Story Excerpt
Fate is a most fickle creature,
A rose in one hand,
a thorn in the other,
But there’s no refusing the gifts on offer,
Just do all you can to dodge the latter.
Prologue
Nooses and Losers
Akuun awoke face down, head buried beneath a pillow. The dreams had been terrible and they cursed him still; the sheets beneath him were clammy with his sweat. His back hurt, too, though he wasn't sure if that was because of the face down position he had slept, or as a result of the woman whose phlegmy breathing was quietly rattling beside him. To say that she was brutal would be entirely unsatisfactory. The hag had taken much pleasure in their trysts, though it was not from any talent Akuun had brought to the elaborate iron-wrought bed. Though like the bed's expert craftsmanship, the woman's ability to impart hurt upon her courtesan had been painstakingly precise and deliberate.
It was the ninth god-cursed night, and the old crone still had not relented; her thirst for his suffering seemed unquenchable. The woman knew power, had lived with it and bedded it for a good deal of her sixty years, the last two decades not requiring much of the latter, of course. More importantly and poignantly for Akuun, however, was that she had grown a desire for it. The wife of Lord Tam Kame knew very well that her courtesan could not leave until she gave him an answer to the request he had made of her upon his arrival at her chamber's door. She knew it and like all good politicians, she had abused it to her cold heart's content.
Akuun attempted to slip out of the bed as quietly as he could but at the last moment his foot got caught up in the sheets, dragging them and exposing some of Lady Tam Kame's spindly body to the chill air. Akuun swore under his breath and frantically went about covering the spider once more, for that is truly what she was, and this room, this bed, was her web. He could only wonder if she would live up to the liking he had bestowed upon her and devour him when she was through with him.
In the adjoining room was a washroom just as ostentatious as the bedroom. He had hardly been surprised by all of the fine trappings, of course; House Tam Kame was mostly made up of wealthy merchant families and they all suffered the same lust for pomp and wastefulness. In this, and perhaps this alone, Akuun and his own Lord shared a similar distaste. Though no one would ever know of it; Akuun played his part much too well.
The way to the washroom was heralded by a plush carpet made of the most expensive wool from the Yawarakai Highlands . It had been dyed a bright sea-green to fit the Tam Kame house colours. It too was masterful in its artistry and make, but Akuun had travelled its length so many times over the past nine days and nights that he had become intimately aware of every minuscule imperfection in the needlework of the embroidered turtles that seemed to follow him in his noiseless wake. Akuun had counted and recounted their number in an effort to keep his mind off of the sickening things the crone had forced upon him, the most recent of which had actually caused him to wretch violently into the already full chamber pot. The Lady Tam Kame had taken particular pleasure in watching that.
Akuun entered the bathroom and made straight for the large washbasin. Above it was a copper pipe that miraculously fed fresh water from the keep's reservoir into the marbled basin. With exception to the embroidered turtles, it was the only luxury he had come to appreciate. He did not wish for anyone to look at him, or rather smell him, in his current state, so leaving the woman's chambers was out of the question.
It took a good long while and an equal amount of soap to scrub away the dried vomit, filth and excrement off of his face and body. When he was done the water had turned a horrid boggy brown and the smell of it brought fresh bile to the back of Akkun's throat. He swallowed and hurriedly held his breath as he plunged a hand into the foul liquid to pull out the stopper. As he pulled out the seal, it was as though he had removed the plug on his fury. It was a rare event; there was only patience for one monster in the family, and that position had already been filled. Nevertheless, there was no stopping the torrent of anger that was spilling out of the Akuun now, and it needed sating.
Akuun wanted to scream but had the remarkable good sense to stuff a towel into his mouth before he howled. His fingers gripped the edges of the basin so tightly that his entire hands turned white. He had not really realised just how much rage had been simmering inside of him until now, and only a small measure of it was directed at the sadist sleeping in the other room. No, the bulk of it was not for the spider, but for the one that had put him into the web.
Akuun knew better than to let the Lady Tam Kame wake alone, that mistake having cost him no less than an hour of humiliating groveling and shameful restitution. That thought was enough to cool most of the ire that he had let escape from its prison within his mind. He spat out the towel and let it fall to the cold tiled floor. He too had been spat out and left to rot in the monotony and ignominy of servitude. True that it was not the same subjugation imposed upon the unfortunate souls that found themselves an unwilling catch in the barbed net of the Fyrren army, but it was enslavement nonetheless.
Akuun waited until his breathing had returned to somewhat of its normalcy before heading back to the bedroom. Yet again he tiptoed along the length of the grand carpet, only this time the turtles were swimming against and not with him. He wondered at the irony of the fact that the turtles were swimming away from the bed. He too would like nothing better than to swim far away from the grasp of the sea-witch that lay in wait beneath the sheets. But that was not possible. However much pain this gods-rotted old crone could delve out, it would never amount to even a drop of the misery that the man waiting on Akuun's successful return could rain upon him. Only family, it seemed, had the sole claim to being the most ruthless of all enemies, and friends.
The woman had rolled over since he had been gone, revealing her features in all their horrid glory. No doubt in her youth Umi's grace had blessed her with the whetted beauty favoured by Fyrren, but that had all been despoiled by a lifetime of corruption and wicked debauchery. The lines on her face were in all of the wrong places and it lent her face a perpetual meanness. Though that alone was not the worst of it. The eyes that had looked upon him with such malice and maddened exhilaration, were as black as pitch and burned with the same lethal intensity. He would just as rather have rods of fired iron driven into his eyes, he thought, than have to look further into their soulless depths. Then again, Akuun amended himself, having heard the unearthly wails of the poor wretches actually given to such a fate, perhaps he was being a little rash.
He was jolted out of his morbid thoughts by movement from the bed; the Lady Tam Kame had awoken.
“Ah, the Lady awakes,” Akuun chirped with all of his masterful falsity, “and how she does arouse my desire along with her.”
“Indeed?” The old woman took hold of his manhood between her leathery fingers.
Does she ever tire, Akunn wondered miserably. Even cruel Sora herself must take a respite from her devilry!
“Yet, it would seem that a part of you still slumbers.” Like her physical mien, her voice was equally unpleasant, a shrill tone that pierced the ear with an irritating haughtiness. “Perhaps your famed endurance is as invented as your respect for me, hmm?”
Like a viper, Akuun fell upon the woman and wrapped his long fingers around her wrists , pinning her to the down-filled mattress. He was if anything, a professional.
“I assure you Lady, my reputation is most assuredly deserved. I would have thought that I had proven that during our previous endeavor.”
Before her next breath had been expelled he had pressed his lips forcibly upon hers and kissed her with a bestial want, just the way he knew she liked. Lady Tam Kame let him continue for a few moments before biting down hard on his already cracked lips.
Drops of his blood stained her mouth. “That was very good. I can see why all those those chambermaids and halfwitted courtiers rave about you so. I almost believed you were enjoying it. But I would have thought I had proven myself anything but a lady.” With a strength that continued to surprise him, Lady Tam Kame threw Akuun off of her. “Now”, she said as the wicked smile returned to sour her face, “I shall give your self-important Lord his answer, but first, as any good customer should, I intend to explore the full potential of my purchase.”
The Lady Tam Kame crawled out of the bed dragging the stained sheets as she went. Her naked form strode purposefully over to a desk of the finest Fyrren bluewood. She sat in a chair whose legs had been carved to resemble the giant leviathans that preyed the waters of the Orange Sea, their eyes studded with blue sapphires.
No doubt even they would find you hard to stomach, Akuun thought silently as he forced himself to watch her with feigned lust.
After she had tied her white hair back into a single braid, she opened one of the desk's drawers and drew out a long object with odd symbols inlaid all along its black surface. When she returned to the bed and revealed its makings, Akuun could do nothing to keep the disbelief and panic from his eyes.
