Markan Empire

  Haema.

  He screwed his eyes shut and a tear leaked free.

  Sylphs were not supposed to die in battles. She had only wanted freedom from Nicolfer. To see if her owner was still alive and if not, then to join with Belaika and perhaps meet Eleka. And if she had agreed, Haema might have become Belaika's second wife.

  Instead she was dead.

  He had led her to her doom. He pushed away the echo of Gajaran's words. He was not evil.

  "You all right?"

  Belaika opened his eyes again and looked into Fared's face. "Yes," he replied.

  "Samrita would like to meet you," continued Fared.

  Belaika looked at his companion. At first glance, he thought her another human, then he saw the cat-slit hazel eyes and twitching earpoints. Those eyes glinted now brown, now green, as sunlight played over her face.

  "My daughter was born with violet eyes," he said, "but they are hazel like yours now."

  Samrita blinked and her mouth dropped open. "You have a gwerin daughter?" she asked.

  Belaika nodded.

  Samrita's mouth moved soundlessly before she pulled herself together. She clasped her hands at her waist and bowed formally to him. "Enya," she said.

  It was Belaika's turn to be surprised. "Why do you call me Father?"

  "A gwerin's parents live such short lives compared to ours. We extend the same courtesy to any gwerin parent that we would to our own. Enya, I am at your service."

  Belaika nodded. "My daughter is named Salafisa."

  "A lovely name." Samrita smiled. "Well, I came to meet the fabled banner sylph, and found a new parent instead."

  "I am no banner sylph," protested Belaika. "I just lifted it out from the dirt, that is all."

  Samrita laughed and even Fared managed a smile.

  "You are a banner sylph," said the Shadow Riders' captain. "Any man who picks up the banner in battle, who turns himself into the rallying point and a target, is a bannerman. You had the courage to pick it up, Belaika-y-Marcus, so you are a banner sylph."

  "Why did you join the battle?" asked the sylph.

  "Because we were looking for you."

  "For me?"

  Fared explained that the Shadow Riders were returning to Marka and that he had been advised to seek the banner sylph.

  "And here you are. Gave us quite a turn, seeing you up there."

  "Not half the turn it gave me."

  Fared smiled.

  Belaika saw the other scouts gathering as men readied themselves to bury the dead. He struggled upright to join them.

  "Where are you going?" asked Fared.

  "You should rest," added Samrita.

  "Something I must do," said Belaika.

  Velisar crossed and touched him on the shoulder in sympathy.

  They stood together at the graveside and took several breaths. His ribs would let him do this. They were only bruised, not broken.

  Toman stopped the Shadow Riders from shoveling earth over the corpses.

  "Not yet," he said. "This is important for us as well as the sylphs."

  Markans, Eldovans and the nine Shadow Riders who had died were laid out in the grave. Belaika's heart lurched as he glimpsed Haema's blue skin. He took a breath, and began to sing.

  Other scouts joined in the dirge, wishing the souls of the dead a speedy journey to the afterlife and beseeching the Father to ensure they reached paradise quickly.

  They sang for all the dead. Belaika sang for Haema.

  Never having heard this before, the Shadow Riders stared while listening to the sylphs' light voices soar through the notes.

  Everybody allowed a short silence after the song. Tomad finally nodded.

  "Cover them over," commanded Fared.

  Belaika turned away from the grave and refused to look at it again. Haema was gone.

  "When do we move?" he asked Fared.

  "First thing in the morning," replied the captain. "And you continue carrying that banner."

  Belaika nodded. A great honor. He hoped to do as good a job as Yochan.

  Yet again, he forced away Gajaran's words.

  ***

  Sat in his tent, alone with his sylph, General Mirrin hid his concern.

  Three days since he had detailed Captain Jediyah to deal with the Markans, and still nothing. He was tempted to send riders back to discover what had happened, but that might result in needless deaths.

  His scouts reported nothing and the camp sylphs had heard no whistling from the Markan scouts. Perhaps Jediyah rode hard to catch up with the rest of the army, or perhaps the Markans had not met him the way he thought.

  But Mirrin had been a soldier long enough to listen to his instincts.

