Chapter 27
“Next to present her eyewitness testimony concerning the destructive events in Goda province one week ago will be Senior Archivist Radamantha Nems dar Harban, of the Capitol Library.”
“Good luck,” Luthra of the personal guard of Great House Vadal whispered as he parted the curtain for her.
Rada walked into the opulent meeting room, which she had previously visited a great many times before while staying in the Great House in Vadal City, though she had never seen this many important dignitaries gathered before. There were arbiters and other high-status members of the first caste, as well as warriors in their finest uniforms of Vadal gray and bronze, and even wealthy workers of unknown duty but extremely fine garments.
Karno was present as well, having been the last to testify before her, but he was the only friendly face she saw among the crowd, not that anyone had ever accused Karno Uttara of excess friendliness.
Last of all Harta, the Thakoor of Great House Vadal himself, was present. His expression was unreadable, which made Rada very nervous.
All the very important people sat upon cushions, watching, as she took her place in the middle of the room. She had been given a fine dress and had tried to make herself pretty using all the tricks her sister Daksha had taught her. If she were to be condemned for her actions, then at least she would do so while looking stately and respectable.
“Oh yes, Rada and I are acquainted,” Harta Vadal said with a very annoyed tone. “Hello again, Librarian.”
Rada gave him a very appropriate bow in the northern style. “Thakoor Vadal.”
Harta waved one hand dismissively. “Proceed with your testimony.”
She cleared her throat, and then began her prepared remarks. “Upon the date in question, I was journeying through the Vadal woods, peacefully minding my own business, when—”
Harta cut her off. “This council does not care about your travels. We are here because nearly two hundred square miles of Vadal territory was obliterated, along with many of my subjects and property. Nor do we wish to hear a librarian’s take on battling swarms of miniature demons after we’ve already heard the testimony of two phonthos and a Protector of the Law about that matter.”
He may have been the Thakoor of this house, but Rada was too weary to put up with Harta’s manipulative games. “Then I should go?”
The other important men were taken aback by her flippant tone, but Harta seemed unmoved. “What an improvement in manners, as you didn’t bother to ask my permission last time you abandoned my protection.”
“Is it normal etiquette in Vadal lands for guests to have to ask their host’s permission to leave? That seems more how one would treat a hostage than a guest.” To be fair, she’d been alone, with nowhere else to go, and been depending on Harta’s mercy to not sell her to the Inquisition. This time she had the fearsome Karno Uttara sitting a few feet away, watching the proceedings in his usual impassive yet somehow threatening way. Life was easier when you had a hulking bodyguard who represented the might of the Law.
“I see our time apart has straightened your spine and sharpened your tongue. Good. I tired of your obsequious ways. Gotama and Jagdish have already regaled us with their tales of valor, but what transpired next was beyond their warrior comprehension. You, on the other hand, are a trained scholar with a Capitol education. Tell us of the pillar of fire.”
Despite having relived those horrible moments over and over in the days since, the thought of it still made her shiver.
“You stood within a furnace, yet were not consumed,” said one of the court wizards. “How?”
“We were saved by a magical pattern of unknown type. Forgive my lack of specificity, for I am no wizard. All I know is that this impenetrable barrier that saved us was created by a black steel artifact known as the Asura’s Mirror, which had been given to me for safekeeping by Senior Historian Vikram Akershan.”
“Bring forth the damaged object,” Harta commanded, and a warrior of the personal guard immediately appeared from behind the silk curtains, carrying a wooden chest that he placed on the floor in front of his Thakoor, before hurrying out of the way. Harta leaned forward and opened the chest, revealing the Asura’s Mirror, and the jagged crack that now split the middle of it.
“That’s the one. When these proceedings are over, I would like it returned to me, as I am still legally obligated to be the artifact’s bearer.”
“My wizards say it is broken and unresponsive, which would make it no longer classified as an artifact, and thus not the jurisdiction of the Library or the Museum. Black steel fragments become the property of the great house that possesses them.”
“Your wizards are wrong. Historically, when black steel artifacts are destroyed they shatter rather spectacularly. The mirror did not, which means it is merely damaged, not destroyed, ergo it remains property of the Capitol Museum, on temporary loan to the Capitol Library.”
“You speak on behalf of your Order?”
Rada made a show of looking around the chamber. “I see no other librarians here.”
