The Way of Things: Upper Kingdom Boxed Set: Books 1, 2 and 3 in the Tails of the Upper Kingdom (134 page)

The lion roared and plunged the
red iron blade into the belly of the dog until the hilt of the Fang pushed
against the leather of the coat. He felt his hand grow warm, could hear the
rush of the crowd, saw the glint of the tip out the Khargan’s back. He twisted
the blade until the Lion Killer clattered to the stone and slowly, he helped
the man sink to his knees.

The sky was beginning to break.
Pink, orange and red, blood red.
Dawnglow red, stay in bed.
He slid the
Fang out and blood splattered onto the snow. The Kamachada iron was redder than
red.

He breathed slowly, deeply.
Crossed his arms, slid the blades up to the Khargan’s throat.

“Jalair Naransetseg,” he called
but his eyes did not leave the Khargan’s. “Ask him one last time if there can
be peace.”

She translated as she stood,
hand in hand with Shar Ma’uul—Kirin could no longer think of him as Yahn
Nevye—and the Khargan growled, even as blood appeared on his tongue,
between his white, white teeth.

“Never,”
he said in
Imperial.

Kirin sighed, and swung wide his
arms.

The head flew from the neck. It
took a lifetime as it flew up into the dawn sky, iron hair and lion’s mane,
before it hit the snow and rolled, stopping at the feet of Swift Sumalbayar.

The Shogun-General reached
overhead, grabbed the hook still lodged under his shoulder blade, yanked it
swiftly out and braced against the waves of heat and pain that burned through
his flesh. He stood tall on the plain, swept his eyes across the sea of faces.
Cat, dog, monkey. An ocean of many drops. They were spellbound. He looked for
and found, the face of his brother, supported by the tigress, both bloody but
standing. There were tears streaking Kerris’ grey face but he managed a smile.
Kirin did not return it.

“Who is beta?” he bellowed. “Who
is Irh-Khan to the Khan of Khans?”

And both Blue Wolf and Yellow
Cat translated, his voice a heartbeat behind hers.

Swift stepped forward.

“I am Swift Sumalbayar, Irh-Khan
to the Khan of Khans.”

“I am the Khanmaker,” said
Kirin. “Swift Sumalbayar, you are now Khan Sumalbaykhan, First Khan of Khans.
Son of the White Wolf, Father of the Jackal, now Ruler of the
Chanyu,
made
by the Khanmaker without the death of a lion.”

He took a deep breath, gripped
the Blood Brothers in both hands.

“Will you accept peace with the
Upper and Eastern Kingdoms? Will you unite with us in defense of our lands and
our ways in the face of the Ancestors?”

Dog and Cat translated and the
new Khan met his gaze, held it for a long while.

“Enx tajvan,”
he said
finally.
“Peace between us.”

Kirin sheathed both Fangs and,
fist to cupped palm, he bowed.

The dog stared at him before
stepping forward and grasping his elbow. Kirin frowned, remembering something
similar between Sireth benAramis and Jeffrey Solomon.

“Do same,” said Setse. “Do
same.”

Kirin stared. He had been
fighting since sunset and every fibre of his body ached. He had been riding for
over a month with monkeys and dogs. His brother back from the west, his lover
back from the dead. His glass had been polished, shattered, rebuilt into
something completely different than anything he could have ever imagined. But
here he was in the Lower Kingdom surrounded by people of all races, conferring
ultimate power to a dog because he was, in fact, the Khanmaker.

His life, he realized, was a
strange and unexpected thing.

He stretched his stiff, bloody
fingers and gripped the man’s elbow, their arms side by side and there was a
murmur that rippled across the sea of faces like a wave.

The sky began to whine.

All the people on the Field of
One Hundred Stones looked up as the shrieking grew louder and deeper and the
earth rattled beneath their feet. Suddenly, three arrows shot across the sky,
bright and shining in the morning light, leaving trails of white cloud behind
them. The sky echoed with the sound of their passing.

“Dragons,” said Setse and Shar,
his voice a heartbeat behind.

“Jets,” said Kerris. “The
Ancestors have found us.”

“Bones next,” said Setse.

“The Army of Bones.”

Kirin sighed, realizing that the
war had only just begun.

