Wysper - Return to Bukhara

I am tired... so very... very... tired.

The four of us squeezed aboard Rocky, Hypam on the saddle in front, with Paulus, myself, and Greywolf behind, and since then we have ridden for hours. At least the rain has stopped. Yet even with the cloak, and the two warm bodies before and behind me, I cannot stop shivering. Paulus needs more blood magic; I have been keeping him alive ever since Rocky took off toward Bukhara at a brisk trot, and between Paulus' growing lethargy and his own shivering, I know the poison is overwhelming him again. I just have nothing left to give him.

At least I finally understand why Asena drinks like she does. I want a cup of wine; no, I need a cup... several cups, actually. A flagon would be better... yes, a flagon of wine and then a fire, and a warm bed. I want to sleep so badly I could cry.

Greywolf's hands slide onto my bare belly with his fingers splayed out. Once again, he pushes his mana into my body, the feeling of warmth spreading through my body as the shivering stops, waking me up as if I just drank a mug of Kaffe. Too soon, he stops the flow and gives me a gentle squeeze. "Wysp," he says in my ear, "I know you're tired. But we're almost there." He motions towards a light not far off in the distance. "That's Bukhara up ahead." I nod once as he adds, "How's Paulus?"

Paulus! At once, I put my hands underneath the boy's tunic and onto his belly, pushing blood magic into him the same way Greywolf pushes mana into me. Paulus begins to stir. "Mama? I am cold, mama."

Some leagues back he forgot who I am. "Hang on just a little bit longer," I tell him as I keep pushing blood magic, the feeling of warmth inside me already ebbing away. "We are almost home."

He perks up some more as Greywolf's body behind me goes rigid. "Hypam, I'm hearing hoof beats and getting the smell of Warghorse coming towards us... maybe the search party?" He adds in a hopeful voice.

"Probably," Hypam says, "but we need to make sure. Rocky, stop." The Daemo mount slows to a halt and Hypam throws her leg around and slides off, retrieving her bow and quiver of arrows. "Greywolf, I'm going to light up the sky above them, so I need you to hold my bow and give it to me when I ask." Greywolf slides off and takes the weapon from her hand as a spinning ball of fire and witchlight forms in her other. Hypam pulls an arrow from her quiver, attaching the spinning ball to the shaft near the point, then takes back her bow and nocks the arrow. "Let's hope they're friendly, because we'll never outrun them." Hypam draws the bowstring back and shoots.

The arrow reaches its zenith and explodes. Then it forms a ball of greenish-red light, hovering in the air overhead, revealing a troop of warriors riding Warghorses coming straight at us. "We're okay," Greywolf says. "I can see Az and Dancer... ah shite," he adds in disgust. "Timur's with them."

"Greywolf," Hypam says, "help Wysper and Paulus get down while I put away the bow and make sure all the vials survived the trip." Greywolf takes Paulus from my arms and sets him down, then helps me off Rocky as Hypam secures her bow. She checks the saddlebags before strapping the sword belt to her waist.

Rocky moves behind us as I kneel beside Paulus, propping him up with the back of his head against my shoulder as we watch the approaching riders. One of them takes off at a gallop, and several others spur their mounts after the rider, churning the wet ground underneath their hoofs. Amazonia reins in her Warghorse and awkwardly slides off it. "Paulus, did you save little Paulus?"

"He's alive," Hypam replies in a sharp voice, "but poisoned with the same foul substance your Nomads received." Amazonia, wearing full Artifact armor with her Rune sword in a baldric at her back, rushes over as Hypam adds, "Greywolf and Wysper have been keeping him alive."

Amazonia kneels down as Paulus opens his arms, and she takes him from me as Greywolf says, "We need to find Titan. The antidote's in the saddlebags, along with a couple dozen other identical green glass vials, and all the labels are written in Babylonian."