“Good, she observed cheerily, you have heard of an itami.” The woman's exhiliration parted her lips enough for her black and rotting teeth to reveal themselves. The Tam Kame taste for luxury had long ago manifested itself in their diet, which made quite shocking use of honey and sugar in almost every dish. “That should make this go a lot more smoothly. And because I seem to have grown a soft spot for you, I'll let you go first.”
Lady Tam Kame brought Akuun to an apex of intolerable and agonizing ecstasy five times before passing the itami into his trembling hands. Her answer did not come till the sun had long since ended the night.
It was probably the first time in his life that Akuun had actually felt glad to be leaving a woman's chambers. As thankless and patronizing as a crow, the Lady Tam Kame had not even bothered to see him out. She had kissed him goodbye but had used the gesture as one final whip of her infernal mockery. The kiss had been soft, warm, and her hands had reached down to caress him tenderly and despite himself Akuun had responded to her touch. As soon as his lust had been fully aroused she had immediately ceased her ministrations and thrown the retainer off the bed with a hidden strength that belied her age. Without another word she had scowled and pointed at the door to the chamber and got out of the bed and made for the washroom. Though, it was perhaps Akuun who had won the final victory even if only he knew it. As the retainer had watched the hag's gaunt and wrinkled form saunter along the carpet with a parade like gait, he rather fancied that all the turtles had snapped at her ankles.
Akuun had dressed himself slowly, his whole body down to every pore still raw and aching. Yet, when his hand gripped the handle of the chamber door he was relieved to discover that much of the hurt had begun to diminish, buried beneath a perplexing tumult of emotions. There was of course the sense of accomplishment he always felt. Likewise, he knew he quite clearly that he was angry, his loss of control in the washroom had told him that much, but there was something else, something much more unfamiliar and troubling. At first there had been no way for him to confidently give word to the sensation, but by the time Akuun had reached the edge of the Tam Kame quarter of the city he had decided it could be nothing else but a feeling of ice cold dread. The tides, he concluded, were about to change and he wasn't sure if he was being driven forward to greatness or dragged out to his doom.
The passing from the Tam Kame quarter into Mizu prime was the most unmistakeable crossing in the whole of the city. It was a rare passage that allowed one the chance to observe both extremes of the Fyrren mentality, an unappeasable hunger for opulence and a near obsessive want for the pragmatic. It was what had divided both the city itself and the people that dwelled within for half a millennia. Only the temple of Umi with its resplendent exterior and austere priests had managed a successful merging of the two sentiments.
Where the buildings in the Tam Kame quarter had been low and spread wide to allow each family ample space to put their neighbours to shame with artful gardens and elaborate homages to the lost world, Mizu prime had been built high and tight as though the architects had aspired to make the city resemble a great chunk of twisting coral.
In some places one could go for blocks and not know the time of day for lack of sky or sun. More infuriating, however, was the absence of any main thoroughfare, just a multitude of narrow and nameless streets that were serpentine in their design and course. It was quite possible for the neglectful to wander for hours or days in hopeless circles. Such measures were illogical to those with a mind for trade and tourism, but entirely understandable, if not ingenious, if your want is to confound any would be attacker. It had the added benefit that almost all of the trade with the north was done by sea, and thanks to the fearsome Fyrren armada and the fickle temper of the Orange Sea herself, could be controlled, scrutinized, taxed and exploited with a regulated chaos.
As he walked painfully the last few steps of the Tam Kame quarter, Akuun felt rather than heard the chortling of the guards at the gate, their silent jeers a drop of rain smuggling itself down the back of his shirt and running a niggling course down his back. He turned and looked up at the barbican and its concealed protectors, put two fingers to his forehead and gave them a mocking salute. There was a moment of clinking and clanging of armored men shuffling about before an apple was thrown down towards the departing retainer. It was a good throw, quick and on the mark. Akuun had to give respect where it was due; Tam Kame had obviously paid for the best. Nevertheless, no hired help could hope to equal even a scullion of house Tan Saru, they were the teeth of the Fyrren race and mastery of spear and trident was theirs by right.
He waited until the fruit was a hands width from his face before in one seemingly single movement, ducking low and thrusting upwards to spear the apple on the tip of his yari, his boarding pike. Removing the fruit, Akuun yelled a cheery thanks up at the barbican and then proceeded to bite into the sweet flesh appreciatively. He stood unmoving till he gnawed the fruit down to its core, silently enjoying both the cleansing effect the apple was having in his mouth and the knowing that with each bite he was also nibbling away at the patience of the bored fools cowering up on the barbican.
Despite the triviality of his small victory, Akuun still felt a small smidgen of the uncertainty and ill feeling that had assailed him after having left Lady Tam Kame's chamber begin to subside. Thank good Shiawse for small pleasures, he thought. Small pleasures, ha! What else have I? His mind was straying off on its own course again. And you are, aren't you, small? And by your makings, promise much pleasure. Like the child and the sea anenome, do I feel the want to touch you so and let myself be wrapped in your soft embrace. Why then, I wonder, do I fear you as I fear the sting of the urchin?
A second assault from gate knocked Akuun back to his senses, this time the projectile was a fist sized piece of broken masonry. Luckily, his inattention did not cost the retainer more than a painful bruise on his thigh. Inattention invites the shark to dinner, he chided himself. The brief respite from the confusion plaguing his mind was over, the pain in his leg brought it all back along with another uncharacteristic outburst of rage, which despite himself, Akuun unleashed upon the unsuspecting gatemen.
“Watei ma quata 'e lowae!” Such was the rarity of his ire that even he was unnerved by the menace in his voice, or perhaps because the retainer had heard much the same fury from another whom he thought to be very different from himself. He also, when his usual unflappability had returned, realised that he had taken a step toward where the door and stairs leading up to the barbican stood. Akuun laughed. To the watchmen, the sound would have suggested naught but a surprised mirth, such as when one unexpectedly unravels the thread of a clever joke. But Akuun knew what his laugh truly revealed, his fear, and by Umi, it was playing a wicked game with his wits.
It was time to go home.
The retainer once more fitted the mask of serenity that had fallen unbidden from his face. The only outward give-away of his unease as he traversed the narrow streets back to his Lord was the lack of his customary swagger in his stride.
***
A circle, a symbol of unity, revolution and of eternity. Yet there are other suppositions for those given to a darker disposition. Indeed, for such souls a circle signifies entrapment, futility and the most worrisome of all, death. Tei was one of them, and he felt the noose of tradition ever tightening day by day. But today, he hoped to see the rope be slackened.
595 AL (After Landing) Sojon Yamid Calendar
2999 – In the Year of Umi's Retribution Fyrren Calendar
399th Cycle of the Maru, final year of rule for house Tan Saru
Tei had never been a pacer. Movement made the man feel as though he were walking away from trouble, trouble that would follow him with a jester's mocking gait. No, better to stand one's ground, face it, stare it down till it got bored and gave up its own solution.
The noble's son had been standing at the window since he had thrown off the bed sheets; his morning and midday repasts still sat untouched on the finely carved bluewood table in the centre of the room. Even the hollow-cheeked human girl crouched in a shadowy corner had been forgotten, otherwise he may just have felt a pang of guilt and let the thing help itself to the unwanted food. Mercy was just one of his short comings of late. It didn't help, of course, that his cousin kept poking him with nails of empathy every damned chance he got; the barbarous wretch even enjoyed it.
Far below him, the Orange Sea had seemed to mimic the tide of his own emotions, surging and frothing till it had exhausted itself and was forced into an ephemeral lull that lasted only long enough for one of the ships to risk a run for the safety of the harbor. If only, Tei mused, his own mind had such a place of rest and freedom from the thoughts that now battered it from all sides. At present, his mind was caught up in a lattice work of musings about his most recent encounter with his mysterious benefactors:
The leaves beneath his boots perished with a satisfying crunch that went a small ways toward soothing his temper. Above all, Tei despised woodlands, too confining, and overall too dry. His benefactors knew this, of course, and they made no effort to conceal their amusement of his discomfort. In many ways, they seemed like children snickering amongst themselves at some silly prank they were so proud to have masterminded. Tei did not like it, not one bit.
