broccolifloret

  Grandma Alba jumped to the ground. “Now, a cim like that requires proof.”

  Grandma Cielo lowered herself from the cart next. She didn’t really believe it either; I could tell from her tight mouth. And why should she? They’d lived past eighty without ever seeing the King of the Dying Sun. Their parents hadn’t met that person either, or their parents’ parents. Why should this strange young man be it?

  I stood up on shaky legs. No doubts left in me, unfortunately. If he was mad at us—well, make the Megarchon’s guards mad and you’ll be lucky if you’re still alive when they dump you by the roadside. Make the King of the Dying Sun mad at you? I couldn’t even begin to imagine what could happen. You might as well make the sky open just for you and unleash a lightning aimed right at your head.

  Quietly, the man removed one fingerless glove and showed us the back of his hand. For a moment, something glowed in his veins, brighter and clearer than the moonslight. The brand of the Imperium.

  My mouth felt as if I’d swallowed a mouthful of dust. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

  “No you’re not.” Vanth wasn’t looking at me. “You’re not sorry, but frankly I wouldn’t expect you to be.”

  He sounded so emotionless you’d think he was buying train tickets. Good thing my self-control is impeccable; he didn’t even suspect how much I wanted to punch him in the kidney.

  Auntie Estrel gripped the carriage’s side. Untie Lago had slung an arm around her shoulders, I don’t know if to comfort her or to hold her back. Nothing could stop my grandmas from standing between that stranger and me, not even if he was the king of a million suns. But my Auntie and Untie had children of their own to think of.

  Well, he wouldn’t touch anybody in my family. My hand still had a good card. I hadn’t missed the way he looked at me when I taunted him. As long he wanted my body, I had something to bargain with. I’d better make the most out of it. After all, I knew how.

  “I can make it up to you.” Though I sounded perfectly casual, polite even, my heart was racing.

  Just for a moment, that look fshed through his eyes again, and it was gone.

  “You need a healing spell,” he said.

  I tilted my head toward Grandma Cielo. “My grandma’s a healer.”

  “Fine. After that we will discuss the matter of compensation.”

  “Sure.” As usual, my voice remained calm and friendly. “Surely there’s something I can do for you, right?”

  He stared at me, then cleared his throat. “No, that’s not it. You’re the one who deserves compensation. It’s because I attacked you that the real necromancer escaped. Will you allow me to accompany you home? No, don’t answer yet. I’ll send the needleteeth away. We shall discuss this when you’re healed.”

  Vanth took a step back, avoiding my eyes. It was childish of me to think that, but it felt wrong that he wasn’t an old guy. He couldn’t be much older than me. Maybe thirty at most.

  Grandma Alba stepped on my side. She looked as squat and wind-scoured as you’d expect from an old farmer from the Dorontean hills, and moved faster than you’d expect from someone her age, though she'd slowed down with age. Or so said Grandma Cielo.

  Speaking of, Grandma Cielo examined me with a frown. She was thick and round, especially at the hips, and rarely moved fast, but also rarely stopped moving. She still wore her apron, which looked slightly weird if you didn't know she wore it all day long. Naturally she wouldn't stop to remove it in an emergency.

  “How fucked up are you?” she asked.

  “Not fucked up, just a bit bruised.”

  Her concerned frown turned into a relieved smile. “Yeah. This time.”

  Grandma Alba observed Vanth, hands on her belt. “I don’t think we should accept any hand-me-downs from him.”

  Honestly, that was the sensible thing to do. Nothing good ever comes out of having a government officer around—never mind bringing one inside your house. That’s unheard of. And the King of the Dying Sun? So much worse than an officer. He and the Megarchon were each in a category of their own. Best for him to go on his way and forget us as fast as possible.

  Except I had my own reasons for wanting Vanth on my side.

  So many times before, Grandma Cielo had healed me after I'd fallen from a tree trying to take a better look at some bird. She ran her hands over my back with a soft touch, assessing the damage. As she told my muscles and bones how to knit themselves back together, they itched slightly. I knew that feeling so well. It told me I'd be fine.

  But I was looking at Vanth. As promised, he’d gone to handle those things, who'd fttened themselves even closer to the ground. If they hadn't attempted to eat me, I would've considered feeling sorry for them.

  Kind of a pity his personality wasn't very appealing, too, ‘cause he really didn't look bad at all. Allowing you were fine with slightly dead beanpoles. Seeing how he made a point of wearing pants that clung to his sinewy legs and little round butt, I really doubted he was unaware of it. Someone who spent however long taming that hair into a cascade of neat corkscrews couldn’t be indifferent to his own looks, either. At least I was reasonably sure he hadn’t gone to the point of artificially curling it like that. It wasn’t fashionable. Then again, he sure didn’t seem to care about fashionable.

