell you how happy I am that the Empress came quickly and I don’t have to waste my life being his queen and bearing his dull-witted children. As for Theresa, she deserves what she got for being so trusting. The only thing I regret is that I had to pretend to lose to you at the Proving, but I intend to remedy that now.” Adela smiled, her sword inching forward to press against the naked skin of his throat. “You should have been smarter, Prince Thereson, than to let your enemy choose your fate.”
“I don’t think so,” Josef said, tilting his head into the wind. “Is that enough?”
“More than enough,” Eli’s voice drifted on the breeze. “We heard the whole thing.”
Adela’s eyes went wide, and she swung around, searching for the source of the voice, but the roof was empty.
“Who’s there?” she shouted. “Show yourself!”
Her only answer was the wind’s low moaning as it swept past her, blowing her voice down over the now completely silent crowd.
“Well,” Josef said, pushing himself up. “If you’ve got all you need, we’ll finish it from here.”
Adela spun back around, bringing her sword right up to the skin beneath Josef’s chin. “What do you mean ‘we’? You are alone! No one can save you!”
Josef didn’t move, not even to flinch away from the blade at his throat. “Wrong, princess. You were the only one who was fighting alone.”
Adela bared her teeth with a snarl and flicked her wrist, sending a wave of steel down her sword that would slice Josef’s neck in two. But before the wave was halfway down the blade, the Heart of War’s spirit exploded open, and the weight of a mountain fell on the palace.
E
li watched in amazement from his place in the equally amazed crowd as the corner of the palace where Josef and Adela’s drama had been playing out suddenly fell straight down. There was no warning, no crumbling, no falling stone. One moment Adela was standing with her sword at Josef’s throat, unknowingly incriminating herself to all of Osera, and the next the entire western side of the palace had flattened as though stepped on by an enormous, invisible foot.
For three heartbeats, the people simply stared, and then the crowd turned as one and began to stampede out of the square. Tesset calmly retreated to the recessed entry of a nearby building as the tide of people surged past. Eli dove behind him far less calmly, pressing himself flat against the painted door as far from the panic as he could get. He was thinking about picking the lock when a wind’s voice giggled in his ear.
“Helping you was more fun than expected,” the wind said. “Now, you said you’d make it worth my while?”
“Of course,” Eli said, recovering instantly now that there were
deals to make. “How about a favor of your choosing from the prince of Osera?”
“A favor from a human?” the wind puffed, considering. “That’s a fine turnaround. I’ll take it. I’ll call him when I think of something.”
“Do, please,” Eli said.
But the wind was already blowing up into the sky to tell the others about how a
human
owed
him
a favor.
Tesset patted down his collar where the wind had blown it up. “You do realize that when the wind comes to claim that favor, the spirit-deaf Prince Josef won’t be able to hear him.”