***

And so, the Year of the Cat
ended with the death of a dog and the Year of the Dragon commenced with a trio
of dragons racing across a new morning sky. It was fitting, it was poetic and
most of all, it was epic, but cats are, after all, an epic people.

By noon that day, the Seer,
the Major, the Archer and the Alchemist returned to the Field of One Hundred
Stones. All soldiers, the Ten Thousand of the Khan and the Army of Blood, were
given the task of clearing the Field of bodies, reclaiming the weapons and
burning the rest. While the dogs stayed on the north plateau, and the Army of
Blood stayed on the south plateau, there were few skirmishes and most of the
time was spent quietly. There were no songs of celebration, there were no
campfires or drinking or tales. This was a somber time, as peace had come at a
very high cost and knowledge that the Ancestors were a reality in our land
filled us all with dread.

The horses wandered freely
and only a few dogs were trampled in their passings.

Bo Fujihara was dead and we
all grieved his loss. I had known him for years as a fine statesman and an
embodiment of the spirit of peace. All the Kingdoms of the World are lesser
since his passing. He will be much missed.

The Magic was healed. Kerris
had taken five arrows but he was as fit as ever I remember him. He spent his
time either conferring with the new Khan and the
Chi’Chen
soldiers or
making love to his wife. I wished he was more discreet but then again, that is
Kerris. He will always be a free spirit and I was glad that he was there, with
me during that time. It was, and always will be, important.

We are taking the combined
army to
Lha’Lhasa
, historic seat of the Rising Suns of the Capuchin
Council. We should be there in little more than one month, for the roads into
Lha’Lhasa
are narrow and treacherous and an army of this size will meet some difficulty.
There, we will discuss our new roles as three distinct but unified Kingdoms.
The falcon, Mi-Hahn, has been sent to
Pol’Lhasa
with the news and I
expect to be met by some resistance but the Empress will see the wisdom of this
action. I have yet to read her letter. For some reason, I am afraid. Dogs,
weapons, wars, magic. These things I can accept but this woman has the power to
slay me with a word. Still and ever, I suppose.

It is harder for a khamel to
go through the Eye of a Needle than a proud man to enter the gates of
NirVannah.

I am still, and will likely
always be, a proud man. But I have been in the Prayer Room of the Empress.
Perhaps that is my NirVannah. I hope I will find myself there again one day.

⁃
an excerpt from the journal of Kirin
Wynegarde-Grey

***

He watched her as she sat on the
snowy ground, surrounded by candles that flickered with unnatural light. They
were Alchemy candles, not dampened by the snow or put out by the wind. Her hair
was loosed, rising and falling around her face, calling like come hither
fingers. It was dawn and they were leaving but here she sat, playing with
candles and stones and the baby.

She turned her face, her profile
long and elegant and proud and he could see her lips quirk at the thought of
him watching her from the shadow of the Deer Stones.

“Will you join us,
sidi?”
she purred, her voice rich and smoky like incense.

“Yes,” he said. “If I may.”

And he waited for he knew it was
coming.

“Of course.”

He moved around to stand in
front of her, hands behind his back, let his eyes fall to the baby on its hands
and knees between the candles. He took a deep breath, a cleansing breath. Life
was too short for any other kind.

“May I,” he began. “May I see
him?”

She looked up quickly, her eyes
as golden as an evening sun. It was good to see them gold.

“Your son? You wish to meet your
son?”

For some reason, his eyes began
to sting. He chased it away.

“Yes.”

And she smiled in such a way
that he thought he would die right there as he stood, but he did not and she
reached up and took his hand and lowered him down to sitting. Learner’s Pose,
for his knee was weak, but still.

She leaned forward, lifted the
baby and swung him to face the lion.

“Shogun-sama,” she said.
“This—”

“Kirin,” he said. “You may use
my name.”

“Names are powerful things.”

“Yes, Sherhanna-chan. They are.”

She smiled again and he could
have sworn it was she who was blinking back the tears. She took a deep breath.

“Kirin-san,” she said. “This is
your son, Kylan.”

From his place on the ground, he
bowed at the waist. Just a little bow, fist to cupped palm.

“Kylan,” she said. “This is your
father.”

The baby looked at him with his
large bicoloured eyes. It did not move, merely hung there, staring.

“Here,” she said. “Hold him.”

