“How? When?”
“After leaving the realm of the Eternal Blue, I joined a caravan to Visva, but the farther west we traveled, the more the pit in my stomach festered. Everything you told me about the war front feltwrong,so I slipped away and went to scout the remains of Ivolga. What I found was even more sickening than anything you reported. Bodies covered the fields like midwinter snow, butonlywarriors from the Unified Empire numbered the dead. Not a single Zemyan. Our cannons had been turned on our own soldiers, En, and there was no sign of hand-to-hand combat, which meant the Zemyans didn’t have to cut through our ranks to reach our artillery. It was fired by our own side.”
Even though I knew Zemyans were killing our warriors and posing as recruits, a flood of fresh ire washes through me as I think of Temujin’s grave face when he told me about Ivolga. And how acutely I could feel Inkar’s fear and Chanar’s rage. It had been so raw, so palpable.
Lies, all of it.
Serik reaches for me, squeezing strength into me. “Once I realized what Temujin was up to and who he was in league with, I knew you were in trouble, so I hurried back to Sagaan. But travel this time of year isn’t exactly quick or easy, especially alone. I had to seek shelter from snow squalls for days at a time in any cave or roadside ditch I could find. By the time I arrived in Sagaan, Ghoa had already captured you. Not knowing what else to do, I prayed to the Lady of the Sky, asking Her to help me save you—”
“Wait,” I interrupt. “Youprayed?”
“Shocking, I know,” Serik says.
“In earnest?”
“It must have been earnest enough. I wormed my way into the square, prepared to launch myself onto the platform and either save you or die at your side, but there was obviously no need. You saved yourself.” He looks at me like it’s a good thing, something to be proud of.
“I may have saved myself, but I hurt hundreds, maybe thousands, of people in the process,” I mumble darkly. “You saw the Grand Courtyard.”
“You did what you thought was right with the information you had. That’s all any of us can do.”
“I had literally just learned I wasn’t responsible for Nariin. Then I turned around and did something equally appalling.”
“What do you mean you learned you weren’t responsible for Nariin? If you weren’t responsible, who …” Serik’s voice trails off and his eyes fill with grim understanding that morphs swiftly into rage. “I’m going to kill her.”
He springs forward, as if he plans to return to the Grand Courtyard and cut Ghoa down immediately.
I grab his robe and yank him back. “Let it go, Serik.”
“How can I let it go? She framed you! It ruined your life. Don’t you want justice?”
“Not at the cost of more innocent lives,” I say quietly. Then I steer the subject back to Serik. “I can’t believe the Lady of the Sky blessed a heathen monk with Her power.” I flash him a teasing smile, but the truth is, I know precisely why She did. Stubborn, difficult, bullheaded Serik refused to be duped by Temujin and his Shoniin. He refused to stop searching for answers. When he was supposed to go into hiding for his own safety, he went to the war front instead to discover the truth. He was willing to die for me. Things only a true Kalima warrior would do.
And he prayed—that was his true test. In his darkest hour, he lifted his face to the sky.
I’m not the least bit surprised the Goddess made him a Sun Stoker. He has always been the fire to Ghoa’s ice.
And fire makes heat.
A fountain of hope burbles to life inside of me as I stare at the light blazing in Serik’s hands. His gift from the Lady and the Father is a gift for me as well. A gift for the shepherds, freezing on the grazing lands. It’s our answer. The way forward. I see it in my mind as clearly as if it had been written in my Book of Whisperings.
“We have to go now, to the grazing lands, before the city falls,” I say as I rush from the alleyway.
For the first time in our lives, Serik gapes as if I’m the irrational one. “It’s so late, and we don’t have a plan.”
Oh, but Idohave a plan. “We’re going to Verdenet,” I announce. “And we’re taking the shepherds with us.”
“Why would we go to Verdenet? It’s overrun with soldiers. The king’s been replaced by an imperial governor. And how do you plan to get there? It’s clear across the grasslands and the snow squalls—”
I squash a finger against his lips. “Youwill take care of the snow squalls, obviously. And that’s precisely why we must go to Verdenet—to reinstate King Minoak and raise an army of our own.”
“How do you plan to reinstate a king who’s vanished? No one has seen him since the assassination attempt. He could be—”
“He isn’t dead. The Imperial Army hasn’t found him because they’re not looking in the right places. They’re trying to solve a Verdenese riddle using Ashkarian logic, which will never work. They can’t see the answer because they’ve never made an effort to get to know us.”
“Ifwe can find King Minoak”—Serik’s tone makes it clear he doesn’t like our odds—“do you honestly think an army of Verdenese crafts workers and exhausted shepherds stand a chance against the Imperial Army and Zemya?”
“No. But it’s a start. King Minoak’s sister is married to the vice chancellor of Namaag. If we alert them to the truth, they may be willing to fight. And if what Temujin told me about the conditions in Chotgor is true, they have no reason not to join us. Without the Protected Territories, Ashkar is small. And weak.”