  I said all that, but it’s not as if I paid attention to a man’s personality anyway. He could put me in my pce and that called to me like grain to mice.

  Even if he was a bad idea? Especially if he was a bad idea.

  “How many times do I have to tell you to leave humans alone?” Vanth asked the creatures. I suppose it was a rhetorical question, because he replied to himself with an exasperated sigh. He lifted up his hands and cpped three times fast. “May the world open its gates.”

  The hairs on my nape rose up; I swear I felt something in the air tear itself in two. Those things slunk away, disappearing one by one. Or that's what it looked like. More likely, Vanth had sent them away. Back to the Underworld, because where else would you send them?

  This, then, was the power I could only dream of.

  I kissed Grandma Cielo's cheek so she'd know I wasn't taking her for granted. “Thanks. I feel so much better.”

  My clothes hadn't sustained any tears, but the knee patch was nearly ripped off. Not bad, I could get it fixed before dinner.

  The ghost crawled out and stood by my side. They seemed to be looking up at me.

  “I'm fine, see? You should go with that guy now. I know he's mean, but he won't hurt you. In fact, there's no safest pce for you to be.”

  We exchanged waves as they glided away.

  Vanth leaned over the ghost. How curious: the look in his eyes was downright gentle, and when he spoke, his voice was almost soft.

  “Are you ready to go now?” He tilted his head as if he could hear the ghost speak. “Thanks for letting me know. Better luck next time.”

  Huh.

  Vanth took a knife from a leather sheath hanging from his belt. Bone handle—no, ivory. Of course that’s what a rich guy like him would carry. He pricked his fingertip, squeezing out a drop of blood into the dust, and repeated the incantation from before.

  The ghost seemed to disappear almost instantly, like a puff of smoke blown away by the wind. I swallowed, unable to take my eyes away from the spot where I'd st seen them. A part of my mind refused to admit I'd just seen the ghost vanish before my sight. But I suppose it was inevitable. This was a person, no matter what they looked like.

  Vanth’s eyes met mine. He still had that coldly superior look. Not that I was surprised: though he seemed to be particurly adept at conveying his contempt with the lift of an eyebrow, all city people felt the same. Others were more btant or more crude in their contempt, that was all. They saw our colorful cotton shirts and wool gabardine trousers and dusty work boots of mitema leather, got a strong whiff of homemade scent, and looked at us as if we'd sprouted from the ground next to our squashes.

  We just didn't give a shit about them, even if we had to be careful not to let it show.

  Vanth returned to our side. He looked slightly antsy, as if he’d just noticed his fly had been down the whole time. Well, the more he regretted his actions the better for me.

  Careful now. Everybody who is somebody has hangers-on. Being too obvious could backfire on me.

  I offered him my hand. “Seeing how you’ve introduced yourself, I should do the same. Name’s Azul Mamani.”

  Vanth shook my hand with a light touch, as if he was afraid he'd squeeze too hard. Rich city people don't shake hands like common cart drivers, so it wasn’t surprising that he’d be unused to it. He was willing to speak my nguage: a good sign.

  “Let’s discuss what I can do for you, shall we?” he asked.

  “Sure.” I turned to my grandmas. “I'll go ahead with him so the kids will stop worrying.”

  Grandma Alba said nothing more than, “Hmm.” Grandma Cielo sighed, but let Untie Lago give her a hand up into the cart. “Be careful not to fall off. That contraption looks flimsy.”

  Vanth gave me the helmet. I'd assumed its dark visor didn't make everything look dark, or else how would he drive? Indeed, everything looked even clearer with it on. I turned my head, looking all over the pce. The helmet's fit was a bit loose on me, but it'd do for the ride home.

  He tied his hair up. “It amplifies scarce light and diminishes the gre.”

  “That's handy for when the moons are dark.” Everyone knows the Underworld is closer by night, especially in a silver noon. When you take that into account, it wasn’t so surprising Vanth looked half dead. He probably stayed up all night chasing necromancers. And hadn’t he’d just crossed half the world to catch one? I guess that expined his personality some.

  I climbed on the motorcycle behind him, but didn't know what to do with my hands.

  “We're not in a ballroom,” he said. “Hold on tight. Wouldn’t want to make your grandma worry, would you?”

  So I did. His waist felt smaller than I expected, and I kinda wanted to squeeze it harder. It didn’t seem wise though. Before I realized what was going on we set off, and for a moment I was sure I was going to fall off after all, so I did cling with all I had.

  You’ll probably think I’m not an unbiased judge of these vehicles, and I really don’t care, but after seeing all the dust this one dispced, I hoped they wouldn’t become commonpce in the hills. Mitemas are much less inconvenient, especially in the dry season.