  And those instincts told him something had gone horribly wrong. Had the mysterious riders Nicolfer warned him about suddenly caught up and joined with the Markans? Perhaps there were enough to defeat Jediyah, but they would be too weak to attack him. Especially as more detachments of his army joined every day.

  A pity if he had lost Jediyah; the man was among the more promising young officers.

  "Alovak, enya?"

  "Thank you, Shashi."

  Mirrin took the cup of steaming black liquid and inhaled the aroma before taking the first taste. Shashi knew exactly how he liked his alovak and so she should, after serving him for so long. He could cope without her, but she made life a lot easier.

  He sensed her glancing at him; she always knew when troubles lay heavily on his shoulders. She waited expectantly for him to share his concern.

  He almost laughed aloud. He could not share worries with his officers, in case they thought him weak. One or more might even possibly conspire to transplant him as Hingast sometimes encouraged such frivolities. But he would never have believed he could confide in a sylph slave.

  Not that he indulged very often. But Shashi had the intelligence to work out what bothered him.

  "Jediyah-ya?" she asked.

  "Nothing. He should have rejoined by now. It's as if he's disappeared."

  Shashi blinked. "So have the others."

  Mirrin assumed she referred to the Markans. "Heard nothing about them, either. Unless a sylph is holding out on us?"

  Shashi shook her head. "I would hear any whistles and there has been nothing."

  "Of course." Mirrin forced a smile and ruffled his sylph's hair. Shashi turned her head, trying to get him to touch her earpoints. He did his best to avoid them; this was an old game. "I know you wouldn't keep that from me."

  Shashi smiled and pushed her head against his hand, wanting more attention.

  He changed the subject. "Were there any hints that Haema would run away? Did she run away?"

  His sylph sighed. "Haema was unhappy serving Nicolfer-ya. She ran away."

  "With the scout." Mirrin shook his head. "No accounting for taste. Did Sandev help?"

  "I do not know."

  "Are you sure?" Mirrin rarely doubted Shashi's answers, but Sandev was Gifted. Perhaps she could hide truth.

  Shashi's earpoints came erect and twitched twice. Quickly suppressed irritation flared in her silver-gray eyes. "Very sure, enya."

  "Sandev tried to hide it and pretended otherwise, but I know she and the scout spoke with each other," he said. "Did she know that the captive scout and Haema planned to escape?"

  "Probably." A small furrow marked her brow. "We never spoke of these things when I took him choca or water."

  "Of course, do not be foolish. Why would he chat about escape to you?"

  Shashi giggled. "We never spoke of anything important. He was another sylph to talk to, that is all." She thrust her head towards his hand again, wanting more attention.

  Mirrin nodded. Whoever trained the scouts doubtless also taught them discretion, in case of capture. Who knew what useful snippets of information innocent conversation might give an enemy?

  "You did not approve of keeping him in a cage."

  Shashi's head came up again and a hint of defiance shone in her eyes.


  "The masters do as they will," she said, "it is our place only to obey."

  "Well evaded, Shashi." Mirrin smiled. "You obey only in the ways you choose."

  He ruffled her hair again, to show he only teased her. This time, he caught her long earpoints, one after the other, and let them slip through his hands. He felt the muscles try to twitch.

  He never understood why breeding sylphs hated having their earpoints touched by their owners, while infertiles reveled in the attention. He used to ask, but Shashi only evaded the question, clearly embarrassed by it. It seemed all sylphs had their secrets.

  He pushed his worries aside while he played their old game of teasing his sylph.

  ***

  Shashi rinsed out the alovak can and cleaned the cup her owner had used.

  Her owner's questions turned slowly in her mind. She was certain Mirrin had asked them to take her mind off Captain Jediyah. He worried about the men he had sent to destroy the Markans, but the two escaped sylphs concerned her. She had no interest in the Markan humans; they were the enemy.

  She admired Belaika: he was an interesting sylph and she wished him well. And Haema deserved better than Nicolfer.

  Naturally she disapproved of caging Belaika! Mirrin gave the impression he was no happier with the situation, even if he had little love for the scout.

