Juliet McKenna - Southern Fire

As Kheda turned to demand Janne's confirmation, he saw Chazen Saril had returned clutching a handful of grass, shrunken and fearful, tears still rolling slowly down his face to lose themselves in his beard.

'We can at least eat together.' Janne deftly raked aside the embers from the white mussels and scooped up a couple on to a mat of grass. 'Careful, they'll be hot.' She handed the mat to Kheda. He took it and sat down, glowering at the wretched Chazen lord.

Janne handed Saril some of the shellfish. 'Let's see what counsel a full stomach can bring us.'

'Do you have some water?' asked Kheda curtly.

Janne handed him a finely wrought brass bottle. He drank and they ate in heavy, uncomfortable silence.

Saril was the first to speak. 'Janne Daish,' he began. He stopped and looked unsure.

'What?' Kheda demanded.

Saril grimaced, puzzled. He got awkwardly to his feet, one hand pressed to his belly. 'Forgive me,' he gasped, staggering away to vomit copiously.

Nauseated, Kheda threw away his remaining mussels. 'What—'

'Leave him,' Janne commanded instantly.

'What?' Kheda gaped at her before looking at Saril, who had fallen to his knees, racked with uncontrollable spasms.

'I said, leave him,' Janne repeated icily. She prised apart the last of her own mussels and ate the yellowy flesh within.

'He's ill,' retorted Kheda. 'Have you—'

'He's useless,' snapped Janne with startling viciousness. 'His cowardice forfeits his every claim on the Chazen people's loyalty and the domain's wealth. He's shirked every responsibility and proved himself entirely unfit to rule. There isn't a warlord in the southern reaches who would deny it.'

'He's choking!' Kheda got to his feet.

'Sit down!' Janne stood and barred his way, face implacable. 'His death will only be an omen to confirm what everyone has been thinking; that his blood is of no more use to the domain.'

'And what happens then?' Kheda gaped at her. 'We stand by while Redigal, Ulla and Ritsem start a war for the Chazen islands, along with whoever else feels inclined to join in? Or are you thinking we claim them for Daish and beggar ourselves rebuilding what the invaders destroyed? Janne, he can't breathe!'

'Daish will not take on so much as a finger length of Chazen territory.' Janne ignored Chazen Saril's weakening struggles behind her. 'The whole domain has been tainted with magic. We're not going to tolerate Chazen people in our islands and whatever corruption clings to them for a day longer than we have to either. They go home, rebuild or die, that's up to them.'

'We still don't want a war on our southern border.' Kheda raised a hand to push Janne aside, anger rising inside him. 'He may be a useless lord but he's the only one Chazen has got!'

'You must do it, rule Chazen, I mean.' Janne seized Kheda's arms, holding him back, digging her nails into him as he attempted to free himself.

'What?' He stared at her, disbelieving.

'You must rule Chazen.' She dragged him round, turning his back on Saril's desperate writhing.

'I am Daish Kheda,' he spat.

'Not any more,' Janne said with icy precision. 'Daish Sirket leads the domain and is doing so very effectively. He gathered the forces and allies to drive out the invaders and won the respect of all our neighbours in doing so.'

'Because I found the means to kill the wizards who brought these invaders on us.' Kheda couldn't decide if he was more astounded or angry. 'Is this my reward, to be dispossessed by my own son?'

'You stepped aside in his favour,' countered Janne dispassionately. 'He took nothing but the uncertainties and perils you left him.'

'You make it sound as if I abandoned him,' Kheda objected furiously. 'I went in search of the means to combat the invaders' magic, at risk of my own life, I may tell you, more than once. I brought it back and risked dangers you cannot imagine to rid the domain of those sorcerers. This is how you repay me?'

'The Chazen domain is modest but it has its wealth, its turtle shells and pearls. Those are untouched by the invaders' foul hands, from what I hear. You will have people to help you rebuild, on untouched land,' said Janne tightly. 'Children born to the domain will certainly be untainted and you may find some means of purification for the rest.'

Kheda shook his head, uncomprehending. 'You were the first woman I took to my bed, the woman I've shared myself, my life with for seventeen years. You're the mother of my children, my son and heir and the daughters that have blessed my days.'

'This must be so, for the sake of the children.' The first hint of emotion cracked Janne's voice. 'For all their sakes. Rekha and I are agreed on this, Sain too. I've told them what you've done - some of what you've done. We cannot have you back, not when the magic that stains you may bring disaster in its wake, to devastate us all.'

Kheda threw off her hands and then seized her forearms. 'What do you mean, some of what I have done?'

Now fear was plain in Janne's eyes. 'Not all the Chazen islanders died, the ones the savages took prisoner. They told us of the evil these wizards wrought, of the unknown wizard who defeated them with even more unspeakable sorceries. You told me you were allying yourself with this northern wizard, even if only to turn magic against these invaders. My mother told me how the seas in the central domains ran red with slaughter when she was a girl, for mere suspicion of a warlord contemplating such an alliance. That's what I told Rekha and Sain you've done. I haven't told them what else I believe, nor yet what I find myself suspecting now. You ask me about the campaign against the savages yet you seem to know more about it than I do. How do you know the Chazen ships haven't sailed south? You're dead. You've no couriers to bring you word, no messenger birds to carry reports. How do you know if you're not using these magics that let northern barbarians spy on us?'

'That has nothing—' Kheda began, all the more irate as his own guilt pricked him.

'What happened to the moon, Kheda?' Janne faced him, stiff yet trembling. 'How did the moon turn red?'

'It happens.' He hesitated, fatally. 'It's a portent recorded from time to time.'

'Recorded, yes,' hissed Janne. 'Foretold, no. I talked to Sirket about it, had him check and double-check the records, the observations back to the volumes from the earliest days. It's not an eclipse, to be predicted and precautions taken against its effects. No one knows when a red moon will be seen, not like that. Sirket says it only ever arises in a dry season too, when the hot winds come up from the south. Of course, that made it all the more potent as an omen, especially when I had told everyone to watch for a sign that the time had come to spill the wild men's blood.

'What did you do, Kheda, what deceit have you dragged me into? How could you know that a red moon would rise unless you had some hand in it? How could you do that without using this barbarian's magic? That's not keeping yourself at a remove from the taint of magic. That's using it yourself to distort the natural order, sinking yourself freely into depravity. Don't lie to me, Daish Kheda, I know you too well. I can see what you've done written in your eyes.

'Don't tell me what else you've done either. Don't tell me how you've forsworn yourself and everything we trust in. I don't want to know. All I know is the children must come first for me and Rekha and Sain. They are flesh of our flesh, borne in our bodies, nurtured at our breasts. Nothing can change that. The bond between us—' She snatched back her hands. 'We were only ever one flesh for fleeting moments. The bond between us is broken past mending.'

'You expect me to accept this?' Searing anguish twisted in Kheda's chest, worse than any pain since the death of his father. 'You expect the Daish people to accept this?'