Page 2 of Queen Demon
AMABEL: the first Witch vanguarder of the Fourth Prince’s cadre
KREAT: Amabel’s young sibling
BARAM,IBEL,MOTHERHIRAGA,ISA: Witches of the Fourth Prince’s cadre
THEDOYEN,HAWKMOTH,NIGHTJAR,SUNROSE,STORMBIRD,KNIFECREST,SHEARWATER,OWLET,SPARROWHAWK,TANGELD:dustwitches of the northeast
CIMERI: an earth Witch, freed from captivity with her spouse Raihar
THETESCAI-LIN: Great Sage of Enalin and Light of the Hundred Coronels
LAHSHARCALIS: maternal cousin to Prince-heir Bashasa of Benais-arik
DASARA: the son and heir of Lahshar Calis
HIRANAN: First Daughter of the Prince-heir of Seidel-arik
VRIM: Second Son of the Prince-heir of Descar-arik
ASARA: Second Daughter of the Prince-heir of Bardes-arik
STAMASH:maternal uncle of the Prince-heir of Renitl-arik
KARANISCALIS: paternal cousin to Prince-heir Bashasa, who was selected by the Hierarchs to usurp the rule of Benais-arik, deceased
VARTASIAS: an expositor tasked to Dashar
The Past: the Spark
It is believed that the name “Rising World” was bestowed on the first formal meeting of the coalition in Benais-arik, but the true first meeting, to be pedantic, actually took place in the Hierarchs’ Summer Halls, which was rapidly filling with water at the time…
The truth as always is more complicated. Alliance war councils sprung up in many places, sparked by the Hierarchs’ defeat at the Summer Halls and the return of the hostages. These councils eventually coalesced around the strong Enalin-Arike force to the northeast with what was left of the population of the Arkai, the Sana-sarcofa, and the growing unified resistance in Palm and Belith, allied with the Grale and Ilver, and other survivors of the southern region and the western coast…
“Rising World” is a mistranslation of a term for “cooperation among many/all” originating in the mountainous western Borderlands (or the Witchlands, as they were called in the east) carried by survivors of the Hierarchs’ attacks as they moved east to join the war…
—The History of the Hierarch War: Volume Four: Gathering the Storm of Victoryby An Interested Yet Unbiased Party
The sun was high and bright when Kai rode into Benais-arik in Bashasa’s wake, their cadres on horseback around them. Kai was dressed in embroidered silk with only a few bloodstains on it, disguised as one of the Hierarch servant-nobles who had followedthe usurper Karanis to the Kagala Fort. Bashasa wore Karanis’ elaborately decorated coat and the rest of the cadre had taken up the clothes of the usurper’s entourage. The large body of Arike soldiers with them came as themselves; they were the garrison conscripts that Karanis had brought with him.
Fortunately the sun was a good excuse for the broad-brimmed silk hats that the entourage wore. It was hard to make out the all-black of Kai’s eyes from a distance, but he kept his hat tilted down, and his dark curling hair was tied and stuffed up under it. Talamines’ borrowed skin prickled with nerves and he didn’t trust himself to control his expression.
The city outskirts were sporadic copses of trees, clusters of houses—or ruins where houses had stood—and farm fields and gardens. The people working there were all Arike who kept their own heads down or looked nervously askance at the large party of soldiers. Benais-arik had no wall to protect it, apparently having never needed one before the Hierarchs. The legionaries could have built one of their earthworks around it, encased it in dirt and rock like they had the Summer Halls, but either they didn’t value it enough or hadn’t thought there was any chance of an attack.
They would think differently now.
Bashasa led the way down a broad stone-paved road and through the city gate, which was more a symbolic barrier than a strategic one. It stood alone across the road, four tall columns wreathed with carved flowers and vines, crowned by multiple pointed arches. It had been brightly painted once, the colors now faded and weathered. The legionaries who guarded it didn’t salute or acknowledge “Karanis’” passing.
The avenue beyond the gate was broad too, lined with rambling buildings of stone or sandy brick with tile rooftops, some with low walls protecting garden courts, a few two or three stories tall with balconies. It was oddly quiet and they saw more bored legionaries than ordinary people. Narrow alleys allowed passage between some of the structures, but the tension didn’t ease out of Kai’sshoulders until they passed the first sizable cross street; it had felt too much like being herded into a canyon to be trapped.
As the avenue widened further, the carving and paint on the houses was richer, there were more balconies and unshuttered windows, and bright-colored awnings shaded walkways for passersby. They only saw a few legionaries who seemed to be guarding particular houses, probably those where Hierarch functionaries or Arike traitors lived. Kai had seen a map of the city but he wasn’t sure how far they were from the plaza where they meant to meet the others.
Disguised as merchants and laborers, Prince-heir Hiranan should be leading her cadre in from the south as Lahshar led hers in from the west canal-side, the other Prince-heirs and their soldiers split between them. There were two different prisons for Arike dissenters in the city and each group would make for the nearest, ready to liberate it as soon as they saw Bashasa’s signal. Kai wanted to lean over to ask Salatel, who rode next to him, how far they had to go, but it might risk betraying their deception. Others in the disguised cadres spoke casually among themselves, probably to take attention away from those like Kai who were not good at acting and were knotted up with pre-battle tension. He was terrified someone would strike at Bashasa while he was out of reach, but everyone had been very clear on the fact that there was no way Karanis and a Hierarch servant-noble would share a horse.
Speaking in Imperial, a voice called out, “Stop!”
Kai clenched his jaw to keep from swearing aloud; this was his worst nightmare about to happen. Bashasa reined in and his cadre leader Arava held up a hand to signal the rest of the troop. Kai didn’t look back to see if there was any disorder as the group halted. Bashasa kept his hat tilted down. Kai hadn’t had a close look at Karanis until after he was a blood-soaked corpse, but Bashasa was about the same size, broad-shouldered with dark curling hair and warm brown skin. But they didn’t look at all alike in the face.
A person, a man in an elaborate white and gold Arike coat and skirt, strode from the covered walkway toward Bashasa. A server hurried to keep pace just behind him, holding a sun shade over his head, and he was followed by four legionaries and a trailing group of well-dressed people. Kai threw a worried glance at Salatel, who grimaced under the brim of her hat. This was obviously some kind of high official, to be shouting an order at the man he thought was Karanis, the Hierarch-anointed ruler of the city-state of Benais-arik, in public of all places. And the man didn’t look Arike, with skin pale and reddened from the sun, his hair light brown and straight. Which Kai had learned didn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t Arike, but it was a more common look for the archipelagoes or the South. Where so many of the Hierarch servant-nobles came from.