  Even so, he had defied Nicolfer's instructions and stood up to her when she learned he had given orders that the sylph should be watered. Because Shashi's owner must sometimes be hard, it did not mean he was heartless.

  Shashi had known that Belaika planned – or hoped for – escape and she had ignored the signs. She had not told her owner, yet he knew. The conversations Sandev shared with Belaika, after she had ignored him for weeks. Another warning sign she never passed on.

  Shashi had suspected Haema – whom she pitied while tied to the hag Nicolfer – planned escape with Belaika. Who could blame her for falling toe over ear in love with the scout?

  Not that she, a mere infertile, understood such things.

  "Troubled thoughts, Shashi-y-Mirrin?"

  The sylph spun on her heel and almost dropped the cup she was drying. And drying and drying, she realized.

  She inclined her head. "Sandev-ya."

  Wariness mingled with her respect for Sandev. Wary because of the Gift, despite assurances that she was somehow blocked from using it, and respectful because of her great age and wisdom.

  All the camp sylphs believed that she remained a prisoner because she had a deeper plan of her own; that she would use her power when it suited.

  "You are distracted, Shashi." Sandev smiled. "What worries you? Perhaps I can help."

  Shashi's wariness increased. She was friendly – no reason for her to be otherwise – but she knew the woman had managed to make the ownerless sylphs more devoted to her than to the army. And caused half of the officers' sylphs to question their own loyalties. Shashi must remember that Sandev did not wish the best for her homeland or her owner.

  "In trouble? Unfairly punished?"

  Shashi's earpoints twitched. "Good sylphs do not get punished."

  "Of course not." Sandev smiled again. "But owners are sometimes unfair."

  The sylph tossed her head and her earpoints slanted forwards in determination. "He is a good man, Sandev-ya. He might be your enemy, but he is not cruel."

  "Yet you are troubled. Why?"

  Shashi gestured. "Everybody is on edge since the scout escaped." She did not mention Haema. Nor Captain Jediyah.

  "I'm surprised he didn't escape sooner. Perhaps because of his injury. Did you know Nicolfer helped?"

  "How?"

  "She forced him to walk all day. He could build up his strength once he recovered from his bad leg," explained Sandev. "Nicolfer seems to forget that sylphs are resourceful when left to their own devices."

  "He had help. He did not pick that lock."

  "You know he was not the only scout involved." Sandev's eyes glittered at the unspoken allegation. "They were never very far away."

  Shashi shuddered. Thinking the enemy could creep into their camp unseen and unchallenged worried her.

  "Some can probably pick locks," continued Sandev. "No need for keys."

  "What about Haema?"

  "Love. As I think you already know. You're troubled, Shashi and it's nothing to do with runaway sylphs. A problem shared is halved."

  Shashi blinked. "Is this how you got the other sylphs on your side?"

  "Kind words and comfort go a long way with bereaved sylphs, don't you think?" Sandev arched an eyebrow. "Your quartermaster is not cruel and he makes sure the sylphs' physical requirements are met, yet he seems ignorant of their emotional needs. A surprising oversight I feel."

  Shashi smiled. "A friend to fallen sylphs?"

  "Their treatment is not as good as it should be. I fill that gap and they respond... Hardly my fault, is it? Now, what troubles you?"

  "Nicolfer will blame enya for Belaika's escape." The sylph's earpoints sagged for a brief moment. "She questions everybody."

  "It is easier to believe he had inside help than that your sentries were so easily bypassed. Just imagine what it would be like if sylphs were violent." Sandev gave a savage grin. "Believe me, Marka has men who are almost as good at scouting as the sylphs." There, one nicely planted seed, to judge from those widened eyes and bolt upright earpoints.

  "She might try and get at me. I took him choca and drinking water. I even offered washwater, though he didn't want it." Shashi wrinkled her nose.

  "He wanted to preserve his camouflage. Or did you offer fresh paint, too?"

  "I pitied him, he was hurt."

  "I'm sure he was very grateful."

  "But he will do his best to bring our enemies down on us." Shashi looked worried again.

  "Of course, that's his job. If the positions were reversed, you would do the same. You're sylphs, you must obey."

