The Black God's War (22 page)

“What was it?” Lucia asked.

“I can’t explain. The skies went dark around us, Your Grace. We saw, we saw, almost as if the Pawelons were stars. We could not focus, couldn’t see their forces approaching. Or their arrows. We couldn’t see the terrain or the horizon. Bodies started falling. It was a total slaughter.”

“Where is Duilio?” her father asked.

“Strategos Duilio asked me to remain close to him. Once their sages’ magic ceased, we were surrounded. Eventually their general approached us.”

“Indrajit,” her father said.

“Yes. They were only interested in one prisoner, the Strategos. They slaughtered our remaining men. Their general introduced a sage named … something, and gave him credit for their victory. They came for me with their spears and I lost consciousness. I was sure I was going to die.” The soldier stopped again, with strain on his face as he fought through his emotions. “Later, I awoke on the battlefield. Everyone was dead—there were no wounds on my body. I don’t understand what happened.”

Lucia slowly turned her head from side to side as a painful realization began to sink in.

Danato’s vision …

“Everyone else was slaughtered?” Caio asked.

“Yes, Dux Spiritus. Yes, my Haizzem. I wish I had better news to bring to you. I am so sorry.”

“I’m glad you’re alive, my brother. What is your name?”

“Accori.” He slowly approached the side of Caio’s grey horse with watering eyes and humbly raised his hands.

Caio took Accori’s hands in his own. “You and Strategos Duilio prayed to Lord Cosimo?”

The soldier looked surprised. “Yes, my Haizzem, at his request.”

“I can tell you with certainty, Accori, this is why you are still with us.”

“Praises to Lord Cosimo,” the soldier said before he quickly lowered his head.

“Praises to him,” Caio said as he rested his palm on Accori’s crown.

Her father turned his face before Lucia could study his reaction to the news. He spurred his steed into a canter to rejoin the army.

From the moment Caio glimpsed Accori riding toward them, he felt leaden fingers squeezing his heart, much more painfully than the burning wound over his ribcage or the gnawing pain in his shoulder. He felt the horror of so much death in Accori’s soul, but refused to accept the truth until he heard it from the young soldier’s mouth. As he heard Accori speak, Caio saw a vision of Lord Cosimo standing beside Duilio and Accori as they prayed.

Caio rode once again between Ilario and Lucia, staring ahead at their camp.

Lucia spoke quietly, “It’s on us to admit our plan failed, and miserably. The gods remain unswayed.” Her voice trembled with frustrated emotion and tiredness. “We have no other choice now but to visit Lord Danato.”

Caio hesitated to think it.

“You have to agree,” she said.

“I do.” He looked down at the trampled desert with a sense of dread choking him.

“I don’t want to interrupt,” Ilario said, “but are you talking about what I—”

“Yes,” Lucia cut him off. “Danato’s underworld realm.”

Ilario’s brow creased in confusion.

“My dear friend,” Caio began, “I’ve recently learned that Danato holds a clear vision of this conflict. In his vision, the war rages for another ten years. Unless we appease him, our lot is to be doomed and ill-favored by our gods.”

“But do you have to do something so extreme?” Ilario held back the strength of his conviction; Caio could feel it.

“Believe me,” Lucia said to Ilario. “It is the very last thing I would ever want to do.”

Hearing Lucia’s words, Caio’s heart felt strangled again.

Ilario scrunched his lips and clenched his jaw. “But there has to be some other way. Can’t you appeal to him without visiting his realm? What is it the scriptures say about those who make that journey?”

“That he always
gifts
his supplicants with sorrow,” Lucia said.

“We must give Lord Danato the greatest respect,” Caio said and heard a huff of disgust from Lucia. “He is a god of Lux Lucis. His sole purpose is to protect us and guide us to the light.”

Lucia shook her head and looked away.

None of them spoke again during the journey back.

The camp lay ahead, with the sun not long from setting in the north, to their left and behind them. Fires burned in the distance, first for cooking their meat and gruel, then to let the warriors stare into a flickering, ceremonial reminder of the day’s dead. Under the tall white tents, thousands of well-worn beds would remain empty, haunted.

Chapter 30: Fading Sunlight

DEVAK’S BOOTS HAMMERED the stone floor as he marched in circles around his chamber, shaking his head, wondering if he should curse himself. Still no word from Rao.

Indrajit walked slowly, almost meditatively, near the center of the room. A layer of dust covered his uniform after his trek into the canyon and back. “It was a glorious rout. Briraji’s help was invaluable. We massacred their legions.”

“How many Pawelons were slaughtered to the north?”
I don’t care what you detect in my voice
.

Indrajit’s steely expression remained unchanged. “We had no chance to reach them. We only know the Rezzian army retreated.”

“I want to know what happened.”

“We should know soon.” Indrajit stepped past the late-day shadows, to the highest eastern lookout inside the ancient tower. The opening had been worn down by wind and rain over the centuries. “No matter what happened there, we annihilated a considerably larger force in the south. This may be the greatest victory we’ve achieved in a single day.”

Devak huffed out a breath and approached the side of his general. The sun sank too quickly toward the northern horizon. The northern troop still could not be seen—only pale green shrubs, red earth, and a darkening sky. “Once Rao is back, we’ll call this day a victory.”

