They did not look so dangerous without all of their armor, but Makeda knew better. In the distance, the camp’s lone bronzeback scratched itself against a nearby post. The post was thick and had been set deep into the ground by slaves just for that purpose. The alpha titan’s rough grey hide turned the post into splinters with in few minutes. Born in the wild, there was no such thing as a tame bronzeback, only one that was temporarily compliant because of an exhaustive regimen of carefully regulated abuse. There were paingivers watching it even now, because a single enraged bronzeback could cause unspeakable damage.
In the morning the beasts would be dressed in armor, and the pain compliance hooks would be driven into the most sensitive parts of their flesh, all in order to make them more efficient weapons and stores of mortitheurgeal energy. But for tonight, the itch finally satisfied, that particular beast lay down to sleep, surely to dream of grass and cows.
Makeda reached out and touched the great bronzeback’s mind with her own. “Sleep well, great one. For tomorrow House Balaash may have need of your might.”
A keening wail caused Makeda to shudder. The titans looked up from their chewing. A nearby Agonizer had begun its piteous mewling. Thankfully, it fell silent after a few moments, and the titans returned to their hay. That was lucky. Nobody wanted to listen to an Agonizer all night. She continued to scan for threats, but could see nothing. The occasional guard passed by, but she remained unseen.
Makeda had gone into Telkesh’s tent and found a dark cloak. She had then slipped out the back. Hopefully, if Akkad was having her watched, then the spies would still be watching the tent. The warrior caste did not waste time mourning, but it was not unheard of to spend time meditating upon the deeds of the deceased.
However, Makeda needed to focus on the problems of the present, not dwell on the past.
Her stomach growled. Quite some time had passed since she had last eaten, but warriors were used to fasting. Makeda simply ignored it and went back to her vigil. She spotted a hunched form entering the beast area a short time later. A small glow came from under the hood, a sure sign of the extoller’s crystal gaze. Haradum had arrived. Makeda had known that she would come, for it had been the elder Haradum that had taught her about the traditions of their people since Makeda had been but a small child.
The extoller caste was supposed to be separate and distinct from the politics of the houses. They were the isolated guardians of Exaltation and the only ones who could communicate with the deceased. Haradum was utterly devoted to the Extoller’s path, and Makeda had no doubt that she could be trusted to be honest, but even then, Makeda watched for a time for any sign of a trap. When she was confident that Haradum was alone, Makeda rose.
Aptimus Haradum approached immediately. Of course she had seen Makeda hiding in the darkness. The crystal eye could discern the essence which was inside all living things. She was an ancient, alive for at least six generations, her face a mass of wrinkles and folds dangling loose over a skull. The only smooth part of Haradum was the crystal that had replaced her right eye.
“Second Born Makeda. It pleases me to no end to discover that you are still among us,” the extoller wheezed. “I rejoice at this good fortune.”
“Time is short, elder.” Makeda kept her voice low. Nobody would be able to hear them over the heavy breathing of the nearby titans. “I must know. Why was the spirit of Telkesh not preserved?”
Haradum did not seem moved by Makeda’s intensity. “A difficult decision. It was not mine to make. Shuruppak was the extoller present at Telkesh’s deathbed. I did not hear until afterward. I was busy working on my research. Did you know that beetles have a spiritual essence as well?”
Shuruppak had been raised as a warrior, and been a companion of Akkad’s before deciding to pluck out his eye in order join the extoller caste.
“Tiny, tiny, little things …” Haradum put her bony hands together at the wrist and quickly wiggled her fingers back and forth, like scurrying legs. “Yes. But their essence does not go to the Void, no. Are there beetle gods then, I wonder?”
Had Haradum’s mind finally broken? It happened occasionally to the few among their people who managed to die of old age. “Telkesh has killed hundreds in battle. Like Vaactash before him, Telkesh was all that it means to be skorne. My father lived by the code. That cannot all be washed away by one day of fevered madness. Why would Shuruppak choose not to save him?”
The ancient extoller’s mortal eye narrowed and she leaned in conspiratorially. “When a spirit is pulled, screaming, into the Void, it can tell no stories. So much knowledge is lost that way.”
