“Freedom from the Grim King’s tyranny.”
Shouts this time. The dominant emotion in the room was now horror. People kept raising their voices over each other, and Yuma understood no one. But she could guess at what they were asking.
She held up both her hands to quiet the crowd and shouted, “I am aware of everyone’s concerns! But I am also of the belief that the Empire has the strength and the willingness to drive out the Grim King for good.”
Jesska stood. She was a little younger than Bruden, but perhaps because of her trading travels, she looked much older.
“Chief Herder. At this year’s herding, my granddaughter Rizona was killed on the mercurial whim of the Grim King Eldred.” Mention of Eldred’s name elicited another terrified reaction from those present, but Jesska continued. “Do you know who this is behind me?”
His face looked familiar, but Yuma was unaware of the man’s name or trade. He stood there in silence, his hand on the back of Jesska’s chair. Seeing that Yuma was unable to answer, Jesska said, “This is Jed’s father, Klide. This is not a gathering to which he would normally be invited, but he lost his son on the same day I lost my granddaughter. And we are united in one thing, which is why we came here today, despite the difference in our standing in the community.”
Yuma remembered then. Jed’s father was a slaughterhand, who lived outside the city walls. She had Aidan deliver the news of Jed’s death to Klide. The grieving man met his gaze with Yuma’s. She averted it reflexively, guilt hitting her for not paying her condolences personally. She gestured to Jesska.
“Please continue.” Yuma knew Jesska was no friend to theGrim King, but she was conservative in most matters. While often she had been Yuma’s ally, she was sure to bring up the fact that it was Yuma’s refusal to pay tithes that caused the deaths of the two young herders. Yuma braced herself for a condemning speech.
But Jesska sat back down. “I have traveled much in my time. Is there any place in this world where there is no suffering, no worry? Some places flood every year and their houses are washed away; others have beasts that could swallow a man alive on his way home. This country gets its wealth stolen and its people murdered on a whim. But we are born here, not anywhere else. This is our lot in life.”
The seething rage in her voice from three days ago was gone, leaving only fatigue and sorrow. It was only too understandable. All of the hostility toward the Grim King, the resentment she had felt toward Yuma, would’ve burned away in the past three days. Rizona was dead, and no matter what they did, she would never come back. Rage was short; sadness was long.
“I understand what you mean,” Yuma replied, “but how long must we accept things as they are? In a land where floods are frequent, they build canals and dams. In countries where beasts are lethal, they hunt them. Even wars that last a hundred years must end in victory for one side or the other. Even if those who think this is our destiny would keep living as we are—”
Jesska slammed her hands against the table. There were no murmurs this time as the room fell dead silent.
“Chief Herder. You say, then, that we can do this? With a four-legged box and a foreigner who isn’t able to walk on his own—we can defeat the Grim King?”
Even in those words, there was no anger. Rizona’s death had exhausted Jesska’s capacity for it. If Lysandros had not appeared,would Yuma have been the same? Given up and kept her head down for the sake of one fewer death?
“Granny Jesska—” Yuma started.
“Chief Herder! Chief Herder!”
Someone was pushing through the crowd around the table—Aidan, despite having now entered the gathering room, did not take off his hat. He looked more panicked than when the stormbird had appeared over the herd. Even the hardened side of his face showed fear.
“What’s the matter?” Yuma asked immediately.
“The Grim King is here.”
There were gasps around the room. Aidan’s face twitched with fear, perhaps for knowing better than all of them the true terror of the Grim King.
Yuma tried to sound as dispassionate as possible. “This fast… and himself personally?”
“Not in his own body, but…”
Yuma remembered the last time she met the Grim King, when he had possessed Jed’s corpse to speak with her.
Aidan continued. “His general demands the handover of the Imperial spy.”
She must stay calm. Yuma repeated this to herself a few times and looked around the table at everyone.
“Evacuate the children to the catacombs, and the elders somewhere deep in their houses, as they may be required to fight,” Yuma said with every ounce of authority she could muster. “Everyone else, be ready with your weapons for the ringing of the bell.”
The crowd hurried out of the gathering room, Jesska being helped by Klide. The two of them, before they went out the door,looked back at Yuma. She knew what they wanted from her, but she could not give it. So instead, she turned to Lysandros, wondering what he must be thinking in this moment where his destiny was to be decided.
Lysandros sat exactly where he was, unmoving and calm. Then, he licked his lips, and smiled a smile more savage than she had ever seen on him before.
25
EMERE
