Black Halo

‘I said for who do we swear these oaths, Yaike? I am well aware of what the Shen says our oaths are. I am well aware that we Owauku and Gonwa have no choice in swearing them. What I want to know is who? For who do we kill outsiders and spill blood?’

Yaike’s eyelid twitched slightly.

‘Everyone.’

‘Including Owauku?’

‘Including Owauku.’

‘Including Gonwa?’

‘Including Gonwa. We protect everyone.’

‘Then tell me,’ Togu said, ‘why these oaths do not protect us. Tell me why the Gonwa are here on Teji and not on Komga? Tell me why their fathers and brothers die under the longfaces’ boots while the Shen do nothing?’

Yaike said nothing. Togu snarled, stepping forward.

‘Where were your oaths when the Owauku starved? Why did the Shen only come to Teji and kill the humans who would help us? Why did the Shen say nothing when I said my people could not eat oaths?’

Yaike said nothing. Togu stormed towards him, tiny hands clenched into tiny fists.

‘Why did I have to kill the outsiders, Yaike? Why did I have to barter them to the longfaces? Why didn’t you step in and protect us from the purple devils in the first place? Where were your oaths, then?’

Yaike said nothing. Togu searched his face and found nothing; no shame, no sorrow, no sympathy. And he sighed, turning away.

‘If you can give me nothing else, Yaike,’ he said, ‘tell me what will happen to the tome.’ At his silence, the Owauku trembled. ‘Please.’

The Shen spoke. It was the monotone, the deliberate, the pitiless speech born of duty. Togu hadn’t expected any great sympathy. But Togu hadn’t expected to shudder at the sheer chill of the Shen’s voice.

‘The tome will be ours,’ Yaike said. ‘It will return to Jaga. Mahalar will decide what to do with it. The oaths shall be fulfilled, with your cooperation or without.’

‘It is in Jaga now, then? In Shen hands?’

‘It is safe.’

Togu sighed, bowing his head as he heard Yaike turn and stride down the shore. He wasn’t certain how far the Shen had gone, if he would even hear him, when he muttered.

‘Is Teji safe, then?’

‘Honour your oaths, Togu,’ Yaike said. ‘We will do the same.’

The footsteps faded into nothingness, leaving behind a cold silence that even the roaring pyre could not diminish. Togu stared into the fire, sympathising. He had stared at it, once, thinking it the greatest force of nature in the world. The power of destruction, of creation, feeding off the earth and encouraging growth in its ashes. In its lapping tongues, he had seen himself.

He still did.

For now, he stared at something gaudy, easily controlled and impotent against the forces around it. He stared at a tool.

‘Did you hear all that you needed, then?’ he asked in the human tongue.

Lenk stared at him from the forest’s edge, nodding solemnly. He stepped out onto the shore, Kataria creeping out of the brush after him. She scowled down the beach, ears twitching.

‘He thought you slit my throat, didn’t he?’ she growled. ‘Did you see that smug grin on his face? Like he had done it himself …’

‘You took his eye,’ Lenk pointed out.

‘I would have taken the other one, too,’ she muttered, adjusting the bow on her back. ‘But no. Someone said we had to wait and listen.’ She gestured down the beach. ‘And for what?’

‘The Shen have the tome.’

‘And?’

‘We’re going after it.’

At that, both the shict and Owauku cast him the combined expressions of suspicion and resignation usually reserved for men who slather their unmentionables in goose grease and wander towards starving dogs with a gleam in their eye.

‘To Jaga?’ Togu said. ‘The home of the Shen has never been seen by anyone not Shen. Only they and the Akaneeds know how to get to it.’

‘That’s fine,’ Lenk said.

‘You will probably die.’

‘Also fine.’

‘But why?’ Kataria asked. ‘What about returning to the mainland?’

‘I have not seen any sign of Sebast or any rescue,’ Lenk said. ‘Have you?’

His gaze was expressionless, rid of any emotion, let alone accusation, yet Kataria squirmed all the same, rubbing her neck and glancing at the earth.

‘No,’ she said. ‘But the plan was to get a boat and return that way, wasn’t it?’

‘Demons in the water,’ Lenk replied.

‘But-’

‘Shen, Akaneed, longfaces, Deepshrieks …’ He shook his head. ‘Every time we seek comfort, every time we flee danger, it finds us.’ His hand brushed the hilt of his sword, lingered there for a moment too long to be considered casual. ‘This time, we go find it. We finish what we came to do.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘We kill those who try to stop us.’

She stared at him searchingly.

‘We?’

He turned to her, eyes hard.

‘We.’

He stared out over the sea, then glanced to Togu.

‘We’ll need a boat,’ he said. ‘Supplies, too, and as much information as you can give us about Jaga and the Shen.’

‘Asking a lot,’ Togu mused, ‘considering what I’ve already done for you.’

‘Considering what we could have done to you, it’s not unreasonable,’ Lenk replied, his stare harsh. ‘You betrayed us. We could have done worse.’

Togu nodded glumly, waving a hand as he turned and stalked towards the forest, towards his village.

‘Take what you want, then,’ he said. ‘We were born in death. We will survive.’ He paused, glancing over his shoulder at Lenk. ‘If you don’t, though, I won’t mourn.’

‘No one has yet,’ Lenk replied.

Togu’s eye ridges furrowed briefly as he glanced past the two companions. An errant ripple blossomed across the waves.

For a moment, he thought he had seen a flash of hair, green as the sea, pale flesh and long, frilled ears that had heard everything. For a moment, he thought he had heard a lyrical voice whispering on the wind. For a moment, he thought of telling the companions this.

But only for a moment.

Togu nodded again before disappearing into the brush. Lenk turned and stared out over the sea, either not noticing or ignoring Kataria as she turned an intent gaze upon him.

‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m always all right,’ he said.

‘I mean, are you well?’ she asked. ‘You’ve said barely a word since we got off the ship.’

‘I’m trying not to waste my breath so much.’

‘Look, about what happened …’

‘Stop,’ he said. ‘Can you really think of any way to end that sentence that will change anything?’

She stared at him, frowned and shook her head.