The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

  I was feeling anything but gracious. I havent the patience for these games, Scimina, I snapped, too angry and, yes, frightened to be tactful. State your business and lets be done.

  Scimina lifted an eyebrow, amused by my rudeness. She smiled over at Nahadothno, Naha, I decided. The gods name did not fit this creature. He went to stand beside her, his back to me. She grazed the knuckles of one hand along his nearer arm and smiled. Made your heart race a bit, did he? Our Naha can have that effect on the inexperienced. Youre welcome to borrow him, by the way. As youve seen, hes nothing if not exciting.

  I ignored thisbut I did not miss the way Naha looked at her, beyond her line of sight. She was a fool to take that thing into her bed.

  And I was a fool to keep standing there. Good day, Scimina.

  I thought you might be interested in a rumor I heard, Scimina said to my back. It concerns your homeland.

  I paused, Ras Onchis warning suddenly ringing in my mind.

  Your promotion has won your land new enemies, Cousin. Some of Darrs neighbors find you more threatening than even Relad or I. I suppose thats understandablewe were born to this, and have no antiquated ethnic loyalties.

  I turned back, slowly. You are Amn.

  But Amn superiority is accepted the world over; there is nothing surprising about us. You, however, are from a race that has never been more than savages, no matter how prettily we dress you.

  I could not ask her outright about the war petition. But perhapsWhat are you saying? That someone may attack Darr simply because Ive been claimed by the Arameri?

  No. Im saying someone may attack Darr because you still think like a Darren, though you now have access to Arameri power.

  My order to my assigned nations, I realized. So that was the excuse she meant to use. I had forced them to resume trade with Darr. Of course it would be seen as favoritismand those who saw it as such would be completely right. How could I not help my people with my new power and wealth? What kind of woman would I be if I thought only of myself?

  An Arameri woman, whispered a little, ugly voice in the back of my mind.

  Naha had moved to embrace Scimina from behind, the picture of an amorous lover. Scimina absently stroked his arms while he gazed murder at the back of her head.

  Dont feel bad, Cousin, Scimina said. It wouldnt have mattered what you did, really. Some people wouldve always hated you, simply because you dont fit their image of a ruler. Its a shame you didnt take anything after Kinneth, other than those eyes of yours. She closed her eyes, leaning back against Nahas body, the picture of contentment. Of course the fact that you are Darre doesnt help. You went through their warrior initiation, yes? Since your mother wasnt Darre, who sponsored you?

  My grandmother, I answered quietly. It did not surprise me that Scimina knew that much of the Darres customs. Anyone could learn that by opening a book.

  Scimina sighed and glanced back at Naha. To my surprise, he did not change his expression, and to my greater surprise, she smiled at the pure hate in his eyes.

  Do you know what happens in the Darre ceremony? she asked him conversationally. They were quite the warriors once, and matriarchal. We forced them to stop conquering their neighbors and treating their men like chattel, but like most of these darkling races, they cling to their little traditions in secret.

  I know what they once did, Naha said. Capture a youth of an enemy tribe, circumcise him, nurse him back to health, then use him for pleasure.

  I had schooled my face to blankness. Scimina laughed at this, lifting a lock of Nahas hair to her lips while she watched me.

  Things have changed, she said. Now the Darre arent permitted to kidnap and mutilate their boys. Now a girl just survives alone in the forest for a month, and then comes home to be deflowered by some man her sponsor has chosen. Still barbaric, and something we stop whenever we hear about it, but it happens, especially among the women of their upper class. And the part they think theyve hidden from us is this: the girl must either defeat him in public combat and therefore control the encounter, or be defeatedand learn how it feels to submit to an enemy.

  I would like that, Naha whispered. Scimina laughed again, slapping his arm playfully.

  How predictable. Be silent now. Her eyes slid to me, sidelong. The ritual seems the same in principle, does it not? But so much has changed. Now Darre men no longer fear womenor respect them.

  It was a statement, not a question; I knew better than to answer.