  Shashi blinked again and changed the subject. "I will think on what you said, about problems halved." She walked away quickly, swinging the alovak can and her owner's cup.

  Gajaran moved from one side. "She does not like what sylph scouts do either."

  Sandev noted her words. She had tried to bring Gajaran around, but the small infertile would not be moved.

  She hated sylph scouts because sylph scouts had caused her owner's death.

  "Whether she likes it or not," retorted Sandev, "they are very good at what they do."

  Gajaran snorted. "Devils," she replied. "Just devils."

  ***

  The following day lived up to the description of summer. The sun baked the ground almost before it finished rising over a range of small mountains to the east. The lead scouts and riders were dazzled by it and Mirrin hoped that anybody following might be blinded by it.

  Four days had now passed since they parted company with Captain Jediyah.

  Sandev walked alongside one of the wagons and hid a yawn. As usual, the army avoided main roads, hamlets and cities, but did pass several farms.

  Wide-eyed children stared at the soldiers, until hustled away by wary mothers. Sylphs and men working in the fields also made themselves scarce, but Mirrin had no interest in giving farmers a hard time. He wanted to pass through quickly and quietly. The nearer they came to Marka, the more civilization they saw.

  Sandev was secretly elated.

  Undetected, she had used the Gift to warm the water for her morning wash. Though only a small triumph with Nicolfer away. Sandev had left much of the block in place and hoped Nicolfer never realized that it was effectively broken. Not until too late anyway. Soon she would remove the block altogether.

  Nicolfer had grown careless.

  Most of the sylphs walked, the only exceptions a couple of the officers' sylphs who sat on the back of a wagon. Shashi walked alongside her owner's horse, enjoying the sunshine. Sandev's small group clustered beside the quartermaster's wagon.

  Gajaran sometimes jogged ahead to join Sandev, presumably for com
pany as she never said a word. Sandev also enjoyed the exercise, quite content to walk rather than chat.

  She looked at the mountains. Unless she missed her guess, this was the last range to cross before reaching the western Prefectures of Marka, known as the Western March.

  The March marked the boundary after the collapse, unless Marka had expanded since she went missing. With any luck, a Markan detachment would happen across them at any time.

  She worried for those Markans behind, afraid they were all dead. Had Belaika's escape been in vain?

  But why had Jediyah not rejoined? Something very strange had happened back there and Sandev itched to learn the truth.

  Her attention returned to the mountains.

  Perhaps two days, if they avoided the roads. Longer, if Mirrin decided to head north or south of the mountains, which seemed to be a favorite trick. The last range.

  The March, then Marka. Sandev worried Mirrin's army might slip through undetected.

  She looked north and south at clouds of dust, similar to those this army threw up behind it.

  Not rescue and not Markans. More Eldovans.

  The detachments were coming together: soon, this army would be ready to fall on Marka.

  She hoped the Markans were aware.

  Marcus Vintner was far from stupid, and surrounded by able, experienced soldiers who would fill any gaps in his knowledge.

  So long as they realized what happened beyond the city. The small detachment that had shadowed Mirrin for so long had strayed far from home and beyond communication. If they were still alive.

  Dervra and Nicolfer had plans greater than Marka. Once they had the city, what was their next target?

  The Key? Magiere? The Ark itself?

  The possibilities were frightening.

  Did they plan to destroy these things, or subvert them to the other Sephiroth?

  She must take care.

  Being ignorant of their long-term plans, she could only speculate.

  A sylph dashed past, calling for her owner. Sandev watched the sylph skid to a halt before a group of officers.

  Sandev looked around for her sylphs and saw them almost immediately. They too seemed distressed. Gajaran gesticulated and her earpoints lashed before settling in an upright position.

  No voices were raised, for sylphs didn't behave that way, but Gajaran looked unhappy. Sandev could not decide whether to join the officers or the ownerless sylphs.

  The sylph who had dashed past her returned, her earpoints slightly wilted.

  "Wenna!" called Sandev. "Wenna-y-Kadyah!"

  The sylph ignored her completely, so Sandev joined the ownerless.