“Your sister is an evil one,” Devoth said. “That much is true. To burn our records…” His spirit form spat, though nothing came of the gesture. “But it is not as you say. We can have Acacia, and we can journey back to Ushen Brae. We know the way now. We can have both places. Why not? The future is an Auldek future. The entire world Auldek. When you are defeated, nobody will be able to stop us, so why not an Auldek world?”
Behind the clear words that Devoth spoke, Aliver could hear other voices. They were soundless, like screams on the other side of thick glass. They had substance, but he had to learn how to hear them.
Aliver answered, “Because we can make a peace between us that will honor us both.”
Devoth’s smile showed a glimmer of confidence. “That’s what you want? Only that? Now I know this is a trick. No, no, no,” Devoth said, chuckling. “You have no terms for me. Your world is ours. You may send your army against us, but they will die. We are a great host. There are as many divine children fighting for us as there are Acacians in your army. And we have sublime motion. We could send only our slaves and they could harvest your army for us.”
“But they are slaves, Devoth.”
The spirits trapped inside him clamored about the truth of this. They so clearly heard him. Aliver tried harder to hear them as well. He pressed his consciousness up against that unseen and intangible barrier, listening from a place that had nothing to do with sound.
“They are loyal. Your speech is a trick, and I am not afraid of it.”
“You have not heard my terms.”
“There are none that I need hear.”
Aliver closed his spirit eyes and stilled himself completely. He heard. The words and thoughts and emotions bloomed inside him. They were children’s thoughts. Raw and youthful, filled with life and scared, trapped, begging for him. They spoke their names to him. There was a boy called Nik, and another named Dru. A girl, Hanna, cried out to him, so beseechingly it was hard for Aliver not to open his eyes and let it show. Erin and Allis, Ravi… So many names. Each of them belonging not to Devoth but to an individual who should have lived a true life.
I’m so sorry, Aliver thought. They could not hear this, but he thought it more than once.
“I present my terms anyway,” Aliver said, opening his eyes. He spoke slowly, doing his best to ensure that the Auldek would understand him. “You and all the other Auldek with you will release your quota slaves from bondage. You will tell them they are free to do as they please. You will send them all across to our camp, so that my people can speak to them and make sure they are acting on their free will, whatever they choose. You Auldek will abandon this war. You will turn your stations around and go home, shedding no more blood in the Known World. You will make a solemn oath that when you return to Ushen Brae you will not punish the people living there. Every Auldek will make this oath, calling on your totem deities as witnesses. Such an oath would be unbreakable, right?”
“If it were made, yes.”
“We may send ships to retrieve the people in your lands, but they are free. If they choose to live in Ushen Brae, you will have to find a way to live with them. We will have your oath on that.”
At first, Devoth had listened with incredulity. As Aliver talked, he craned his head to hear better. By the time he finished, Devoth’s spirit had begun to smile. “Is that all? And what will you give us in return?”
There was nothing like sincerity in the question, but Aliver answered it as if there had been. The entrapped children had begun to name where they were born. They seemed to fear he did not believe them. They threw memories at him, emotions, images of what home was to them. Under the bombardment, Aliver could barely keep track of his interaction with Devoth. It took all his concentration to do so.
“We will do four things for you,” he said. “First, we will give you peace without fear of retribution. Our past will be our past. Though we will not forget your crimes, we will not hold them hard in our hearts.” The children screamed for him not to forget their crimes. They were not past, they said. They were entrapped now!
“Very kind of you.”
“Yes. Second, we will allow you to leave without interference. Nobody will hunt your backs. I will not haunt you anymore. Third, we will put into your hands the Numrek children.”
“Numrek children?”
“Yes, those who still live. My sister captured them but did not kill them. There are not many, but they could be the start of your future, of the generations to come. We will give you that gift.”
“Is that it?”
“There is a fourth thing.”
“Yes? Is it the best thing?”
“It may be.”
“Tell it, then.”
“I will, but not tonight. I will tell it to you in person, on the field south of here when our forces meet. Talk to me then, Devoth. You and all the other Auldek. Come to me in front of your army, with all your great host behind you. Then I will tell the fourth thing. But now, go back to your slumber. Wake in the morning and remember what I said. Go, sleep, Devoth.”
For a second it seemed the Auldek would fight the order, that he had something else to say, but the command was strong. His spirit slid back toward the body beneath the blankets. Aliver saw the trapped souls being pulled back with him. He heard them, shouting without sound, pleading with him. The sight of their anguished faces was heartbreaking, but he waited until the final moment to do what he had planned. He felt there was only one moment that he could achieve what he wanted to.
Just as Devoth’s spirit began to sink back into the skin of his body, Aliver rushed forward. He swept through the Auldek with his arms outstretched, filled with love and shame and grief and hope, asking forgiveness for those who came before him. He grabbed for the children’s’ souls.
And he pulled them all free.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
A cave on an outcropping of rock at the very edge of the Outer Isles, out beyond Thrain and Palishdock. The dark of a cloud-heavy night. The air and sea in furious struggle. Not a place many would choose to rest, and yet that was what Corinn and Hanish knew they had to do. Atop Po, they had ranged over hundreds of miles, gathering sorcerers all along the way. They had pushed Po to great speed over the sea, leaving the Santoth far behind, but not so far that they would not catch up with them soon. Though he showed not the slightest indication of needing it, Po had earned a rest, such as it was. Having furled his wings, the dragon perched sentinel above them, still as the wet stone and just as black. Corinn hoped that his wounds were healing. She thought so. The turmoil in his mind had grown calm. Damaged, yes, but resolved.
She did her best to always keep a part of her mind speaking to him, and to the other dragons. They were each of them faithful to her, but she could feel their desire for freedom. When she was gone, no other would be able to keep them tamed.
He will warn us, Corinn said, if they come faster than we expect .
Hanish stood at the mouth of the cave, gazing out into the night as if he were keeping his own watch. “I know he will,” he responded. “I’m not doubting him. Just looking is all. Just looking.”
The leaning rock walls around them provided the only shelter from the heaving of waves and the wind. A small fire cast their only light. Corinn fed it with things her servants had packed into her saddlebags: a tent and its bamboo poles; thick, hard crackers that burned as well as wood and that she could not eat anyway; rolls of parchment she would never now need; the leather bags themselves. My servants: what would they think to see me now? Though she took warmth from the fire, she knew she could have sat in the damp chill and not been affected by it. Just as she had gone days now with no food or drink. She was as empty as she had ever been, and yet she went on, feeding on the goal she had set herself.
To Hanish, she sent the thought, We have them all behind us.