  Really, when you consider it, the earlier ritual was the more civilized. That ritual taught a young warrior not only how to survive but also how to respect an enemy, how to nurture. Many girls later married their captives, didnt they? So they even learned to love. The ritual now well, what does it teach you? I cannot help but wonder.

  * * *

  It taught me to do whatever was necessary to get what I wanted, you evil bitch.

  * * *

  I did not answer, and after a moment Scimina sighed.

  So, she said, there are new alliances being formed on Darrs borders, meant to counter Darrs perceived new strength. Since Darr in fact has no new strength, that means the entire region is becoming unstable. Hard to say what will happen under circumstances like that.

  My fingers itched for a sharpened stone. Is that a threat?

  Please, Cousin. Im merely passing the information along. We Arameri must look out for one another.

  I appreciate your concern. I turned to leave, before my temper slipped any further. But this time it was Nahas voice that stopped me.

  Did you win? he asked. At your warrior initiation? Did you beat your opponent, or did he rape you in front of a crowd of spectators?

  I knew better than to answer. I really did. But I answered anyway.

  I won, I said, after a fashion.

  Oh?

  If I closed my eyes, I would see it. Six years had passed since that night, but the smell of the fire, of old furs and blood, of my own reek after a month living rough, was still vivid in my mind.

  Most sponsors choose a man who is a poor warrior, I said softly. Easy for a girl barely out of childhood to defeat. But I was to be ennu, and there were doubts about me because I was half Amn. Half Arameri. So my grandmother chose the strongest of our male warriors instead.

  I had not been expected to win. Endurance would have been sufficient to be marked as a warrior; as Scimina had guessed, many things had changed for us. But endurance was not sufficient to be ennu. No one would follow me if I let some man use me in public and then crow about it all over town. I needed to win.

  He defeated you, Naha said. He breathed the words, hungry for my pain.

  I looked at him, and he blinked. I wonder what he saw in my eyes in that moment.

  I put on a good show, I said. Enough to satisfy the requirements of the ritual. Then I stabbed him in the head with a stone knife I had hidden in my sleeve.

  The council had been upset about that, especially once it became clear I had not conceived. Bad enough I had killed a man, but to also lose his seed and the strength it might have given future Darre daughters? For a while victory had made things worse for me. She is no true Darre, went the whispers. There is too much death in her.

  I had not meant to kill him, truly. But in the end, we were warriors, and those who valued my Arameri murderousness had outnumbered my doubters. They made me ennu two years later.

  The look on Sciminas face was thoughtful, measuring. Naha, however, was sober, his eyes showing some darker emotion that I could not name. If I had to put a word to it, it might have been bitterness. But that was not so surprising, was it? I was not so Darre as, and so much more Arameri than, I seemed. It was something I had always hated about myself.

  Hes begun to wear a single face for you, hasnt he? Naha asked. I knew at once who he was. Thats how it starts. His voice grows deeper or his lips fuller; his eyes change their shape. Soon hes something out of your sweetest dreams, saying all the right things, touching all the right places. He pressed his face into Sc
iminas hair, as if seeking comfort. Then its only a matter of time.

  I left, goaded by fear and guilt and a creeping, hateful sense that no matter how Arameri I was, it was not enough to help me survive this place. Not Arameri enough by far. That is when I went to Viraine, and that is what led me to the library and the secret of my two souls, and that is how I ended up here, dead.

  14

  The Walking Dead

  WE CURED YOUR FATHER, said Sieh. That was your mothers price. In exchange she allowed us to use her unborn child as the vessel for Enefas soul.

  I closed my eyes.

  He took a deep breath in my silence. Our souls are no different from yours. We expected Enefas to travel onward after she died, in the usual manner. But when Itempas When Itempas killed Enefa, he kept something. A piece of her. It was difficult to catch, but he was rushing his words ever so slightly. Distantly I considered soothing him. Without that piece, all life in the universe would have died. Everything Enefa createdeverything except Nahadoth and Itempas himself. It is the last vestige of her power. Mortals call it the Stone of Earth.