The autumn air was especially cold at such a high elevation and it made his lips so cracked they felt like old parchment. It didn’t help that Tei had a habit of biting off the loose bits of skin. Oddly, though, this too had some calming effect upon his annoyance.
The path he always followed was little more than a game trail and more than once his toes had struck a stone, stump or root that lay hidden under the desiccated leaves that blanketed the ground. It was funny, Tei thought, that he always seemed to fall trap to the same pitfalls that nature had seen fit to lay out in expectation of his coming. The again, perhaps it was not so strange, given that he tended to forget as quickly as possible his meetings with the ones that called themselves, the Forgotten. Tei huffed at the irony, only to curse a second later as one of nature’s stealthy fingers scored another hit and left him with a painful gash down his forearm. Tei broke off the assailing branch, threw it to the ground and stamped on it for good measure. Eye for an eye, he thought.
After another few minutes and another multitude of skirmishes with the flora and fauna, the track abruptly came to an end and gave way to a small dell surrounded by beech and crabapple trees. Despite the beauty, the red leaves of the beech and the crimson berries of the crabapple gave Tei the morbid feeling that he was walking into a seeping wound in the woodland, and two cloaked figures were standing right in the centre of it. Tei made sure to take his good time with his approach, partly out of pride, but also to allow him to catch his breath; the trek had been mostly uphill.
“So good to see you again, Lord Tan Saru,” said one of the figures when Tei was close enough that it became unnecessary to shout.
Tei was most displeased to see that there were two of them this time. Yet another surprise; the unscheduled meeting being the first. If that was not bad enough, there was also the fact that Tei had no way of tell which of the things had actually greeted him. They were all of exactly the same gangly, insect-like build and sickly garb that seemed not cover but rather cling to their tall frames like congealed pitch. Not to mention, all of their voices carried the same aqueous quality which made them sound as though they were talking through water.
“You can forgo the pleasantries,” Tei growled at them both. “I’m not in the mood.”
“But of course,” one acquiesced with a bow. At least, Tei thought, he now knew who he was damned well talking to.
“We thought you may be interested to hear that your efforts have been most successful. The Kingdomers and the Tabath have already made arrangements to meet in secret. Even the Moriki are watching the proceedings, from afar, naturally. But it won’t be long before they, too, will be forced to go along with the others. The tide that approaches them will not recede anytime soon.”
Tei was not quite as pleased as his faceless patrons. Their visages were always kept conveniently out of sight within the deep shadows of their cowls.
“Talk is one thing. Acting is another.”
“Rest assured,” said one of Forgotten, “we have taken certain measures to ensure that the outcome of the gathering will suit our mutual desires.”
“Which is why our sister could not meet with you as is the custom,” gurgled the other.
First of all, Tei had no idea that neither of these two had been the ones whom he had spoken with previously. Second, he certainly would never had known the one he had met with was a woman. Everything about these Forgotten was unpredictable and it vexed him to no end.
“I don’t suppose you’d care to share this new stratagem.”
“Alas, our maneuvers need remain within the family for the time being. But we will be needing another shipment if we are to move ahead to the final stage of righteous retribution.”
Damn! Tei wished they would make some kind of movement when they talked. He hated not knowing which was speaking, his fingernails always seemed to dig uncomfortably into his palms. Tei took a guess and faced the Forgotten that had greeted him upon his arrival.
“I thought not,” he said with undisguised indignation. “Very well. But I have some news of my own.”
This brought forth a reaction, though it was infinitesimal. Both Forgotten stiffened ever so slightly. Tei noticed, of course.
Ha! Tei thought, they certainly don’t like it much when they think they are the ones unknowing. His lips formed a smile on their own accord, but it was short-lived for the dry skin split painfully. Tei was glad for it, however, for the pain gave him the resolve to go on with his own ploy.
“While you have so graciously provided me with your counsel, I have yet to see a true commitment from you. I, on the other hand, have met every one of your gods-sick requests!” His voice was rising on its own now. “In fact, I only agreed to come today with the intention of terminating our relationship.” Tei willed himself to stare into the depths of their cavernous hoods where he expected their eyes to be. “Chaos is one thing, war is a much greedier and unpredictable beast. I want returned what my people had torn from them, but not if I am the only one left to rejoice in it. The information you have supplied me, while aiding me in baiting a much larger fish than I ever could have done alone, does not change the fact that the Fyrren would be just as devastated by the war you have so eloquently orchestrated. Oh, make no mistake, I am no fool. Behind all your candied promises and praise, is a bitter purpose. And should I discover,” Tei's infamous temper was reaching the zenith of its crescendo, “that this end, in any way, interferes or contradicts with my own, I will have no choice but to reveal your existence to those who would no doubt exact upon you a much greater vengeance than was ever enacted upon my people.”
In unison, the two Forgotten took a step closer to the emboldened noble. From within their cowls rose a bubbling laugh that dissolved into an uncomfortable silence. Tei felt the drop of panic that had been hanging on to the hair around his ear finally run down his cheek. His rage-wrought courage, he felt, was running away with it. He had only ever seen these creatures kill once, and it had been enough to keep the flames burning in his chambers all through the nights ever since.
The forgotten finally responded. “Very well, ninth son of Tor, what would you have us do?”
Tei knew they were at least a little angered by his threat. They had used his familial title, and it worked of course, cutting a much more painful gash than had the wild branch. Nevertheless, Tei was still more than a little drunk on his own fury, and he kept his reply short and icy cold. There was no turning back now.
“First, as I have made it clear, you will address me as Lord. Second, there are some that seek to complicate my, our plans. Like an iceberg, a good deal of their influence lies beneath the surface, deep and invisible. And for me, untouchable.”
“What of them?” The forgotten asked in an uncomfortable synchrony.
“Kill them, but not before their treacherous tongues are spewing forth both their faithless blood and the names of the vile worms they sent to blight my house!”
The final word rolled off his lips like a peal of thunder. It took a moment for his saneness to return and his fingers to unfurl themselves. But with reason's return, Tei felt the last of his mettle desert him. As his dark allies took yet another step toward him, a sudden shiver of panic rippled its way down the backs of his arms and legs, so much so that he had to bite down hard on the side of his mouth just to keep his legs from shaking.
“Tell us Lord Saru, do the fires in your chambers still burn day and night?”
Their black, depthless hoods were so close. Tei found himself unable to look away.
He nodded.
“Upon the night of your choosing, douse them, we will come. What you ask will be done.”
So dark, he thought, like the ocean's bottom. Light has never, could never, exist there.
“Such a journey will leave us with a most insufferable hunger. We trust that a fitting meal will await us.”
Though they remained indiscernible, he imagined terrible, toothy grins spreading wide across nightmarish faces. Tei had lived twenty nine years amid the ice and snow, and he had never felt colder.
Unbidden and unmuffled footsteps told Tei that the one he had been waiting for had at last arrived. He did not turn around, did not acknowledge the intrusion, for he could not. Tei's voice had caught in his parched throat. It had all come down to this. Four years of such artful maneuvering had culminated at this one juncture of his own design. And yet, it could all amount to a wasted nothing, or much worse, to a wasted death. His death.
The caller's booted footsteps trumped their way to the laden table. Here they stopped and their wearer finally spoke.
“That's your trouble my Lord,” the voice chided. “You never appreciate what you have while you still have it.”
There was a clink as a crystal chalice was placed mouth side up on the table. This was followed by a second clink and an audible splash and trickle. When the cup was sufficiently filled, the man continued.
“You see, my Lord,” he lectured on, “I am quite confident that until you've heard what I have to say, you'll want my head kept firmly attached to my neck. Thus I'll indulge and help myself to this fine Moriki wine.”
Tei remained still, his only response was a good long exhale. Impertinent and barbarous wretch, he thought. Cousin or not, a reckoning was well overdue.
