Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2)(36)

Powageh sat back, fingers steepled beneath chin. “Except you.” They held each other’s gaze for a long moment, until Powageh broke first, barking a laugh. “Hells, Balam, what is it like?”

“Terrifying,” he admitted. Even now, the world around him seemed insubstantial, colors too bright and time elastic. It took all his concentration to remember to speak aloud, to remind himself that another human sat across from him. “Addictive.”

“They say it brings madness.”

Balam rubbed hands across his face. “I believe it. But I also believe it is the power that started a war and came close to ruling a continent. Tell me it was not worth the risk.”

“I cannot.”

Of course not. Powageh had the same wild ambition. There was a reason they had once conspired with Saaya to make a god.

“What have you seen there?” Powageh asked. “In the world of dreams.”

“Many wonders.” He shuddered. “Many horrors. I am not quite ready to share the details”—he held up his hand to delay Powageh’s protests—“but I will in time. There is something else I need from you now.”

“Name it.”

“Golden Eagle travels to Hokaia as we speak. They will officially declare the Watchers fallen and Tova in need of leadership. Their goal will be twofold. To dissolve Tova’s Speakers Council in favor of Golden Eagle rule and to rally the powers of the Meridian to support them against the menace of Carrion Crow and their embrace of the old gods. We will support them, of course. Both before the Sovran of Hokaia in their petition and with military force should they need it.”

“Have the Seven Lords agreed to this? How much do they know?”

“Leave the Seven Lords to me. They will fall in line quickly enough once they realize Golden Eagle will not enforce the Watchers’ taxation program.”

“Greed first.” Powageh sounded disgusted.

“Commerce. Be thankful they are so practical and can’t see farther than their own treasuries.”

“And the Teek? To truly dissolve the Treaty, you will need them to agree.”

“The Teek have not been seen in any numbers in two hundred years, but a message will be sent informing them of the fall of the Watchers and of our gathering in Hokaia. I do not expect them to come, but protocol will be followed so that what we do cannot be challenged later.”

“I will write the missives.”

“And arrange the ship, if you would. I will convince the Seven Lords that only two of their number need accompany us. That should be enough to see to Cuecola’s interests.”

“If I may, Cousin…”

Balam gestured for Powageh to continue.

“It will take many days to reach Hokaia. To convince the Seven Lords, to arrange households, to secure the ship, perhaps more than one. Let us meet at the equinox upon the first day of spring.”

Balam frowned. “A balancing of powers. I do not like it. Better for us to meet in Hokaia under the smoking star.” Balam was not the former Watcher that his cousin was, but he knew the return of the smoking star was only a month away.

“The comet that marks the death of a ruler…”

“And the rise of a new order.” He smiled. “I quite like it, and the meaning will not be lost on the others.”

Powageh stood. “Then let me leave you and get to work. There is much to do if we plan to arrive in a month.”

“There is one more thing.”

Powageh paused, waited.

“How is your health?”

His cousin frowned. “It is fine. A return to wetter climes has much improved my lungs.”

“Good.” He folded his hands together. “Saaya’s boy. He is a problem.”

The former priest’s face shuttered as Balam thought it might. But it had to be said.

“There is not room for him in our schemes,” Balam said, not unkindly. “He was supposed to die.”

“I don’t see the harm—”

“But you do. You do. It may be that the chaos in Tova takes care of our problem and he is killed in battle with the Sun Priest, but if he somehow lives on…”

Powageh’s shoulders slumped, chin dropping to chest.

“He is powerful,” Balam said. “We saw to that. And now he is in the hands of Carrion Crow. If they figure out how best to use him, their opposition to Golden Eagle becomes a true problem. It is one thing to occupy a city already broken by the loss of their leadership. It is something else to wage a war against a city possibly united behind a god reborn.”

Powageh was quiet for a long time. When xe looked up, a sad smile twisted xir lips. “He killed them, you know. Paadeh and Eedi.”

Balam blinked. “You failed to mention it.”

“I wasn’t quite sure until I saw he possessed Eedi’s staff. She would not have given that up.”

“No.” There was a touch of fondness in his tone. “She was quite serious about her weapons.”

His cousin sighed. “It would be a lie for me to say part of me is not glad that he still lives. He became precious to me, a son I never had. But he is dangerous, I admit it. He has always been dangerous. Paadeh made him disciplined, Eedi and I made him a fighter and a sorcerer, and Saaya gave him a confidence in his purpose.”