“Answer me, Haradum.”
Haradum smiled. She had no teeth. “I just did. What stories would Telkesh have been able to tell, I wonder? Would he be able to tell of plots and lies? Would he be able to tell of conspiracies between houses? Perhaps of allegiances between castes which are supposed to remain neutral?”
“Tell me these stories, elder.”
“I would not know. I am nothing. I wish only to be left alone to continue my research. Yet, an extoller hears things … Yes, yes we do. It is easy sometimes to forget we are there, always watching, always judging. Telkesh judged too. He judged wisely. When presented with two paths by his advisors, he always chose the warrior’s path, never the plotter’s path. Perhaps those advisors tired of being denied? Maybe they decided they needed a new archdominar, someone willing to listen to their strange new ideas, one not so bound up in the traditions of old? Akkad would be such a one, yes?”
“He would,” Makeda agreed. Akkad cared far more for personal glory than he did for tradition.
“These same plotters, after deciding to go so far, would not risk having yet another honorable warrior of Balaash only a heartbeat away from becoming archdominar. Surely, once this scion discovered the truth, she would raise an army from all of the honorable warriors of her house, and wage war against the plotters.”
So there had been a conspiracy to kill Telkesh and replace him with her brother. Akkad’s actions were cowardly, and depriving Telkesh of Exaltation was blasphemous. “Thank you, elder. But there will be no army raised. I will not weaken my house through civil war.” Makeda placed a hand on Haradum’s shoulder. She was surprised at how fragile the extoller felt beneath her robes. “Even if Akkad murdered my father … He is archdominar of House Balaash. The code declares that he is to rule. It is my place to serve, unless I believe he is a danger to the house, and then I must bring a formal challenge.”
“We both know you are no match for Akkad in single combat. You will surely die.”
“I cannot go against the traditions of my caste, elder.”
Haradum’s laughter sounded like the rustle of dusty paper. “Child, those without honor assume that everyone is like them. There is no way he will accept a formal challenge to his rule. He will send assassins for you.”
“How do you know this, Haradum?”
The crystal eye flickered across the beast pens. “Because they are already here.”
Makeda spun in time to see the shapes running between the haystacks. There was a flash of crimson and steel and someone leapt effortlessly over a serrated wire fence only to disappear into the darkness. Bloodrunners!
Bloodrunners were the elite killers of the paingiver caste, students of the magic released at the moment of death. Their presence confirmed the extoller’s tale. “Flee, Haradum.” The Swords of Balaash appeared in Makeda’s hands. “Return to your beetles.”
A titan startled and snorted as something brushed past one of its column sized legs. There was movement all around them, a single careless footstep on gravel, the hiss of a dagger leaving its sheath, and then the bloodrunners attacked.
The first came seemingly out of nowhere, leading with a curved blade. Makeda deflected the attack with one sword, spun, and drove the second deep into the attacker’s bowels. He gasped as she ripped the sword free, but did not cry out. She marveled at the mastery of pain, but only for a moment, because then sh
e was fighting for her life.
A female stabbed at her throat, but Makeda ducked and slashed, cutting the bloodrunner nearly in half. They were all armed with the strange daggers, hooked and jagged, tools designed to incapacitate and torture. Makeda struck aside another attack, and then another. That bloodrunner had been a bit too slow, and a sword of Balaash removed his arm at the elbow. That one made no sound either, he merely stepped to the side, struggling to staunch the flow of blood.
The assassins were all around her, blades humming through the air. The clang of steel on steel caused the nearest titans to stir and grunt themselves awake. Those that had been eating looked up from their hay, confused and wondering if it was time for battle.
A handful of sand was thrown at her eyes, but she turned away just in time. Another kicked a cloud of straw between them, and feinted, all in an effort to distract her from another bloodrunner who was trying to stab her in the back. These assassins certainly did not follow hoksune, but Makeda relished a new challenge. She spun one sword, reversed her grip, and stabbed behind her, driving the point clean through the lightly armored torso of a bloodrunner. “Who sent you?” She sidestepped, and chopped another one to the ground. The spilled blood fueled her strength. “Who?”