  “Which direction?” Vanth asked. The fork in the path, already? The contraption really was fast.

  “Left.” I clung tighter and closed my eyes so I wouldn't see us turning. My stomach dropped to the ground all the same.

  Thankfully, once the worst was over, I dared to look over Vanth's shoulder and saw the farmhold, a cluster of conical champa buildings. Every farm left some light spells on the fence all night, so that anybody who passed by knew they could seek shelter there. To the left the pen with the sheep and mitemas, to the right the crops. Cha?ar and espinillo provided shade and wood year 'round and sweetly-scented yellow flowers in the spring. Next to them we grew every vegetable and herb we could grow. Fodder for the animals too: coast tarweed, bahiagrass, and forage peanut. The cicadas were out and chirping, as if that night had nothing different from the others. And I suppose to them it didn't.

  In between the trees, a brown feathery shape took one prissy little step after another. Kyrabdel had come home! Despite everything, I smiled. My family couldn't afford any missing mitemas. Besides, it wasn't his fault I'd fallen, or that those creatures would rather eat me than him.

  Finally, we slowed down toward the end of the path. I held on tighter once more. The motorcycle shuddered and stopped. I stretched out a tentative foot. At first I wasn’t sure, but it was true: the ground was still. I stood up immediately, in case I lost my chance. With a relieved sigh, I returned Vanth's helmet to him.

  A vague hint of amusement hovered around the corner of his mouth. “I hope you appreciate my driving slowly for your sake.”

  Asshole.

  Pretending I didn’t hear that, I stretched my arms over my head. I wasn’t trying to make my shirt open, not on purpose. I hadn’t even noticed the st button had come undone. The way Vanth looked at me, I was almost expecting him to reach out and slid a hand under the small opening. His eyes snapped up to meet mine. He wasn’t leering or apologetic, just vaguely appreciative. Nice body you’ve got there.

  Heh.

  Still looking at him in the eye, I bent down, pretending I was checking my bootces. It turns out I knew how to show off my ass to great effect even in those shapeless work pants.

  Vanth cleared his throat. “Is being knocked around such a turn-on for you?”

  I looked at him right in the eye. “It’s just a physical reaction. It don’t have to mean anything. But the right man helps.”

  “I see.”

  I saw he wasn’t the right man in most situations. Of course, I couldn’t say that out loud. Making him mad wasn’t so bad as long as all he did was fuck me into submission. There was too much I couldn’t afford myself to risk this time, though.

  I offered Vanth a teasing smile. “Well, aren’t you curious to know what that means?”

  “I would. Perhaps there’s a particur strand of physical stimution you haven’t been introduced to. I ftter myself as a bit of a connoisseur.”

  My smile turned into a knowing grin. “Perhaps so! But I must warn you I’ve been introduced to plenty of ‘em.”

  He almost-smiled back.

  “Let’s go inside,” I said. “My cousins must be worried.”

  He followed me silently. Only a couple of steps ter, though, something wiped every other idea off my mind.

  Another motorbike was propped up against one of the benches at the shade of the trees. This motorbike was a boxy white one. We've established I was no expert on the matter, but even to me it looked an impersonal tool. The only remarkable thing about it was a mark on the mudguard: a stylized green bird in the shape of an arrow. The symbol of the Order of the Sabrewing.

  My heart jumped into my throat. Regur guards were better avoided, but the Sabrewings were the Megarchon’s personal guard of honor, sworn to escort and protect only them and their blood retives. The only good thing you could say about them was that they rarely ever left the capital. For one of them to come all the way to our farmhold, there could be only one reason.

  The main building door swung open and the kids came running out and tackled me, as if they hadn't seen me in forever. I barely had time to brace myself so they wouldn’t ftten me.

  Auntie Estrel and Untie Lago had three children. Sol and Luna, sixteen, were twins. Some people had trouble telling them apart, though I always found it obvious. Sol was the one who used to pick scorpions by the tail and hide them in her room, and Luna the one who had to be stopped from licking the underside of rocks as a toddler. These days Luna cut her hair in a bob while Sol mostly braided it, so that’s how you told them apart, if you needed to. Then there was eleven-year-old Lucero, fat like Grandma Cielo and tall like—someone on Untie Lago's side I suppose. Soon enough he'd be standing over me.

  I patted their shoulders. “That's enough. Are you gonna take root here or are you gonna let me move?”

  “We were sooo worried,” Luna said. “You weren't coming back and the grandmas were worrying—”

  “And then Kyrabdel came back all alone!” Lucero said.

  “They rushed out to find you,” Sol said. “But then that man came!”

  “Wait, wait. Slow down and expin.”

  A complete stranger stood at the door. “His Excellency Azul Mamani, I suppose?”

