“You came.” His voice was a rasp, scratchy from shouting, I supposed. Or maybe from days of thirst. His cheeks were parched and blistered, his clothes soiled from travel. His jet black mustache had overgrown his mouth. I could smell the stink of him even over the ocean breeze. The odor of liquor reached me from across the chamber. He was alone, just as Marilius said he’d be, and he wore his aloneness like chains.
“Of course I came,” I answered. I moved toward him, unafraid. He was still enormous, but had left a good bit of himself somewhere on the road. He looked starved but totally disinterested in food. I knew that look. I’d seen it in mirrors. “They tell me you’ve been asking for me,” I said.
I dropped down to one knee before him. He reached for his scimitar and set it aside.
“You look different.” His finger rose to trace my face. “Your eye. What happened? You look so. . young now.”
“I will tell you,” I sighed, “but a lot has happened since Arad, my friend.”
He looked at me with dread. “Where is your girl?”
I bit my lip. I couldn’t answer. Sariyah dropped his head back against the wall.
“No, tell me not. I told you this was no place for a girl. Dead?”
Seeing him made all the sorrow unbearable again. “Cricket’s gone, Sariyah. They killed her.”
He didn’t look away. “Then you and I have our vengeances to settle, Shalafein. They took my boys. My beautiful boys.”
“What happened?”
“We were on the road. To Zura, remember? We left Arad and kept moving quickly, but Diriel-his men are everywhere now. They made my boys join them. Their death army! We fought them, but. .”
His face just sort of crumbled.
“Two of my boys are dead,” he said. “But they took Asadel, and I don’t know where he is. I don’t know where he is, Lukien!”
“They take men for their army, Sariyah. It’s happened all over the Bitter Kingdoms.”
“They turn them into monsters. They take their souls.”
“We don’t know that. We don’t know what happened to Asadel.”
Sariyah tried smiling. “I heard you were here with Anton Fallon, Lukien. I begged to make my way here. I want to fight alongside you. I want to kill them, and I want Diriel’s head.”
“There’s a lot of people who want Diriel’s head,” I said. “And one man in particular who’s been promised that prize. But we will kill them, Sariyah.” I rose to stand over him. “I’m not the man you left in Arad. I’m not a man at all anymore. I have no soul to lose and no mercy in my heart. I will kill them for you and avenge your sons, but you need to rest. You’ll die out there if you fight like this. You need to survive and go home to your wife and daughters.”
Sariyah stood to face me. Even starved, he’d lost none of his powers of intimidation. “Shall I go and tell my wife her sons are dead? A Ganjeese man never returns home with such news, not without the hide of his enemy. You ask me to shame her.”
“No, Sariyah, I don’t-”
“You do but do not know it. Listen to me, Shalafein: my life is yours now. Use me as a spear to throw against our enemies. Use me as a shield, and I will take the arrows. I will find this King Diriel, and I will break him in two pieces over my knee. And if Asadel has been turned into one of his slaves, I will cut off his head to give him peace.” Sariyah stepped forward and pushed his giant chest against my own, bumping me backward. “But nothing will keep me from the battle. Not even you. Do not test your immortality against me.”
I saw nothing but purpose in his eyes. I wondered if that’s what I looked like now.
“Sariyah,” I said softly, “This is the only moment in my life when I’ve known exactly what I was doing. There’s no more doubt in me.” I stooped to pick up his scimitar, holding its golden hilt carefully and handing it to him. “Tonight we call a war council. Tonight we decide how best to skin Diriel and his snakes. You’ll sit with me, Sariyah, and ride with me-right beside me-when we take the battle to them.”
31
I had taken time to eat and clean myself and had even slept a few hours before arriving for the council. The chamber was already filled to bursting when I got there. A long banquet table took up most of the floor, and everyone was already seated, drinking and talking amongst themselves as they waited for the council to begin. Anton sat at the head of the table with Marilius on his right, while behind them hung a large, roughly-drawn map, stretched against the wall. Anton’s many mercenaries filled most of the chairs on his side of the table, while Zurans and Drinmen sat around the other half. My empty seat sat directly opposite Anton across the lengthy table, a glass of wine already poured for me and waiting. Sariyah sat to my immediate right, in the chair next to my own. Chuluun and his brother Nalinbaatar sat to his right, Kiryk and his advisors to my left. They watched me as I entered, but only Sariyah stood.
We met that night in the very same hall where Crezil had massacred Anton’s men.
The room grew quiet. The laughing and clanking glasses ceased. I wasn’t a king, but I felt like one suddenly. My face felt hot.
“We didn’t start yet,” said Anton from across the room. Like Sariyah, he stood. “You didn’t miss anything, just some drinking.”
I hadn’t seen Anton since leaving to rescue Cricket. He hadn’t seen me, either. He looked me over curiously, grinning at the reappearance of my long lost eye.
“Lukien, you are a miracle,” he said. “I cannot believe what I am seeing.”
Chuluun rose to greet me. “He is kissed by heaven.”
“He is Shalafein,” said Sariyah.
“He’s late,” muttered Sulimer. Against his chair rested an enormous battle-axe, his favorite tool for taking Akyren heads. He looked older than usual, his face grooved with worry lines. His young king, Kiryk, put a hand on his arm.
“It’s enough that he’s here now,” said Kiryk, and he rose to greet me, too. With a genuine smile he said, “We’ve waited, and now we’re ready to kill our enemies, Sir Lukien. Lead us.”
I bid them all to sit, then stood behind my chair for a moment. “We’ve all come for the same reason,” I said. “Before another word is spoken, thank you. Thank you for not running away. Thank you for helping me.”
“We all want to save ourselves, Lukien,” said Anton. On the floor beside him rested two chests, their lids closed to hide their contents. “We can only do that by fighting together.”
“We want justice,” said Kiryk, “for all those Diriel has murdered.”
“We want vengeance,” said one of Anton’s mercenaries. “For all our brothers murdered in this room by Diriel’s monster.”
Anton and Marilius both flushed at his statement. Their men still thought Diriel had sent Crezil against them.
“Forget the monster,” I told them. “The monster won’t come again. Your enemies are out there, just beyond this city.”
“So you’ve beaten the monster, then?” asked Anton. “We should at least speak about it.”
“The monster’s not the problem. I’ve dealt with it,” I said.
I didn’t like putting Anton in his place, not in front of all his men, and not in his own home. He’d impressed me by keeping his mercenaries together, and I could already tell by the bare walls of his palace that he’d given up a good part of his fortune to keep his men paid. I stood behind my chair, the entire chamber staring at me. Even the servants stopped pouring to hear my words. I felt lost suddenly, but when I thought about Cricket I knew what to say.