The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Page 56
After I had been silent for a few breaths, Nahadoth turned to me. The night is half over. If you mean to go to Darr, it should be now.
Oh. Ah, yes. Swallowing, I looked around the room, anywhere but at him. How will we travel?
In answer, Nahadoth extended his hand.
I wiped my hand unnecessarily on my skirt, and took it.
The blackness that surrounded him flared like lifting wings, filling the room to its arched ceiling. I gasped and would have stepped back, but his hand became a vice on my own. When I looked at his face I felt ill: his eyes had changed. They were all black now, iris and whites alike. Worse, the shadows nearest his body had deepened, so much that he was invisible beyond his extended hand.
I stared into the abyss of him and could not bring myself to go closer.
If I meant to kill you, he said, and his voice was different, too, echoing, shadowed, it would already be too late.
There was that. So I looked up into those terrible eyes, mustered my courage, and said, Please take me to Arrebaia, in Darr. The temple of Sar-enna-nem.
The blackness at his core expanded so swiftly to envelop me that I had no time to cry out. There was an instant of unbearable cold and pressure, so great I thought it would crush me. But it stopped short of pain, and then even the cold vanished. I opened my eyes and saw nothing. I stretched out my handsincluding the hand that I knew he heldand felt nothing. I cried out and heard only silence.
Then I stood on stone and breathed air laden with familiar scents and felt warm humidity soak into my skin. Behind me spread the stone streets and walls of Arrebaia, filling the plateau on which we stood. It was later in the night than it had been at Sky, I could tell, because the streets were all but empty. Before me rose stone steps, lined on either side by standing lanterns, at the top of which were the gates to Sar-enna-nem.
I turned back to Nahadoth, who had reverted to his usual, just-shy-of-human appearance.
Y-you are welcome in my familys home, I said. I was still shivering from our mode of travel.
I know. He strode up the steps. Caught off guard, I stared at his back for ten steps before remembering myself and trotting to follow.
Sar-enna-nems gates are heavy, ugly wood-and-metal affairsa more recent addition to the ancient stone. It took at least four women to work the mechanism that swung them open, which made a vast improvement over the days when the gates had been made of stone and needed twenty openers. I had arrived unannounced, in the small hours of the morning, and knew that this meant upsetting the entire guardstaff. We had not been attacked in centuries, but my people prided themselves on vigilance nonetheless.
They might not let us in, I murmured, drawing alongside the Nightlord. I was hard-pressed to keep up; he was taking the steps two at a time.
Nahadoth said nothing in reply and did not slow his pace. I heard the loud, echoing sound of the great latch lifting, and then the gates swung openon their own. I groaned, realizing what hed done. Of course there were shouts and running feet as we passed through, and as we stepped onto the grassy patch that served as Sar-enna-nems forecourt, two clusters of guards came running forth from the ancient edifices doors. One was the gate companyjust men, since it was a lowly position that required only brute strength.
The other company was the standing guard, composed of women and those few men who had earned the honor, distinguished by white silk tunics under the armor. This one was led by a familiar face: Imyan, a woman from my own Somem tribe. She shouted in our language as she reached the forecourt, and the company split to surround us. Very quickly we were surrounded by a ring of spears and arrows pointed at our hearts.
Notheir weapons were pointed at my heart, I noticed. Not a single one of them had aimed at Nahadoth.
I stepped in front of Nahadoth to make it easier for them, and to signal my friendliness. For a moment it felt strange to speak in my own tongue. Its good to see you, Captain Imyan.
I dont know you, she said curtly. I almost smiled. As girls we had gotten into all manner of mischief together; now she was as committed to her duty as I.
You laughed the first time you saw me, I said. Id been trying to grow my hair longer, thinking to look like my mother. You said it looked like curly tree moss.
Imyans eyes narrowed. Her own hairlong and beautifully Darre-straighthad been arranged in an efficient braids-and-knot behind her head. What are you doing here, if youre Yeine-ennu?
You know Im no longer ennu, I said. The Itempans have been announcing it all week, by word of mouth and by magic. Even High North shouldve heard by now.
Imyans arrow wavered for a moment longer, then slowly came down. Following her lead, the other guards lowered their weapons as well. Imyans eyes shifted to Nahadoth, then back to me, and for the first time there was a hint of nervousness in her manner. And this?
