Force: Book Two of the Zoya Chronicles Read online

  October 25, 210, 12:16

  Location: Artesia, Carabesh.

  He was hot.

  It was always hot here. The sun pierced the sky and baked his skin. He rubbed the back of his neck. It felt like it was burning.

  Ujarak sighed. He hated being hot. And Carabesh was always hot. The sun beat down from the sky onto the parched land of sand. And it was almost winter, he thought to himself glumly as he made his way through the streets of Artesia, the capital city of Carabesh.

  Artesia had been glamorous when he’d first arrived six months ago. The city was comprised of markets overflowing with sweet fruits and spicy peppers, guarded from the sun by colorful awnings. The smells of spices were in the air. The women were beautiful, the houses large and made of sandstone. The flood and drought that had affected Langundo so deeply hadn’t crossed the sea to this place. They were thriving here, and Ujarak thought that was the biggest difference of all.

  But six months in a place could sure change a person’s opinion. Instead of foreign spices in the markets, Ujarak smelled foul body odor. Instead of large houses of sandstone, Ujarak saw wasted space and constant repairs. He was ready to go home, Prince Sol the Nineteenth in tow or not.

  He knew that his miserable mood was because he was a failure. He’d volunteered for this. Two long years ago when the Revolt was still young, he’d volunteered to find Prince Sol and bring him back by his eighteenth birthday in November. But he’d followed him here and searched. His efforts had turned up nothing. Every brothel, bar, restaurant, hotel and home had turned up nothing. The Prince had effectively disappeared.

  Ujarak made his way to the docks, where large ships creaked and moaned with the incoming waves. It was busy here and Ujarak kept his head up, making sure he didn’t bump into any vendors or people on the docks. He was a large man by Melanthios standards, and they were large compared to the people of Carabesh. Ujarak felt like a giant.

  He made his way towards a man at the end of the dock. The dock shifted beneath him as he approached.

  “Captain?” Ujarak asked. The man was dressed in traditional sea faring clothing, with light chaps and a loose vest.

  The man turned from his cargo ship towards him and nodded. Man of few words. Ujarak thought they would get along well.

  “I am looking for passage,” Ujarak said in his baritone, “to Langundo.”

  The Captain looked him over and nodded, “You can work for passage,” he grunted. “But this is our last trip to Langundo. Trade has slowed and it’s no longer worth our while.”

  Ujarak nodded.

  “There are barrels of wine at the end of the dock, bring them over.”

  Ujarak nodded again. He made his way slowly back across the docks. There was a stack of ten barrels of Carabesh wine. He lumbered over to them when something caught his eye.

  He looked sidelong at a fruit vendor at the end of the docks.

  There was a raven sitting on the shoulder of a teenage boy with messy brown hair.

  Ujarak blinked twice to make sure he hadn’t been imagining it.

  The raven was there. She had blue eyes. The kid was over six feet tall, light-skinned, dressed in rags. He had disheveled curly hair that reached his shoulders. His face was skinny and gaunt. He looked hungry and Ujarak watched his eyes dart around as he approached the vendor.

  After all this time, the Prince was standing right in front of him. Looking at him, Ujarak realized his mistake. The kid had been hiding in the slums. Ujarak had checked the rich areas, suspecting that he would have money and would be trying to use his influence. Instead the kid had hid on the streets, in plain sight. Ujarak had to laugh to himself. At least his future king was smart.

  Ujarak watched the kid wait until the vendor wasn’t looking and quickly snatched an apple and took off into the crowd. Ujarak shook his head and put a quarter Krit into the vendor’s bag while he walked after the boy. He wouldn’t lose him again.

  Ujarak followed the kid from a safe distance through the crowd. He’d have to find them both another passage to Langundo after he’d convinced the boy to join him. He had no idea how he’d do that. The boy didn’t know who Ujarak was. They had never met. Ujarak was going on the information that Titus had passed on after the war. A simple description of a teenage boy and a bird with distinct blue eyes. That’s all Ujarak had to go on.

