Chương 45: Part 45 - Meet the New Boss

disturbing reports from some of the outlying groups. It was bad enough that the survivors from the provinces have formed militias, but Gavo's latest report claims that some of the armed groups come from our own camps. Our own comrades, our own sons and daughters - sometimes alone, but often leading misguided followers from outside our territories. They do not teach their children their heritage, they do not limit themselves to having only those children they can gift with an asolan.

We must put a stop to this behavior wherever it occurs, whatever the cost, or we risk losing all that we - Unattributed fragment, early Aejha script on unknown material. Not handwritten. Royal archives, Ce Raedhil. Night came and went, a furtive darkness with little rest. Ajehet and his men went roaming into the crumbling city after sunset, searching out the telltale embers of qim burning in empty windows. Mark and the others were left behind.

Gusje was the only one of them not heavy-footed on the sand, and for all her desert experience she was no scout. She evinced no desire to follow them out, in any case, settling in with a small plate of food and shooting the occasional glance at where Su slept against the wall of the gateway hall. The boy had eaten twice the portion that Gusje now held, carefully doled out by Jackie to ensure he chewed it and drank enough water alongside.

He had passed out almost immediately afterward with a blissful half-smile on his face.

"He's not going anywhere," Jackie said, moving to sit down beside her.

"I'd be surprised if he feels like walking anywhere right now, much less running." Gusje nodded absently and chewed another bite of food.

"Every time we go somewhere new," she said, "I let myself believe that it can't get any worse. The Sjocelym are not-" She frowned, then sighed, letting her head rest against the cold stone behind her.

"They're missing something," she said eventually.

"Even Tasja. He's the best of them, but sometimes when I talk to him he just doesn't understand things, basic things. He told me he never knew his parents, that he just really had Vimodi and the scribes, but even then…" She shook her head.

"Like at Idran Saal, with the Aesvain camp." Her nose wrinkled, remembering the stench.

"They all knew what was happening, all of them. None of them cared. Even Tasja didn't seem to realize how wrong it was or why until we told him. And now here. That boy grew up like an animal. The way he described the men at the port, the way he behaves around us - even the Aedrem have a code, Jackie!" Gusje shook her head, fumbling for words as Jackie gripped her shoulder sympathetically. Eventually, Jackie spoke in a quiet voice.

"There was a man back where we come from," she said, "who wrote that in the absence of a society to provide order a person's life would be naturally - ah, what was it?

'Solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.' That they would live in fear and danger, that they would be fighting perpetually against all others they encountered."

"It seems like he was right," Gusje muttered, looking out towards the exit to the desert above.

"He's described this city perfectly."

"Su's story was pretty bleak," Jackie agreed.

"But let me ask you something: why wasn't Ademen Tacen the same way?" Gusje brought her head up, looking hurt.

"We would never-" she said, breaking off when Jackie raised her hand placatingly.

"I know," Jackie said, smiling at her.

"Ademen Tacen was an incredible place. But why? What kept you from being like this city?"

"My father," Gusje answered immediately.

"He's the Madi. He would never allow this sort of thing." The twinkle in Jackie's eyes let Gusje know that she'd stumbled into a trap.

"So if Tesvaji leaves Ademen Tacen, everything descends into chaos?" Jackie asked knowingly.

"Of course not, everything goes on like normal," Gusje said. She gave Jackie a nettled look.

"You want me to ask why again." Jackie grinned, and Gusje let out a long sigh.

"Because that's just the way things are!"

"That's the way you all decided they should be," Jackie said.

"There were others who came after that man that pointed out the same flaw in his argument - the many, many examples of communities that are peaceful without a need for harsh control." She rubbed at her eyes, yawning.

"In the end, it's all about what sort of person you think you and your neighbors are. Together, you make a sort of agreement, a contract. You can choose to be like your people, or like the Sjocelym, or like the men down by the docks. Everyone is who they decide to be." Gusje frowned and looked back at Su, who rolled onto his side and began snoring.

"But that only works if everyone agrees," she objected.

