Glenda Larke: The Last Stormlord

"How much longer can you hold out?"

"It depends on what they do. They could maintain a siege to spare their warriors an assault on the walls. We could last for half a cycle if they did that, but patience is not their strong point. I think they will try to persuade us to surrender by killing the townsfolk in front of our eyes instead. We could try to save as many ordinary citizens as possible by surrendering the city on agreed terms."

"Could we trust a Reduner to hold to such an agreement?" Laisa asked.

"Probably not. If we don't agree to their terms, then my feeling is they'll gather everything they have and storm the walls and tunnels at the same time. As long as they don't mind losing a lot of men, they will win in a day or two." He went to one of the cupboards and took out a jar, broke the seal and poured some stewed grain and palm sugar into a bowl, which he set in front of Jasper. "You must eat."

To his surprise, Jasper was suddenly ravenous. He ate, hardly bothering to note what it was. "How much do we know about what happened in Qanatend after they entered it?" he asked.

"Nothing. No one got through to us. Ryka says they have a past history of offering children from about eight to sixteen a choice between being made slaves, or becoming Reduner wives or whores or warriors. Adults are either killed or ignored."

"Slavery is banned," Senya pointed out. She had stopped crying; now her eyes just glowered at Jasper, smouldering in outrage.

Kaneth raised an eyebrow. "Do you seriously think a Quartern law is a barrier to Davim's endorsement of slavery?"

When she didn't reply, it was Jasper who explained, curbing his irritation. "The Reduners were always the ones who liked the end of slavery least. Tribal wars always ended with people of one tribe being slaves of another. Easy enough to return to old ways, if they shake off the rule of the Cloudmaster."

"How can you possibly know all that?" Senya asked.

He ignored her scorn and said to Kaneth, "I had hoped I would be strong enough to-to do more."

Kaneth shook his head. "You shouldn't have gone, Jasper. You are too valuable to risk." He gave a bitter laugh. "It is hardly your fault that you don't have the strength to take on an armed force of thousands. Any change in your plan?"

Laisa raised an eyebrow. "Are we to let this untried youth suggest the strategy now, Kaneth?"

The two men ignored the comment. Jasper answered Kaneth, saying, "No. Sunset tonight, I will make it clear to the Reduners that Jasper Bloodstone is leaving the city." He gave an agitated gesture with one hand. "Before they start killing the hostages, you must start to negotiate surrender terms. You and any other rainlords and reeves who are still alive must try to leave through the tunnels at the moment of surrender. And Lady Ethelva. She is still alive, I hope."

"I heard she was in Breccia Hall. I haven't seen her, though." Kaneth took a deep breath. "We've talked about it, Jasper. All of us. And we've decided that no matter what, we rainlords must stay."

Jasper stared at him in dismay. "But why? I need you. The Scarpen needs you. We need every rainlord we have-we need your children, even."

"This is my city. I wasn't born here, but I've been a rainlord here since I was much younger than you are now. How can I turn my back and walk away from the people of Breccia? It would be like saying they don't mean anything to me. That my life is more important than theirs."

"Kaneth, it is. Sandblast you, isn't that what you have all been saying to me since I got here? Rainlords are valuable! Anyway, the ordinary citizens have a chance of getting through this alive. You don't, unless you leave. That's a fundamental difference."

Kaneth shrugged. "Too bad. We are the rainlords of Breccia, and we must be seen to fight for the people of our city, or surrender with them. It is as simple as that."

"They'll kill you. They can't afford to let a rainlord live!"

"Probably. Jasper, our guess is that they will offer no terms of surrender, certainly not one that includes a rainlord. Davim is a warrior, and he wants to take us by storm. Even if we handed you over, he would still storm our walls. That, to him, is glory."

"And Ryka?"

Pain flitted across his face, and then was gone. "I cannot make decisions for her. We have argued about this, I will admit, but she won't leave, either. She's as stubborn as granite is hard, that woman."

"If I order you, as your Cloudmaster?"

Kaneth gave a lopsided smile. "Ah, Jasper, I'd hate to think that the first time you gave me a direct order, I would disobey it."

"You ask me to do what you will not do yourself: live for the Quartern rather than die for it." Frustrated, he glared at the rainlord.

"Yes, I know. I was always fond of irony."

"If we go back to a Time of Random Rain, the watersense of every rainlord will be needed. And what about Ethelva? She is not a rainlord."

"Do you really imagine she would leave?" Kaneth asked gently. "None of us are desperate to die, you know. We will do our best to escape in the end, I promise you. And some of us doubtless will-we know the tunnels and water locks of this city as they do not. But in the meantime, we will fight until we have nothing more to give. The fall of Breccia will cost the Red Quarter more than they can spare. They will mourn more warriors than they ever dreamed of losing, and perhaps, just perhaps, those losses will stop them from attacking another city."

"It would be different if I was already a cloudmaster with power enough to bring the storms," Jasper said bitterly. If the rainlords believed there was a stormlord who could supply water to the Quartern, then they would believe in a future. And they might therefore decide that it was their duty to live to serve their people. As it was, they had no faith in Jasper's ability, and no hope. And so they would die fighting.

Jasper sighed and thought of Terelle and how she had always wanted life to be fair. "I'll make you all a promise, Kaneth. Rainlords will rule here again one day. I will rule here one day. Not Taquar. Not Davim. Me. And everyone who fought here will be remembered."

Kaneth gave a laugh, but there was no amusement there. "Just make sure it's for my death, Jasper, not the way I lived. That was nothing spectacular, as I am sure you have realised. The only wise thing I ever did was marry Ryka, and I almost ruined my chances with her by behaving like a withering waste of water." He glanced at Laisa, who was watching them both with folded arms and a bemused expression. "Beware of Laisa. She is indubitably a beautiful woman and a highly intelligent one. She is also quite amoral."

"Thank you, Kaneth, for that," she said, inclining her head in mock deference. "I don't believe you will be any great loss to the world, either."

Kaneth ignored her. "Cloudmaster Jasper Bloodstone, may the waters always be sweet to your taste."

He picked up his lamp, and Jasper went to open the door and clear the water for him.

Afterwards, Laisa remarked, "Who would have thought? Kaneth, of all people. A hero."

"Don't mock him," Jasper snapped. "None of them. Not ever." Jasper crawled out of the grove cistern onto its flat covered roof and tried to sense what lay beyond without raising his head to see.

People. Far too many people. And animals. Pedes. Carefully he tried to build a picture from the water he could feel out there. Reduner pedemen everywhere. Mostly sitting in groups. And the pedes were in lines, which probably meant they were tied up. He rolled over onto his side as Laisa and Senya arrived beside him. Senya's skirt was wet again. Impatient with the way it hampered her movements, he sent the water back to where it belonged. When Laisa went to close the cistern lid, he stopped her.

"I will need the water," he said.