Oh. Ah, yes. Swallowing, I looked around the room, anywhere but at him. How will we travel?
In answer, Nahadoth extended his hand.
I wiped my hand unnecessarily on my skirt, and took it.
The blackness that surrounded him flared like lifting wings, filling the room to its arched ceiling. I gasped and would have stepped back, but his hand became a vice on my own. When I looked at his face I felt ill: his eyes had changed. They were all black now, iris and whites alike. Worse, the shadows nearest his body had deepened, so much that he was invisible beyond his extended hand.
I stared into the abyss of him and could not bring myself to go closer.
If I meant to kill you, he said, and his voice was different, too, echoing, shadowed, it would already be too late.
There was that. So I looked up into those terrible eyes, mustered my courage, and said, Please take me to Arrebaia, in Darr. The temple of Sar-enna-nem.
The blackness at his core expanded so swiftly to envelop me that I had no time to cry out. There was an instant of unbearable cold and pressure, so great I thought it would crush me. But it stopped short of pain, and then even the cold vanished. I opened my eyes and saw nothing. I stretched out my handsincluding the hand that I knew he heldand felt nothing. I cried out and heard only silence.
Then I stood on stone and breathed air laden with familiar scents and felt warm humidity soak into my skin. Behind me spread the stone streets and walls of Arrebaia, filling the plateau on which we stood. It was later in the night than it had been at Sky, I could tell, because the streets were all but empty. Before me rose stone steps, lined on either side by standing lanterns, at the top of which were the gates to Sar-enna-nem.
I turned back to Nahadoth, who had reverted to his usual, just-shy-of-human appearance.
Y-you are welcome in my familys home, I said. I was still shivering from our mode of travel.
I know. He strode up the steps. Caught off guard, I stared at his back for ten steps before remembering myself and trotting to follow.
Sar-enna-nems gates are heavy, ugly wood-and-metal affairsa more recent addition to the ancient stone. It took at least four women to work the mechanism that swung them open, which made a vast improvement over the days when the gates had been made of stone and needed twenty openers. I had arrived unannounced, in the small hours of the morning, and knew that this meant upsetting the entire guardstaff. We had not been attacked in centuries, but my people prided themselves on vigilance nonetheless.
They might not let us in, I murmured, drawing alongside the Nightlord. I was hard-pressed to keep up; he was taking the steps two at a time.
Nahadoth said nothing in reply and did not slow his pace. I heard the loud, echoing sound of the great latch lifting, and then the gates swung openon their own. I groaned, realizing what hed done. Of course there were shouts and running feet as we passed through, and as we stepped onto the grassy patch that served as Sar-enna-nems forecourt, two clusters of guards came running forth from the ancient edifices doors. One was the gate companyjust men, since it was a lowly position that required only brute strength.
The other company was the standing guard, composed of women and those few men who had earned the honor, distinguished by white silk tunics under the armor. This one was led by a familiar face: Imyan, a woman from my own Somem tribe. She shouted in our language as she reached the forecourt, and the company split to surround us. Very quickly we were surrounded by a ring of spears and arrows pointed at our hearts.
Notheir weapons were pointed at my heart, I noticed. Not a single one of them had aimed at Nahadoth.
I stepped in front of Nahadoth to make it easier for them, and to signal my friendliness. For a moment it felt strange to speak in my own tongue. Its good to see you, Captain Imyan.
I dont know you, she said curtly. I almost smiled. As girls we had gotten into all manner of mischief together; now she was as committed to her duty as I.
You laughed the first time you saw me, I said. Id been trying to grow my hair longer, thinking to look like my mother. You said it looked like curly tree moss.
Imyans eyes narrowed. Her own hairlong and beautifully Darre-straighthad been arranged in an efficient braids-and-knot behind her head. What are you doing here, if youre Yeine-ennu?
You know Im no longer ennu, I said. The Itempans have been announcing it all week, by word of mouth and by magic. Even High North shouldve heard by now.
Imyans arrow wavered for a moment longer, then slowly came down. Following her lead, the other guards lowered their weapons as well. Imyans eyes shifted to Nahadoth, then back to me, and for the first time there was a hint of nervousness in her manner. And this?
