“Respect?” Urulani roared back. “And just what have you done, little pale princess, to earn my respect?”
“Ladies! Stop it! Please!” Drakis held up both his hands in exasperation. “Can we all just calm down and. .”
“This,” Urulani threw her head back in derision, “from the Domesticated Warrior!”
Drakis turned to appeal to the rest of their companions, but there was no help in sight. RuuKag seemed to be enjoying the row with deep amusement. Ethis, Belag, and even Jugar all walked behind him, keeping a distance that also kept them out of the argument.
Only the Lyric quickened her step toward him. She smiled and said, “Don’t worry, Drakis! I’m only too glad to help.”
“You are?” Drakis asked dubiously.
“Of course!” the Lyric said, her eyes bright. “They’re both wrong and I’ll be happy to tell them why.”
Drakis looked again to the stars and offered a prayer. It was going to be a very long day.
“I have news, Inquisitor!”
Jukung looked up, his face shadowed by the deep hood pulled over his head. The new Inquisitor sat still beneath a great tree of the savanna as he had for two days awaiting just such news.
“Speak, Codexia Mendrath,” Jukung said.
The robed newcomer bowed and then began. “Word comes from the savanna, west of Tempest Bay. There are several mud cities of the Hak’kaarin in the northern regions of the Vestasian Savanna.”
“I do not need a geography lecture,” Jukung snarled.
“Yes, Master Inquisitor,” Mendrath responded at once. “There are stories now being circulated among the mud gnomes in that region about a man named Drakis who is traveling with the gnomes. He is said to possess great powers and to be the fulfillment of prophecy.”
Jukung looked up sharply. “And his companions?”
“The story speaks of two women, manticores, a chimerian, and a dwarf.”
Jukung smiled. “A dwarf! Yes, that is news, indeed! Where? Where are they?”
“The Hak’kaarin move a great deal,” Mendrath replied. “There are a dozen or so of their cities across the region where they were last seen.”
“And Inquisitor Soen?” Jukung asked quickly. “What news of him?”
“He is moving toward those same mud domes that the Hak’kaarin call their cities.”
Jukung stood up at once. “Then we must get there before him so that we may greet him properly. Contact the Quorums wherever they are and have them journey at once to the mud dome cities of the northern Savanna. Have them determine if Drakis and his companions have been there.”
“And what are their orders then?” Mendrath asked.
Jukung smiled once more. “Our orders are explicit, Codexia. Capture this Drakis and bring him to me.”
“It will be done,” Mendrath said and turned to move away.
Jukung’s arm restrained him.
“There is more.” Jukung removed his hood, exposing his hideously deformed face. “Anyone who has had contact with this Drakis-anyone at all-is to be killed at once.”
“I. . I am not sure that I understand the order, Master Inquisitor,” Mendrath said. “There are entire cities of these gnomes who may have had some contact with this Drakis human. .”
“And you will find them and kill them all,” Jukung said quietly.
“That could be thousands of gnomes,” Mendrath said, still uncertain he understood the order correctly.
“I do not care if it numbers in the tens of thousands,” Jukung said, irritation rising in his voice. “Towns, cities, females, children. . if they have had contact with this human pestilence, they are to die!”
“But, Master Inquisitor!”
“Do you question the Imperial Will?” Jukung screamed. “This is the order of the Keeper of our Order and the direct expression of the thoughts of the Emperor! Will you shirk your duty and forfeit your honor to his glorious ideal?”
“No, Master Inquisitor!” the Codexia stiffened.
“They will die!” Jukung said, his breathing labored as he spoke. He reached up with his right hand and ran his fingers lightly along the melted skin of his face. “They must pay for what they have done. The Emperor has declared them poisoned to his Will by this Drakis. Any creature that has any contact with him must die. . they must
CHAPTER 38
“Elders of the Sondau,” Urulani said, dropping to one knee and placing her right hand against the floor as she bowed her head before the three older men. She knelt in the center of the lodge, the long building that served as the heart of the Sondau Clan’s society. The walls were framed from wood hewn from the surrounding forests and carved intricately with the tales and legends that formed the foundation of their laws and beliefs. The vaulted ceiling was supported by thick beams, each carved with different and portentous figures overhead. The floor was planked from the same wood as the walls though this was scrubbed and sanded to a smooth and carefully maintained finish. Flaming torches mounted to the walls and angled out above the floor filled the space with guttering light. “I am Urulani, daughter of the Sondau Clan. I have done as the Elders have asked.”
“The Elders praise the gods for your return-and are
Urulani stood at once. “The Elders honor me.”
“As apparently do the gods to an extent we had not hoped possible,” said the man with the long, iron-gray hair pulled into a ponytail at the nap of his neck.
“As you say, Elder Harku,” Urulani replied, glancing toward the ceiling.
“You have returned with him so quickly?” asked the bearded man on the left who was sitting back in his chair.
“I have done as the Council has asked,” Urulani responded. “I have the man and, I must also report, several of his companions with him. I thought it prudent to bring them as well-and not risk their tongues waggling once we had left.”
“Wise, as always, is our Urulani,” nodded the man with the iron-gray hair.
Urulani bowed slightly. “Elder Kintaro honors me once more.”
The central, balding Elder leaned forward. “What is your report, Urulani?”
The tall black woman opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, and then began. “As instructed by you, Elder Shasa, I journeyed southward through the Cragsway Pass and onto the Vestasian Plain. I made my way southward to the first of the Hak’kaarin mud domes to begin my search.”
“That was but three days ago,” Elder Kintaro said, his eyebrows raised. “We had expected your journey to take many months to complete.”
“I had not been in the mud dome a day when this man Drakis and his companions came to me.”
Kintaro raised his eyebrows. “Indeed? You did not look for them then?”
“I had intended to search for them as instructed,” Urulani corrected gently. “We had heard stories of their passing through the mud domes in the deep parts of the Vestasian Plain-indeed, it was impossible
“A miracle of the ancients!” Harku intoned, closing his eyes.
“Perhaps,” Urulani said, again looking away toward the ceiling. “Or it may have been an accident. I cannot say.”