"He never had the option to choose a peaceful life. The Aesvain never decided to be fenced in like animals. Doesn't that just result in everyone being dragged into violence by the worst among us?"

"You know your father," Jackie said gently, "so I think you already know the answer to that question." There had been a time when Gusje asked her father about the Aedrem, long before she had met any. He had left for several days to meet a nearby band of them about a territorial dispute. On his return his face had been grim and his clothing flecked with blood.

His answer to Gusje had been-"If a man seeks blood, give him food, then shelter, then friendship - if his anger stems from a lack, it is the Madi's duty to provide," Gusje quoted, her mouth twisting into a grimace.

"But if blood is all he seeks, then that too is for the Madi to provide." Jackie nodded, giving her a wry smile.

"That sounds like Tesvaji, all right. Something to keep in mind for when we meet up with your family in Sjan Saal." She yawned again, stretching.

"I have a feeling that whatever the outcome, if we survive your people are going to need to deal more closely with the Sjocelym, the Aesvain, and maybe even folks like the Idhytsen. He might need your help, before this is over." Gusje shook her head, looking down at the floor.

"Over," she said sourly.

"I can't imagine what that looks like from here. I don't even know if my family is still alive right now. It seems like everything we learn gives us more problems than tools to fix them."

"That's why we're here in the first place, dummy," Jackie said, tapping her on the head and grinning at her scowl.

"Look at where we started. Just us in the truck, no clue what we were doing - and now we're hopping around the continent using crazy gateways, negotiating with Vumo to free the Aesvain, freeing up Maja to help us fight. We're making progress." She shot Gusje a mischievous look, then pulled her bag closer.

"And speaking of tools to fix our problems," she said conspiratorially, "something happened when Mark and I were searching earlier." Jackie opened her bag, showing Gusje a glimmering light from within - a charge crystal, shining from the back of its mount. Gusje's eyes went wide.

"You brought the tablet?" she hissed, ignoring the other woman's shushing gestures.

"Jackie, that thing is dangerous!"

"It's powerful," Jackie said mutinously.

"And I'm not comfortable leaving it unattended with Maja, when it comes down to it. Don't worry, though. I think I made a bit of a breakthrough today." Slowly, she reached her hand into the bag and touched the tip of her finger to the charge crystal. Her brow furrowed, and when she withdrew her finger a thin thread of light trailed from it to twist languidly in a nonexistent breeze.

"What is that?" Gusje asked, transfixed.

"Did you take it out of the charge crystal?"

"Yup," Jackie said proudly, waving her finger back and forth in slow arcs.

"It happened by accident when I was in the crystal storeroom with Mark. I've been practicing a bit since then, far enough off that the explosions - ah, anyway." She coughed, looking embarrassed, then carefully guided the strand back into the bag until the trailing end brushed the tablet's crystal. Her fingers shifted once more and the strand disappeared into the glowing facets with a light pop.

"I don't - I've never seen anything like that," Gusje sputtered, her eyes still locked on the gently glowing crystal.

"Are you sure it's safe? If it's from Tija-""If it's from Tija then it's meant to fight Eryha," Jackie said grimly.

"You're the only one that knows that just as well as I do." Her smile turned brittle, and she rubbed the back of her hand for a few seconds before she spoke again.

"She did this to me, I can't change that. But it's a tool, a weapon, just like the stuff we're out here looking for in the first place." She snorted.

"Hell. It's more than that. This tablet, it's - it could be more important than anything we find here. I'm the only one that can use it. I have to try and learn more about it. Make her tools mine." She stared at her hand, her lip curling in disgust.

"If it's in me, I'm going to control it." Gusje stared at her.

"Jackie, that thing could kill you, or worse - if it somehow repairs Tija's engravings-""I know!" Jackie replied, immediately scowling at her own outburst.

"It's all I fucking think about. I'll be honest, this thing scares the shit out of me and if there was another option I'd have nothing to do with it. But I'm not going to ignore the only custom-made god-destroying toolkit we've got just because I'm scared of it."

"At least tell the others-" Gusje said, stopping when Jackie shook her head vehemently.