Akuun poured himself another glass of the extraordinarily rare wine, and the fragile hold Tei had over his patience fast slipped away. Hands that hung loose at his sides slowly curled into fists, blue knuckles turning white. The gesture did not go unnoticed. His cousin quickly came up behind him and held the refilled chalice in front of his face. Impertinent, yes, foolish the man was not.
“I was filling it for you, anyway. No need to get cranky cousin.”
Tei ignored the drink and instead turned, looked down and locked his ice-like glare onto his cousin's smirking visage. Not even the crystal of the chalice could cut as cold or as deep, and the stare quickly sheared the ends clean off the man's smug grin.
The silent confrontation went on for a few moments longer, until the smaller man shrugged and downed the second cup of wine.
“Always the sour plum, eh Tei,” he jibed in reference to a favourite game played at the nobility's dining table, whereby at the end of every extravagant meal small sweetmeats were served to each guest. One unfortunate guest would receive a rather nasty surprise, and find his cake filled with a puree of sour plum, a fate much anticipated and celebrated by all, with the exception of the recipient of course. Very often, however, one's misfortune owed much less to fate than it did to another's spiteful practice. Many an unfavoured diner would find themselves awarded with both the bitter taste of the fruit and the even more unsettling taste of humiliation. It was a sad fact that of late, Tei Tan Saru, second son of house Tan Saru, was either extremely unlucky or utterly despised by his peers.
“Do you pity me, Akuun, or are you just annoyed that I stopped taking you with me?”
Akuun practically snorted his response.
“Annoyed, my lord? One of the reasons I am still in your insufferable service is that you don't force me attend those absurd soirees. I'd just as rather join the dead fish on the drying racks down at the docks, than have to smell the perfumed gas that pompous lot let off.”
It was the first time that day that Tei's lips had even come close to resembling a smile, but his cousin's candor had that uncommon and oft unwanted effect. Still, Tei always had to have the last word.
“I would rather think, Akunn, that the reason you are still here is that you've got nowhere else to go. And before I revoke even that privilege, you had better quit your foolery and tell me.”
Holding up a hand in acquiescence, the retainer, estranged cousin, and on rare occasions friend, made his way ever so slowly over to one of the plush chairs encircling the grandiose table. After a few more mutinous moments of getting himself suitably comfortable, Akuun began his report.
“I tell you, cousin, that woman is about as pleasant and welcoming as a damned sea urchin. And even an urchin has a soft centre. That bitch's spikes are rooted in her heart, if she even has one, which I doubt. Do you know she doesn't even let her human's wear clothes? The poor things wouldn't last more than a week at this time of year. Speaking of which..,where is Airi?” Akuun's tone was more than just a little accusative.
Tei strode over and grabbed the front of his cousin's shirt, lifting the smaller man out of the chair and brining his face up to look into his own. Akuun excelled at masquerading his displeasure. Tei did not.
“I don't care about your sick indulgences.” The next sentence he spoke coldly and purposefully. “What did she say? And Umi so help me, it had better be what I want to hear Akuun?”
“Yes! Damn it! The bitch will do it! And you ought to thank me cousin,” the retainer tore himself from Tei's grasp and sat himself back down with a loud huff. “You have no idea what was required to thaw the ice that keeps that hag's loins closed. A glacier would likely shift quicker! Oh, but once the gates were open, Sora's Spit the bitch couldn't be stopped! And by Umi's wrath you had better not have known about her...”
Tei had stopped listening after his cousin had screamed the affirmative. His mind was churning again, but this time , at least, with a renewed optimism. Everything his benefactors had predicted was occurring just as they had promised it would. Already, he could feel the invisible noose that had been fast around his neck the past twenty five years relax a little. Tei inhaled a good long breath, realizing now just how anxious he had truly been. But at least for now he could breathe a little easier.
“Are you listening?” Akuun's raised and annoyed tone returned Teiko's thoughts back to the present.
“Nine nights, Tei! Nine nightmarish nights! I hope it was bloody well worth it. That's all I can say!”
It was quite out of character for his cousin to be truly riled, especially about his quarry, though fair enough that this particular game was a little more in her prime than the man was used to. Tei did not doubt that his cousin would indeed have experienced much more fight than normal, and he was not without some sympathy and appreciation. They were family, after all.
“Akuun, you have no idea what this means. Worth it? If you asked it, I would give you all the Moriki wine I have and let you name and clothe all the humans in this house in silk.” Tei knew he had let slip a hint of triumph in his voice, but strangely he found himself uncaring. “Can't you feel it, cousin?”
“Feel what? I've don't think I can recall a time in my life when I've felt more defiled and dirty, if that's what you mean.” Tei's exhalation was obviously having no alleviating effect upon Akuun's uncharacteristic shirtiness.
Tei left his sulking cousin and disappeared into the shadows of the south corner of the cavernous room. After a few seconds he returned with the waif-like human girl at his heels. Head down as she had been instructed since her service began, she seemed to almost drift along, and with her gaunt and pale features she could have easily been mistaken for a wraith, albeit an awfully pretty one.
The girl, or perhaps young woman, it was difficult to tell as her figure suggested that she was on the cusp between teenage hood and womanhood, knelt down in front of Akuun. Tei had never seen the girl smile, but the Fyrren noble was perceptive enough to notice that the girl's thin lips grimaced much less when in his cousin's company. Not surprising of course, that was the man's only talent.
“Cheer up, cousin,” Tei said with as much solace as he could muster. Akuun still had a big part to play in his plan. “She's yours. Do with her as you wish. Just make sure you clean yourself up before dinner. Tonight, your coming with me.”
The retainer quickly sat upright, too quickly. His voice was close to desperation.
“What for? I thought I might have a night to myself. By Umi, I've earned it.” Akuun's fingernails dug themselves into the chair's velvet.
Tei himself was a little taken back. His cousin had surprised him for the second time in as many minutes, and he disliked surprises. It was not unlike Akuun to be resistant, in fact it had become the man's relentless pursuit. But, Akuun rarely acted out his private rebellion without his typical grandeur and flair. As it was, the man actually seemed on the verge of a true mutiny. Tei would have none of it, however. If there was one thing he disliked, it was when someone dismissed his generosity.
“You can have all the damned nights you want. But tonight I need you. I'll send someone for you at the turn of the tide. Make sure your ready. I won't have all that I've worked for, destroyed by your impertinence. You'll go, or you'll prefer to be stuck between even Sora's putrid pit rather than where I'll damned well send you.” Tei's tone left no misunderstanding at the finality and sincerity of the threat.
“You know,” Tei said, grabbing a fistful of the kneeling girls black hair, “I think I'll throw this to the temple's dogs too.” His powerful fingers gripped tighter as he violently yanked her tiny head and body out to arms length. The girl could not help it. She cried out and instinctively clawed at the fist holding her, hurting her. Tei scowled down at the human with a look of disgust and with as much effort and displeasure as a fist full of kelp, he tossed her back down at his cousin's feet. “With all of your indulgences of late, I think you may have caught some ills from it, and their making you not yourself.” Tei punctuated his disapproval by wiping the palm that had held the girl's hair on the back of his thigh.”
Akuun's face looked stonier than the dour statues that stood brooding in the city's temples. His response was the same, cold and dead.
“You win, Tei. I'll meet you at tide-turn. Now, leave me be, will you?”
Satisfied with his small victory, Tei grinned. Yet there was no warmth in that either.
“And don't make me wait, cousin. I'm not in the mood.”
“No, cousin,” Akuun finally bit back, you'd need a soul for that.”
The grin never left Tei's face as he strode off. Just as he reached the door, he stopped and threw his final command over his shoulder.
“Tonight I want the fires in my chambers put out. See to it. And Akuun, in good time you'll see just how wrong you and my father really are. Umi knows, I've earned it.”
Tei did not wait for the expected quip from his retainer, the trim of his coat already rushing out the door in pursuit of its wearer.
In truth though, Tei need not have worried. Akuun could find no humor in the moment. His churning gut told him that tonight would be anything but a good time. Departing for his own chambers, the retainer took with him the two most important things in the room, the bottle of wine and the human girl.
