“Coming?”
Distinctly gloomy, Jon ordered his servants to set up camp for the night. While they obeyed, he snatched Savage’s reins and Beka took charge of Audacity. Ela picked up Tzana and settled the little girl like a toddler onto her hip. Then she coaxed the stomping, snorting Pet to follow her into the blackness. Toward her enemies.
The gate lowered behind them with an ominous thud.
11
C ould this island-kingdom be any worse? Halting in the street beneath the perpetually darkened skies, Kien watched a pack of tattered children beating each other bloody near a refuse heap, fighting as if their lives depended upon the garbage. Where were their parents?
A woman staggered from an arched stone gateway, spied the children, and yelled, “G’on! Leave ’em ’fore I rip out yer hair!” She descended on the urchins and scattered them with curses and thumps until only two remained. And those bloodied two cowered beneath her fists. She cursed again, then snarled, “Set the noon meal ’fore I boil yer ’nstead!”
Her ragged, scrawny offspring snatched rubbish from the heap and scuttled beyond her reach. With their meal, no doubt. Could he at least intercede for these children? Kien bellowed, “In eighteen days the Infinite will destroy Adar-iyr. Repent and be saved!”
Cursing again, the drunken woman grabbed a dirt clod from the heap and flung it at him.
Missed.
Her children hesitated, staring at Kien from the rugged stone archway, which framed a garbage-scattered yard. But when their mother pelted Kien with more curses and dirt clods, they fled. Good. Perhaps he’d saved the little ones from a dirt clod or two.Infinite, protect them. Praying, Kien trudged on, turning from one narrow alley to another, seeking more wretches to warn of their doom.
Wait. Watch.
Infinite? Kien hesitated, the hairs along his neck and arms prickling in unease. Seeing two cloak-obscured forms duck behind a garbage heap in the chilly overcast street ahead, he half drew his Azurnite sword. Robbers? Be with me, Infinite, though I don’t deserve—
One of the forms shifted, hiding behind the mountain of rubbish. But the second man charged Kien, lifting a sword and roaring an incoherent cry, like a man rushing to battle.
Kien waited. His attacker, muscular, with a deeply creased face, loped within striking distance and swung his sword in an undisciplined arc. Kien parried the blow with all his might.
Their blades collided, and the stranger’s sword snapped against the deep blue-gray Azurnite, its broken tip ringing as it hit the nearest wall. The would-be thug gasped and stumbled backward, lifting his almost useless blade. Kien leveled the Azurnite with his assailant’s chin. “In eighteen days, the Infinite will destroy Adar-iyr—repent and be saved!”
The man escaped behind the garbage heap, evidently meeting a fellow conspirator amid a flurry of curses and scuffling. Kien charged after them in time to hear a man’s rough voice snarl, “Run! He’s God-protected and mad!”
Mad? Kien halted. Well, if he wasn’t insane yet, he could be soon, provoked by hunger, cold, fear, and fatigue. As for God-protected . . . yes.
Quiet, furtive footsteps on gritty pavement made Kien turn, sword readied.
The wizened old beachcomber who’d awakened Kien on his first day in Adar-iyr was sneaking across the narrow street. As if trying to escape Kien’s notice. Evidently realizing he’d been caught, the aged man lifted his hands and quavered, “I’d thought t’was you, sea whelp. Don’t kill old Hal!”
Sea whelp. Oh, what a dashing name. Despite his frustration, Kien shook his head, giving Hal a rueful grin, followed by the obligatory stern warning. “In eighteen days, the Infinite will destroy Adar-iyr. Repent and be saved.”
The old man’s eyes widened in the gloom. “You’re serious as I feared. We’re gonna die!” Moving his trembling hands protectively before his face, Hal backed off, then turned and
Distinctly gloomy, Jon ordered his servants to set up camp for the night. While they obeyed, he snatched Savage’s reins and Beka took charge of Audacity. Ela picked up Tzana and settled the little girl like a toddler onto her hip. Then she coaxed the stomping, snorting Pet to follow her into the blackness. Toward her enemies.
The gate lowered behind them with an ominous thud.
11
C ould this island-kingdom be any worse? Halting in the street beneath the perpetually darkened skies, Kien watched a pack of tattered children beating each other bloody near a refuse heap, fighting as if their lives depended upon the garbage. Where were their parents?
A woman staggered from an arched stone gateway, spied the children, and yelled, “G’on! Leave ’em ’fore I rip out yer hair!” She descended on the urchins and scattered them with curses and thumps until only two remained. And those bloodied two cowered beneath her fists. She cursed again, then snarled, “Set the noon meal ’fore I boil yer ’nstead!”
Her ragged, scrawny offspring snatched rubbish from the heap and scuttled beyond her reach. With their meal, no doubt. Could he at least intercede for these children? Kien bellowed, “In eighteen days the Infinite will destroy Adar-iyr. Repent and be saved!”
Cursing again, the drunken woman grabbed a dirt clod from the heap and flung it at him.
Missed.
Her children hesitated, staring at Kien from the rugged stone archway, which framed a garbage-scattered yard. But when their mother pelted Kien with more curses and dirt clods, they fled. Good. Perhaps he’d saved the little ones from a dirt clod or two.Infinite, protect them. Praying, Kien trudged on, turning from one narrow alley to another, seeking more wretches to warn of their doom.
Wait. Watch.
Infinite? Kien hesitated, the hairs along his neck and arms prickling in unease. Seeing two cloak-obscured forms duck behind a garbage heap in the chilly overcast street ahead, he half drew his Azurnite sword. Robbers? Be with me, Infinite, though I don’t deserve—
One of the forms shifted, hiding behind the mountain of rubbish. But the second man charged Kien, lifting a sword and roaring an incoherent cry, like a man rushing to battle.
Kien waited. His attacker, muscular, with a deeply creased face, loped within striking distance and swung his sword in an undisciplined arc. Kien parried the blow with all his might.
Their blades collided, and the stranger’s sword snapped against the deep blue-gray Azurnite, its broken tip ringing as it hit the nearest wall. The would-be thug gasped and stumbled backward, lifting his almost useless blade. Kien leveled the Azurnite with his assailant’s chin. “In eighteen days, the Infinite will destroy Adar-iyr—repent and be saved!”
The man escaped behind the garbage heap, evidently meeting a fellow conspirator amid a flurry of curses and scuffling. Kien charged after them in time to hear a man’s rough voice snarl, “Run! He’s God-protected and mad!”
Mad? Kien halted. Well, if he wasn’t insane yet, he could be soon, provoked by hunger, cold, fear, and fatigue. As for God-protected . . . yes.
Quiet, furtive footsteps on gritty pavement made Kien turn, sword readied.
The wizened old beachcomber who’d awakened Kien on his first day in Adar-iyr was sneaking across the narrow street. As if trying to escape Kien’s notice. Evidently realizing he’d been caught, the aged man lifted his hands and quavered, “I’d thought t’was you, sea whelp. Don’t kill old Hal!”
Sea whelp. Oh, what a dashing name. Despite his frustration, Kien shook his head, giving Hal a rueful grin, followed by the obligatory stern warning. “In eighteen days, the Infinite will destroy Adar-iyr. Repent and be saved.”
The old man’s eyes widened in the gloom. “You’re serious as I feared. We’re gonna die!” Moving his trembling hands protectively before his face, Hal backed off, then turned and
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