"No," Jackie insisted.

"Mark would make me stop. Jesse would listen to him, and Arjun would too - if only because he feels bad about breaking my arm." She shook her head.

"No, this has to stay between us until I've got something to show them, something that will convince them that the tablet is too valuable to leave in a bag somewhere." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Gusje bit her lip, thinking, then gave Jackie a level look.

"At least promise that you won't try to use it alone again," she said.

"I already know, so there's no harm in letting me look after you. At least that way, if something happens..." She trailed off, letting her eyes drop momentarily before fixing Jackie with a fierce stare.

"Promise me." Jackie met her eyes, then smiled and gave Gusje's hand a squeeze.

"I promise," she said, zipping the bag closed.

"Now, come on - we should follow Su's example and try to get some sleep. I'm pretty sure tomorrow's going to be a big day." Gusje returned the squeeze and smiled, scooting over to the blanket that served as her makeshift bed. She slept fitfully. The passage of the night marked itself by the slow dimming of the qim hanging around them.

Each time she tried to return to sleep, she found her eyes darting to the Jackie's pack slumped against the wall - to the glimmering crystal within, hidden by its cocoon of swaddling fabric. The unseen light seemed glaringly bright as she shifted, stealing slivers of rest from her as the room sank into darkness. The morning dawned cool and grey before the sun rose to tear the hazy top from the sky. They were already walking towards the city when the sand began to heat furnace-hot around them.

Light grumbling accompanied the clear rays of sunlight as each traveller adjusted their cloaks to best keep the heat from their armor - except for Su, who marched out ahead without much acknowledging the heat. As usual, Ajehet and his squad had ranged out ahead, flitting over the sand shadow-quiet as they inspected building shells and peered down ruined thoroughfares. There was little wind, leaving the travelers with only their own labored breathing to listen to - and, of course, Su.

"What you here for?" he asked Arjun, squinting up at him suspiciously.

"Not a head thumper, you. You a merchant?" Arjun chuckled and shook his head.

"No, not a merchant," he said.

"A scholar." Su frowned, and Arjun thought a moment.

"Like a scribe?" he ventured.

"Ah," Su said, wrinkling his nose.

"Trade men talk about scribes, them. Best loot is what the scribes pay for." He gave Arjun an evaluating look.

"You a thief, then? Good snatcher?"

"What?" Arjun replied, blinking.

"No, I'm not a thief. Why would you think that?" Su shrugged.

"Trade men say it," he replied.

"Scribes are thieves, greedy. Take money, them, and never let it go." He flashed Arjun a smile.

"Good life, yeah? You got good food, good loot." Arjun sighed and cast a pleading glance towards Jackie, who shook her head with twinkling eyes.

"You're on your own," she said.

"A devious rogue like you can handle himself."

"Maybe I'm a scribe someday, me," Su said, lacing his hands behind his head and looking up at the sky as he walked.

"Trade men got plenty of coin, make good pickings. How you get started?"

"A lot of reading," Arjun muttered.

"And then a lot of writing."

"Oh, I can read, me," Su said confidently.

"Write, too." Gusje looked incredulously at the ragged boy, although her expression was pleased.

"You can?" she asked.

"Who taught you that?"

"Was Scraps Man," he said proudly.

"Kept track of his best looters, him, gave us markers." He dug in his rags and fished out a small scrap of wood with the Aejha character for "Su" carved into it.

"Good for keeping off Scar Man's thumpers, this. No good now, though, Scraps Man gone off when the trade men did. No one wants loot, so no food for Scraps Man." He shrugged, then stowed the wooden bit in his shirt again.

"Got my name still, though."

"That's it?" Gusje asked, her face falling.

"You just know the character for your name?" Su looked mildly offended.

"Sure, yeah," he replied.

"Don't need to know more names than mine." Mark cut off Gusje's indignant reply, pointing to a near ridge. Ajehet was rapidly approaching down the slope, loping easily over the wind-rippled sand.

"Got news?" Mark called out. Ajehet grinned.

