contracted and vanished, replaced by a frown. His interjections were short, and overridden by her increasingly irritated replies. After a few minutes of this, she drew back her hand and slapped him across the cheek, then strode off into the shattered village.
A short while later Robal left the square, his shoulders slumped. Torve did not need Lenares’ gift to work out what had passed between the two.
That night, the travellers determined to go on the next day. They sat around a small fire set in the road on the northern outskirts of Mensaya, talking in subdued voices while beyond the flickering circle drones buzzed and cicadas chirped.
“We need to find somewhere isolated,” Kannwar argued. “We do not know where Umu is, or even if she ‘is’ anywhere. Therefore we need to draw her to us. I do not wish to meet her in a populated area as our attack would necessarily be constrained by the presence of innocent Bhrudwan citizens.”
“Never imagined there was any such thing as an innocent Bhrudwan,” Sauxa whispered to his son in a voice just loud enough to be heard.
Kannwar ignored the old man. Lenares could see the extent of his self-control. This was a man who wished to be treated as an emperor, who was used to instant obedience and unquestioning respect, but who received none of these things from the Falthans. Moralye had explained the antipathy to her. Two bitter invasions, one within living memory, had earned Kannwar the epithet “Destroyer.” The Falthans seemed to be having trouble accepting Umu as a greater enemy than the man who led them.
Not as much trouble, though, as Noetos. His anger at the Undying Man’s presence among them constantly threatened to boil to the surface. During that afternoon he had engaged in a shouting match with his own children, accusing them of betrayal for not telling him of Kannwar’s true identity. After that he’d sat alone brooding, no doubt trying to think of a way to revenge himself on the Bhrudwan lord. Don’t waste your time, Lenares wanted to tell the red-haired man. He’s far too powerful to be wounded by your sword arm. There was only one person sitting around the fire who was capable of wounding the man, and she sat alone, as she had done earlier that day, head bowed, her black hair hanging over her face.
So much sorrow.
Seemingly heedless of Stella’s dark mood, Kannwar went on to explain they ought to strike out for the coast. The inland plains were densely populated, he said, and had likely been sheltered in part from the storm and the quake. The sheer numbers of people living in the Malayu Basin ensured there would still be many alive. There were, by contrast, only a few fishing villages along the coast.
“Oh yes,” said the small, rotund man, Bregor. “Fishing villages are expendable. “
Kannwar sighed. “I have done nothing to deserve your ire,” he said testily. “The villages are likely devastated by the storm and the great waves that followed the earthquake. Short of turning south and inflicting more damage on areas already devastated by this conflict, I see no other option.”
“You’ll be wantin’ us to leave then, great lord?” said one of the locals.
A few villagers had returned to the wreckage of their houses from whatever place they had holed up in during the storm and quake; most had borne injuries of some sort. Heredrew had not offered to heal them. Saving his energy for the final conflict, no doubt. Lenares approved of the man’s practicality.
“Yes, you ought to get as far away from here as you can. Go south and west.”
“Cravin’ your pardon, great lord, but there’s nothin’ but jungle and savages south and west. We’d be safer under your wing, so t’ speak.” The woman who spoke was the same curly-haired woman who had been in favour of romantic love earlier in the day.
“When the battle comes, none of us will have anything to spare to protect you,” said Kannwar. “You’ll be crushed like insects, and no one will notice your passing. Certainly a few more lives lost in the context of what has happened means very little, though perhaps it might do to you. Come with us if you wish,” he concluded, and gave the woman a lopsided smile.
“Ah, no, great lord, you have commanded us to leave. Leave we shall, at sunrise.”
“Can we be certain that Keppia has been dealt with permanently?” asked Seren. “My apologies, all, but I’m only a simple miner, a