Midnight Tides

  ‘Trate.’

  ‘That’s a long ride. I take it you left before it fell.’

  She did not contradict him.

  The Finadd scanned the Crimson Guardsmen, and apparently did not like what he saw. ‘Your arrival is well timed,’ he said. ‘We’re recruiting.’

  ‘They have already been recruited,’ Seren said, ‘as my escort. I am riding to Letheras, for an audience with the king.’

  Arlidas scowled. ‘No point in that, Acquitor. The man just sits there, cowering on his throne. And the Ceda’s lost his mind. That is why I decided to declare our independence. And we intend to defend ourselves against these damned grey-skins.’

  Seren’s laugh was sudden, instantly regretted. ‘Independence, Finadd? The village of Brous? With you in charge? As what, its emperor?’

  ‘You have entered our territory, Acquitor, meaning you and your escort are now subject to me. I am pleased to see you all armed, since I have few spare weapons.’

  ‘You are not recruiting us,’ Iron Bars said. ‘And I suggest you do not make an issue of it, Finadd, or in a short while you will find yourself with a much smaller army.’

  Arlidas sneered. ‘The six of you and an Acquitor—’

  ‘Finadd.’ A rider nudged his horse from the troop to halt alongside Arlidas. Round, hairy, small-eyed and filthy from crawling tunnels of dirt. ‘That one’s a mage.’ He pointed at Corlo.

  ‘So are you, you damned Nerek halfling,’ the Finadd snapped. ‘Tell him,’ Corlo said to the other mage. ‘Your name’s Urger, isn’t it? Tell your Finadd, Urger.’

  The half-Nerek licked his lips. ‘He’ll kill us all, sir. Every one of us. He won’t even break a sweat. And he’ll start with you, Finadd. He’ll pluck your brain out and drop it in a cauldron of boiling oil.’

  Corlo said, ‘You’d best return to that barrow, Urger. Your demon’s trying to get out, and it just might succeed. You’ll lose your chance to bind it.’

  The mage twisted round in his saddle. ‘Errant take me, he’s right! Finadd, I must go! No waiting!’ With that he wheeled his horse and drove heels into its flanks.

  Arlidas glared at Seren, Iron Bars and Corlo in turn, then he snarled wordlessly and gestured to his soldiers. ‘Back to the barrow. Back, damn you!’

  They rode off.

  Seren looked over at Corlo. ‘You made yourself pretty scary, didn’t you?’

  The mage smiled.

  ‘Let’s get going,’ the Avowed said, ‘before they gather their wits.’

  ‘I’d like to learn how you do that, Corlo.’

  His smile broadened. ‘You would, would you?’

  ****

  ‘There is always something ominous in dust rising from a distant road, do you not think?’

  Trull Sengar squinted eastward until he spied the telltale smear. ‘Nothing to worry about, Lilac,’ he said. ‘It’s a column from my father’s army, I suspect. A portion of it occupied the Manse not long ago.’

  ‘There was fighting there,’ the demon said, then sighed. ‘Two of my kin fell’

  ‘I am sorry for that,’ Trull said.

  They were camped on the outskirts of Thetil, preparing for the fast, extended march down to First Reach, where their army would join up with the emperor’s before striking southeast to Letheras. Tomad’s army would march down Mappers’ Road to approach the capital city from the north. The Letherii forces were fleeing before them along every approach. Even so, one more battle lay ahead, probably outside the walls of Letheras.

  Trull glanced over at his company. A dozen or so warriors were gathered round Sergeant Canarth, who was in the midst of a gesture-filled tirade of some sort. Trull’s captain, Ahlrada Ahn, stood nearby, apart yet listening.

  Since Trull had acquired his demon bodyguard, the other warriors had kept their distance, the squad leaders reluctant to stand still even when Trull approached with orders. There was something wrong, clearly, with singling out a demon, with making it obvious that the creature was intelligent, an individual. Understandable, given the usual treatment of the KenylPrah by their Tiste Edur masters. But, he well knew, there was more to it than that.

  During their march down from High Fort, Trull Sengar had found himself mostly shunned by his warrior kin and by the women. No official sanction had yet been pronounced, but silent judgement had already occurred, and it was these unspoken forms of punishment that maintained the necessary cohesion of the Edur tribes – rejection of aberrant behaviour must be seen, the punishment one of public participation, the lesson clear to all who might harbour similar dangerous impulses. Trull understood this well enough, and did not rail against it.