"Sure do, Cajet. We've found the camp right where he said it'd be. Looks like five, six eighths of fighting men and at least twice that in the camp." He scratched his head.

"Organized, streets blockaded, they've got men on watch in all the right places - not enough to spot me, but enough that they'll have no chance to miss this group if we get close enough in." Mark shrugged.

"That's what we want, though. If we're lucky they'll come out to meet us."

"Best hope," Ajehet agreed.

"I got a look at the men. They've got fighting men, not just scavengers, and whatever they've found to eat isn't hurting their growth. I saw one of them-" He shook his head.

"If that wasn't Big Man, then I've got no need to meet him. Not as big as you, but he looked like he's got strength enough to throw me back to Mosatel if he'd get his hands on me."

"Hopefully nobody's tossing anyone," Arjun said, looking around meaningfully.

"We're here to negotiate, not start a fight." Jesse nodded, adjusting his grip on his rifle.

"Agreed. They're kind of an unknown quantity, but they've got organization, structure, even trade with the outside until recently." He looked over at Mark, who shrugged.

"I think we should probably avoid getting stuck inside their camp, though. It'll be hard enough to get away on foot as it is."

"No argument there," Mark replied.

"Let's get closer and see if we can catch their attention." They advanced further toward the old city center. The sun was in full force now, baking the pitted stone walls around them and making it impossible to see clearly at a distance. The slow rise that led up toward the gateway had leveled off before the shore, depriving them of their birds-eye view over the rooftops.

The change in perspective transformed the city from a scattered collection of black pillars to a forbidding canyon that towered above them on both sides, the only clear paths stretching ahead and behind. Then, at once, they found themselves in a yawning plaza that stretched out ahead of them towards the harbor. Fragments of toppled walls poked up through the dunes, hinting that the flattened area may not always have been so clear.

They saw no movement as they advanced through the streets, although footprints became more common in the sheltered alleys to the side. Here and there a discarded twist of wood or fabric poked listlessly through the sand. Gusje's eyes roved back and forth across the yawning, empty windows half-buried in the drifts, seeming to spot twitches of motion in every shadow. Ahead of them in the distance a dark, hunched barrier loomed at the plaza's edge.

It stretched between the two blackstone shells on either side, wood and metal sheets forming a crude palisade broken in the middle by a gate. As they approached they could see blurred figures straightening up and gesturing, hear the faint noise of shouted commands as their arrival stirred the camp into activity.

"Well," Jackie said, "I think they know we're here." Ajehet walked close to Mark, keeping his voice low.

"My men have set up at the outskirts of the city, along the route we traveled. If we've got to run, follow our footprints and they'll be ready with an ambush for those behind us."

"Hopefully it doesn't come to that," Mark muttered, giving Ajehet an appreciative clap on the shoulder.

"Here goes nothing." He walked forward a few steps more as the rest came to a stop behind him, staring up at the makeshift barricade. There was more shouting from behind it before a booming voice cut through. Gusje took a startled step backward before Jackie gripped her shoulder reassuringly. A few beats of silence followed. They heard a quiet, deep, rhythmic noise from behind the doors, and Mark frowned.

"Is that - is someone laughing?" he asked, turning to the others. He received only confused stares in response, save from Gusje - she wore a smile of unbridled joy, staring behind him as the doors slowly opened wide to reveal a hulking, muscular figure shaking with mirth, his arms open wide." Madhema!

", she cried, racing forward towards Tesvaji. Behind him, a line of other Cereinem watched her approach with poorly-concealed grins. Mark began to laugh as well, sinking down to the sandy surface of the road. Ajehet and Su watched in utter confusion as Gusje hurled herself into Tesvaji's arms to the cheers of those watching from behind.

"Cajet," Ajehet said faintly, "what've we walked into?" Mark didn't answer, nearly incapacitated by paroxysms of laughter. Jackie knelt to put her arms around Ajehet and Su, grinning wide with tears in her eyes as she watched Tesvaji pick his daughter up in a twirling hug.

"I'm not surprised you don't recognize it," she said.

