Elantris

  At first, the coachman resisted Sarene’s commands that he drive more quickly, but few men found it easy to resist a determined Teoish princess. They arrived at the palace shortly, and Sarene hopped from the carriage without waiting for the coachman to pull down the steps.

  Her reputation with the palace staff was growing, and most knew to get out of her way as she stalked through the hallways. The guards at Iadon’s study were also growing used to her, and they simply sighed resignedly as they pushed open the doors for her.

  The king’s face fell visibly as she entered. “Whatever it is, it will wait. We have a crisis—”

  Sarene slammed her open palms down on Iadon’s desk, shaking the wood and knocking over the penstand. “What in the blessed name of Domi do you think you’re doing?”

  Iadon reddened with frustrated anger, standing. “There has been an attack on members of my court! It is my duty to respond.”

  “Don’t preach to me about duty, Iadon,” Sarene countered. “You’ve been looking for an excuse to destroy Elantris for ten years now—only the people’s superstitions kept you back.”

  “Your point?” he asked coldly.

  “I am not going to be the one who gives you that excuse!” she said. “Withdraw your men.”

  Iadon snorted. “You of all people should appreciate the quickness of my response, Princess. It was your honor that was slighted by that attack.”

  “I’m perfectly capable of protecting my own honor, Iadon. Those troops move in direct opposition to everything I’ve accomplished these last few weeks.”

  “It was a fool’s project, anyway,” Iadon declared, dropping a collection of papers to the table. The top sheet ruffled from the motion, and Sarene could read its scribbled commands. The words “Elantris’s” and “extermination” stood out, stark and foreboding.

  “Go back to your room, Sarene,” the king said. “This will all be over in a matter of hours.”

  For the first time Sarene realized how she must look, her face red and mussed from the tears, her simple monochrome dress stained with sweat and Elantris grime, and her disheveled hair pulled back into an unraveling braid.

  The moment of insecurity disappeared as she looked back at the king and saw the satisfaction in his eyes. He would massacre the entire group of starving, helpless people in Elantris. He would kill Spirit. All because of her.

  “You listen to me, Iadon,” Sarene said, her voice sharp and cold. She held the king’s eyes, drawing upon her nearly six-foot height to tower over the shorter man. “You will withdraw your soldiers from Elantris. You will leave those people alone. Otherwise, I will begin to tell people what I know about you.”

  Iadon snorted.

  “Defiance, Iadon?” she asked. “I think you’ll feel differently when everyone knows the truth. You know they already think you a fool. They pretend to obey you, but you know—you know in that whispering part of your heart that they mock you with their obedience. You think they didn’t hear about your lost ships? You think they weren’t laughing to themselves at how their king would soon be as poor as a baron? Oh they knew. How will you face them, Iadon, when they learn how you really survived? When I show them how I rescued your income, how I gave you the contracts in Teod, how I saved your crown.”

  As she spoke, she punctuated each remark by stabbing her finger at his chest. Beads of sweat appeared on his brow as he began to crack beneath her unyielding gaze.

  “You are a fool, Iadon,” she hissed. “I know it, your nobles know it, and the world knows it. You have taken a great nation and squashed it in your greedy hands. You have enslaved the people and you have defiled Arelon’s honor. And, despite it all, your country grows poorer. Even you, the king, are so destitute that only a gift from Teod lets you keep your crown.”

  Iadon shied away unnerved. The king seemed to shrink, his arrogant act withering before her anger.

  “How will it look, Iadon?” she whispered. “How will it feel to have the entire court know you are indebted to a woman? A foolish girl at that? You would be revealed. Everyone would know what you are. Nothing more than an insecure, trivial, incapable invalid.”

  Iadon plopped down into his seat. Sarene handed him a pen.

  “Repeal it,” she demanded.

  His fingers shook as he scribbled a countermand at the bottom of the page, then stamped it with his personal seal.

  Sarene snatched up the paper, then stalked from the room. “Ashe, stop those soldiers! Tell them new orders are coming.”