A rose in one hand,
a thorn in the other,
But there’s no refusing the gifts on offer,
Just do all you can to dodge the latter.
Prologue
Nooses and Losers
Akuun awoke face down, head buried beneath a pillow. The dreams had been terrible and they cursed him still; the sheets beneath him were clammy with his sweat. His back hurt, too, though he wasn't sure if that was because of the face down position he had slept, or as a result of the woman whose phlegmy breathing was quietly rattling beside him. To say that she was brutal would be entirely unsatisfactory. The hag had taken much pleasure in their trysts, though it was not from any talent Akuun had brought to the elaborate iron-wrought bed. Though like the bed's expert craftsmanship, the woman's ability to impart hurt upon her courtesan had been painstakingly precise and deliberate.
It was the ninth god-cursed night, and the old crone still had not relented; her thirst for his suffering seemed unquenchable. The woman knew power, had lived with it and bedded it for a good deal of her sixty years, the last two decades not requiring much of the latter, of course. More importantly and poignantly for Akuun, however, was that she had grown a desire for it. The wife of Lord Tam Kame knew very well that her courtesan could not leave until she gave him an answer to the request he had made of her upon his arrival at her chamber's door. She knew it and like all good politicians, she had abused it to her cold heart's content.
Akuun attempted to slip out of the bed as quietly as he could but at the last moment his foot got caught up in the sheets, dragging them and exposing some of Lady Tam Kame's spindly body to the chill air. Akuun swore under his breath and frantically went about covering the spider once more, for that is truly what she was, and this room, this bed, was her web. He could only wonder if she would live up to the liking he had bestowed upon her and devour him when she was through with him.
In the adjoining room was a washroom just as ostentatious as the bedroom. He had hardly been surprised by all of the fine trappings, of course; House Tam Kame was mostly made up of wealthy merchant families and they all suffered the same lust for pomp and wastefulness. In this, and perhaps this alone, Akuun and his own Lord shared a similar distaste. Though no one would ever know of it; Akuun played his part much too well.
The way to the washroom was heralded by a plush carpet made of the most expensive wool from the Yawarakai Highlands . It had been dyed a bright sea-green to fit the Tam Kame house colours. It too was masterful in its artistry and make, but Akuun had travelled its length so many times over the past nine days and nights that he had become intimately aware of every minuscule imperfection in the needlework of the embroidered turtles that seemed to follow him in his noiseless wake. Akuun had counted and recounted their number in an effort to keep his mind off of the sickening things the crone had forced upon him, the most recent of which had actually caused him to wretch violently into the already full chamber pot. The Lady Tam Kame had taken particular pleasure in watching that.
Akuun entered the bathroom and made straight for the large washbasin. Above it was a copper pipe that miraculously fed fresh water from the keep's reservoir into the marbled basin. With exception to the embroidered turtles, it was the only luxury he had come to appreciate. He did not wish for anyone to look at him, or rather smell him, in his current state, so leaving the woman's chambers was out of the question.
It took a good long while and an equal amount of soap to scrub away the dried vomit, filth and excrement off of his face and body. When he was done the water had turned a horrid boggy brown and the smell of it brought fresh bile to the back of Akkun's throat. He swallowed and hurriedly held his breath as he plunged a hand into the foul liquid to pull out the stopper. As he pulled out the seal, it was as though he had removed the plug on his fury. It was a rare event; there was only patience for one monster in the family, and that position had already been filled. Nevertheless, there was no stopping the torrent of anger that was spilling out of the Akuun now, and it needed sating.
Akuun wanted to scream but had the remarkable good sense to stuff a towel into his mouth before he howled. His fingers gripped the edges of the basin so tightly that his entire hands turned white. He had not really realised just how much rage had been simmering inside of him until now, and only a small measure of it was directed at the sadist sleeping in the other room. No, the bulk of it was not for the spider, but for the one that had put him into the web.
Akuun knew better than to let the Lady Tam Kame wake alone, that mistake having cost him no less than an hour of humiliating groveling and shameful restitution. That thought was enough to cool most of the ire that he had let escape from its prison within his mind. He spat out the towel and let it fall to the cold tiled floor. He too had been spat out and left to rot in the monotony and ignominy of servitude. True that it was not the same subjugation imposed upon the unfortunate souls that found themselves an unwilling catch in the barbed net of the Fyrren army, but it was enslavement nonetheless.
Akuun waited until his breathing had returned to somewhat of its normalcy before heading back to the bedroom. Yet again he tiptoed along the length of the grand carpet, only this time the turtles were swimming against and not with him. He wondered at the irony of the fact that the turtles were swimming away from the bed. He too would like nothing better than to swim far away from the grasp of the sea-witch that lay in wait beneath the sheets. But that was not possible. However much pain this gods-rotted old crone could delve out, it would never amount to even a drop of the misery that the man waiting on Akuun's successful return could rain upon him. Only family, it seemed, had the sole claim to being the most ruthless of all enemies, and friends.
The woman had rolled over since he had been gone, revealing her features in all their horrid glory. No doubt in her youth Umi's grace had blessed her with the whetted beauty favoured by Fyrren, but that had all been despoiled by a lifetime of corruption and wicked debauchery. The lines on her face were in all of the wrong places and it lent her face a perpetual meanness. Though that alone was not the worst of it. The eyes that had looked upon him with such malice and maddened exhilaration, were as black as pitch and burned with the same lethal intensity. He would just as rather have rods of fired iron driven into his eyes, he thought, than have to look further into their soulless depths. Then again, Akuun amended himself, having heard the unearthly wails of the poor wretches actually given to such a fate, perhaps he was being a little rash.
He was jolted out of his morbid thoughts by movement from the bed; the Lady Tam Kame had awoken.
“Ah, the Lady awakes,” Akuun chirped with all of his masterful falsity, “and how she does arouse my desire along with her.”
“Indeed?” The old woman took hold of his manhood between her leathery fingers.
Does she ever tire, Akunn wondered miserably. Even cruel Sora herself must take a respite from her devilry!
“Yet, it would seem that a part of you still slumbers.” Like her physical mien, her voice was equally unpleasant, a shrill tone that pierced the ear with an irritating haughtiness. “Perhaps your famed endurance is as invented as your respect for me, hmm?”
Like a viper, Akuun fell upon the woman and wrapped his long fingers around her wrists , pinning her to the down-filled mattress. He was if anything, a professional.
“I assure you Lady, my reputation is most assuredly deserved. I would have thought that I had proven that during our previous endeavor.”
Before her next breath had been expelled he had pressed his lips forcibly upon hers and kissed her with a bestial want, just the way he knew she liked. Lady Tam Kame let him continue for a few moments before biting down hard on his already cracked lips.
Drops of his blood stained her mouth. “That was very good. I can see why all those those chambermaids and halfwitted courtiers rave about you so. I almost believed you were enjoying it. But I would have thought I had proven myself anything but a lady.” With a strength that continued to surprise him, Lady Tam Kame threw Akuun off of her. “Now”, she said as the wicked smile returned to sour her face, “I shall give your self-important Lord his answer, but first, as any good customer should, I intend to explore the full potential of my purchase.”
The Lady Tam Kame crawled out of the bed dragging the stained sheets as she went. Her naked form strode purposefully over to a desk of the finest Fyrren bluewood. She sat in a chair whose legs had been carved to resemble the giant leviathans that preyed the waters of the Orange Sea, their eyes studded with blue sapphires.
No doubt even they would find you hard to stomach, Akuun thought silently as he forced himself to watch her with feigned lust.
After she had tied her white hair back into a single braid, she opened one of the desk's drawers and drew out a long object with odd symbols inlaid all along its black surface. When she returned to the bed and revealed its makings, Akuun could do nothing to keep the disbelief and panic from his eyes.
“Good, she observed cheerily, you have heard of an itami.” The woman's exhiliration parted her lips enough for her black and rotting teeth to reveal themselves. The Tam Kame taste for luxury had long ago manifested itself in their diet, which made quite shocking use of honey and sugar in almost every dish. “That should make this go a lot more smoothly. And because I seem to have grown a soft spot for you, I'll let you go first.”