"Guys, this is what we call 'good luck.'" Gusje felt her feet hit the ground once more as her father released her from the bone-crushing hug. Her head was spinning with exhilaration, her heartbeat thumping loud in her ears. She shook her head to clear it before looking back up at Tesvaji's beaming face.

"Daughter of mine," he said softly, putting both hands on her shoulders.

"I didn't think I'd see you here." She laughed and reached up to clasp his arms.

"You didn't think?" she said.

"You can't be more surprised than I feel right now. I thought I would find you in Sjan Saal, or at least somewhere behind the wall." Her tone sobered as she looked around at the others from Ademen Tacen, marking the familiar faces.

"What happened?"

"From what I've heard, we found the Sjocelym to be as trustworthy as you did," Tesvaji chuckled, sparking a round of dark laughter from those around them.

"Men came from Sjan Saal bearing offers of shelter with your name written on them, driving carts to help us on our way - only late at night, when they talked amongst themselves, they traded thoughts of what they might do to us once we were behind their walls." The Madi's face became momentarily stony.

"Their intentions were not kind."

"I should have known," Gusje muttered.

"I'm surprised they sent anyone at all, after-" She broke off.

"How much have you heard about our visit to Sjan Saal?" Tesvaji stroked her hair once and smiled.

"The Sjocelym guards told us the story before they left us, or what they knew of it. You've had a more exciting visit to Tinem Sjocel than I managed, in my time." He stepped back, looking her over with an evaluating eye.

"Much more exciting." Gusje felt suddenly ridiculous standing in front of her father clad in full Sjocelym armor, gold Aesvain cloak swept over her shoulders and gauntlet sitting ready on her belt.

"Ah," she said, face flushing.

"Is Mother well? Mevi, Zha?"

"They're well," he confirmed.

"Busy with keeping things in order around here, as are we all." Gusje nodded and took a step back, looking around with a slight frown. The men still wore cheerful expressions, but she could not miss the wariness that underpinned their movements.

"That's right," she said.

"We had heard that - well, we had a different story told to us by one of the children from the outskirts." Tesvaji looked up at the others and snorted, shaking his head.

"That little scavenger finally came back?" he said, sounding tolerantly amused.

"We've been trying to get him to eat by our fire with the rest of the children for a long time. Just like us, some of the children are Aedrem in their hearts and some Cereinem. If he's done wandering the sand I'll be glad."

"He thought you wanted to catch and eat him," Gusje admonished.

"You're apparently large, and also scary." Tesvaji's booming laugh cut through the heat haze once more, causing Su to flinch back - at least, as much as he could before Jackie firmly steered him forward once more. The men of Ademen Tacen who had fought against Mosidhu shouted friendly greetings as they approached. Her father did as well, pulling each of the new arrivals into a crushingly enthusiastic embrace before clasping arms with a befuddled Ajehet.

Su was the last to receive the Madi's attention, by which time he was visibly shaking. Tesvaji bent down until he was at face-level with the boy, smiling toothily.

"Stubborn boy," he rumbled quietly.

"Come join your friends. They've been worried about you." Fear fought with hope on the boy's face for several seconds until his lip began to wobble. Tesvaji gestured to one of his men, who gently steered the boy towards the main camp as he dissolved into quiet sobs.

"This has not been a happy place," Tesvaji noted, straightening up.

"The children show it most of all, since it's all they've ever known. Food helps." He turned to the others, a smile washing away his momentary somber expression.

"It always does. And we've got enough here to feed you as well, now that you've arrived. I'd guess that the road here wasn't easy."

"Far from it," Mark replied, shaking his head.

"But we made it through. How about you, all the folks okay?" Tesvaji nodded.

"We had our troubles getting here, and once we did we found it less than friendly," he said, raising his hand. With a start, Gusje noticed that the smallest finger on his right hand was gone.

"Mine was the only injury, as it should be." Gusje took a step back, eyes wide.

"Father, what-" He raised a hand to forestall her questions.

"Patience, daughter of mine. This is a story worth telling well, and that means it must wait for water, food, rest-" he flashed them all another smile, spreading his hands wide.

"And welcome."