In empty Danras, Powered streetlamps had turned on and were now shining on the warped ruins. Where was the Power coming from?
And something stood outside in the street. It was about the size of a small house, on four mechanical legs, with two Powered lights stuck to the front like the eyes of a beast, lighting up the way before it.
Arienne quickly, silently stepped away from the window and went up to the door that would not open. She began to imagine what would be needed to cut through it.
6
YUMA
Jed’s back was painfully twisted and his eyes were empty of life as he stood there. But a rattling breath escaped him, and his mouth opened, speaking words.
“Chief… run…”
Jed’s limbs quivered, and then his back straightened like a bowstring that had been released. He stumbled toward Yuma. The light had come back in his eyes, but it was a violet, inhuman light.
Calmly, Yuma placed her hand on her crossbow and lifted it toward Jed.
“Chief Herder of Danras. We meet for the second time.”
The Grim King’s voice was coming from Jed’s throat. It was not a voice to be easily forgotten. Rizona, perhaps still unaware of what was going on, was a dozen paces away and still had her back turned to them.
“Grim King,” she answered in a low voice.
She didn’t want to provoke him, but she had no desire to kneelbefore the one who had murdered Jed and was now desecrating his body. She did not lower her crossbow.
“It seems you have no desire to make offerings this year,” he said. “Is it because I took so many soldiers last winter?”
As if it hadn’t been enough to kill young Jed, he was now speaking through his dead body.
“Don’t you have enough corpses for your armies?” she growled.
The Grim King laughed.
“Do you think I have an unlimited supply of the dead? And what king doesn’t use his people as soldiers? Lansis and Iorca both gave me more soldiers than you did.”
“Danras does not overflow with people like those cities do. Winter is when we rest from our long season of herding. If we were to tear our herders away from the only time they have with their families to fight your wars, no one would be left to herd.”
The Grim King scoffed. “And that is your excuse for your disgruntlement? That is not a spirit befitting the governor of Merseh’s greatest city.”
“I am not your governor, Grim King. I simply look after the oroxen and the herders under the mandate of the traditions and citizens of Danras. You, however, are making such duties ever more difficult by the day. If you prevent us from raising our cattle, it will not be only Danras but all of Merseh that will fall. And that will spell the end of your skeletal throne.”
Even with her voice raised, Rizona was not looking her way. She prayed the girl knew to stay away. A rattling sound issued once more from Jed’s throat. Whether that was from the dead man himself or a sigh from the Grim King, Yuma could not tell.
“You naïve little country girl. Too busy living among the beasts to realize heaven and earth are shifting all around you. The nations of the east and west, Cassia and the Empire, are clashing as we speak. If it weren’t for your king Eldred, Merseh would have been caught in the middle and your stinking oroxen wouldn’t have so much as a blade of grass to feed upon.”
It sent chills down Yuma’s spine to hear the Grim King say his own name. Speaking it out loud was forbidden in Merseh. But of course, the very subject of the taboo wouldn’t mind such things. Yuma steadied her feelings before she spoke.
“We may be mere herders, but we know the world turns. We hear the news from the merchants who come from foreign parts.”
“How do you think these merchants have safe passage?” Eldred scoffed. “Do you know what sort of beast you have just killed?”
Yuma glanced at the horse that she had just put down. But she realized it was the long-necked monster she had slain earlier that the Grim King was speaking of, and she shook her head.
“A stormbird I brought from the northern land of Tythonia. I have others patrolling the borders creating storms and winds, blocking intruders. Without them, this land would be overrun by invaders and spies. But what would happen to Danras if the stormbird did not let the merchants pass and killed them all instead? Or if they made the river overflow with their rain? Don’t you see that there is nothing to be gained from the people disobeying their king?”
Yuma said nothing. There was nothing to be said against such threats. In trying not to lose oroxen, a man and two horses had been killed. Her objection had already failed.
Jed’s body twitched. Despite being dead, the body seemed tobe finding it hard to be a puppet. Rizona still had her back to them. Yuma lowered her crossbow.