Lady Tam Kame brought Akuun to an apex of intolerable and agonizing ecstasy five times before passing the itami into his trembling hands. Her answer did not come till the sun had long since ended the night.
It was probably the first time in his life that Akuun had actually felt glad to be leaving a woman's chambers. As thankless and patronizing as a crow, the Lady Tam Kame had not even bothered to see him out. She had kissed him goodbye but had used the gesture as one final whip of her infernal mockery. The kiss had been soft, warm, and her hands had reached down to caress him tenderly and despite himself Akuun had responded to her touch. As soon as his lust had been fully aroused she had immediately ceased her ministrations and thrown the retainer off the bed with a hidden strength that belied her age. Without another word she had scowled and pointed at the door to the chamber and got out of the bed and made for the washroom. Though, it was perhaps Akuun who had won the final victory even if only he knew it. As the retainer had watched the hag's gaunt and wrinkled form saunter along the carpet with a parade like gait, he rather fancied that all the turtles had snapped at her ankles.
Akuun had dressed himself slowly, his whole body down to every pore still raw and aching. Yet, when his hand gripped the handle of the chamber door he was relieved to discover that much of the hurt had begun to diminish, buried beneath a perplexing tumult of emotions. There was of course the sense of accomplishment he always felt. Likewise, he knew he quite clearly that he was angry, his loss of control in the washroom had told him that much, but there was something else, something much more unfamiliar and troubling. At first there had been no way for him to confidently give word to the sensation, but by the time Akuun had reached the edge of the Tam Kame quarter of the city he had decided it could be nothing else but a feeling of ice cold dread. The tides, he concluded, were about to change and he wasn't sure if he was being driven forward to greatness or dragged out to his doom.
The passing from the Tam Kame quarter into Mizu prime was the most unmistakeable crossing in the whole of the city. It was a rare passage that allowed one the chance to observe both extremes of the Fyrren mentality, an unappeasable hunger for opulence and a near obsessive want for the pragmatic. It was what had divided both the city itself and the people that dwelled within for half a millennia. Only the temple of Umi with its resplendent exterior and austere priests had managed a successful merging of the two sentiments.
Where the buildings in the Tam Kame quarter had been low and spread wide to allow each family ample space to put their neighbours to shame with artful gardens and elaborate homages to the lost world, Mizu prime had been built high and tight as though the architects had aspired to make the city resemble a great chunk of twisting coral.
In some places one could go for blocks and not know the time of day for lack of sky or sun. More infuriating, however, was the absence of any main thoroughfare, just a multitude of narrow and nameless streets that were serpentine in their design and course. It was quite possible for the neglectful to wander for hours or days in hopeless circles. Such measures were illogical to those with a mind for trade and tourism, but entirely understandable, if not ingenious, if your want is to confound any would be attacker. It had the added benefit that almost all of the trade with the north was done by sea, and thanks to the fearsome Fyrren armada and the fickle temper of the Orange Sea herself, could be controlled, scrutinized, taxed and exploited with a regulated chaos.
As he walked painfully the last few steps of the Tam Kame quarter, Akuun felt rather than heard the chortling of the guards at the gate, their silent jeers a drop of rain smuggling itself down the back of his shirt and running a niggling course down his back. He turned and looked up at the barbican and its concealed protectors, put two fingers to his forehead and gave them a mocking salute. There was a moment of clinking and clanging of armored men shuffling about before an apple was thrown down towards the departing retainer. It was a good throw, quick and on the mark. Akuun had to give respect where it was due; Tam Kame had obviously paid for the best. Nevertheless, no hired help could hope to equal even a scullion of house Tan Saru, they were the teeth of the Fyrren race and mastery of spear and trident was theirs by right.
He waited until the fruit was a hands width from his face before in one seemingly single movement, ducking low and thrusting upwards to spear the apple on the tip of his yari, his boarding pike. Removing the fruit, Akuun yelled a cheery thanks up at the barbican and then proceeded to bite into the sweet flesh appreciatively. He stood unmoving till he gnawed the fruit down to its core, silently enjoying both the cleansing effect the apple was having in his mouth and the knowing that with each bite he was also nibbling away at the patience of the bored fools cowering up on the barbican.
Despite the triviality of his small victory, Akuun still felt a small smidgen of the uncertainty and ill feeling that had assailed him after having left Lady Tam Kame's chamber begin to subside. Thank good Shiawse for small pleasures, he thought. Small pleasures, ha! What else have I? His mind was straying off on its own course again. And you are, aren't you, small? And by your makings, promise much pleasure. Like the child and the sea anenome, do I feel the want to touch you so and let myself be wrapped in your soft embrace. Why then, I wonder, do I fear you as I fear the sting of the urchin?
A second assault from gate knocked Akuun back to his senses, this time the projectile was a fist sized piece of broken masonry. Luckily, his inattention did not cost the retainer more than a painful bruise on his thigh. Inattention invites the shark to dinner, he chided himself. The brief respite from the confusion plaguing his mind was over, the pain in his leg brought it all back along with another uncharacteristic outburst of rage, which despite himself, Akuun unleashed upon the unsuspecting gatemen.
“Watei ma quata 'e lowae!” Such was the rarity of his ire that even he was unnerved by the menace in his voice, or perhaps because the retainer had heard much the same fury from another whom he thought to be very different from himself. He also, when his usual unflappability had returned, realised that he had taken a step toward where the door and stairs leading up to the barbican stood. Akuun laughed. To the watchmen, the sound would have suggested naught but a surprised mirth, such as when one unexpectedly unravels the thread of a clever joke. But Akuun knew what his laugh truly revealed, his fear, and by Umi, it was playing a wicked game with his wits.
It was time to go home.
The retainer once more fitted the mask of serenity that had fallen unbidden from his face. The only outward give-away of his unease as he traversed the narrow streets back to his Lord was the lack of his customary swagger in his stride.
***
A circle, a symbol of unity, revolution and of eternity. Yet there are other suppositions for those given to a darker disposition. Indeed, for such souls a circle signifies entrapment, futility and the most worrisome of all, death. Tei was one of them, and he felt the noose of tradition ever tightening day by day. But today, he hoped to see the rope be slackened.
595 AL (After Landing) Sojon Yamid Calendar
2999 – In the Year of Umi's Retribution Fyrren Calendar
399th Cycle of the Maru, final year of rule for house Tan Saru
Tei had never been a pacer. Movement made the man feel as though he were walking away from trouble, trouble that would follow him with a jester's mocking gait. No, better to stand one's ground, face it, stare it down till it got bored and gave up its own solution.
The noble's son had been standing at the window since he had thrown off the bed sheets; his morning and midday repasts still sat untouched on the finely carved bluewood table in the centre of the room. Even the hollow-cheeked human girl crouched in a shadowy corner had been forgotten, otherwise he may just have felt a pang of guilt and let the thing help itself to the unwanted food. Mercy was just one of his short comings of late. It didn't help, of course, that his cousin kept poking him with nails of empathy every damned chance he got; the barbarous wretch even enjoyed it.
Far below him, the Orange Sea had seemed to mimic the tide of his own emotions, surging and frothing till it had exhausted itself and was forced into an ephemeral lull that lasted only long enough for one of the ships to risk a run for the safety of the harbor. If only, Tei mused, his own mind had such a place of rest and freedom from the thoughts that now battered it from all sides. At present, his mind was caught up in a lattice work of musings about his most recent encounter with his mysterious benefactors:
The leaves beneath his boots perished with a satisfying crunch that went a small ways toward soothing his temper. Above all, Tei despised woodlands, too confining, and overall too dry. His benefactors knew this, of course, and they made no effort to conceal their amusement of his discomfort. In many ways, they seemed like children snickering amongst themselves at some silly prank they were so proud to have masterminded. Tei did not like it, not one bit.
