“What is it you want me to do? Or is it your intention to harass us for the remainder of the herding?”
“You must make your tithes.”
Aidan had warned her that the Grim King could not be taught to behave. But she could not listen to someone who would not listen themselves. Even if they were the Grim King of Merseh. Giving a finger now would result in losing an arm later.
“I will not.”
“I have just declared I shall cut your trade and flood your city, but you persist in your disobedience?” His voice was full of scorn.
Yuma stood up straight.
“It has been hundreds of years since you conquered Merseh. We make our tithes, but the people of Danras value freedom above all else. If we cannot run our horses on the steppe under a blue sky, or winter with our families without fear of being pulled to fight someone else’s war, we would rather choose death.”
A corner of Jed’s blue lips rose in a sneer.
“You would decide the fate of your city with those words. Let us see if you can stand behind them.”
With the sound of bones breaking, Jed’s neck slowly twisted like a rag being squeezed of water. Yuma almost vomited. Jed’s right shoulder swung back implausibly, popping and dislocating. His finger pointed to Rizona, who sat on her horse with her back to them.
The Grim King said, “In Danras, there are at least a thousand such children, are there not? If you would rather die than titheyour oroxen, you will not mind if we start with this one. Since you care so little.”
Yuma quickly raised her crossbow and aimed for the back of Jed’s head. “Stop!”
“Chief Herder of Danras, do you already regret your hasty words?”
“Stop, I said!”
Jed’s head turned again to face Yuma. His unnaturally twisted arm dropped back to his side. A terrible smile was on his lips.
“Good. It remains to be seen how much further you would go to defy me. I will exempt the tithe this year. But there is a task you shall do for me instead.”
A feeling of dread made her blood run cold. “A task?”
“As I repositioned the stormbird here to warn you of your folly, a spy has crossed Crow’s Bone Peak.”
“That wall of ice? There is no path through it.” Not even birds could go over the Crow’s Bone. It surprised her that the Grim King was bothering to watch that peak at all.
“It seems he’s a resourceful one. Find him.”
Yuma thought for a moment before answering. “The steppe is vast. I cannot be sure to succeed.”
“I, too, pin no great hopes on a mere cowherd. But if it was not a deed you were capable of, I would not task you to it. Come closer.”
As Yuma reluctantly approached, Jed’s twisted neck unwound itself and he opened his mouth. Violet light swirled inside. Yuma frowned as she stared into the light. His mouth opened wider, bloodlessly tearing at the corners, his jaw unhinging.
From the swirling came forth an emaciated hand in a sleeve ofshadow and ember. White unfamiliar gemstones sparkled on the sleeve. Yuma had never seen the Grim King with her own eyes, but this had to be him. The hand opened. On the palm were two iridescent stones, both a little larger than a thumb.
Yuma spread her palm underneath the hand and the stones were dropped into it. A feeling of uncleanliness spread through her whole body. The Grim King’s hand disappeared into Jed’s mouth before his voice began to speak through Jed’s mouth once more.
“The Empire uses a strange sorcery called Power generators. Should the spy resist, crush one of these nullstones. It should be enough to stop their generator for a while.”
Given that the spy was entering from the west, Yuma had already suspected that the spy was coming from the “Empire” that had risen near the western shores.
The Empire had quickly gained power in the past few decades, conquering at first the smaller kingdoms that surrounded it before recently overcoming the great Emperor of Thiops in the south, a monarch said to command the very gods. Yuma rubbed the stones in her hand.
“And if it’s not enough?”
“Then use both of them. Must you be told everything? They are more precious than a thousand oroxen, so do not waste them.”
