“But do you know what your ancestors did to deserve this?” Alihahd said.
“I know,” said the Fendi. Most Itiri did not know. “We conquered our galaxy. We, the aghara, are natural leaders. Our ranga are a natural army of unquestioning followers. We ruled the universe, we thought. Eventually, we were overthrown and driven out. Now we teach ourselves to own nothing, want nothing, to keep our superiority to ourselves. Humbleness, we still have not. Judge, we must not. It is not for us to check, conquer, or punish the Na′id. We are the Na′id. See you now why we must not take up this sword?” She looked to Alihahd and Hall.
“I see,” Hall said.
“Then will you please to shut up?”
Alihahd laughed sadly. I know these people. He was suddenly very fond of Roniva.
• • •
The ship Roniva gave him was the Topaz. He was free to leave whenever he willed. He chose to wait until the rescue ships came to collect both the rebels and the Na′id, so that neither side would see his ascent and wouldn’t know to go hunting for him in space. The wait wouldn’t be much longer. He could abide awhile yet.
Night fell. Creatures of the darkness were calling within the jungle. Alihahd climbed up to the top of his ship and sat there underneath a wide break in the fringed canopy of tree boughs open to the heavens. He looked at the sky.
Low on the eastern horizon, the Red Geese were rising.
• • •
The rebels’ rescue ships came first. Layla and Harrison White Fox Hall left the planet with them. The Na′id ships came later. Mustering the means to airlift twelve thousand soldiers on such short notice had been difficult. The humiliation of the mighty human army rocked the Empire. Alihahd wondered how the Bel was dealing with the incredible developments.
Then, before the Na′id ships ascended, a message for Shad Iliya from the Bel was delivered to Alihahd in the jungle. Pony brought it to him. The Na′id themselves were afraid to go into the night forest.
Alihahd accepted the capsule from Pony’s golden hands, and he stared at it a long time before opening it. Something thickened in his throat. He couldn’t face the contents.
In that moment, he remembered his youth as a pale oddity in a brown family, a suspected bastard. He remembered that as long as he thought he was a bastard he might as well dream that this man was his real father. Not that the Bel had any more Caucasian traits than his legal father did, but the Bel treated him more like a son than his legal father ever did. Alihahd opened the message capsule and couldn’t speak. Whatever he might have said was lost when he read the Bel’s single question: Was it the people?
Alihahd looked up—lest the tears that were welling in his eyes fall. Second perhaps to Roniva, the Bel was the most powerful individual in the galaxy and close to the wisest. Why was Alihahd surprised that he knew? Was it the people? All those dead at Jerusalem, humans dead at human hands. Yes, it was the people. Why did you send me there?
Pony was waiting for a return message, his silvery tail swishing away the winged bugs that plagued him, his great brown eyes timorously scanning the treetops for sail snakes or for those enormous eagles, which terrified him.
Alihahd snapped the capsule shut and buried it in his pocket. Swiftly, he sought out Roniva, while Pony faithfully dogged his footsteps.
He found her in deep jungle shade, seated on a moss-covered boulder. Her long hair, hanging from its topknot, shone glossy blue-black in the winking lights from her nearby airship.
“A going-away present, Fendi,” Alihahd announced. He took the startled Pony by his shoulders and presented the little alien to Roniva. “My slave.”
Onyx eyes blinked slowly within the frame of the crimson scars on Roniva’s high, sharp cheekbones. “We keep no slaves,” she said.
“You tell him,” Alihahd said, and ran to the Topaz.
Pony turned his huge eyes diffidently to his new mistress.
Roniva curled her forefinger on her lips. She didn’t know what she was going to do with him. She would think of something.
After the Na′id ships were gone, the Topaz took flight. Alihahd was soon in infinite space, free. He had the means to travel anywhere. The autopilot was asking him where he wanted to go.
He’d been flying aimlessly for quite some time before he told it:
Mat Tanatti.
• • •
The blue-green world was so familiar that the sight of it hurt. Once in orbit, the starship Topaz was challenged for ID and intent by ground control.
Alihahd transmitted an Absolute Priority signal. His message would go straight to the Bel. But when the channel opened for him, he couldn’t make himself turn on his audiovisual transmitter. He couldn’t trust his voice anymore, and he couldn’t face the Bel’s image. He could imagine the benign, elderly face with fatherly eyes full of pain and betrayal. He could hear the Bel speaking: You hurt me, Shad. You have embarrassed me, stabbed me in the back, damaged my Empire beyond repair. What would you have me do now? What would you have me do?
The image in Alihahd’s mind was talking quietly, reasonably, as the Bel did when extremely angry, as Alihahd did. Alihahd had gotten the mannerism from him. He couldn’t talk to the man face-to-face. So he encoded his message, requesting permission to land.
Who asks? came the coded reply.
Alihahd had many aliases under which to hide. He answered: Shad Iliya.
An eternity passed waiting for the response. It could be anything, a missile, a refusal, a fleet of police ships, or a cold, cold “Who?” He waited. He died a thousand times. The answer came, the only thing to be said. The rest they could discuss tomorrow.
Come home.
Appendix
The Ring
Signs (Months) of the Year
Equinox
1. The Sword
2. The Ship
3. The Crown
4. The Red Geese
Solstice
5. The Twins
6. The Hexagon
7. The Gateway
8. The Flower
Equinox
9. The Beacon
10. The Serpent
11. The Cross
12. The Triquetra
Solstice
13. The River
14. The Wellspring
Shandee
15. The Veil
16. The Mountain
A sign lasts 10.74 days.
Shandee blows from the second of the River to the seventh of the Veil. The new year begins with the vernal equinox on the Aerie (Northern hemisphere).
Years are named in order for a sign of the Ring. Hexadecades are named in order for a gem in the Gem Cycle, which runs as follows: Topaz, Carnelian, Opal, Jade, Beryl, Onyx, Diamond, Tourmaline, Turquoise, Amethyst, Lapis, Garnet, Zircon, Adularia, Corundum, and Jet.
The present action of this story takes place from the sign of the Red Geese in the Year of the Opal Ship until the sign of the Sword in the Year of the Opal Crown.
The Numbers
Number
Itiri Name
Universal Translation of Name
1
Enna
Sword
2
Shauul
Ship
3
Niaha
Crown
4
Shanwel
5
Bibi
Twins
6
Sorii
Hexagon
7
&nb
sp; Dalanai
Gateway
8
Sianasad
Flower
9
Saufer
Beacon
A(10)
Elebanar
Serpent
B(11)
Yxa
Cross
C(12)
Jentas
Triquetra
D(13)
Mandas
River
E(14)
Maeus
Wellspring
F(15)
Ovron
Veil
10(16)
Lodee
Mountain
After sixteen the numbers are named in combinations of the above; for example, seventeen is endee—“sixteen and one.” And so it goes: shaudee, niadee, shandee, etc.
First watch
Hour of the Bells
Sunset
Hour of the wind from the crevasse
Second watch
Hour of the winged mice
Hour of the stars
Third watch
Hour of the meteors
Hour of the berinxes
Fourth watch
Hour of the sentinels
Hour of the dewcatchers
Fifth watch
Hour of the Sun
Sunrise
Hour of the eagles (Talassairi)
Sixth watch
Hour of the waning shadows
Hour of the killing light
Seventh watch
Hour of the lizards
Hour of the tide lilies
Eighth watch
Hour of the waxing shadows
Hour of the swifts
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
* * *
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.