  Without the demon at his side, it would have been far more painful, far more lonely, than it was. Yet even with Lilac, there was a truth that stung. The demon was not free, and had it been so it would not now be here, at his side. Thus, the premise of companionship was flawed, and Trull could not delude himself into believing otherwise.

  Fear had not spoken to him once since High Fort. Orders were conveyed through B’nagga, who was indifferent to, or unaware of, the tensions swirling about Trull.

  Nearby sat their two charges, the queen and her son, for whom Trull and his company had provided escort down from High Fort. They had been carried by ox-drawn wagon, the prince’s minor wounds tended to by a Letherii slave, the queen provided with a female slave of her own to cook meals and do other chores as required. An indulgence permitting the king’s wife to resume her haughty demeanour. Even so, the two prisoners had said little since their capture. Ahlrada Ahn made his way over.

  Trull spoke first. ‘Captain. What has Sergeant Canarth so animated?’

  The dark-skinned warrior frowned. ‘You, Trull Sengar.’

  ‘Ah, and you’ve come to warn me of insurrection?’ The suggestion clearly offended him. ‘I am not your ally,’ he said. ‘Not in this matter. Canarth intends to approach Fear and request a new commander.’

  ‘Well, that would be a relief,’ Trull said. ‘What is it you want, then?’

  ‘I want you to excuse yourself before Canarth delivers his request.’

  Trull looked away. Southward, the sprawl of farms on the other side of Thetil. No livestock, no workers in the fields. The rains had been kind, and all was a luscious, deep green. ‘A Bluerose slave, wasn’t she?

  Your mother. Which was why you were always apart from the rest of us.’

  ‘I am ashamed of nothing, Trull Sengar. If you are seeking to wound me—’

  He met Ahlrada’s hard gaze. ‘No, the very opposite. I know you do not like me. Indeed, you never have – long before I struck… a woman. Oddly enough, I have always admired you. Your strength, your determination to rise above your birth—’

  ‘Rise above?’ Ahlrada’s grin was cold. ‘I suffered under no such compulsion, Trull Sengar. Before she died, my mother told me many secrets. The Bluerose are the survivors, from a war in which it was supposed there were no survivors. It was believed the Edur had killed them all, you see. It was necessary to believe that.’

  ‘You have lost me, Ahlrada Ahn,’ Trull said. ‘What war are you speaking of?’

  ‘I am speaking of the Betrayal. When the Edur and the Andii fought as allies against the K’Chain Che’Malle. The Betrayal, which was not as the Edur histories would have it. The Andii were the ones betrayed, not the Edur. Scabandari Bloodeye stabbed Silchas Ruin. In the back. All that you learned as a child and hold true to this day, Trull Sengar, was a lie.’ His smile grew colder. ‘And now you will accuse me of being the liar.’

  ‘The Bluerose are Tiste Andii?’

  ‘The blood is thinned, but it remains.’

  Trull looked away once more. After a time, he slowly nodded to himself. ‘I see no reason, Ahlrada Ahn, to call you a liar. Indeed, your version makes more sense. After all, had we been the ones betrayed, then we should have been as the Andii today – mere remnants of a broken people—’

  ‘Not as broken as you think,’ Ahlrada said.

  ‘Y
ou do not think Bluerose will capitulate? Is it not already a protectorate of the Letherii? A nation of subjugated people?’

  ‘They have been waiting for this, Trull Sengar. After all, the truth cannot be hidden – once the Edur occupy Bluerose, it will be discovered that its ruling class possess Andii blood.’

  ‘Probably.’

  They were silent for a time, then Ahlrada Ahn said, ‘I hold no particular hatred for you, Trull Sengar. My hatred is for all the Tiste Edur.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘Do you? Look upon the shadow wraiths. The ghosts who have been bound to the Edur, who are made to fight this war. To find oblivion beneath swords of Letherii steel, the fatal iron against which they have no defence. They are Tiste Andii, the shades of those who fell in that betrayal, long ago.’