The autumn air was especially cold at such a high elevation and it made his lips so cracked they felt like old parchment. It didn’t help that Tei had a habit of biting off the loose bits of skin. Oddly, though, this too had some calming effect upon his annoyance.
The path he always followed was little more than a game trail and more than once his toes had struck a stone, stump or root that lay hidden under the desiccated leaves that blanketed the ground. It was funny, Tei thought, that he always seemed to fall trap to the same pitfalls that nature had seen fit to lay out in expectation of his coming. The again, perhaps it was not so strange, given that he tended to forget as quickly as possible his meetings with the ones that called themselves, the Forgotten. Tei huffed at the irony, only to curse a second later as one of nature’s stealthy fingers scored another hit and left him with a painful gash down his forearm. Tei broke off the assailing branch, threw it to the ground and stamped on it for good measure. Eye for an eye, he thought.
After another few minutes and another multitude of skirmishes with the flora and fauna, the track abruptly came to an end and gave way to a small dell surrounded by beech and crabapple trees. Despite the beauty, the red leaves of the beech and the crimson berries of the crabapple gave Tei the morbid feeling that he was walking into a seeping wound in the woodland, and two cloaked figures were standing right in the centre of it. Tei made sure to take his good time with his approach, partly out of pride, but also to allow him to catch his breath; the trek had been mostly uphill.
“So good to see you again, Lord Tan Saru,” said one of the figures when Tei was close enough that it became unnecessary to shout.
Tei was most displeased to see that there were two of them this time. Yet another surprise; the unscheduled meeting being the first. If that was not bad enough, there was also the fact that Tei had no way of tell which of the things had actually greeted him. They were all of exactly the same gangly, insect-like build and sickly garb that seemed not cover but rather cling to their tall frames like congealed pitch. Not to mention, all of their voices carried the same aqueous quality which made them sound as though they were talking through water.
“You can forgo the pleasantries,” Tei growled at them both. “I’m not in the mood.”
“But of course,” one acquiesced with a bow. At least, Tei thought, he now knew who he was damned well talking to.
“We thought you may be interested to hear that your efforts have been most successful. The Kingdomers and the Tabath have already made arrangements to meet in secret. Even the Moriki are watching the proceedings, from afar, naturally. But it won’t be long before they, too, will be forced to go along with the others. The tide that approaches them will not recede anytime soon.”
Tei was not quite as pleased as his faceless patrons. Their visages were always kept conveniently out of sight within the deep shadows of their cowls.
“Talk is one thing. Acting is another.”
“Rest assured,” said one of Forgotten, “we have taken certain measures to ensure that the outcome of the gathering will suit our mutual desires.”
“Which is why our sister could not meet with you as is the custom,” gurgled the other.
First of all, Tei had no idea that neither of these two had been the ones whom he had spoken with previously. Second, he certainly would never had known the one he had met with was a woman. Everything about these Forgotten was unpredictable and it vexed him to no end.
“I don’t suppose you’d care to share this new stratagem.”
“Alas, our maneuvers need remain within the family for the time being. But we will be needing another shipment if we are to move ahead to the final stage of righteous retribution.”
Damn! Tei wished they would make some kind of movement when they talked. He hated not knowing which was speaking, his fingernails always seemed to dig uncomfortably into his palms. Tei took a guess and faced the Forgotten that had greeted him upon his arrival.
“I thought not,” he said with undisguised indignation. “Very well. But I have some news of my own.”
This brought forth a reaction, though it was infinitesimal. Both Forgotten stiffened ever so slightly. Tei noticed, of course.
Ha! Tei thought, they certainly don’t like it much when they think they are the ones unknowing. His lips formed a smile on their own accord, but it was short-lived for the dry skin split painfully. Tei was glad for it, however, for the pain gave him the resolve to go on with his own ploy.
“While you have so graciously provided me with your counsel, I have yet to see a true commitment from you. I, on the other hand, have met every one of your gods-sick requests!” His voice was rising on its own now. “In fact, I only agreed to come today with the intention of terminating our relationship.” Tei willed himself to stare into the depths of their cavernous hoods where he expected their eyes to be. “Chaos is one thing, war is a much greedier and unpredictable beast. I want returned what my people had torn from them, but not if I am the only one left to rejoice in it. The information you have supplied me, while aiding me in baiting a much larger fish than I ever could have done alone, does not change the fact that the Fyrren would be just as devastated by the war you have so eloquently orchestrated. Oh, make no mistake, I am no fool. Behind all your candied promises and praise, is a bitter purpose. And should I discover,” Tei's infamous temper was reaching the zenith of its crescendo, “that this end, in any way, interferes or contradicts with my own, I will have no choice but to reveal your existence to those who would no doubt exact upon you a much greater vengeance than was ever enacted upon my people.”
In unison, the two Forgotten took a step closer to the emboldened noble. From within their cowls rose a bubbling laugh that dissolved into an uncomfortable silence. Tei felt the drop of panic that had been hanging on to the hair around his ear finally run down his cheek. His rage-wrought courage, he felt, was running away with it. He had only ever seen these creatures kill once, and it had been enough to keep the flames burning in his chambers all through the nights ever since.
The forgotten finally responded. “Very well, ninth son of Tor, what would you have us do?”
Tei knew they were at least a little angered by his threat. They had used his familial title, and it worked of course, cutting a much more painful gash than had the wild branch. Nevertheless, Tei was still more than a little drunk on his own fury, and he kept his reply short and icy cold. There was no turning back now.
“First, as I have made it clear, you will address me as Lord. Second, there are some that seek to complicate my, our plans. Like an iceberg, a good deal of their influence lies beneath the surface, deep and invisible. And for me, untouchable.”
“What of them?” The forgotten asked in an uncomfortable synchrony.
“Kill them, but not before their treacherous tongues are spewing forth both their faithless blood and the names of the vile worms they sent to blight my house!”
The final word rolled off his lips like a peal of thunder. It took a moment for his saneness to return and his fingers to unfurl themselves. But with reason's return, Tei felt the last of his mettle desert him. As his dark allies took yet another step toward him, a sudden shiver of panic rippled its way down the backs of his arms and legs, so much so that he had to bite down hard on the side of his mouth just to keep his legs from shaking.
“Tell us Lord Saru, do the fires in your chambers still burn day and night?”
Their black, depthless hoods were so close. Tei found himself unable to look away.
He nodded.
“Upon the night of your choosing, douse them, we will come. What you ask will be done.”
So dark, he thought, like the ocean's bottom. Light has never, could never, exist there.
“Such a journey will leave us with a most insufferable hunger. We trust that a fitting meal will await us.”
Though they remained indiscernible, he imagined terrible, toothy grins spreading wide across nightmarish faces. Tei had lived twenty nine years amid the ice and snow, and he had never felt colder.
Unbidden and unmuffled footsteps told Tei that the one he had been waiting for had at last arrived. He did not turn around, did not acknowledge the intrusion, for he could not. Tei's voice had caught in his parched throat. It had all come down to this. Four years of such artful maneuvering had culminated at this one juncture of his own design. And yet, it could all amount to a wasted nothing, or much worse, to a wasted death. His death.
The caller's booted footsteps trumped their way to the laden table. Here they stopped and their wearer finally spoke.
“That's your trouble my Lord,” the voice chided. “You never appreciate what you have while you still have it.”
There was a clink as a crystal chalice was placed mouth side up on the table. This was followed by a second clink and an audible splash and trickle. When the cup was sufficiently filled, the man continued.
“You see, my Lord,” he lectured on, “I am quite confident that until you've heard what I have to say, you'll want my head kept firmly attached to my neck. Thus I'll indulge and help myself to this fine Moriki wine.”
Tei remained still, his only response was a good long exhale. Impertinent and barbarous wretch, he thought. Cousin or not, a reckoning was well overdue.