Harta just shook his head and chuckled. “I can’t believe you brought this dangerous thing into my home. For that audacity alone, I would seize it.”
“I strongly protest.”
“I don’t care.” Harta closed the lid on chest. “Continue your report.”
Rada looked to Karno for support, but he was just sitting there, stone-faced. Karno’s obligation wasn’t to the mirror. He’d fight a whole army by himself to protect her life, but he didn’t give a demon’s damn about protecting the honor of the Capitol Library. What else could she do? Throw a tantrum and deprive the Library of even more dignity? The Thakoor was the supreme leader of his house. The matter was settled.
For now.
“The barrier stopped the demons, and then it held back the explosive force and the heat as well.” Which was the best way she could put it for these people, since in her experience courtly types were simpletons. The reality had been far more incomprehensible.
“Tell us of it,” an arbiter demanded. “What was it like?”
Rada took a deep breath. “The force was beyond imagination. First it burst in the sky above, which flattened the entire forest in the blink of an eye, pushing down trees like grass in a strong breeze. Then a continuous stream of molten fire poured from above. Boulders and trees were flung on fiery gusts to shatter against our shield.”
It had gone on so long that Rada’s terror had eventually subsided enough to be overcome by academic curiosity. One could only scream their lungs out for so long before growing hoarse. Though none of the surviving warriors would ever admit to it, she hadn’t been the only one crying inside the Asura’s shield!
Some of the high-status men clearly didn’t believe her, or lacked the faculties to process the information, but a few appeared intelligent. Her observations might actually be useful to them, so she pretended she was giving a normal scholarly report and continued.
“According to Jagdish’s mechanical pocket watch, the blast itself lasted approximately one minute, during which little could be seen beyond a fiery haze and vague shadows indicative of destruction. Despite such incredible heat that the rocks around us seemed to soften and deform like a Devakulan volcano, the barrier remained cool to the touch.”
“You should have roasted like meat in an oven,” said one of the warriors.
“Clearly, we were not. Everything inside the barrier—which I assume to be spherical—was unharmed. The forest continued to burn for quite some time after the fury subsided.” Rada didn’t add the part where she had started to panic, because she imagined them running out of air inside the shield, like in a lurid book she had once read about the effects of being buried alive, except somehow their breathing had never been interrupted either. “As the fire died off, it revealed an ashen nightmare. The demons were gone. The forest was now charred black and laid-flat logs, rendered into glowing hot coals, as far as the eye could see. However, I recognize that I have notoriously poor eyesight and had previously lost my fine glasses, so in the interests of providing truthful testimony I would collaborate this part with another witness. How bad was it, Karno?”
“It is as she says.”
The high-status men nodded at that, because no one righteous would ever doubt the word of a Protector in public, especially about something they had seen, as everyone knew Protectors had eyes like eagles, the better to seek out criminals with.
“The shield remained protecting us until the evening. At some point, overcome from the day’s excitement, I fell asleep.” In truth she had been so emotionally devastated that she had used a rock for a pillow and passed out until dawn. “The next morning the barrier had vanished, and the ground had cooled enough for us to march out. It was a most unpleasant journey.”
“How did you operate this black steel device?” Harta asked. “The warriors’ testimony made it sound like the thing spoke with you somehow.”
“I didn’t so much operate it, as I asked it for help, and it granted that small mercy.”
“Did the black steel device call the fire from the sky to smite the demons?”
“I am unsure, but that is most likely.”
“Or was it you who inflicted this wound upon my lands?”
“No.” Rada blinked a few times, as she’d been very much hoping to not be condemned to death today, but with Thakoors who could guess? “Of that, I am certain. As Karno and Jagdish may attest, the…whatever it was…the fire was already on the way when I begged the mirror for aid. The only boon it granted me was the barrier that saved us from the destruction it had already summoned.”
“I see.” Harta stroked his beard. Ever the statesman, his mood was inscrutable. “This testimony will be sufficient for now. The council is adjourned. Mulgar, Rajden, Saksham, and Tukaram will stay. The rest of you I will send for if I again require your presence.”
The rest of the important people got off their pillows and quickly fled the room. Rada tried to as well, but Harta’s eyes narrowed as he shook his head, and that was all the confirmation she needed to know that she had not been among the dismissed. She was of high status, from a different house, and obligated to a prestigious Capitol Order, but within the borders of the Great House Vadal, Harta might as well have been one of the forgotten gods for how much power he held, and Rada’s firm hope was that this malevolent god wasn’t going to require a sacrifice today.