“Oh, I expect he will be back.” After a long silence, Indrajit turned his head to Devak. “I had excellent commanders there, too. Those men would be significant losses.”

Devak squinted his eyes in response. “Rao was right.”

“This time he was. But we cannot plan a war with caprice and whims.” Indrajit looked to the sunset again. “Eventually your luck will run out.”

Devak stepped in front of Indrajit and searched the world outside the citadel, finding too much calm. “We have been stuck here too long. I want to see Pawelon again.”

“Hasn’t my strategy allowed us to survive, Devak? Have I failed you?” Indrajit’s breath reeked of his last meal, garlic and onions.

“No. But something needs to change.”

“I’ve been employing new tactics, my Rajah. You even questioned me when I did … I’m confused. Would you look to a boy for your answers?”

“For some answers maybe. He has his gifts.”

Silence lingered after Indrajit walked away, his boots making slow progress.

A tall soldier in fine uniform interrupted the quiet from the stairwell. “Sirs, we have word some of our army is returning from the north. Prince Rao is with them. That is all I was told.”

Devak’s chin fell forward as his shoulders dropped. As he looked at the stone floor, his mental chatter went silent and gratitude arose instead. He looked out of the tower toward the northeast, searching, finding nothing. “Come with me to meet them.”

Indrajit met Devak’s request as they passed under the archway together. The odor of the guards’ sweat lingered in the sweltering vestibule. Endless stairs descended before them.

Devak tried to stop worrying about his son’s condition. “Congratulations on taking their Strategos.”

“Duilio himself.” Their voices reverberated inside the rocky stairwell, as did the powerful footsteps of soldiers ahead and behind.

“It’s amazing they would sacrifice him,” Devak said.

“They’re overconfident. They must believe he is expendable now. Imbeciles.”

“And Duilio said nothing at all?”

“He very cordially refused to speak of their plans,” Indrajit said with a wry smile.

“I’ll pay him a visit myself. We’ll see how cordial he is after I beat him.” Devak’s heart wouldn’t stop fluttering. “He’d better hope Rao hasn’t been harmed.” He felt his lungs shaking as his breath tumbled out. The monotony of the descent was so well established now, it had become like a meditation, though the silence failed to calm his lingering worry.

“My problem with Rao is that he is passive and an idealist.” Indrajit broke the quiet with words that seemed carefully prepared. “He possesses the naivety of youth, but not the vigor. Were he to inform our tactics, we would not only remain trapped here, the dogs would take advantage of his inexperience. If you take his voice seriously, we will risk everything we have worked for.”

“You’ve served me well, Indrajit, and I hope you will for a long time to come. But he is your future rajah—”

“Someday he will be ready to lead. For now, he is still a child in many ways.”

“Remember who serves who here.”

Indrajit’s voice remained smooth. “Of course I do, my Rajah.”

“Maybe it’s not a coincidence—Rao coming of age at the same time as the dogs’ Haizzem.”

“I … can’t speak to that,” Indrajit said.

“Maybe Rao was meant to counter him.”

“Your son was a great help to us in that battle. Perhaps he helped our forces again today.” Indrajit’s breath still reeked.

“If so, I may double his command.”

There was a pause before Indrajit nodded. The lack of discernable emotion on Indrajit’s face told Devak nothing of his general’s mood.

The two parted a sea of prized guards and stepped into the late afternoon. Shade filled the barren grounds. Far ahead, rows of men pulled the creaking eastern gates wide. Distant cheers arose from the soldiers stationed on the northern and eastern walls. Devak hustled toward the gate feeling lightheaded, his heart shaking like a rattle.

Chapter 31: Tempting the Light Against the Dark

AAYU CLIMBED THE LOW PEAK of the boulders and savored the wide grin stretching across his face. Maybe the hiking and fighting had made him delirious. He beamed his joy at the soldiers coming up the trail behind him.

Rao hiked at the line’s front. The citadel’s opening gates beckoned from only two hundred paces away. Jumping up and raising his fists, Aayu sang with a voice unfit for the task, making up the words as he went.

“The dogs fell down in the desert today.

They tucked their long tails and ran away.

O the dogs! O the dogs!

No more bones for the dogs today—”

Rao cut him off. “These men have already survived one deadly force, Aayu. Cease!”

“Don’t cry for the dogs!

No don’t cry, no, no, no.

Nooo, nooo, nooo …

Noooooooooooooo.”

Rao and the leading troops caught up to him by the time their laughter quieted. “May I help our talented minstrel down from his pedestal?”

“No, I am full of energy.” Aayu jumped and crashed down, taking the impact in his knees and across his palms as they scraped the ground.
That hurts.

Rao lowered his hands to help him up with a smile that carried no hint of mockery.

“Thank you, my prince, sir, sage, master, sir, prince.”

“Are you really all right in the head?”

“I may be a little strange.”

“Worse than usual?”

“What is usual?”

“Right.”

Aayu gave Rao a stinging slap on his back. “You ready for our heroes’ welcome?”

Rao chuckled and touched his thumb to his lower lip.

Enjoy yourself, bhai.
“I am looking forward to seeing the look on Briraji’s face when he hears what we survived.”

“We were really lucky,” Rao said.

“I told you we were going to change this war. They’ve got no answer for us, bhai. Forget their Haizzem.”