  Yet another tall white man in his te twenties or so. His ashy blond hair fell in a braid to his mid-back; a city boy indeed. He wore the white and gold uniform of the guard with an emerald arrow-shaped pin on the left breast and a green feather on his cap.

  He uncapped himself and gave me a fluid half-bow. My heart beat faster. I couldn't help it, I really like it when men bow to me. At this point of my life, it had happened exactly never.

  “Let's see.” I pretended my heart wasn't trying to gallop away. “You mean to bring me an official summons from Her Magnificence the Megarchon, Letheia VII Lemarezin, to convey myself to Vorsa immediately.”

  “A lucky guess, Your Excellency?” He had a clerk’s pleasantly empty smile.

  If he was smart, he'd probably try to make me reveal what I knew. I didn't know shit, but I saw no reason not to be vague and leave him wondering.

  “Well, it's not the first time she's summoned me. For that matter, what is your name? It's only polite for guests to introduce themselves first.”

  “My apologies, Your Excellency. I'm Sergeant First Css Valentino Vargas.” His accent was also straight from the capital, but less snooty than Vanth's. That was a relief at least. He looked as polished as it was possible after a week of travel, especially considering it was the dry season: neatly trimmed goatee, barely creased uniform, knee-high boots barely speckled with dust. "I do believe I heard something about necromancy?"

  “That issue has been dealt with,” Vanth said.

  Only then did Valentino and the kids notice Vanth standing there. It was pretty funny how they'd missed him for so long. He wasn't exactly inconspicuous. Valentino gave him another elegant bow—lower than the one I got, I might add. “And my sincerest apologies for failing to notice Your Illustrious Highness's presence.”

  Oh, yeah. I’d never used Vanth’s proper title. A mistake on my part, seeing how I wanted to have the man on my side—a need even more pressing now that the Order of the Sabrewing had come calling. But an understandable mistake in those circumstances. At least he didn’t seem to have taken any offense.

  Vanth waved Valentino off, like he'd done to the magical darkness. I don't know why, but I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn't ugh.

  I took advantage of the situation to slip free from the tangle of cousins. “Anyway, this is Vanth Umbra. He's with me.”

  The kids stuck together, backing away so they wouldn't leave either of these strange men out of their sights.

  “I owe your cousin one,” Vanth said. “Hopefully I won't bother you.”

  That seemed to calm the kids some—anybody who owed their cousin one couldn't be so scary—but the other issue in front of us remained.

  “What's going on?” Luna asked. “Is he taking you to the capital?”

  Well, it wasn't as if I could refuse a direct order from the Megarchon. Not if I valued my life. And my family’s lives. I had to tell my cousins something, hopefully something reassuring, but I wasn’t going to lie to them as if they were small children—and our present company wouldn’t appreciate the truth either.

  “You've nothing to worry about,” Vanth said. “I do owe your cousin one. I won't let anything bad happen to him.”

  What do you know? Having Vanth on my side did bring some advantages here and then. Though it was only a city stranger's word, it was something.

  Valentino crossed his arms. If he was displeased by this intrusion, he kept it to himself. I needed to ask him about my summoning, but not where Vanth and the kids were listening. And I needed to talk to Vanth, but not where Valentino and the kids were listening. And I needed to make an important decision or two before next morning. How many hours did the night have, anyway?

  Suddenly the kids hurried down the path without looking back. The other adults had arrived. Finally!

  “We'll leave tomorrow morning,” Valentino said. “Unless Your Excellency has a very good reason to detain us further.”

  “Tomorrow morning's fine.” The truth is I didn't want to dawdle either. The absolute st thing I wanted was to make the Megarchon impatient with me. The second st thing, to keep a Sabrewing home any longer than strictly necessary. I turned to Vanth. “Can you excuse me for a moment?”

  He nodded, looking very much as if nothing held the slightest interest for him.

  “I'm surprised they let you in,” I told Valentino. “Things got fucked up all of a sudden.”

  “I noticed, but I wanted to check in on the farm first. And then I couldn't leave Your Excellency's cousins all alone. They're good kids. I was going to watch the front door till everyone returned, but they let me in.”

  Despite myself, I thought of Valentino standing guard at our door as he waited for the rest of us to come back, and I couldn't resent him too much. “Thanks for keeping an eye on them.”

  “It's only my duty.”

  “Well, then. How about you expin the reason for this summons to my family? That's your duty too, isn't it?”

  Valentino stood very straight. “My present mission is only to escort Your Excellency to the Pace of Lights.”

  “Then expin that to them. I must discuss the events from this night with His Illustrious Highness. Better not to mention that where children are listening, right?”

  Though he had to suspect something fishy, he didn’t put up any more objections. I nodded at Vanth. He followed me around the main building with much crunching of boots on gravel.

  broccolifloret