The Core

Hasik looked to Jesan, who swallowed, breathing steadily. ‘Ordered by whom, Jesan? As you say, I have forgotten my master.’

‘The Deliverer …’ Jesan began.

‘Chose loyalty to a khaffit over loyalty to me,’ Hasik said. ‘And soon after was cast down by the Par’chin. His heir was an idiot who treated me as a dog. Chin threw him down, as well.’

‘Prince Asome is Shar’Dama Ka now,’ Jesan said. ‘He slaughtered the Damaji and killed Ashan for the Skull Throne.’

‘To the abyss with them, and Asome, besides. All of them turned their backs to me.’ Hasik bent in close. ‘Even you, ajin’pal.’

Jesan did not flinch. ‘Your answer is no, then?’

Hasik relaxed, leaning back with a grin. ‘I never said that. I tire of sleeping in tents. I think a walled fortress would suit the Eunuchs much better.’

He looked to Orman. ‘Send scouts to the monastery. See how much of this tale you can verify.’

Orman punched a fist to his chest, getting immediately to his feet. ‘Immediately, Eunuch Ka.’

‘Your deserter army will not follow you as you spit upon the Skull Throne,’ Jesan said.

‘My men are loyal, as you will soon see.’ Hasik’s grin widened as he drew the sharp, curved blade from his belt. ‘Be honoured, nightfather. As you brought me into the ranks of Sharum, I welcome you into the ranks of the Eunuchs. You will be given a place of honour. I have need of more kai.’

Jesan’s calm finally shattered. He screamed and fought, but in the end it made no difference as the men held him down and yanked off his pantaloons.

It would be days before Orman’s scouts returned, but Hasik ordered them to break camp immediately. Everything save the tents was packed by dawn, slaves pulling up the stakes even as Hasik raised his hammer.

The target was Abban’s smallest toe. Each night, Hasik healed it with alagai ichor, and each morning he broke it again. The appendage was a gnarled, misshapen thing now, more grotesque each day.

And try as Abban might, there was no getting used to the pain.

‘Bottom feeders!’ he shouted.

Hasik paused. ‘What?’

‘The chin lake is so wide and deep, it is filled with armoured fish,’ Abban said. ‘Bottom feeders.’

‘What of it?’ Hasik said.

‘Meats forbidden by the Evejah,’ Abban teased. ‘But I have tasted them, Eunuch Ka. Spiced and dipped in fat and lemon, they tear like flesh but melt in the mouth. Even bacon pales in comparison.’

Hasik crossed his arms. ‘Bold words, khaffit. And an easy lie to test.’

‘And if it proves no lie?’ Abban asked.

‘Then I will break one of Dawn’s bones, instead of your own, to buy back the one I break today.’

It was a horrifying thought, but after a moment Abban decided it was progress he could live with. ‘I will prepare the feast myself, when you take the monastery. You will see.’

‘Perhaps,’ Hasik raised the hammer and quickly brought it down, too fast for Abban to prepare himself.

He screamed.

Soon after, the caravan was on the move, crawling at a snail’s pace down the Old Hill Road toward the Monastery of Dawn. It would be a week or more before they arrived, but riding hard, the five hundred men in Hasik’s cavalry could cover the distance in less than a day.

‘You ride with us.’ Hasik held out the reins to a strong Krasian charger.

Abban looked dubiously at the animal. ‘I am not one for horses, Hasik. Now, if you have a camel …’

‘I once shared your dislike of horses,’ Hasik said. ‘They were a liability in the Maze, and it wasn’t until we invaded the green lands that I knew the pain of a day in the saddle.’ He smiled. ‘But you will find it easier to ride without balls.’

‘No doubt,’ Abban said. ‘But surely I would only slow you. Would it not make more sense for me to remain with the caravan, to rejoin you after the walls are secured?’

‘Your crippled legs will not slow you atop a charger,’ Hasik said. ‘I am not such a fool as to let you out of my sight, khaffit. If I am brought down in battle, you will walk the lonely path at my side.’

‘Everam grant me such fortune.’ Abban clambered painfully atop the beast, where he strapped himself into the saddle. As Hasik promised, the riding was easier on his crotch than he remembered.

‘Small blessings,’ he breathed as they moved south, the light-footed chargers quickly leaving the caravan behind. Late in the day they caught up to one of Orman’s returning scouts.

‘It is everything the kai told you, and more,’ the Bajin said, nodding at Jesan. Hasik kept his former ajin’pal close – as he did Abban – as if daring the man to attempt vengeance.

‘The monastery is under renewed assault, even now,’ the Bajin said. ‘The chin have laid siege to the main gate, even as their ships crowd the harbour. If they do not take the city today, it will surely fall tomorrow.’

‘Nie’s black heart,’ Hasik growled. ‘Signal the men. We ride hard.’

Abban was thankful for his lack of balls by the time Hasik called a halt. The horses were lathered in sweat, but they had a high vantage, giving clear view of the monastery in the distance.

With the sun setting, battle had ended, the chin retreating to their tents and ward circles.

They could afford to wait. Thousands of men choked the narrow road that climbed the great bluff, the only means by which a land force could make the gate. At the base of the hill they made camp, one prepared to remain as long as necessary.

‘They know the defenders are weak,’ Orman said.

‘And that help from Everam’s Reservoir is not forthcoming,’ Hasik agreed. ‘Their rear defences are pitiful.’

Jesan nodded. ‘We can take them at dawn.’

‘Dawn?’ Hasik asked.

‘The sun is setting,’ Jesan said. ‘We cannot attack men in the night.’

‘I have no master,’ Hasik said. ‘None to tell me what I cannot do. It is no less than the fish men did to us at Waning.’

‘We need not fall into all the infidel ways of the chin,’ Jesan said.

‘There are no infidel ways any more. We are free.’ Hasik turned to Orman. ‘Give the men an hour to rest their mounts, then we move in.’

In the dark of night, with the chin all in their tents or huddled around fires for warmth, unarmed and unarmoured, five hundred of Hasik’s best men struck.

The enemy camp was destroyed in the slaughter that followed, but Hasik was wiser than Prince Jayan had been, keeping the fires and carnage away from the enemy stores.