On that note, she’d not seen Jagdish, and Harta disliked him far more than her. If Harta needed someone to blame, it would probably have been Jagdish. Oh, who was she kidding? He’d probably have them hanged together, his most troublesome phontho and an ungrateful guest who had brought a black steel weapon that burned whole forests to their borders.
Despite not having his name listed among those to stay, Karno had not gotten up. Harta saw that, yet he said nothing. It appeared even Thakoors were hesitant to try and boss around Protectors. As the supreme arbiter of the Law in his lands, if Harta wanted to declare Rada a foreign witch, there was nothing to be done about that, and then Karno would have to choose between his loyalty to the Law and the oath he’d given to Devedas. She trusted that Karno, being a good man, would choose righteously, but she’d prefer not to test that theory.
When only a handful of them remained, most notably among them the highest-ranking warrior, and the house wizards, Harta asked her the most important question. “Do you think someone could use this device to call fire from the sky again?”
“So you send away every witness you can’t trust, before asking if I can deliver Vadal a powerful weapon?”
“Of course. Which of your history books taught you to expect this?”
None, actually. Rada had anticipated this on her own. She must be getting better at politics. “I do know more about the mirror than I have said.”
“As expected,” Harta replied.
“And my forthright answers about the mirror can save you a great deal of time and expense from having your wizards puzzle it out on their own, assuming they even know how to decipher the ancient language at all. In exchange I would ask a favor.”
“I’m glad to see you did learn a few things about how to be a proper member of the first caste while being in my company.” Harta actually laughed at that, and it even seemed genuine. “Life is give and take. Well done, Rada. However, you also forget your place. You are not in a position to make demands of me. I could always just make you tell me whatever I want.”
“As you could have before, but did not, because that isn’t your way. You prefer coercion to violence.” She nodded toward her bodyguard. “Plus, this time I have Karno.”
The Protector just looked at her with his heavy-lidded eyes, as if to say that he didn’t appreciate being used as a bargaining chip in her schemes.
“True,” Harta said. “Which is why I’ve had four members of my personal guard hidden in the curtains above with extremely powerful crossbows aimed at him the entire time.”
“Five,” Karno corrected. “I can hear the creaking of the strings. From the smell, the bolts are poisoned as well.”
“I will defer to your superior senses, Protector. I intend no offense. They are my insurance. My family hasn’t had the best experiences with members of your Order in recent years.”
“Of course.” Karno seemed unperturbed that Harta had been ready to skewer him the entire time.
Harta turned back to Rada. “I do have my preferred methods. Force is the lazy path. I am a diplomat…as long as it suits me. You can be perceptive, Librarian. Enough that I have on occasion missed your counsel and have been forced to make do with these unimaginative fools since you left.” His closest advisors looked down in shame as Harta said that. “So what would you ask of me in exchange for this secret knowledge about the pillar of fire?”
Her request was immediate, for she had been hoping for this moment. “Ignore the Capitol’s order to exterminate the casteless in Vadal. Promise to spare your non-people.”
Even a master politician could be surprised. “Really? You want to save the fish-eaters?”
“Yes.” Vadal was only one of twelve houses, but if she could save even a fraction of the non-people her cowardice had endangered, it was better than none at all. “Vow it and I will gladly tell you everything I know.”
“An unexpected request.” Harta thought it over for a moment. “A Thakoor does not make vows to anything other than his house and the Law, and this might put me at odds against the latter. However, my armies are otherwise occupied anyway. Sarnobat has used this destruction to their advantage and launched a large offensive, and I believe Vokkan will not be able to resist the temptation to do the same. Phontho Rajdan?”
This one wore a much fancier sash and turban than Jagdish, with several more stars on his sleeve. He was Vadal’s chief warrior and had been present the night that she had taught Harta’s council about the history of broken and stolen ancestor blades in relation to the rise and fall of great houses.
“Without question, Thakoor. The wolf and the monkey give us all the excuse we need to ignore the extermination order for now, Thakoor. Defending our borders takes precedence over a whim of the judges. No one will question the honor of such a decision.”