  “Yes, my lady,” the Seon replied, shooting down the corridor toward a window, moving more quickly than even a galloping horse.

  “You!” Sarene ordered, slapping the rolled-up sheet of paper against a guard’s breastplate. “Take this to Elantris.”

  The man accepted the paper uncertainly.

  “Run!” Sarene ordered.

  He did.

  Sarene folded her arms, watching the man dash down the hallway. Then she turned to regard the second guard. He began to twitch nervously beneath her gaze.

  “Um, I’ll make sure he gets there,” the man stuttered, then took off behind his companion.

  Sarene stood for a moment, then turned back to the king’s study, pulling the doors closed. She was left with the sight of Iadon, slumped in his chair, elbows on the desktop and head cradled in his hands. The king was sobbing quietly to himself.

  By the time Sarene reached Elantris, the new orders had long since arrived. Iadon’s guard stood uncertainly before the gates. She told them to go home, but their captain refused, claiming that he had received orders not to attack, but he didn’t have any orders to return. A short time later a courier arrived, delivering commands to do just that. The captain shot her an irritable look, then ordered his men back to the palace.

  Sarene stayed a little longer, making the strenuous climb to the top of the wall to gaze down at the courtyard. Her food cart stood abandoned in the center of the square, overturned with broken boxes running in a jagged line before it. There were bodies, too—fallen members of the attacking party, their corpses rotting in the muck.

  Sarene froze, her muscles stiffening. One of the corpses was still moving. She leaned over the stone railing, staring down at the fallen man. The distance was great, but she could still see the distinct lines of the man’s legs—lying a dozen feet from his chest. Some powerful blow had separated him at the waist. There was no way he could have survived such a wound. Yet, insanely, his arms waved in the air with hopeless randomness.

  “Merciful Domi,” Sarene whispered, her hand rising to her breast, her fingers seeking out her small Korathi pendant. She scanned the courtyard with disbelieving eyes. Some of the other bodies were moving as well, despite horrible wounds.

  They say that the Elantrians are dead, she realized. That they are the deceased whose minds refuse to rest. Her eyes open for the first time, Sarene realized how the Elantrians survived without food. They didn’t need to eat.

  But, why then did they?

  Sarene shook her head, trying to clear her mind of both confusion and the struggling corpses below. As she did so, her eyes fell on another figure. It knelt in the shadow of Elantris’s wall, its posture somehow bespeaking incredible sorrow. Sarene felt herself drawn along the walkway in the direction of the form, her hand dragging along the stone railing. She stopped when she stood above him.

  Somehow she knew the figure belonged to Spirit. He was clutching a body in his arms, rocking back and forth with his head bowed. The message was clear: Even a tyrant could love those who followed him.

  I saved you, Sarene thought. The king would have destroyed you, but I saved your life. It wasn’t for you, Spirit. It was for all those poor people that you rule over.

  Spirit didn’t notice her.

  She tried to remain angry at him. However, looking down and sensing his agony, she couldn’t lie—even to herself. The day’s events disturbed her for several reasons. She was angry at having her plans disrupted. She regretted that she would no longer
be able to feed the struggling Elantrians. She was unhappy with the way the aristocracy would see Elantris.

  But she was also saddened that she would never be able to see him again. Tyrant or not, he had seemed like a good man. Perhaps … perhaps only a tyrant could lead in a place like Elantris. Perhaps he was the best that the people had.

  Regardless, she would probably never see him again. She would never again look into those eyes that, despite the emaciated form of his body, seemed so vibrant and alive. There was a complexity in them that she would never be able to unravel.

  It was over.

  She sought refuge in the only place in Kae she felt safe. Kiin let her in, then held her as she fell into his arms. It was a perfectly humiliating end to a very emotional day. However, the hug was worth it. She had decided as a child that her uncle was very good at hugging, his broad arms and enormous chest sufficient to envelope even a tall and gangly girl.

