“You’ve made that very clear, and I have no intention of making you do anything against your will. Malahem needs you more than anything.”
Tears welled in Katsi’s eyes. She hated this. He wanted to use her. “Malahem needs me for what? To kill waheshi? When does it stop? Why do the bleeders even make them?”
“Your Highness?” a voice echoed down from above. “Contact.”
Alyssad passed a hand over his eyes. “I’m sorry to cut this short, Katsi. But please know that your will matters to me. I will not demand anything from you, but I thank you sincerely for helping those people earlier. I needed to know that I was not alone. You are like me, willing to use your power to save others even if the cost is great. I intend to answer all your questions.” He turned to leave.
Katsi stormed up the stairs behind him, resisting the urge to kick him in the leg for keeping so many secrets from her. Couldn’t he have told her the truth all along? Why not admit that he was a shaman?
Trust.
It was always a balancing game with trust. Plus, what did all that mean about Alyssad’s origin? He’d said there had never been another emperor, but that would make him over 400 years old. Perhaps he was insane.
The burning question wouldn’t leave her mind. What did he want her for? What did he actually expect of her? She had a feeling there were so many moving cogs that she wasn’t even aware of. And who was to say that Alyssad’s point of view was justified? He’d clearly made horrible decisions before. She understood the desire to make amends. She could only imagine how much it would eat him up inside to feel the weight of such mistakes, but what if his solution was equally flawed?
That must be why he delayed discussing it with her. Whatever he wanted her to do, it would not be an easy decision.
They reached the top of the stairs and Alyssad was ushered off with an attendant.
“Katsi, there you are!” Adrina said, shuffling toward her with hurried steps. “Sleet, woman, you’re an absolute mess. We need to get you in a bath immedi—” her voice faltered as she noticed splattered blood on Katsi’s clothes. “Immediately. Come along, then.” She hooked Katsi’s arm and walked with her through the hall.
Katsi spared a final glance at Alyssad, but the door to his room had closed. Her fists tightened. She couldn’t believe she’d have to go to some celebration, especially after learning all of this. She wished she had somebody she could trust. Where was Scales? Where was Migo?
She’d play her part, but as soon as she had a chance, she was sneaking out to find them.
***
This better be good news, Ranaz thought as he approached the cabinet with his communication orbs. New Season was finally at an end and the boldness of the bleeder rebels would cease.
The orb for Alishara glowed in orange light. He touched it, unlocking the enchanted message. Alishara’s voice came through as clear as if she was in the room, but it echoed with the familiar ring of her underground home. “Your Highness. Nagesh is dead. He used his power to extreme levels that likely took everything he had. I’m not sure if he was making more waheshi or not, but when I put a strain on him through the oath, somebody else killed him. I thought you’d want to know.”
The sphere went dark.
Ranaz thumbed his beard in thought. What would have caused Nagesh to risk everything? He smirked to himself. The answer was clear. Migo had killed Nagesh’s family. Nagesh must have been there at the battle, rejoining with his sister tribe to try and seek revenge. He must have used everything in his power to come off conqueror, but Migo killed him. His plan had worked. Two bleeder army threats had been eliminated this cycle.
He closed the cabinet and called for attendants to help him prepare. It was indeed time for celebration.
Chapter nine
Terror
Migo’s… wings pumped with tremendous power. The repeated, laborious motion was meditative in nature, and with such a long distance to fly, it gave him plenty of opportunity to think. Despite that, every second it took him to reach his destination, the more it filled him with deeper frustration.
The time at least allowed him to come to grips with whatever it was that happened to him. He was a beast. A monster. Every time he looked at himself he found it hard to believe that he’d become some kind of hybrid creature like Scales. Scales was small and colorful, with actual scales covering his whole body, whereas Migo was covered in dark black, shimmering scales that went down his back, the outside of his arms and legs, and all the way down his… he gulped… his tail. But his underside was more like a thick gray hide.
He stretched his hands and feet. Paws? Sands, this was madness. He had long limbs and sizable talons that could probably shear a varman in half. He ran his tongue across his teeth, so long and sharp, they’d put any rangola’s to shame. Horns ringed his head like a crown, and spikes ran all the way down to his tail, with additional spikes jutting from the back of his elbows as if his talons weren’t enough.
These clearer thoughts came through in bursts of sanity. Much of the time, he was engrossed in his objective.
Save Katsi.
Tear every limb from the emperor’s body.
The emperor had been the one to kill his father. The emperor had ruined his family. And now the emperor sought to take away the one woman Migo had ever cared about.
He wasn’t going to let it happen.
A forgotten memory came back with traumatic detail. The first death he’d ever witnessed was his father’s, yes, but the second? The third? Katsi’s parents.
Little did he know that his mother had indeed caught the real suspects responsible for murdering his father. She probably hadn’t known either. But as Queen Tilayna had forced Migo to watch the beheading of Katsi’s parents, he’d diverted his eyes, instead noticing a girl huddled down by the side of a home, tears streaking down her face as she watched her parents get executed right in front of her.
That was the first time he’d ever seen Katsi. In one way or another, the emperor was responsible for the worst things that had happened in both their lives. And how many thousands of others had been the same?
The shamans had said it themselves. Ranaz was responsible for more death than Migo could even comprehend. Millions. He ground his teeth, snarling at the very thought, wishing to dig his fangs into Ranaz’s flesh.
Death had brought Katsi and Migo together on so many occasions since that first execution. And it would continue to do so.
The next death would be Emperor Ranaz Malrabia. Judging by the speed he was able to maintain, it was only a matter of marks before Migo arrived at Mazanib. The emperor would know terror.
Chapter ten
Regent
Shanon resisted the urge to run to the Scorched Waste. The odds of her finding the single entrance into the palace’s dungeon were slim. Less than half a mark in the Scorched Waste would kill even the most prepared individual. The only thing that could keep somebody alive was the bewitched clothing the shamanfolk wore.
Instead, she kept to her task. They needed to recruit Nedro Wajek to their cause. Only with his help could they hope to get Hatan instated as the king.
The moon was at its zenith, but it was soon to be covered by clouds that rolled steadily in from the Frozen Waste. Warm wind whistling through the streets of Jehubal signaled the end of New Season. The farmers would be furiously tending their crops for the few short marks they’d have before Maedaris returned.
