The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War #2) - R. F. Kuang Page 0,220

made clear their loyalties, just as they had to her in that alley days ago.

She wondered what that meant for the Republic. The south hadn’t submitted an open declaration of war. But they’d hardly demonstrated obedient cooperation, either. Would Vaisra now send those armed dirigibles to conquer Tikany?

Rin planned to be gone long before it came to that.

The procession culminated in a funeral rite for the dead on the riverbank. The turnout for this was much larger. A mass of civilians lined up under the cliffs. Rin couldn’t tell if the water was only reflecting the Red Cliffs, but it seemed as if the channel was still shot through with blood.

Vaisra’s generals and admirals stood in a straight line on the beach. Ribbons on posts marked those with rank who were absent. Rin counted more ribbons than people.

“That’s a hell of a lot of digging.” She looked out over the stacks of drenched, rotting corpses. The soldiers had spent days trawling the water for bodies, which otherwise would have poisoned the water with the foul taste of decay for years.

“They don’t bury their dead in Arlong,” Kitay said. “They send them out to sea.”

They watched as soldiers loaded pyramids of bodies onto rafts, then pushed them out into the water one by one. Each pyre was draped with a funeral shroud dipped in oil. At Vaisra’s command, Eriden’s men shot a barrage of flaming arrows onto the fleet of bodies. Each one found its target. The pyres caught fire with a sharp, satisfying crackle.

“I could have done that,” Rin said.

“It means less when you do it.”

“Why?”

“Because the only thing that makes it significant is the possibility that they don’t aim true.” Kitay nodded over her shoulder. “Look who’s here.”

She followed his line of sight to find Ramsa, Baji, and Suni standing by the edge of the shore a little ways away from a huddle of civilians. They were looking back at her. Ramsa gave her a little wave.

She couldn’t help grinning in relief.

She hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to the Cike since the eve of the battle. She’d known they were all right, but they hadn’t been permitted in the infirmary, and she didn’t want to make a fuss for fear of arousing Hesperian suspicion. This might be their only chance to talk privately.

She leaned close to murmur in Kitay’s ear. “Is anyone looking?”

“I think you’re fine,” he said. “Hurry.”

She shuffled, limping, as quickly as she could down the shore.

“I see they finally let you out of the death farm,” Baji said in greeting.

“‘Death farm’?” she repeated.

“Ramsa’s nickname for the infirmary.”

“It’s because they’d roll out corpses every day in grain wagons,” Ramsa said. “Glad you weren’t in one of them.”

“How bad is it?” Baji asked.

She instinctively brushed her fingers over her lower back. “Manageable. Hurts, but I can walk without assistance now. You all got through unscathed?”

“More or less.” Baji showed her his bandaged shins. “Scraped those when I was jumping off a ship. Ramsa threw a fuse too late, got a bad burn on his knee. Suni’s completely fine. The man can survive anything.”

“Good,” she said. She glanced quickly around the beach. No one was paying attention to them; the crowd’s eyes were fixed on the funeral pyres. She lowered her voice regardless. “We can’t stay here anymore. Get ready to run.”

“When?” Baji asked. None of them looked surprised. Rather, they all seemed to have been expecting it.

“Soon. We’re not safe here. Vaisra doesn’t need us anymore and we can’t count on his protection. The Hesperians don’t know you and Suni are shamans, so we have a bit of leeway. Kitay doesn’t think they’ll move in immediately. But we shouldn’t drag our feet.”

“Thank the gods,” Ramsa said. “I couldn’t stand them. They smell horrible.”

Baji gave him a look. “Really? That’s your biggest complaint? The smell?”

“It’s rank,” Ramsa insisted. “Like tofu gone sour.”

Suni spoke up for the first time. “If you’re worried, why don’t we get out tonight?”

“That works,” Rin said.

“Any particulars?” Ramsa asked.

“I don’t have a plan beyond escape. We tried to get Moag on board, but she hasn’t responded. We’ll have to just make our way out of the city on our own.”

“One problem,” Baji said. “Suni and I are on night patrol. Think it’ll tip them off if we go missing?”

Rin assumed that was precisely the reason why they had been put on night patrol.

“When do you get off?” she asked.

“An hour before dawn.”

“So we’ll go then,” she said. “Make straight for the cliffs. Don’t wait