They did not answer. More of the assassins materialized from the shadows. Makeda dodged aside before she was surrounded. The terrain was not to her advantage. “Akkad?” A dagger clipped the edge of her armor. It stung and she felt the warmth of blood trickling out. Makeda circled around the nearest haystack. “Abaish? Who?”
Crack. There was a flash of pain as something hit her in the back. She turned to see another bloodrunner, this one lifting a long, bone-studded whip for another swing. Makeda wheeled about, shrugging out of the cloak. Crack. The whip snapped through the fabric and was entangled. With a frustrated snarl, the bloodrunner shook his whip, trying to free it.
Two more attacks left Makeda with two more small cuts and two more dying bloodrunners. They were masters of anatomical precision, guiding their attacks past her armor. There were at least a dozen more assassins moving around the pens, and she would bleed to death long before she took them all. She kicked the knees out from under a bloodrunner and he fell, impaling himself on his own blade. I must escape.
One of the slave’s hayforks flew at her from out of the shadows. She knocked it aside, turned, and vaulted over the fence into the titan enclosure. Her boots slipped in the muck of the wallow, but she did not fall. Two bloodrunners were right behind. One dove between the wires, rolled, and came up standing. One simply leapt smoothly over the top in a rustle of cloth. She struck at them simultaneously, but they both parried with their daggers.
Agitated, the nearest titan opened its mouth and bellowed a challenge, bits of ground hay flying everywhere. Makeda had trained her entire life, learning how to master warbeasts and forcing them to obey her will, and she recognized an opportunity when it presented itself. It would take a second of concentration, but it was worth the risk. I am your master. Obey me.
The two bloodrunners pressed their attack as their brothers followed. The one with the whip appeared to be the leader. He was silently communicating through a series of rapid hand gestures at the bloodrunners still hidden in the shadows. An alarm horn blew as the Balaash guards overseeing the pens realized something was wrong.
Obey!
The titan blinked stupidly for a moment, but then its tiny black eyes narrowed in understanding.
Destroy.
Makeda parried another attack and kicked that bloodrunner hard in the stomach. His mouth twisted beneath his mask, but he remained focused on his mission. It only mattered for a split second though, since the titan’s fist hit him so hard it left a pink cloud hanging suspended in the air.
The titan lifted itself to its full height and roared its battle cry. If the alarm horn hadn’t already sounded, that would have certainly woken up the entire encampment. The second bloodrunner turned in surprise, so Makeda used the chance to slice his head off. It landed in the muck of the wallow at her feet, so Makeda kicked the severed head at the other remaining bloodrunners. “Balaash!”
The bloodrunners tried to avoid the titan, but it was too late. One had gotten caught on the wire fence, and the titan closed its hands around the assassin. This was the first one that had lost his composure and he started shouting. This seemed to annoy the titan, since it simply lifted the bloodrunner overhead and then hurled him screaming out into the night.
There were still bloodrunners everywhere, but they seemed to be fading back into the darkness, aware that their mission of a quiet assassination had failed. The titan easily stomped the fence flat and went after them. Light and shadows bounced along the fence posts nearby as the guards came running.
CRACK!
Makeda nearly blacked out as something wrapped hard around her neck. She was jerked from her feet and landed sprawled in the mud.
The one with the whip had not given up yet.
Her armor had saved her life, but bone shards had pierced her neck. The whip pulled and the noose tightened. Makeda slid through wet ooze. The cuts deepened, yet she was calm. No arteries severed ... Yet.
A quick slash of her sword cut the whip in half. The pressure ended and she could breathe again. The guards were closer and she could hear their angry cries over the ringing in her ears.
“Capture the traitor, Makeda!”
“The archdominar says his sister has betrayed us!”
Curse you, Akkad. She did not need to be a mortitheurge to know that she was losing far too much blood. She would not be able to face the guards. She would be captured and executed as a traitor. Her name would be stricken from the histories.