  Against my closed eyelids images formed. A small, ugly lump of bruise-dark flesh. An apricotstone. My mothers silver necklace.

  With the Stone still in this world, the soul was trapped here, too. Without a body it drifted, lost; we only discovered what had happened centuries later. By the time we found it the soul had been battered, eroded, like a sail left on a mast through a storm. The only way to restore it was to house it again in flesh. He sighed. I will admit the thought of nurturing Enefas soul in the body of an Arameri child was appealing on many levels.

  I nodded. That I could certainly understand.

  If we can restore the soul to health, Sieh said, then there is a chance it can be used to free us. The thing that subdues us in this world, trapping us in flesh and binding us to the Arameri, is the Stone. Itempas took it not to preserve life, but so that he could use Enefas power against Nahadothtwo of the Three against one. But he could not wield it himself; the Three are all too different from one another. Only Enefas children can use Enefas power. A godling like me, or a mortal. In the war, it was bothsome of my siblings, and one Itempan priestess.

  Shahar Arameri, I said.

  The bed moved slightly with his nod. Zhakkarn was a silent, watching presence. I drew Zhakkarns face with my mind, matching it against the face Id seen in the library. Zhakkarns face was framed like Enefas, with the same sharp jaw and high cheekbones. It was in all three of them, I realized, though they didnt look like siblings or even members of the same race. All of Enefas children had kept some feature, some tribute, to their mothers looks. Kurue had the same frank, dissecting gaze. Siehs eyes were the same jade color.

  Like mine.

  Shahar Arameri. Sieh sighed. As a mortal, she could wield only a fraction of the Stones true power. Yet she was the one who struck the deciding blow. Nahadoth would have avenged Enefa that day, if not for her.

  Nahadoth says you want my life.

  Zhakkarns voice, with a hint of irritation: He told you that?

  Siehs voice, equally irritated, though at Zhakkarn: He can only defy his own nature for so long.

  Is it true? I asked.

  Sieh was silent for so long that I opened my eyes. He winced at the look on my face; I did not care. I was through with evasions and riddles. I was not Enefa. I did not have to love him.

  Zhakkarn unfolded her arms, a subtle threat. You havent agreed to ally with us. You could give this information to Dekarta.

  I gave her the same look that I had Sieh. Why, I said, enunciating each word carefully, would I possibly betray you to him?

  Zhakkarns eyes flicked over to Sieh. Sieh smiled, though there was little humor in it. I told her youd say that. You do have one advocate among us, Yeine, however little you might believe it.

  I said nothing. Zhakkarn was still glaring at me, and I knew better than to look away from a challenge. It was a pointless challenge on both sidesshe would have no choice but to tell me if I commanded her, and I would never earn her trust merely by my words. But my whole world had just been shattered, and I knew of no other way to learn what I needed to know.

  My mother sold me to you, I said, mostly to Zhakkarn. She was desperate, and perhaps I would even make the same choice in her position, but she still did it and at the moment I am not feeling well-inclined towards any Arameri. You and your kind are gods; it doesnt surprise me that you would play with mortal lives like pieces in a game of nikkim. But I expect better of human beings.

  You were made in our image, she said coldly.

  An unpleasantly astute point.

  There were times to fight, and times to retreat. Enefas soul inside me changed everything. It made the Arameri my enemies in a far more fundamental way, because Enefa had been Itempass enemy and they were his servants. Yet it did not automatically make the Enefadeh my allies. I was not actually Enefa, after all.

  Sieh sighed to break the silence. You need to eat, he said, and got up. He left my bedroom; I heard the apartment door open and close.

  I had slept nearly three days. My angry declaration that I would leave had been a bluff; my hands were shaking, and I did not trust my ability to walk far if I tried. I looked down at my unsteady hand and thought sourly that if the Enefadeh had infected me with a goddesss soul, the least they could have done was give me a stronger body in the process.

  Sieh loves you, said Zhakkarn.

  I put my hand on the bed so it would no longer shake. I know.

  No, you dont. The sharpness in Zhakkarns voice made me look up. She was still angry, and I realized now that it had nothing to do with the alliance. She was angry about how Id treated Sieh.