  The demon, Lilac, spoke, ‘It is true, Trull Sengar. The wraiths are compelled, as much as we KenylPrah. They are not your ancestors.’

  ‘To all of this,’ Trull said, ‘I can do nothing.’

  Without another word, he strode away. Through the camp, deftly avoided by all, his path appearing before him devoid of any obstruction, as if by the hand of sorcery. Trull was not immune to regret. He would have liked to have taken back that moment when he’d lost control, when his outrage had broken through. The woman had been right, he supposed. The wounded Edur must be healed first and foremost. There was no time for demons. He should not have struck her.

  No-one cared for his reasons. The act was inexcusable, as simple as that.

  He approached the command tent.

  And saw that the riders they’d seen earlier on the road had arrived. Among them, Uruth, his mother.

  She was standing beside her horse.

  Fear emerged from the tent and strode to her.

  Uruth was speaking as Trull arrived. ‘… I can barely stand. Should we run low on food on our march south, allow me to be the first to suggest we slaughter the horses.’ She noted Trull and faced him. ‘You have made terrible mistakes, my son. None the less, this over-reaction on the part of the women in this camp will not be tolerated. It is for me to sanction you, not them.’ She returned her attention to Fear. ‘Are the warriors naught but children? Grubby hands on their mother’s skirts? Did your brother Trull reveal cowardice on the field of battle?’

  ‘No,’ Fear replied, ‘there was no question of his courage—’

  ‘For you and your warriors, Fear, nothing else obtains. I would have thought better of you, my eldest son. Your brother sought the healing of a fallen comrade—’

  ‘A demon—’

  ‘And did not demons fight at High Fort? Did not many of them give their lives to win victory? Healers are to accede to the wishes of the warriors after a battle. They are not to make judgements on who is worthy of healing. Had I been here, I myself might well have struck her for her impudence. Shall every Edur woman now assume the flaws of our Empress Mayen? Not if I have a say in the matter. Now, Fear, you will correct your warriors’ attitudes. You will remind them of Trull’s deeds during the journey to retrieve the emperor’s sword. You will tell them to recall his delivery of the news of the Letherii harvest of the tusked seals. Most importantly, Fear, you will not turn away from your brother. Do you challenge my words?’

  It seemed a vast weight lifted from Fear, as he straightened with a wry smile. ‘I would not dare,’ he said.

  Trull hesitated, then said, ‘Mother, Fear’s anger with me has been over my disagreement with the necessity of this war. I have been careless in voicing my objections—’

  ‘A crisis of loyalty to the emperor is a dangerous thing,’ Uruth said. ‘Fear was right to be angry, nor am I pleased by your words. Only the emperor has the power to halt this conquest, and he will not do that. Neither Fear nor I, nor anyone else, Trull, are capable of responding to your doubts. Do you not see that? Only Rhulad, and he is not here.’

  ‘I understand,’ Trull said. He looked to Fear. ‘Brother, I apologize. I shall save my words for Rhulad—’

  ‘He is not interested in hearing them,’ Fear said.

  ‘None the less.’

  They studied each other.

  Uruth sighed. ‘Enough of this. Trull, is that the demon in question?’

  Trull swung round to where Lilac stood, five paces back. ‘Yes.’

  His mother approached the demon. ‘KenylPrah, do your kin still rule over you in your home realm?’

  A deferential nod. ‘The tyrants remain, mistress, for the war continues.’

  ‘Yet you were not a soldier.’

  Lilac shrugged. ‘Even the Kenryll’ah must eat, mistress.’

  ‘We found few soldiers among those we summoned,’ Uruth said.

  ‘We are losing the war. Four of the Kenryll’ah towers have fallen. Korvalahrai ships were seen far up the Chirahd River.’

  ‘I must leave to join the emperor tomorrow morning,’ Uruth said. ‘Which leaves us this night.’

  ‘For what?’ Trull asked.

  ‘A conversation with a Kenryll’ah tyrant,’ she replied, her regard still on the demon. ‘Perhaps the time has come for a formal alliance.’

  Lilac spoke. ‘They are not pleased with your thefts, Tiste Edur.’

  Uruth turned away. ‘You are a peasant, demon. All I need from you is the path into your realm. Keep your opinions to yourself.’

  Trull watched his mother stride into the command tent. He glanced at Fear and saw his brother staring at him.

