Page 70 of The Merciless Ones
“Good that you did. I’ve gathered all the information I need from these two.” She nods to the jatu corpses.
“Gathered information?” This faint sputter comes from Li, who has watched the entire scene with wide-eyed bewilderment.
I can only imagine the shock he’s feeling.
Of all the karmokos at the Warthu Bera, Karmoko Huon is the most deceptive in appearance. She’s tiny and beautiful, with the sort of pale, blushing countenance that brings to mind a delicate flower. But that seemingly ornamental exterior hides a terrifying interior: after White Hands, Karmoko Huon was the most ruthless person in the Warthu Bera, pure iron running through her veins. Only she would maim an alaki to prove a point to her, as she once did to Adwapa. And only she would willingly subject herself to torture to extract information from her torturers.
If there’s one thing I learned from her, it’s that a canny warrior uses her every attribute to her advantage – even her looks.
Karmoko Huon cocks her head at Li, amused. “Of course, gathering information. What else did it look like?”
Li’s mouth just opens and closes, as if he’s a fish gasping for water. This is likely the first time he’s ever seen Karmoko Huon in action, so I’m not surprised. Her true nature is always frightening when she first reveals it. She turns again to Karmoko Thandiwe. “We have to move out tonight. The last few shipments of armour go out this week, and the jatu have been acting strangely. You saw the stillness outside – Commander Xipil has set a trap to catch the saboteurs killing his men. It’s the first move. He means to cleanse the Warthu Bera after this. Use it as a jatu barracks.”
I stiffen. “Cleanse?”
Karmoko Huon turns to me. “Wipe out. They mean to kill every alaki here.”
“When?” Adwapa rasps, sounding as horrified as I feel.
“Two days from now,” the karmoko replies. “They’re sending in the Forsworn, which is why we have to be long gone by then. We have to—”
“THEY’RE IN THE DINING HALL!” Shouts and a commotion outside have me whirling towards the windows.
The drums on the walls begin pounding, sending information all across the Warthu Bera: enemy spotted at main building. Move out.
Karmoko Huon pulls a sword from its sheath on the wall. “That would be my new helper, leading the jatu on a merry chase,” she informs us calmly. “As I said, they set a trap, although it’s not a very good one. Shall we join her?” She takes another calm swig of her palm wine before she strolls out the door.
We quickly follow.
The Warthu Bera’s grounds are ablaze with torches when we emerge outside, multiple contingents of jatu chasing after a short, slim figure, her inhuman speed immediately distinguishable as she runs down the courtyard of the Warthu Bera’s main building, passing that hateful statue of Emeka, the first emperor of Otera.
“Gazal!” Belcalis gasps as the fearsome novice with the jagged scar down her cheek, who used to command us in raids, dodges and weaves past the jatu ranks, the absolute darkness of the night obscuring her from the jatu’s weaker eyes.
Last we saw her, she was still trying to find a way into Hemaira’s walls, but now, it seems she’s succeeded, because there she is, running down the hill towards the other end of the Warthu Bera. The moment Belcalis says her name, she glances over, her ears sharp as ever, and her eyes meet ours despite the darkness and the distance. She stumbles only for a moment before she makes a signal: the caverns, she signs, using the battle language we once learned within these very walls, before continuing onward, the jatu just behind her.
A swift wind blasts past me as Karmoko Huon takes the lead. “Follow,” she calls, running towards one of the smaller outbuildings at the bottom of the hill. For a human woman, especially an injured one, she moves almost unnaturally fast.
When Katya and the other deathshrieks fall into place behind us, the karmoko doesn’t even blink as she continues on her way, although she glances every so often at the jatu following almost neck and neck with Gazal now, who seems to be flagging. When I squint, I see gold dripping down her side. She’s been injured.
I look up at Ixa, who’s flapping overhead in his small blue nightflyer form. Distract them! I say, pointing towards the jatu.
Deka! he agrees, zipping over.
Screams echo when he transforms as he lands, ploughing through them in his gigantic true form. “It’s a demon!” someone shouts.
An amused smile twitches my lips. Good, Ixa! I say to him as I continue following Karmoko Huon.
To my surprise, her destination is the ancient well behind one of the Warthu Bera’s peripheral buildings – a stony, longdried-up affair covered by a ramshackle wooden lid. She hurriedly searches under the pile of loose stones behind it, then uses the key she finds there to unlock the chains fastening the well’s cover.
“This way,” she says, climbing down.
I turn back to Ixa. Come back, I command.
Deka, he replies, the screams in the distance fading to a confused silence as he transforms back into a nightflyer and flaps away once more.
He reaches me just as I follow the two karmokos into the well, which, as I am astounded to discover, hides an aged staircase – yet another of the Warthu Bera’s secrets that I never knew. Once he settles into my arms in his kitten form, I hurry down the steps, shivering when a damp chill immediately envelops me: deathshriek mist, curling up the stairs so thickly, I can barely see the space in front of me. Rattle, the Warthu Bera’s prime deathshriek, and all the others – hundreds upon hundreds of them – are still trapped in their cells under the training ground, this mist physical evidence of their presence and despair. Deathshrieks spread it this thickly only when they’re feeling heightened emotions. I push away the thought as I hurry down the stairs to make space for Gazal, who slips in moments later and stealthily seals the well’s entrance closed behind her.
There’s a commotion outside as the jatu run over, their torches visible through the slats in the well’s cover. “Find her!” a man’s voice rages – the new jatu commander, Xipil, no doubt. Only a commander would dare sound so enraged at the other jatu. “She can’t have disappeared into thin air.”