  What would you do, if you were me? I asked. Surrounded by secrets, with your life dependent on the answers?

  I would do as you have done. That surprised me. I would use every possible advantage I had to gain as much information as I could, and I would not apologize for doing so. But I am not the mother Sieh has missed for so long.

  I could tell already that I was going to become very, very sick of being compared to a goddess.

  Neither am I, I snapped.

  Sieh knows that. And yet he loves you. Zhakkarn sighed. He is a child.

  Hes older than you, isnt he?

  Age means nothing to us. What matters is staying true to ones nature. Sieh has devoted himself fully to the path of childhood. It is a difficult one.

  I could imagine, though it made no sense to me. Enefas soul seemed to bring me no special insight into the tribulations of godhood.

  What do you want me to do? I asked. I felt weary, though that mightve been the hunger. Shall I cuddle him to my breast when he comes back, and tell him everything will be all right? Should I do the same for you?

  You should not hurt him again, she said, and vanished.

  I gazed at the spot where she had stood for a long while. I was still staring at it when Sieh returned, setting a platter in front of me.

  The servants here dont ask questions, he said. Safer that way. So Tvril didnt know youd been unwell until I showed up and asked for food. Hes tearing a strip out of the servants assigned to you right now.

  The platter held a Darren feast. Maash paste and fish rolled in callena leaves, with a side of fire-toasted golden peppers. A shallow boat of serry relish and thin, crisp-curled slices of meat. In my land it wouldve been the heart of a particular species of sloth; this was probably beef. And a true treasure: a whole roasted gran banana. My favorite dessert, though how Tvril had found that out I would never know.

  I picked up a leafroll, and my hand trembled with more than hunger.

  Dekarta doesnt mean for you to win the contest, Sieh said softly. That isnt why hes brought you here. He intends for you to choose between Relad and Scimina.

  I looked sharply at him, and recalled the conversation Id overheard between Relad and Scimina in the solarium. Was this what Scimina had meant? Choose between them?

  The Arameri ri
tual of succession. To become the next head of the family, one of the heirs must transfer the master sigilthe mark Dekarta wearsfrom Dekartas brow to his own. Or her own. The master sigil outranks all the rest; whoever wears it has absolute power over us, the rest of the family, and the world.

  The rest of the family? I frowned. They had hinted at this before, when they altered my own sigil. So thats it. What do the blood sigils really do? Allow Dekarta to read our thoughts? Burn out our brains if we refuse to obey?

  No, nothing so dramatic. There are some protective spells built in for highbloods, to guard against assassins and the like, but among the family they simply compel loyalty. No one who wears a sigil can act against the interests of the family head. If not for measures like that, Scimina would have found a way to undermine or kill Dekarta long ago.

  The leafroll smelled too good. I bit off a piece, making myself chew slowly as I mulled over Siehs words. The fish was strangesome local species, similar to but not the same as the speckled ui usually used. Still good. I was ravenous, but I knew better than to bolt my food after days without.

  The Stone of Earth is used in the succession ritual. Someonean Arameri, by Itempass own decreemust wield its power to transfer the master sigil.

  An Arameri. Another puzzle piece slipped into place. Anyone in Sky can do this? Everyone, down to the lowliest servant?

  Sieh nodded slowly. I noticed he did not blink when he was intent on something. A minor slip.

  Any Arameri, however distant from the Central Family. For just one moment, that person becomes one of the Three.

  It was obvious in his wording. That person. For one moment.

  It would be like striking a match, I imagined, having that much power course through mortal flesh. A bright flare, perhaps a few seconds of steady flame. And then

  Then that person dies, I said.

  Sieh gave me his unchildlike smile. Yes.

  Clever, so clever, my Arameri foremothers. By forcing all relatives however distant to serve here, they had in place a virtual army of people who could be sacrificed to wield the Stone. Even if each used it only for a moment, the Aramerithe highbloods, at least, who would die lastcould still approximate the power of a goddess for a considerable time.