And without waiting for his
response, she passed the baby into his reluctant hands.

His heart was thudding in his
chest. He didn’t know what to think, even less what to do. It wasn’t a sword,
it wasn’t a horse, it wasn’t even a scroll. It didn’t hiss at him the way his
niece, Solodad, had. It didn’t squirm, it didn’t fuss, it merely hung there
from his gloved hands and he realized that perhaps the Teeth of the Dragon
might frighten it but then, in a most unexpected reaction, it smiled at him.

“Oh,” he said, surprised.

“He likes you,” she said. “You
may speak to him. I would like him to know the sound of your voice.”

“I am honoured to meet you,
Kylan,” he said and he looked up. “He looks like a lion.”

“Yes,” she purred. “No spots.”

“But the eyes, is he—”

“An Oracle?” and she grinned, a
grin both wicked and wise. “Of course.”

He removed one glove, flexed his
clawless fingers and with great care, as one would touch an eggshell, he
touched his son’s night black hair. It was soft and wavy like his mother’s,
shone blue in the early morning light. He ran one finger along the kitten’s
cheek and smiled as it grabbed it with one tiny fist.

“He is strong.”

“Like his father.”

He took a deep breath.

“I will arrange an escort for
you both back to
DharamShallah.
One thousand warriors will accompany you
and the Scholar. You both will stay in the House Wynegarde-Grey. There are many
rooms and our mother is blind.”

She laughed, lowered her golden
eyes.

“I am not returning to
Pol’Lhasa,
Kirin-san.”

He stared at her.

“But, where?”

She looked down, took a long
breath, then looked back up, chin high and proud.

“Swift Sumalbayar has asked me
to be his wife.”

“Swift?”

“Yes.”

“Khan Sumalbaykhan? You are to
be his wife?”

“It is an advantageous position,
good for both our Kingdoms. It will unite us.”

“But he’s a, he’s …” He let his
words trail off as he wrestled with the thought of this.

“He is a good man, Kirin-san,”
she said. “Almost as good as you.”

He nodded, setting and resetting
his jaw.

“And the baby?”

“Will be with me.”

“Does Swift know I am the
father?”

“I have not told him. But he
knows.”

She lowered her eyes and smiled.
It played about on her lips a moment and he wondered at that.

“He calls me the Lover of
Lions.”

He breathed out again.

“You may tell him that you are
not only the Lover of a Lion, but the beloved.”

He did see the tears now and she
looked down at her son. He passed the baby back.

“That is a good plan,” he said
finally. “I am happy for you. Both of you.”

And he made a move to leave but
she laid a hand on his glove.

“You are happy with her?”

“Her?”

She said nothing. She didn’t
need to.

He lowered his eyes now.

“I have loved her since I was in
my fourth summer.” He shrugged. “It is the way of things.”

“It is a good way.”

He sat back, for the first time finding
comfort in her presence.

“You will be the wife of a
Khan.”

“Khanil.”

“Khanil Sherhannah.”

“Rah,” she said. “He calls me
Rah. The sun-god of the Aegypshans. They worship the moon.”

“Khanil Rah,” and he smiled. “It
suits you.”

And he leaned forward and kissed
her forehead, allowing his lips to linger a moment on her pelt, breathing in
one last time the scent of her, the incense in her hair, the smoke, the magic.

He rose to his feet.

“When he is old enough, send our
son to
Pol’Lhasa
. I will train him myself.”

“Of course.”

And he left her to the candles
and the baby to take his place at the head of the army.

***

It was a strange ship that
they were given, not a sailing ship but a different kind of ship. A Griffen,
Solomon had said, some sort of flying heliship, but Kerris thought it looked
like a dragon. It would take Kerris and Fallon to the Eastern Kingdom and then
continue on to take Solomon and three others on to SleepLab 3 in Kalgoolie,
Australia. Damaris Ward was accompanying him as Head of Security, along with
zoologist Armand Dell and linguist Persis Sengupta. They had been asked to
leave CD Shenandoah as they were all deemed a threat to security of the base.
The cats for obvious reasons, Solomon for his irreparable dismantling of the MAIDEN
fence and the other three for removing the young tigress from quarantine and
thwarting Medicore’s plans for the twins. It seemed to be an acceptable
solution to all of them.