The Ruthless

‘Tell me.’

‘The thing is, my people got the worst of it.’

‘You fought the biggest demon? The biggest group?’

‘No. Well, yes, but that isn’t it. The Wild singled us out, came for us above the others. Vasin, they singled me out. When I landed, they came for me, and me alone. It was like they knew I was coming. How can that be?’

‘I don’t know, I thought all but strongest of the Wild feared us. Surely they were easy prey for you.’

‘We slaughtered them, but they didn’t seem to care.’

Vasin’s headache got suddenly worse, as if trying to match his sense of foreboding. The odd behaviour described at Anuja’s hunt seemed to chime with Quiverhive’s activity. ‘I think this was another experiment,’ he said. ‘They tested the Godroad, and now they’re testing us.’

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_b454a839-926c-525c-99d1-c256163d3fa1)

Vasin followed the servant, trying to order his mind for what was to come. He was being led to a night gathering of House Ruby’s guests. This would be in part to discuss the business of the hunt, and in part to posture, to politic. It was Vasin’s chance to solidify the quiet work of the last sixteen years, and gain allies against Yadavendra. It was also a chance to fail long before the inevitable confrontation with High Lord Sapphire.

Nerves flew like angry hunters in his stomach.

The strangeness of his environment didn’t help. House Ruby was more sparing with its gemslight than he was used to, leaving patches of the narrow corridors dark. He noticed the individual rubies were not all cut to the same size. Some were a few millimetres thicker than others, and some stood slightly taller. You had to look to see them, the differences minor, but to his eyes, the imperfection was telling. The ceilings were too low, too cramped, and he had the absurd sense of them pressing downwards, trapping him.

Despite the late hour the castle seemed empty as he travelled, and this too disturbed him. A Sapphire castle always had guards at stairwells and key corridors. As much as he hated that – the feeling of always being watched was one of the things that drove him into the sky after all – he also found it reassuring.

They arrived at a room Vasin had not seen before, and he heard laughter echoing through the arched entrance. The servant waited for it to fade and then sang to announce his arrival and request permission to enter. Vasin felt a brief pang of fear that he would be rejected. Ridiculous, irrational, but in the moment, impossible to ignore. It was soon refuted by Lady Anuja, who gave permission, prompt and clear. The servant showed him inside.

The room was of a reasonable size, heptagonal, and filled with long, low seats, puffed up with cushions. Each chair was accompanied by a tiny squat table with drinks and small baked treats.

He saw three Deathless faces turn in his direction, smiles slowly fading from some shared joke.

Here we go.

Lady Anuja was sat opposite the doorway, artfully positioned. Her stiffness and discomfort dressed as regal posture, with the cushions carefully constructed around her to support her injured body. All signs of fatigue were gone from her face. ‘Lord Vasin. Ruby-friend. Sit, relax, be welcome.’

‘Thank you,’ he replied with a bow, noting the raised eyebrows and pointed look that passed between the other two inhabitants.

‘This,’ continued Anuja, gesturing to her right, ‘is Lord Lakshin of House Opal.

He saw a slight, delicate man, his body most likely coming to the end of its prime years. There was a studied poise about him, that struck Vasin as too rigid to be comfortable. The Opal tended to keep to themselves, and he knew nothing of Lakshin beyond a name. This in itself was odd. Most Deathless were known for something, even if it was embarrassing. No legend was visible either, which would be fine if Lakshin was in his first lifecycle, but he wasn’t, suggesting mediocrity. And as everyone knew, there was no such thing as a mediocre Deathless, at least never for very long.

Anuja pointed to her left. ‘And this is Lord Quasim of House Peridot.’

Quasim was in a young body, well muscled, but already showing signs of a fast life. The legend of a previous lifecycle had turned both of his ears gold, along with the knuckles on his right hand. Vasin wondered what the tales behind them were. He’d heard the Story-singers praise Quasim’s courage and humour but he also recalled his mother making a barbed comment about the man going through three lifecycles in the time most Deathless enjoyed one.

He gave a bow of respect to them both. ‘A pleasure to meet you.’

In the red light, their faces seemed like statues, their eyes hidden in bloody shadows. Neither of them bowed nor saluted, though their heads tilted in the barest form of acknowledgement. It stabbed at his pride, making his fists clench within his long slevees, but he couldn’t blame them for being angry. After all, House Sapphire had all but slammed its doors on everyone else.

He went and took a seat, pondering the best approach as the servant poured him a glass of wine.

This has to go well. If I can win them over, I gain two more voices that will support my challenge when it comes.

‘I’m afraid I bring bad news.’ And he told them of his encounter with Quiverhive.

Anuja looked grave as he spoke, Quasim puzzled, as if still waiting for the punchline to a joke, and Lakshin shook his head in disbelief. ‘A demon on the Godroad? Unharmed?’ He shook his head a second time. ‘Impossible. Perhaps you mistook its closeness for contact, as you say, you were high above it.’

‘I know what I saw.’

‘Did your hunters see it also?’

‘No.’

‘Your entourage then?’

Vasin’s heart sank. ‘No … I travelled here alone.’

‘Then you will forgive me if I trust centuries of experience before the report of one Sapphire Deathless.’

There was a brief and awkward silence. All four of them filled it by sipping from their drinks.

Quasim leaned forward. ‘Lady Anuja tells us you are most nimble in the sky, Lord Vasin.’

He gave a nod to Anuja in recognition of the compliment. ‘Then I hope I prove worthy of her words when we next fly together.’

Quasim grinned. ‘She says you’re almost as good as me!’

Anuja rolled her eyes but said nothing. Her silence seemed out of place, given that she acted as the High Lord of her house. It troubled him.

‘Perhaps,’ Quasim added, ‘you would be interested in pitting your wings against mine?’

‘Perhaps,’ echoed Vasin. ‘But I am more interested in how my wings might serve my friends. I’ve heard a little of how things are here, but not from you.’

‘Things are hard,’ said Quasim, still grinning. ‘And glorious. The Wild throws ever more at us, and we prove more than a match for it.’

‘I hear the most recent hunt had six tributes.’

‘Aye! And they drew out a mighty horde for us to fight.’

‘What was it like?’

‘It’s hard to describe,’ said Lakshin. ‘You really had to be there.’

Another insult. He kept a tight grip on his pride, reminding himself that he needed the Opal onside. ‘I’m here now and I don’t intend to be idle. If there’s anything you can tell me, it would be appreciated.’

Lakshin scowled and Vasin wasn’t sure if it was at the memory or the imposition. ‘These aren’t like normal hunts. They start the same way of course, but the moment we take wing, things change.’

‘Forgive me,’ he glanced at Anuja. ‘But there’s nothing normal about sending six tributes.’

‘It’s true,’ agreed Lakshin, also glancing at Anuja. ‘May I?’ She waved consent and he continued. ‘In the hunt before, Fourboards made its sacrifices and sent out two tributes, as is the tradition.’ Lakshin looked out of the window towards the distant, glittering lights below. ‘Neither of them made it more than twenty paces into the Wild before they were taken. Can you believe it? It was so sudden our hunters never even found the torches.’ He shook his head, still disbelieving. ‘The following night was a long one for the people of Fourboards. Murkers came right up to the fences. In the end, they were driven off but by then they’d managed to break one of the supporting stilts and an entire house fell into the swamp.’