The last bloodrunner was not content to let her die under a board and a pile of rocks however. He was intent on doing the job himself, and had dropped his ruined whip and drawn a paingiver’s blade. He was charging across the pen, and Makeda knew she would not be able to stand in time.
He was upon her, dagger raised, mouth twisted into a snarl, but then the paingiver seemed to come apart. He jerked and spasmed as blood flew into the air, and then fell onto his face, forward momentum sliding him through the mud to stop at Makeda’s feet, his back shredded so badly that she could see the white of his spine. He had been dead before Makeda had even heard the whine of the reiver.
A ferox landed next to her with a splash. She looked up to see the predator laboring under a pair of riders. Primus Zabalam and Dakar Urkesh both dismounted. She tried to speak, but no sounds would form in her damaged throat. “Makeda!” Zabalam grabbed her by the armor and hoisted her up with surprising strength while Urkesh loaded a fresh needle cone on his reiver.
“You must flee, Makeda,” Zabalam hissed at her. “Akkad has declared you an outcast. Your life is forfeit. Go. Your cohort is waiting.” The guards were almost upon them. The titan she had enraged was still chasing bloodrunners and crushing tents underfoot. There was no time. Zabalam was right. She tried to climb into the saddle, but she was weaker than she thought, and struggled to do so. Zabalam pushed her roughly upward. The ferox shifted beneath her, but understood this was not the time to fight against its handlers.
A horrendous whine sounded as Urkesh spotted another bloodrunner and cut him to bits. Zabalam grabbed him by the arm. “Go with Makeda. I charge you to protect her.” He drew his swords.
“What are you doing?” Urkesh shouted.
“This ferox can’t run fast enough to get away if there are three of us on it. I’ll buy you time. Protect her with your life. She is the future of House Balaash, not that wretched dishonorable belek, Akkad.” Zabalam looked to Makeda, the half of his damaged face that still worked turned up in a grin. “My apologies for insulting your family.”
Makeda still could not speak. She put one bloody hand on Zabalam’s head. It left a red print once she took it away. Urkesh climbed up behind her.
“You always were my best student. Now go!” He stuck the ferox on the rump with the hilt of a
sword. The predator lurched away in an ungainly run.
Makeda looked back to see Zabalam striding toward the rushing host of guards, arms extended, displaying his swords proudly. “I am Primus Zabalam of the Praetorian, sword master of House Balaash, student of exalted Vaactash, and I fight to defend Makeda, the true heir of Telkesh! Who among you is stupid enough to contend with me?”
About half the guards froze, torn and unsure, but the other half attacked.
“Come then!” There was a flurry of motion as Zabalam struck back against overwhelming odds.
It was a single perfect moment of all that it meant to follow the code of hoksune, but then the ferox darted around a tent and Zabalam disappeared from Makeda’s sight.
“Ride! That way.” Urkesh pointed with his reiver. The Venator had obviously never ridden a ferox before and was doing his best to hold on. Makeda kicked the predator in the ribs and turned it with her knees. There was a huge crash as the enraged titan slammed through a tent and appeared in front of them, a bloodrunner stuck on one of its tusks. Urkesh shouted in surprise right in her ear. The ferox bounded around the titan in two leaps, avoiding the beast handlers who were trying to bring the titan under control.
More horns sounded. Officers stood at the corners, waving torches and repeating Akkad’s proclamation that Makeda was a traitor to House Balaash and had to be captured. Yet as the ferox loped through the camp, many soldiers saw her, but did not move to intercept. Enough others did, however, that escape did not look likely.
Cataphract moved ahead of her, war spears leveled. She struck the ferox and it turned, sliding through the grass, only seconds away from being impaled upon a wall of spears. A brief sprint and another corner took them into more swordsmen. One tried to stab the ferox, but it simply lunged forward, sank its huge teeth into a shoulder, and shook him to death. Another soldier came from behind but Urkesh shredded him with a reiver burst.
Soldiers loyal to Akkad were moving throughout the camp, shouting for the traitor Makeda’s blood. “We’re not going to make it,” Urkesh stated.