  The Prince hadn’t shown up with his brother after the war. Titus had found the Melanthios shortly after the fire in Ismat. He’d followed instructions from his mother to find Prisoner 613, who the Melanthios knew was Senka. They had kept watch over Titus while the Revolt formed from the ex-Sun Gods and the Melanthios working together. Sol had never showed up. Two years ago, they had separated. With the Mad King’s rule the world was getting more and more dangerous for the two princes. Titus and Jules had gone south to Vick’s mother’s house for protection. Ujarak had volunteered to find Sol. He was lonely without Tory and needed something to distract himself, especially since he was sure he wouldn’t see Tory again.

  His woman was on her own path. Ujarak would never stop her. So here he was in Artesia.

  Ujarak watched the kid turn into a dark alley. He walked over and peered into the alley. The kid was pacing back and forth, holding a piece of paper in his hand. To Ujarak it looked like he was rehearsing for something. The kid paced and spoke to himself, head down, reading the paper.

  Ujarak was confused but curious. He wanted to see what the kid was doing before he approached him. The kid paced and muttered, clutching his paper, eyes down. The bird was perched on his shoulder, rocking in time of the kid’s paces.

  After about ten minutes of this, Ujarak watched the kid steel himself and shove the papers into his pockets. Ujarak stepped aside and the kid strode towards the main street. He was focused in his own world and didn’t notice the large Melanthios man watching him.

  Prince Sol strode down the street towards the capitol building and Ujarak suddenly figured out what was happening.

  Carabesh was run under an electoral system. They didn’t have a King. There was a council of fifty members, men and women, who spoke for the people of their trade. The council voted for someone called the “President”, a man or woman who spoke for the people as a collective.

  Ujarak had never understood how they got anything done in this backwards system. It seemed like all they did was argue and campaign for votes, no actual work or change was completed. Every week, the President held an Open Council for the people to share their grievances. The President listened and would either make a decision or take it to the main council for attention.

  The kid was going to this council. But Ujarak still didn’t know for what.

  Prince Sol strode confidently to the majestic white capitol building and spoke with the guard. The guard listened attentively and nodded, stepping aside to let the Prince past.

  Ujarak strode up to the guard.

  “Hello, good sir,” the guard said to Ujarak, “today is the Open Council. Do you wish to put your name on the list for future grievances or to attend as a witness?”

  “Witness,” Ujarak grunted.

  The guard nodded and smiled at him, “Just straight ahead and to the doors on the left, sir. The next hearing will begin shortly.”

  Ujarak nodded again and walked through the arching doors of the capitol building. He followed the pillars of the hall and entered a chamber on the left, following the guard’s instructions.

  There were carpets laid on the sandstone ground to sit on. A large white throne rose at the end of the hall. There were a few from Carabesh already sitting cross-legged on the carpets. Ujarak couldn’t understand how you could have nothing to do and be so bored that you listened to other’s express trifle disagreements to a President.

  Price of luxury, he thought to himself.

  He waited, cross-legged on the rug, uncomfortable and so damn hot. Why was it always hot? he thought to himself glumly.

  A bell rang somewhere in the hall and a man in a white horse-hair wig
and black robe walked through a door and sat on the throne.

  It took everything in his power not to roll his eyes or sigh audibly.

  He couldn’t wait to get back to Langundo.

  “Presenting to you,” a different man said loudly, holding a scroll of parchment in front of him, “Master Semper of Langundo.”

  The door opened again and Prince Sol walked out. Ujarak was confused as to why the Prince was being dishonest about his name. He should have nothing to fear here. Guards lined the walls to ensure that no violence took place in the council.

  The kid had been in hiding for three years. Maybe he was just in the habit of lying.

  The kid strode forward, head down reading his paper. The bird perched on his dishevelled shoulder.

  “I have come to you…” the Prince said lowly. It was a barely audible mumble and Ujarak had to strain his ears.