"I can offer you a better solution," a woman's voice calls out. I look up as a rider reins in her mount and gets down. The priestess Akbal is dressed in dark robes, her face still looking hollow-eyed and diseased as she walks towards us. "I was too late to save the Nomads, but recognized the substance by the smell, which is why I came along. If the boy is poisoned, I know a way of neutralizing it." I gaze past her at the Warghorse and gasp.

There is crusted blood at the beast's muzzle, and horrible gaping wounds along its side and across its face. There are also crude stitches around its neck as if the head has been reattached. "Akbal, your mount..."

My words trail off as she glances back. "An experiment that proved more successful than I had imagined it would. It obeys my commands without question, and requires no maintenance besides regular infusions of Shadow magic." Her gaze shifts towards the rest of the troop riding towards us. "The prince is not happy with me right now, but that will soon pass."

Amazonia glares up at her. "Considering you reanimated the dead Khan's Warghorse, you're lucky he didn't chop off your head as well."

Hypam gives a start. "Which khan? Surely not Khingla?"

Dancer, who has gotten off his own Warghorse, comes striding up in armor, his Artifact spear in one hand. "The Great Khan's dead."

He sets himself between the priestess Akbal and Amazonia as Greywolf and I share a horrified look. Hypam snarls, "Khingla's dead? What in Tengri's name happened?"

"We can discuss what happened later," Akbal says as Prince Timur and his other two Bloodguards dismount and stride towards us. "Titan is at least an hour away, with no guarantee that the boy will make it there or that the antidote is in the saddlebags." She has touched upon my darkest fear, that we would exhaust ourselves getting here, only to discover that the antidote was not among the bottles. "However, I have a spell which will gather the poison in Paulus' body, and then transmute it into a substance he will expel."

"Balthazar claimed the knowledge of that spell was lost when Carthago fell," Greywolf says in a sharp voice. Then his expression becomes uncertain. "But he also claimed there wasn't an antidote, and the Daemo that Troll killed proved to me it had one that worked."

"The Etruscans believed they destroyed all of Tanit's lore when they razed the city," Akbal says. "Yet, long before they attacked, Tanit shared her knowledge with a select few other Celestials, including the 'goddess', I had served before Inanna."

Amazonia, who looks as tired as I feel, gives me back Paulus and climbs to her feet. "None of you priestesses do anything for free. What do you want in return."

Despite my exhaustion, I place my hands upon the cooling flesh of Paulus' belly and push in as much blood magic as I can, while Akbal says, "Nothing you have not already done. I want you to become 'Inanna returned' on a permanent basis."

"Hold up," Prince Timur growls as he and his Bloodguards come to a halt nearby. "Amazonia's my Reaver Knight, and not yours or anyone else's."

"Of course not," Akbal replies as Paulus' flesh warms again. "All I ask is that, when Amazonia becomes a Shadow Knight to lead your Shamblers into battle, she does so under the guise of Inanna. My prince, on the night of your raid, the people responded to Inanna in a way that they will never respond to Ishtar. The people want vengeance against the Sasnayams, and if I establish the cult of: 'Inanna returned from the Underworld to help us', people from all over the satrapies will join us. I want Amazonia to pretend to be possessed by Inanna's ghost while Inanna's corpse fights alongside her."

Prince Timur frowns. "Wouldn't it be more logical for Inanna to possess her own body?"

Akbal gives him a sly look. "If you had to make a choice between possessing a corpse or a living person, which would you choose?"

Prince Timur raises his eyebrows before stroking his beard in a thoughtful manner. "I see your point."

She inclines her head. "Knowing their goddess is with them, soldiers will flock to your infantry, while outcasts and undesirables can be recruited to give your Shamblers logistical support on the march."

One of the Bloodguards remarks, "Ishtar's not going to tolerate a rival."

"Ishtar can have Bukhara and the other loyal cities," Akbal sniffs. "My temple will march with the army."

Akbal continues speaking, but a wave of exhaustion hits me and I take my hands away from Paulus, Greywolf kneeling down to support me as I fall back. "Apologies, but I cannot do this anymore, even if you give me more mana." I want to be strong; need to be, but I am so tired that I cannot stop the tears rolling down my cheeks.

