Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)(98)
“When is Eche’s investiture?”
“After the solstice. We’ll have to fabricate a reason why you have abdicated.”
“Of course you will.”
“Nara…”
“They were never going to accept me, were they?” she asked quietly.
“No,” xe said. “The gap between Sky Made and Dry Earth is too vast.”
She remembered Iktan had been born Winged Serpent. “And you? Was the gap too vast for you, too?”
“You know that I have never cared much for this institution, and certainly not to the extent that you have. I find it full of falseness and flattery, but I do like certain aspects of my work.”
“The violence, you mean.” She shook her head, rueful. “You always were a blasphemer.”
“But I do very much care about you, Nara.”
Her smile was soft and sad. “I wish I could believe you. So what happens to me now? Retirement? Perhaps I can join the river monks or grow a nice garden in the Eastern districts?”
“Would that be so terrible? It is better than death, is it not?”
Her whole body shuddered. She turned to face the window, her back to Iktan.
“Kiutue did you a disservice when he named you Sun Priest. It was an impossible thing he asked of you. It did not have to come to this.”
She sighed. “Go, Iktan. You got what you came for. Just… go.”
Seconds passed in silence. She turned to find herself alone.
Only then did she allow herself to cry.
* * *
It hadn’t been more than fifteen minutes when her door opened again. She was washing her face in the basin when she heard someone enter and turned, annoyed.
“Why are you back when I told you…”
But it wasn’t Iktan in her doorway.
“What do you want, Abah?” she said, voice coated with distaste. “Have you come to gloat?”
The younger woman smiled, self-satisfied and indulgent. “Why would I gloat, Nara? I feel terrible about what’s happened. But I think we can all agree Eche should have been Sun Priest from the beginning and now things are in their rightful order.”
“I said what do you want?”
Abah sighed. “I do apologize ahead of time, but some of us talked, and we think it’s best if you don’t stay in the tower.”
“I know. Iktan mentioned the Eastern districts after solst—”
“You misunderstand.” Abah snapped her fingers, and four servants entered through the open door. They were big for servants, their brown robes stretching too tight across wide shoulders. And they looked too old. In fact, none of their faces was familiar.
“Who is this?” Nara asked, dread rising in her belly.
“Take her,” Abah commanded. “But make it quiet. No one can know.”
“No one can…? Wait!” But the four men had seized her roughly by the arms and were dragging her toward the door.
“Stop!” she cried. “You can’t—”
One of the men struck her across the temple. She swayed, catching herself against the man on her other side. He grunted and shoved her away. Her feet caught on the hem of her robe, and she went down hard on her knees. Her teeth rattled in her head, and she grunted as she bit her tongue.
“Get her up,” Abah hissed.
Her arm was wrenched as they hauled her to her feet. Another man came into her room and dumped something on her bed. It took her a moment to register that it was a body. At first, she thought it was Iktan, and she almost screamed. But the body was the young woman who had been guarding her door since the last attempt on her life. It had required five men, but they had taken her down.
“Oh, skies…” She shuddered, nausea rolling over her in a heavy wave.
“Shut up!” Abah hissed. “There was no other way.”
“Iktan will kill you.” She said it with total conviction. Not only for her abduction but for killing one of xir dedicants.
“Not if xe’s dead first.”
Naranpa’s laughter was high and hysterical. “You can bring all the Golden Eagle guards you want into the tower. You’ll never be able to kill xir.”
Abah’s face soured. “You overestimate that tsiyo.”
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
“Enough.” She motioned to the guard. He stuffed a rag in Naranpa’s mouth, and two guards wrestled a brown servant’s robe over her head, pulling the cowl up to hide her face, and then they were dragging her through the halls of the tower, off to somewhere else.
CHAPTER 34
CITY OF TOVA YEAR 325 OF THE SUN
(1 DAY BEFORE CONVERGENCE)
May you drown in shallow water
May your song be never heard
May you fall in love with a man
May your mouth ever fill with salt
—Teek curse
They arrived in Tova on a cold afternoon the day before the solstice. The barge had taken them through winding canyons of basalt cliffs that ceded to red rock and heavy currents. Without the power of the water strider to pull them through, Xiala imagined that the river route was impassable. In confirmation of her assumptions, more and more foot traffic appeared on the side of the river, and the barge made stops along the way to pick up travelers for the final miles upriver. By the time they had anchored at a pier that Aishe told her was the riverfront of the Titidi district, the barge was crowded with eager tourists and solstice pilgrims.