“Thank you, Phontho…Very well, Rada. Your cooperation will buy the non-people at least a few seasons, and once this war is settled, then I will reexamine the issue—while keeping your plea for mercy in mind, of course.”
“I am no arbiter,” Karno stated flatly, “but that is the best he will give you.”
“Listen to your Protector, Rada, for he understands the terrible things someone in my position will do to protect his house.”
It would have to do. Rada didn’t enjoy the idea of being tortured either. She’d read enough books on the topic—which, even if exaggerated to shock the reader, made the process sound extremely unpleasant. “Then we are agreed. The casteless live a few seasons.”
“It is done.” Harta gestured toward the chest. “Now, can this be used to cause great destruction again?”
“I don’t think so,” she answered truthfully.
“She’s just saying that to keep us from using it against our enemies,” snapped the warrior.
Harta ignored him. “Expound, Rada.”
Since she knew for a fact that Harta had a surprisingly keen intellect, she did. “Before the mirror cracked while the fires around us cooled, it showed many images upon its surface and a great deal of writing in the ancient tongue. The equivalent of hundreds of pages, each one flashing by in an instant, like flipping through a book. Since it takes time to decipher the old styles of lettering, I wasn’t able to read everything at the time, but I have been pondering on the rest since and I believe I have an approximate translation of much of it.”
“Impossible,” muttered one of the wizards. “Nobody can memorize such a thing so quickly.”
“I have seen her memory tested before,” Harta said. “Continue.”
“The destructive fire was sent from the moon.”
The wizards and the warrior exchanged incredulous glances, and then began to laugh.
Harta held up one hand to silence them, and they stopped the instant they realized they’d drawn their Thakoor’s ire. “Canda or Upagraha?”
She named the smaller of the two moons. “Upagraha. I don’t know if Canda possesses fire. It was not mentioned. The words were difficult to understand, and for a great many I believe there are no modern equivalents in existence. I fear what I say may sound like religious babblings, but I assure you I am a Law-abiding woman.”
“There are no Inquisitors here.” Harta turned toward his other guest. “Protector?”
Karno shrugged. Rada had already told him anyway.
“The fanatics would say this fire was sent by the gods to crush their ancient enemies. The demons we encountered were not the same as those which rise from the sea. These were like a swarm of insects, only instead of sleeping in the ground for seventeen years like some types of Gujaran or Vokkan cicadas, these slumbered for a thousand years until they were accidentally awakened by the Inquisitors.”
“Why do you assume it was an accident?”
“If you had seen how these things kill, you would not ask that,” Karno answered.
“Regardless of what brought the Inquisitors to those particular ruins, they did not expect what they found beneath. I believe if the old writings had not been scrubbed from the stones, they would have been a warning sign to leave that place alone. Once awakened, these particular demons would have spread far and wide, feeding, multiplying, and killing many. My assumption, from seeing how quickly they carried off our dead, was that they were to be immediately consumed to somehow grow the swarm. The Asura, by means I cannot understand, told Upagraha about this, and it contained the threat.”
“The moon…is alive?” a wizard asked.
“Whether it is itself some manner of being, or wizards of unimaginable power live upon it, that answer was not in the pages I saw.”
“This mirror told Upagraha to smite my lands, but you don’t think it could be directed to rain fire down upon some other house in the same manner. Why?”
“That was the last of its fire. It only had so much to begin with, but it used up the rest fighting the demons long ago. This last weapon had been held in reserve, against a threat such as this. That is why the mirror needed to be present. It had to be certain, so as to not waste it.”
One of the wizards cried, “Our lands have been stung for nothing!”
Except Harta just shook his head, for as expected he must have realized that Rada would not have asked for a favor that could be spitefully revoked if her news was of no use to him. “Calm yourself, Saksham. She has more.”
“I do. I believe there is an entire library worth of ancient information in that mirror. I saw but a tiny fraction of it. Assuming I was translating it correctly…” Harta’s assurances aside, Rada had to tread carefully here, so as to not say anything inadvertently religious. “Whoever created the mirror and put Upagraha in the sky had prepared other defenses should the cleansing fire fail. From the maps it showed, some of these appeared to be hidden here, in the north. I speak of weapons made of black steel.”
“Another ancestor blade?” Even skillful Harta, the consummate politician, couldn’t disguise the eagerness from his voice at that idea.
“It didn’t specify the type but help save the casteless from the wrath of the Law, and I will show you the way.”