  C’mon kid, he thought, you’re the future King. Speak up!

  “I cannot hear you,” the President said tersely, though not unkindly. “You will have to speak up in order for me to hear you.”

  The Prince turned red and mumbled something. He shuffled through his papers and dropped them. He hastily bent and picked them up. Ujarak heard the men around him chuckle and was angry for the Prince. He was just a kid after all.

  “You have five more minutes to present your case,” the President said. “If you do not in that time then we will have to move on.”

  The kid stood. Ujarak could tell that he was breathing heavily and was clearly upset. The bird on his shoulder nibbled his ear. Prince Sol nodded and took a deep breath.

  “My name is Semper of Solias,” the kid said loudly. Ujarak smiled to himself. “I have come to you on behalf of our neighbors to the west, those in the country of Langundo.”

  The giggling and muttering around him stopped and the observers started listening intently.

  “What do you ask of our council?” the President asked. His face remained neutral.

  “I come to you on behalf of my people,” the kid said strongly. He wasn’t looking at his papers anymore. “We have endured undue hardships in Langundo. First the rain, which washed any sort of crop away. Second the drought, which chased all the animals into hiding. Thirdly, and most importantly, the rule of the Mad King Sebastian. He has destroyed our country and has run it into the ground through his villainy.”

  “Master Semper,” the President said, “we have no quarrel with King Sebastian. He does not wish war on us. He has increased the purchasing of our luxuries to Langundo. We have traded with him for more than any other monarch before him–”

  “At what cost?” Prince Sol said strongly, interrupting the President. “At the cost of the people he leads! Only he can afford these luxuries you speak. The people are starving, and soon there won’t be a Solias left.”

  “How they choose to run their country is not our concern,” the President said. “They have allowed this man to gain control of their country. He is of no threat to us.”

  “Please, sir!” The Prince said, desperately. “If I could have but one regimen to take with me to Langundo. I would be able to storm Solias and return the proper King to the throne–”

  The President slammed his fist and the Prince fell silent. “We have no quarrel with the people of Solias! Not one of my soldiers will step foot across the sea on your venture. And you speak of this proper King. Who do you speak of? As far as I know, both Prince Sol and Prince Titus are dead. The mutiny that your people allowed is not our concern. We have a good relationship with King Sebastian. If your people have an issue with his rule then that is not our problem.”

  Prince Sol was red-faced and angry, Ujarak could tell. Tell them who you are. The only way is to tell them who you are.

  Prince Sol stayed silent.

  “This meeting is adjourned,” the President said. “That was our last appointment for the day.” The President rose and everyone joined him. He exited out the side door. The Prince was left alone, head down, raven on his shoulder.

  Ujarak sighed. He knew there was really only one course of action now. He was sad to go so early, but not surprised. He joined the crowd exiting the building, keeping his eyes out for the Prince. He assumed the Prince would try to reason with the President alone. That’s when he would move.

  He thought of Tory. He wished he would have been able to see her again, one last time. Her beautiful copper eyes. He knew they’d be together in the next life and any life after that, but his heart ached. It didn’t feel like enough. And to die while he was so fucking hot just seemed unfair.

  He waited just outside the main doors of the capitol building. He fingered a dagger in his shirt. He had left his warhammer in Langundo and he missed it. That would sure make a splash.

  After an eternity the Prince exited the building. He looked agitated and Ujarak smiled to himself. The Prince waited by the door of the Capitol building. Ujarak started to make his way towards him.

  The President made his way out of the building with two Carabesh army guards flanking him.

  “Sir!” Prince Sol said to him as he walked up to him. “I just need another minute of your time!”

  The Guards stepped forward but the President waved them off. They stepped back a few steps to allow the President to speak. “I know this is hard for you to hear because I see that you care about your people,” he said to the kid.

  Ujarak walked quickly forward and brandished the knife. “Death to the President!” he yelled in his booming voice. He ran forward, towards the shocked men. “King Sebastian sent me!” he yelled and he raised the knife wildly towards the President.