  ‘Did you come here to speak to me about something?’

  Trull hesitated, then said, ‘My warriors are about to come to you seeking a new commander. I thought to anticipate them by resigning.’

  Fear smiled. ‘ “Resigning.” I suppose we are indeed an army now. In the Letherii fashion. Sergeants, lieutenants, captains.’

  ‘And commanders.’

  ‘There will be no resignations, Trull.’

  ‘Very well. Expect Canarth to request an audience soon.’

  ‘And he shall have one, although he will not leave pleased.’ Fear stepped close. ‘We will soon be joining our brothers. I know you will have words you will want to say to Rhulad. Be careful, Trull. Nothing is at it once was. Our people have changed.’

  ‘I can see that, Fear.’

  ‘Perhaps, but you do not understand it.’

  ‘Do you?’ Trull challenged.

  Fear shrugged, made no reply. A moment later, he walked back to his command tent.

  ‘Your mother,’ Lilac said, ‘would play a dangerous game.’

  ‘This is the emperor’s game, Lilac,’ Trull said. He faced the demon. ‘Your people are at war in your home realm?’

  ‘I am a caster of nets.’

  ‘Yet, should the need arise, your tyrant masters could call you into military service.’

  ‘The Kenryll’ah have ruled a long time, Trull Sengar. And have grown weak with complacency. They cannot see their own impending demise. It is always the way of things, such blindness. No matter how long and perfect the succession of fallen empires and civilizations so clearly writ into the past, the belief remains that one’s own shall live for ever, and is not subject to the indomitable rules of dissolution that bind all of nature.’ The small, calm eyes of the demon looked down steadily upon Trull. ‘I am a caster of nets. Tyrants and emperors rise and fall. Civilizations burgeon then die, but there are always casters of nets. And tillers of the soil, and herders in the pastures. We are where civilization begins, and when it ends, we are there to begin it again.’

  A curious speech, Trull reflected. The wisdom of peasants was rarely articulated in such clear fashion. Even so, claims to truth were innumerable. ‘Unless, Lilac, all the casters and tillers and herders are dead.’

  ‘I spoke not of ourselves, Trull, but of our tasks. KenylPrah, Edur, Letherii, the selves are not eternal. Only the tasks.’

  ‘Unless everything is dead.’

  ‘Life will return, eventually. It always does. If the water is foul, it will find new water.’

 
‘My mother said she would make use of you, to fashion a path,’ Trull said. ‘How will this be done?’

  ‘I will be sacrificed. My blood shall be the path.’

  ‘I did not have you healed only to have you sacrificed, Lilac’

  ‘There is nothing you can do, Trull Sengar.’

  ‘There must be. Is there no way of setting you free?’

  The demon was silent for a moment, then it said, ‘Your blood can create a new binding. Myself to you, in exclusion of all else. Then you could command me.’

  ‘To do what? Return to your realm?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And could you then be summoned again?’

  ‘Only by you, Trull Sengar.’

  ‘You would have me as your master, Lilac?’

  ‘The alternative is death.’

  ‘Which you said earlier you’d prefer to slavery.’

  ‘Between the choices of fighting this war or dying, yes.’

  ‘But returning home…’

  ‘That is preferable to all else, Trull Sengar.’

  The Tiste Edur drew out his knife. ‘What must I do?’

  ****

  Trull entered the command tent a short while later. He found Fear and Uruth in the centre chamber. ‘Mother.’

  She turned, frowned. ‘What have you done?’

  ‘I sent my demon away. You will have to find another.’

  Her gaze dropped to his left hand, narrowed on the broad, still dripping cut across the palm. ‘I see. Tell me, son, will your defiance never end?’

  ‘I paid a high price to save that demon’s life.’

  ‘What of it?’

  ‘You intended to use him to create your path into his realm—’

  ‘And?’

  ‘To do that, you would have to sacrifice it—’

  ‘The demon told you that? It lied, Trull. In fact, killing it would have severed its link to its own world. It deceived you, son. But you are bound now, the two of you. You can summon it back, and deliver your punishment.’

  Trull cocked his head, then smiled. ‘You know, Mother, I think I would have done the same, were I in its place. No, I have sent it home, and there it shall stay.’