  Sarene finally released him, wiping her eyes, disappointed in herself for crying again. Kiin simply placed a large hand on her shoulder and led her into the dining room, where the rest of the family sat around the table, even Adien.

  Lukel had been talking animatedly, but he cut off as he saw Sarene. “Speak the name of the lion,” he said, quoting a Jindoeese proverb, “and he will come to feast.”

  Adien’s haunted, slightly unfocused eyes found her face. “Six hundred and seventy-two steps from here to Elantris,” he whispered.

  There was silence for a moment. Then Kaise jumped up onto her chair. “Sarene! Did they really try and eat you?”

  “No, Kaise,” Sarene replied, finding a seat. “They just wanted some of our food.”

  “Kaise, leave your cousin alone,” Daora ordered firmly. “She has had a full day.”

  “And I missed it,” Kaise said sullenly, plopping down in her seat. Then she turned angry eyes on her brother. “Why did you have to get sick?”

  “It wasn’t my fault,” Daorn protested, still a little wan. He didn’t seem very disappointed to have missed the battle.

  “Hush, children,” Daora repeated.

  “It’s all right,” Sarene said. “I can talk about it.”

  “Well, then,” Lukel said, “is it true?”

  “Yes,” Sarene said. “Some Elantrians attacked us, but no one got hurt—at least, not on our side.”

  “No,” Lukel said. “Not that—I meant about the king. Is it true that you yelled him into submission?”

  Sarene grew sick. “That got out?”

  Lukel laughed. “They say your voice carried all the way to the main hall. Iadon still hasn’t left his study.”

  “I might have gotten a little carried away,” Sarene said.

  “You did the right thing, dear,” Daora assured her. “Iadon is far too accustomed to having the court jump when he so much as sneezes. He probably didn’t know what to do when someone actually stood up to him.”

  “It wasn’t that hard,” Sarene said with a shake of her head. “Beneath all the bluster he’s very insecure.”

  “Most men are, dear,” Daora said.

  Lukel chuckled. “Cousin, what did we ever do without you? Life was so boring before you decided to sail over and mess it all up for us.”

  “I would rather it stayed a little less messed up,” Sarene mumbled. “Iadon isn’t going to react too well when he recovers.”

  “If he gets out of line, you can always just yell at him again,” Lukel said.

  “No,” Kiin said, his gruff voice solemn. “She’s right. Monarchs can’t afford to be reprimanded in public. We might have a much harder time of things when this is all through.”

  “Either that or he’ll just give up and abdicate in favor of Sarene,” Lukel said with a laugh.

  “Just as your father feared,” Ashe’s deep voice noted as he floated in the window. “He always worried that Arelon wouldn’t be able to deal with you, my lady.”

  Sarene smiled feebly. “Did they go back?”

  “They did,” the Seon said. She had sent him to follow Iadon’s guards, in case they decided to ignore their orders. “The captain immediately went to see the king. He left when His Majesty refused to open his doors.”

  “It wouldn’t do for a soldier to see his king bawling like a child,” Lukel noted.

  “Anyway,” the Seon continued, “I—”

  He was interrupted by an insistent knock at the door. Kiin disappeared, then returned with an eager Lord Shuden.

  “My lady,” he said bowing slightly to Sarene. Then he turned to Lukel. “I just heard some very interesting news.”

  “It’s all true,” Lukel said. “We asked Sarene.”

  Shuden shook his head. “It isn’t about that.”

  Sarene looked up with concern. “What else could possibly happen today?”

  Shuden’s eyes twinkled. “You’ll never guess who the Shaod took last night.”

  CHAPTER 30

  Hrathen didn’t try to hide his transformation. He walked solemnly from his chambers, exposing his damnation to the entire chapel. Dilaf was in the middle of morning services. It was worth the loss of hair and skin color to see the short Arelish priest stumble backward in horrified shock.

  The Korathi priests came for Hrathen a short time later. They gave him a large, enveloping white robe to hide his disfiguration, then led him from the now empty chapel. Hrathen smiled to himself as he saw the confused Dilaf watching from his alcove, his eyes openly hating Hrathen for the first time.

