“Didn’t they notice the soulless zombies that now stood among them? Before he had thought through what he was doing Little Kilish swung his scythe and sliced the soul harvester’s head clean from his shoulders. It fell to the ground and chattered on for some minutes yet before the tongue inside the thing realized all was lost. Little Kilish looked around him, afraid lest he be called a murderer and criminal and find himself banished. But the people did not banish him. They rejoiced. They said, ‘Let Kilish harvest our wheat, for he is strong and has no need to steal our souls!’ And so it was.”
Hanish motioned with his hand that there was no more to tell. Several voices praised his telling of the tale. Halren beamed as she looked about, as if Hanish had told the story particularly to her. But the chieftain kept his attention on Corinn. “We’ve told this tale for many, many years. You understand its significance, don’t you?”
“You say that Little Kilish was a giant of a man, but I suspect at least one feature of his body was not so large,” Corinn said. “That, surely, is how he got his name. One shouldn’t trust a man called Little. No man wants to think any part of himself small. It makes him bitter, unjust, and petty-”
Rhrenna said, “Corinn, you’ve such a way of-”
“Little Kilish,” Hanish said, interrupting both women, “was of the Meinish race; the soul harvester was Acacian born. That’s the significance. We may be new to power, Princess, but we did not sell our souls to get it. It just took us a bit longer to achieve by honest means what your people won through treachery.”
“You’ve just now invented that tale,” Corinn said. “And, ‘honest means’! Are you-”
Hanish threw back his head and laughed. “I’ve angered the princess. I doubt she’ll admit that what surprises her is how accurately an ancient tale unveils the current truth of our two people’s history. It’s almost like a prophecy, isn’t it? My joy is in having had a hand in making it come true.”
This received murmurs of approval around the table, but Corinn said, “That may be your joy, but it’s my sorrow.”
“I don’t believe that,” Hanish said. He stared at her. “I think you say such things simply because you feel you are supposed to. But in truth, Princess, we have done you little harm. Yes, there’s your father. I won’t ask you to forgive me for that, but I will ask you to remember that in the same few moments you lost your father I lost a beloved brother. They were each instruments of a cause, of conflicting causes. This is just the way of men and there’s no crime in it.” Hanish drew back, picked up his glass, and sipped. “Beyond that we’ve done you no harm.”
“No harm-” Corinn began but was cut off.
“Exactly so. We never touched a hair on one of your siblings. Never. And we never would, not to harm them, at least. We’ve only ever wanted to bring them home, to the palace where they belong. They could live beside us, just like you do. Look at yourself, Corinn. Look at the life you have. You are the center of a court of women and men who adore you, despite the barbs you throw at us. You have all the luxuries of royalty; none of the responsibilities. I only wish you would warm to your position more. I would, truly, like to see you…content.”
Corinn snapped her head up to face him directly. She had felt as if he was about to stick his tongue in her ear. That was how his last spoken word had reached her, like a wet caress that could reach across the table and touch her in front of everyone’s eyes. But he was sitting back, at ease, his glass near his nose as he scented the wine. No one except Maeander had ever made her feel more uncomfortable for no obvious reason. She said, “Then die-you and all your people-and give me back my family.”
Halren began a shocked response, but Hanish looked only amused. “My dear emotional girl,” he said to Corinn, “you really are quite beautiful. Isn’t she, Larken?”
“A touch petulant,” the traitor said, “but she’s no hardship to look upon.”
Corinn rose and left the room, feeling each and every set of eyes upon her.
CHAPTER
For Leeka Alain it was no easy thing to come off the mist. There were days of visions. Nights of horrific dreams. Pains shot through his body with such electric force that he went rigid and trembling on his cot. At times he had glimpses of the world as he had seen it during the raging fever he had endured in the Mein. But beyond all of this he would remember the delirium as one of consumption, a nightmare during which he was simultaneously being consumed and consuming himself. At times it felt like his body writhed with thousands of sharp-jawed worms, serrating their way through every portion of his flesh. What was worse, though, was that the worms were part of him. Leeka himself was both the devourer and the devoured. He ate himself, and he was eaten.
Throughout all of this the former chancellor stayed at his side. From the first night when Thaddeus came upon him in the dark, he had been there to aid him, a strict doctor, nurse, jailer, and confidant all at once. Thaddeus all but sealed him in his hovel of a cabin in the hills above that backwater town. He bound his wrists and feet to the bed, wrapped a wide strip of cloth around his midsection, and sat beside him, explaining that he had a great need for Leeka’s services. He could not even begin to discuss it with him, however, until Leeka’s mind and body were free of addiction. Leeka railed at him, confused as he was and frightened by the turmoil building in his body.
At one point when his vision had cleared enough for him to see his caretaker looking down upon him, he said with complete certainty that he was dying. This was not an ordeal he could live through.
“Do you see this?” Thaddeus asked, stretching out his fingers to reveal a barb fastened to the tip of his little finger. “This pin has been dipped in a poison so potent it kills almost before its victim can feel the prick of it. Similar to that which I used on you in its quickness, save that this one is deadly. I will leave this here beside you. If it is true that you cannot live without your mist and wine, then use it to take your own life. Or, if you are too selfish for that, come upon me in sleep and kill me. Rob me of what coins I have in my bags and run away. Let the fate of the world rest in Hanish Mein’s hands. Stake no claim to greatness. All of this is within your power if you choose. If you kill me, it will not even be a crime; it would be a gift. You see, I have many demons to face as well. We could be cowards together.”
The man tugged the weapon from his finger and placed it on the stool he had sat on. He untied his patient’s arms and legs, loosened the sash across his torso, and then moved away. Leeka was quite sure that Thaddeus, no matter his wisdom, would never really know how close he had come to picking up that pin and sinking it into his neck. He wanted to so very badly. He fantasized each action, each motion of gathering the man’s coins, each stride down to the village, all the transactions he would need to go through before he got his lips once more around a pipe and inhaled. For the life of him he was not sure what stopped him.
The next morning he awoke crying. He knew without doubt that he was alone in the world. He blamed no one but himself for it. The fate of nations may have pushed and shoved his life, but it was his own fault that he had never properly loved a woman, never fathered children, never looked at the world with fear and hope for his grandchildren. If he had done any of these things he might have made better sense out of living. He could not fathom how he had lived for so many years without realizing the sums of his existence were destined to add up to naught. Perhaps he should use the release of that poisoned pin after all-on himself.
“I can see you are not entirely done feeling sorry for yourself,” Thaddeus said, interrupting his thoughts.
Leeka rolled over to see the man sitting once more on that stool, studying him, a hand outstretched with a cloth dangling from it. Leeka took it up and wiped his face, aware that he should be embarrassed but not quite feeling it. Thaddeus asked him if he was hungry enough to eat; Leeka heard himself say that he was.