Amazonia kneels down as Paulus opens his eyes and whispers, "Mama?"

"Mama's here," she whispers back, taking Paulus in her arms as she gives us a fierce look. Greywolf must understand, because he touches a finger to his own lips and then to mine, as if telling her we will say nothing. Amazonia's face softens as she gently squeezes my shoulder. "Apologies will never be needed from either one of you," she says, letting go as she looks up at the prince and the priestess, ignoring us as they continue talking. "My prince," Amazonia raising her voice, "will this deception help us?"

Prince Timur hesitates before speaking. "I believe it will. Akbal wants the Shadow Knight to take a more active role in the worship, but anything she wants you to do will have to be cleared with myself or Lys first, and we will not make you do anything you don't want to."

"As the Shadow Knight," Akbal says, "you should see my requests as beneficial to the cause."

"Then I'll play your game." Amazonia places Paulus' back against me again before rising to her feet. "However, if you do anything to Paulus except remove the poison from his body, lay any kind of other spell or geas upon him, I'll chop off your head and burn your body. That's not an idle threat."

Akbal inclines her head. "I believe you. Now, with permission?" She moves Dancer's spear aside with a bony hand and walks up to me, kneeling down in front of Paulus while Amazonia steps to one side. "Paulus, my hands will feel cold to you, but that means the spell is working. With permission?" Paulus nods, and Akbal moves her hands under his tunic.

Paulus gasps. A black color begins moving outward through his blood vessels, and Paulus moves his arm to watch the color move down towards his hand. "Is that the poison in my blood?"

"That is my spell traveling through your body in search of poison," Akbal replies. "We will give it a few more moments... there. Now, I shall gather everything collected, and then transmute it." She glances up at Amazonia. "You may want to step back a pace."

Amazonia stands her ground as the black color retreats from Paulus' blood vessels. "This feels really weird." He grimaces. "I think I'm getting a tummy ache."

"A very good sign," Akbal says as the black color disappears. "All the poison is gathered in your stomach. Now, to transmute it." Paulus gasps again as his face takes on a stricken look.

Then he flings himself off me and throws up on the wet ground at Amazonia's feet. She skips back a step as Akbal says, "Does anyone carry a skin of well-watered wine I can give him?" Fenris strides over with a wineskin in his furry hand, and Akbal motions towards Paulus. "Let him drink some to wash out his stomach, then give him small sips to replace some of the water he has lost." She turns towards Amazonia. "He should be no worse for wear in the morning."

Amazonia takes the skin from Fenris and kneels down next to Paulus, getting him to drink some of the watered wine, which he promptly throws back up. Greywolf helps me to my feet as Fenris looks around. "Where Castor?"

"I stationed him farther down the road in case someone escaped," Hypam says as Amazonia begins giving Paulus small sips, which he seems to be keeping down. Hypam motions in the direction we had traveled. "Right now he's back with the rest of my company, who I left Avitohol in charge of."

"Meaning Avitohol will not return before dawn?" Hypam gives Prince Timur a wary nod, and he strokes his beard as he smiles. "What a shame, considering my father's body will be burned with the rising sun."

Hypam snarls, "You can't do that," the woman striding over to the prince with her hands clenched into fists. His Bloodguard draws their scimitars, but Prince Timur motions for them to stay still as Hypam puts her face a hand-span from his. "The Crown Prince is traditionally the one who lights the funeral pyre."

Prince Timur shrugs. "If Avitohol reaches the city by dawn, he can claim that right."

"But-"

"There is no reason to delay," he snaps back at her. "The traditional betrothal has been consummated," the prince motioning towards Greywolf, who is holding me up, "and the funeral games are over. Tradition demands the body be released to Tengri by fire, and that's what will happen come the dawn."

Greywolf's hands tighten on my arms. "Avitohol doesn't even know his father's dead."

Stroking his beard, Prince Timur smiles like the cat with a mouse under his paw. "And isn't that a shame."