  The Korathi priests took him to their chapel, stripped him, and washed his now black-spotted body with water from the Aredel river. Then they wrapped him in a white robe constructed of thick, raglike strips of cloth. After washing and clothing him, the priests stepped back and allowed Omin to approach. The short, balding leader of Arelish Korathi blessed Hrathen quietly, tracing the symbol of Aon Omi on his chest. The Arelish man’s eyes betrayed just a hint of satisfaction.

  After that, they led Hrathen through the city streets, chanting. However, at the city itself they found a large squadron of troops wearing Iadon’s colors blocking their path. The soldiers stood with hands on weapons, speaking in hushed tones. Hrathen regarded them with surprise; he recognized men preparing for battle. Omin argued with the captain of the Elantris City Guard for a time while the other priests pulled Hrathen into a squat building beside the guardhouse—a holding place, carved with Aon Omi.

  Hrathen watched through the room’s small window as two winded guards galloped up and presented Iadon’s soldiers with a rolled-up sheet of paper. The captain read it, frowning, then turned to argue with the messenger. After this Omin returned, explaining that they would have to wait.

  And wait they did—the better part of two hours.

  Hrathen had heard that the priests would only throw people into Elantris during a certain time of day, but apparently it was a window of time, and not a specific moment. Eventually, the priests stuffed a small basket of food in Hrathen’s arms, offered one final prayer to their pitiful god, and pushed him through the gates.

  He stood in the city, his head bald, his skin tainted with large black splotches. An Elantrian. The city was much the same at eye level as it had been from the wall—filthy, rotting, and unholy. It held nothing for him. He spun around, tossing aside the meager basket of food and dropping to his knees.

  “Oh, Jaddeth, Lord of all Creation,” he began, his voice loud and firm. “Hear now the petition of a servant in your empire. Lift this taint from my blood. Restore me to life. I implore you with all the power of my position as a holy gyorn.”

  There was no response. So, he repeated the prayer. Again, and again, and again….

  CHAPTER 31

  Saolin didn’t open his eyes as he sank into the pool, but he did stop mumbling. He bobbed for a moment, then took a sharp breath, reaching his hands toward the heavens. After that, he melted into the blue liquid.

  Raoden watched the process solemnly. They had waited for three days, hoping against all that the grizzled sold
ier would regain his wits. He had not. They had brought him to the pool partially because his wound was so terrible, and partially because Raoden knew that he could never enter the Hall of the Fallen with Saolin inside. The mantra “I have failed my lord Spirit” would have been too much.

  “Come, sule,” Galladon said. “He’s gone.”

  “Yes, he is,” Raoden said. And it’s my fault. For once, the burdens and agonies of his body seemed insignificant compared with those of his soul.

  They returned to him. First as a trickle, then as a flood. It took days for them to realize, and believe, that Sarene wasn’t going to return. No more handouts—no more eating, waiting, and eating again. Then they came back, as if suddenly awakened from a stupor, remembering that once—not so long ago—there had been purpose in their lives.

  Raoden turned them back to their old jobs—cleaning, farming, and building. With proper tools and materials, the work became less an exercise in intentional time wasting and more a productive means of rebuilding New Elantris. Piecemeal roofs were replaced with more durable, functional creations. Additional seed corn provided a chance for a second planting, one much larger and ambitious than the first. The short wall around New Elantris was reinforced and expanded—though, for the moment, Shaor’s men remained quiet. Raoden knew, however, that the food they had gathered from Sarene’s cart wouldn’t last long. The wildmen would return.

  The numbers that came to him after Sarene were much greater than those that had followed him before. Raoden was forced to acknowledge that despite the temporary setbacks they caused, Sarene’s excursions into Elantris had ultimately been beneficial. She had proven to the people that no matter how much their hunger hurt, simply feeding their bellies wasn’t enough. Joy was more than just an absence of discomfort.

  So, when they came back to him, they no longer worked for food. They worked because they feared what they would become if they did not.