  C’mon kid, he thought. He was moving as slow as he could in order to give the prince a free target on the left side of his body. He saw the kid form a fist and he couldn’t help but smile. He let the surprised Prince land a soft punch on his jaw and he tumbled forward, pretending that it was enough to stun him.

  He landed hard on his face, careful to drop the knife harmlessly away from anyone involved. To his surprise, the kid wound up and kicked him in the face. Ujarak was proud. The kick barely registered but it was harder than the punch was. He faked being knocked unconscious, letting his body relax.

  “Arrest him!” the President yelled to the chaos. The stunned guards rushed forward and Ujarak let them haul his hulking arms behind his back. There was a commotion of voices and panic. Carabesh was nonviolent and Ujarak knew that this would be news.

  “What did he say, while he was attacking?” he heard the President ask no one in in particular.

  “King Sebastian sent me,” he heard the Prince reply.

  “You, sir, dear master Semper. Your heroics will be in songs! We have much to talk about at our next council meeting. I hope you will join me? We have to investigate this matter further.”

  Ujarak smiled to himself. He moved his shoulders slightly.

  “He’s waking up!” a guard yelled.

  A heavy sword hilt hit him hard on the temple. This time Ujarak was knocked unconscious, his last thoughts of success and seeing Tory soon.

  18

  Tory

  October 25, 210, 15:28

  Location: North Langundo.

  “Senka!” she yelled, thrashing around.

  “She’s dead,” Black Eyes tittered in her ear.

  “None of that,” a man’s voice snapped at Black Eyes.

  Confused, Tory glanced around and fought with the blankets on her bed. That thought gradually meandered its way through Tory’s muddled brain. My blankets, she thought, on my bed. I’m in my home. The thought solidified her and she gradually took in her surroundings. It was twilight outside and the Shaman was sitting on a chair by her bed.

  “Just can’t get it through your head she’s dead,” Black Eyes said in her ear.

  “Shut up!” both Tory and the Shaman said it at the same time.

  “Humph,” Tory grumbled, swinging her legs out of bed to face him. “Thought I was just going crazy. Turns out you’re crazy too
.”

  The Shaman bowed his head. Tory was completely naked and he was averting his eyes.

  “Wish it was Senka talking in my ear,” Tory grumbled and tested out her legs. They were solid. She stood up and busied herself in the kitchen making tea. She was unconcerned with her nakedness.

  “Senka is no longer of this world,” the Shaman muttered. “She has gone back from where she came.”

  “Figures. Now I get stuck with this annoying bitch.”

  “Annoying ‘cause you KILLED ME!” Black Eyes yelled in her ear. Tory barely took notice. She needed tea as fast as possible.

  “I turned and fired,” Tory said. “Caught one of my archers in the chest. I definitely killed one of my own. That’s a feeling that I’ve never felt before.”

  “Senka is no longer of this world,” the Shaman muttered. “She has gone back from where she came.”

  Tory turned and stared at the Shaman. “You already said that,” she said quietly.

  He stared back, “Senka is no longer of this world,” the Shaman muttered. “She has gone back from where she came.”

  “What’s going on?” Tory asked. She thought she heard Black Eyes yelling at her from a distance but she couldn’t focus on the voice. Tory shook her head. She must have taken a head injury in the battle.

  “Sorry,” she said shaking her head, trying to clear it. “We won so we should be celebrating. Tea?”

  The Shaman shook his head.

  “I’m assuming I was down for a day?” Tory continued. She steeped some tea leaves and started busying herself finding clothes. Someone had washed the things she had worn to war and folded them on a chair in her house. Tory smiled to herself, despite the rising anxiety in her chest. Ujarak always took care of her.

  “Yes, a day. We burned most of the killed Melanthios last night while you were asleep.”

  Tory nodded. Black Eyes stayed quiet.

  “Tonight we will burn Senka and the rest.”

  Tory nodded again. She was dressed and sat on the chair to put on her boots.