Akuun poured himself another glass of the extraordinarily rare wine, and the fragile hold Tei had over his patience fast slipped away. Hands that hung loose at his sides slowly curled into fists, blue knuckles turning white. The gesture did not go unnoticed. His cousin quickly came up behind him and held the refilled chalice in front of his face. Impertinent, yes, foolish the man was not.
“I was filling it for you, anyway. No need to get cranky cousin.”
Tei ignored the drink and instead turned, looked down and locked his ice-like glare onto his cousin's smirking visage. Not even the crystal of the chalice could cut as cold or as deep, and the stare quickly sheared the ends clean off the man's smug grin.
The silent confrontation went on for a few moments longer, until the smaller man shrugged and downed the second cup of wine.
“Always the sour plum, eh Tei,” he jibed in reference to a favourite game played at the nobility's dining table, whereby at the end of every extravagant meal small sweetmeats were served to each guest. One unfortunate guest would receive a rather nasty surprise, and find his cake filled with a puree of sour plum, a fate much anticipated and celebrated by all, with the exception of the recipient of course. Very often, however, one's misfortune owed much less to fate than it did to another's spiteful practice. Many an unfavoured diner would find themselves awarded with both the bitter taste of the fruit and the even more unsettling taste of humiliation. It was a sad fact that of late, Tei Tan Saru, second son of house Tan Saru, was either extremely unlucky or utterly despised by his peers.
“Do you pity me, Akuun, or are you just annoyed that I stopped taking you with me?”
Akuun practically snorted his response.
“Annoyed, my lord? One of the reasons I am still in your insufferable service is that you don't force me attend those absurd soirees. I'd just as rather join the dead fish on the drying racks down at the docks, than have to smell the perfumed gas that pompous lot let off.”
It was the first time that day that Tei's lips had even come close to resembling a smile, but his cousin's candor had that uncommon and oft unwanted effect. Still, Tei always had to have the last word.
“I would rather think, Akunn, that the reason you are still here is that you've got nowhere else to go. And before I revoke even that privilege, you had better quit your foolery and tell me.”
Holding up a hand in acquiescence, the retainer, estranged cousin, and on rare occasions friend, made his way ever so slowly over to one of the plush chairs encircling the grandiose table. After a few more mutinous moments of getting himself suitably comfortable, Akuun began his report.
“I tell you, cousin, that woman is about as pleasant and welcoming as a damned sea urchin. And even an urchin has a soft centre. That bitch's spikes are rooted in her heart, if she even has one, which I doubt. Do you know she doesn't even let her human's wear clothes? The poor things wouldn't last more than a week at this time of year. Speaking of which..,where is Airi?” Akuun's tone was more than just a little accusative.
Tei strode over and grabbed the front of his cousin's shirt, lifting the smaller man out of the chair and brining his face up to look into his own. Akuun excelled at masquerading his displeasure. Tei did not.
“I don't care about your sick indulgences.” The next sentence he spoke coldly and purposefully. “What did she say? And Umi so help me, it had better be what I want to hear Akuun?”
“Yes! Damn it! The bitch will do it! And you ought to thank me cousin,” the retainer tore himself from Tei's grasp and sat himself back down with a loud huff. “You have no idea what was required to thaw the ice that keeps that hag's loins closed. A glacier would likely shift quicker! Oh, but once the gates were open, Sora's Spit the bitch couldn't be stopped! And by Umi's wrath you had better not have known about her...”
Tei had stopped listening after his cousin had screamed the affirmative. His mind was churning again, but this time , at least, with a renewed optimism. Everything his benefactors had predicted was occurring just as they had promised it would. Already, he could feel the invisible noose that had been fast around his neck the past twenty five years relax a little. Tei inhaled a good long breath, realizing now just how anxious he had truly been. But at least for now he could breathe a little easier.
“Are you listening?” Akuun's raised and annoyed tone returned Teiko's thoughts back to the present.
“Nine nights, Tei! Nine nightmarish nights! I hope it was bloody well worth it. That's all I can say!”
It was quite out of character for his cousin to be truly riled, especially about his quarry, though fair enough that this particular game was a little more in her prime than the man was used to. Tei did not doubt that his cousin would indeed have experienced much more fight than normal, and he was not without some sympathy and appreciation. They were family, after all.
“Akuun, you have no idea what this means. Worth it? If you asked it, I would give you all the Moriki wine I have and let you name and clothe all the humans in this house in silk.” Tei knew he had let slip a hint of triumph in his voice, but strangely he found himself uncaring. “Can't you feel it, cousin?”
“Feel what? I've don't think I can recall a time in my life when I've felt more defiled and dirty, if that's what you mean.” Tei's exhalation was obviously having no alleviating effect upon Akuun's uncharacteristic shirtiness.
Tei left his sulking cousin and disappeared into the shadows of the south corner of the cavernous room. After a few seconds he returned with the waif-like human girl at his heels. Head down as she had been instructed since her service began, she seemed to almost drift along, and with her gaunt and pale features she could have easily been mistaken for a wraith, albeit an awfully pretty one.
The girl, or perhaps young woman, it was difficult to tell as her figure suggested that she was on the cusp between teenage hood and womanhood, knelt down in front of Akuun. Tei had never seen the girl smile, but the Fyrren noble was perceptive enough to notice that the girl's thin lips grimaced much less when in his cousin's company. Not surprising of course, that was the man's only talent.
“Cheer up, cousin,” Tei said with as much solace as he could muster. Akuun still had a big part to play in his plan. “She's yours. Do with her as you wish. Just make sure you clean yourself up before dinner. Tonight, your coming with me.”
The retainer quickly sat upright, too quickly. His voice was close to desperation.
“What for? I thought I might have a night to myself. By Umi, I've earned it.” Akuun's fingernails dug themselves into the chair's velvet.
Tei himself was a little taken back. His cousin had surprised him for the second time in as many minutes, and he disliked surprises. It was not unlike Akuun to be resistant, in fact it had become the man's relentless pursuit. But, Akuun rarely acted out his private rebellion without his typical grandeur and flair. As it was, the man actually seemed on the verge of a true mutiny. Tei would have none of it, however. If there was one thing he disliked, it was when someone dismissed his generosity.
“You can have all the damned nights you want. But tonight I need you. I'll send someone for you at the turn of the tide. Make sure your ready. I won't have all that I've worked for, destroyed by your impertinence. You'll go, or you'll prefer to be stuck between even Sora's putrid pit rather than where I'll damned well send you.” Tei's tone left no misunderstanding at the finality and sincerity of the threat.
“You know,” Tei said, grabbing a fistful of the kneeling girls black hair, “I think I'll throw this to the temple's dogs too.” His powerful fingers gripped tighter as he violently yanked her tiny head and body out to arms length. The girl could not help it. She cried out and instinctively clawed at the fist holding her, hurting her. Tei scowled down at the human with a look of disgust and with as much effort and displeasure as a fist full of kelp, he tossed her back down at his cousin's feet. “With all of your indulgences of late, I think you may have caught some ills from it, and their making you not yourself.” Tei punctuated his disapproval by wiping the palm that had held the girl's hair on the back of his thigh.”
Akuun's face looked stonier than the dour statues that stood brooding in the city's temples. His response was the same, cold and dead.
“You win, Tei. I'll meet you at tide-turn. Now, leave me be, will you?”
Satisfied with his small victory, Tei grinned. Yet there was no warmth in that either.
“And don't make me wait, cousin. I'm not in the mood.”
“No, cousin,” Akuun finally bit back, you'd need a soul for that.”
The grin never left Tei's face as he strode off. Just as he reached the door, he stopped and threw his final command over his shoulder.
“Tonight I want the fires in my chambers put out. See to it. And Akuun, in good time you'll see just how wrong you and my father really are. Umi knows, I've earned it.”
Tei did not wait for the expected quip from his retainer, the trim of his coat already rushing out the door in pursuit of its wearer.
In truth though, Tei need not have worried. Akuun could find no humor in the moment. His churning gut told him that tonight would be anything but a good time. Departing for his own chambers, the retainer took with him the two most important things in the room, the bottle of wine and the human girl.