Michael Foster - She Who Has No Name

A glow to the east told him that dawn was approaching and he had just entered the pasture lands as the sun peeked over the distant horizon, bright and blazing already in its first moments of the day. Paatin patrols were surging around on foot and horse and camel, and a group of themflashedtheir swords at Samuel and shouted commands at him in their tongue. He ignored them, for the ring on his finger protected him from their steel. They jabbed at him with their swords, but he was too tired to play such games. He dropped them all to the floor unconscious and climbed up onto one of the camels himself.

Lacking the skills to direct it as he wished, he sighed and sent a spell into the creature’s mind that had it lumbering back towards the city at a jostling trot.

Small clusters of guards came to harass him and, one by one, Samuel put them all to sleep, rather than waste his time in battle or argument. He had no wish for senseless violence, but he needed the men out of his way as quickly as possible. There were too many guards surrounding the palace and continuing such a tactic would only slow him down, so Samuelleaptup from his saddle and sprang up over the walls with a single bound. Another leap had him landing on a balcony that was very near the Paatin Queen’s chambers and,from there,it was a simple matter to gain access to her room.

Wizards and warriors lined the long room and they stepped back as he neared, holding their weapons bravely, but shivering in fear. It seemed he was expected.

Upon her dais, Alahativa waited with her arms folded as Samuel strode towards her. He was thinking of blasting her before she could speak a word, but,as he neared, his heart fell, for he saw the Emperor, Canyon and the Koian woman standing at her side with swords to their throats.

‘So you have returned,’ she said to him, ‘and intent on my murder. I am horrified it has come to this.’

Samuel halted at the base of her platform.

‘What has happened?’ he asked of the others and Edmond Calais answered.

‘After you left, there was a great battle throughout the palace. A magician was fighting, but we did not see him, for the Queen’s guards had gathered us up and brought us here. We thought it may have been you.’

‘It was Lomar,’ Samuel revealed. ‘It’s unfortunate he could nothelpyouescape. It would have made things much simpler. Do you know what happened to him?’

‘He did not die, if that is what you are asking,’ the Desert Queen responded, observing their conversation. ‘But neither did he escape unscathed. I have heard much of that Kabushy wizard. It is a shame I could not catch him. I wonder if he knows what happened to his kin?’

‘What do you mean?’ Samuel asked her, eyeing her suspiciously.

‘Have you not heard? My scouts brought word from the south only recently. There is no one left living in Kabush. Every soul has been murdered-slain by magic. Every village and hut and home has been wiped from the earth.’

‘Why would you do such a thing?’ he asked her with detestation.

‘Oh, it was nothing to do with me, I assure you. I had no interest in the marsh people. They were primitive and peaceful folk, but of no value to me. Still, if it serves to upset you and your friend, then I am thankful to whomever completed the deed.’

‘You are a cold-hearted woman,’ Samuel told her.

‘Yes. When it so pleases me-I am. You see, I am very unhappy about what you have done at Yi’sit. My remaining wizards have been arriving all night, telling tales of your terrible wrath. You have destroyed years of work, but at least you have shown your true powers in the end, Samuel. What a shame I was not there to witness it. I’m sure it would have been wonderful to behold. Tell me, did the woman and her child survive?’

‘They did,’ Samuel said. ‘They are safe and well.’

At that, the Emperor almost cried aloud with relief.

‘Then I must assume you also dispatched Om-rah for me. At least in that, Samuel, you have been obedient.’ Her customary reclining chair had been removed and a small square table had replaced it, with a straight-backed wooden chair at each end. The tablewas finely carved and inlaid with metal plates and braces, delicate filigree and fine stones. ‘I doubt I can stop my stolen prizes from returning to theWest. My army of wizards has been decimated and you have the help of that demon Cang. I’m sure they will be making for his valley, and it would be pointless for me to send my forces there. I will grant you victory in this, Samuel, but the rest of your plan has met its end. I will not die easily and,if you attempt any such foolishness, these four will be the first to perish.’

Samuel looked at the hostages, with curved swordsat their necks andwizardsby their sides,and with Utik’cah standing back behind them all, looking at Samuel flatly. It would be very difficult to save them all. He was not so fond of Canyon, but he could not risk letting the Emperor or the Koian woman be harmed. He damned himself for letting it come to this.

Then, something Alahativa had just said came back to him. ‘Three,’ he corrected her. ‘I see only three captives standing before you.’

At that, she again gave her most wonderfully satisfied smile. ‘Four, Samuel: the Koian man called Canyon, the one beside him that we shall call your Emperor, the nameless Koian female…and her child.’

Samuel looked at the Koian god-womaninconfusion and she turned her gaze aside.

‘That’s right, Samuel,’ Alahativa continued. ‘She has your child in her belly.’

‘You lie, Witch,’ he told her, not even tempted to believe her story.

‘So it’s witch now, is it? You would never have called me such things in my bed. How terribleit iswhen lovers turn to quarrelling.’ Her voice was full of unsubtle sarcasm. ‘I am sure it is true, Samuel. The woman has your child in her. It is true beyond a doubt.’

‘Impossible!’ he said, growing irritated.

‘So you say. Yet, it has happened. Tell him, woman.’ But the Koian girl would not raise her eyes from the floor. ‘You see? She knows it is so. Will you risk harming your unborn child, Samuel? It does seem quite remarkable that such a thing could happen. I am disappointed that you would not give me a child, yet you would resort to impregnating this…girl. Still, you are a magician so this may be the only chanceyou haveto bear young. I tell you, there must be something in the water these days. First, your Emperor receives a son when he could only have daughters and now you, a magician, grant a child to a witch, when the idea of eitherof youbearing young is simply imponderable. The scholars will certainly be waggling their tongues over this.’

‘What do you mean,“to a witch”?’ he asked her, perturbed.

‘She is not quite a god, but she does have powers, Samuel-or have you still not discovered that? Her skills are subtle, but she does have the potential to cast magic, somewhere deep inside her. You seem to have missed a great deal.’

‘Stop your prattling!’ he shouted at her and her painted eyes opened wide. He realised he was in an impossible position and the realisation that all was lost was almost too much to bear. With great difficulty, he forced his next words out as calmly as he could. ‘Tell me,then, what will you have me do?’

‘Very well,’ she said quite calmly, and she pulled back one of the chairs at her table and sat, sitting sideways to face him and crossing her legs at the ankles with her hands clasped on her lap. ‘I will tell you what will happen. You have won, Samuel. Take your woman and go. Take your Emperor, too. Whatever past we once shared, he has forsaken me. The other, Canyon, can do as he pleases. I will withdraw my armies from your lands and they shall return to the desert for all time. I am sorry this has not gone well, Samuel. My heart has been broken on all fronts and we Paatin shall reside here and accept whatever fate may come. I will tell my people that this is not Ajaspah-that the stars have been misread. We will await our fate quietly and face it as proudly as we can.’