17

THE MAGISTRATES

Elenil rule from Far Seeing,
in lands by our master bequeathed.
The Majestic One keeps all in his sight,
Elenil first in the warmth of his light.

FROM “THE ORDERING OF THE WORLD,” AN ELENIL STORY

Jason yanked on the bird’s tail feathers several times. “Stop,” the bird said and knocked him backward with a well-placed wing stroke. Grumbling to himself, Jason pulled out his dial (which apparently worked on birds, too!) and shrank the bird to parrot size. He paused, then turned the dial all the way to the left and the bird shrank again, to the size of a sparrow.

“Now try to knock me over with your wings,” Jason said.

Madeline’s hand was on his arm. He straightened his jacket and tie.

“You were neither invited nor summoned,” one of the magistrates said. He wore a blue robe and a small gold circlet on his forehead. “You may leave us now.”

Jason crossed his arms. “Yeah, well, the magic bird says no. Besides, were you invited or summoned?”

The Elenil stiffened. “Magistrates are not summoned!”

Jason shrugged. “Invited, then?”

“Certainly not. A time was set, and I was made aware of it. I arrived at the appointed time.”

“That’s how I got here,” Jason said. “I heard about the meeting, then I came to the meeting.”

“Enough,” the archon said. At least, Jason assumed he was the archon. The guy in charge. The boss of the Elenil. He was completely covered by a gold sheet. He looked like a ghost from a poorly done Halloween costume, minus the eye holes. Only fancier, because he was golden. In Jason’s experience, the guy with the goofiest outfit might just be in charge.

The archon continued, “We have gathered with a specific purpose, and it is not to banter with children or our lessers.”

Break Bones sneered at those words.

“Let us do this quickly, that I may return to the festivities,” said another Elenil, this one in a close-fitting silver sheath, his blond hair braided, a wide hat on his head.

“We shall take the necessary time,” the archon said. “Do not worry, Basileus Prinel. Your party will await you when you are finished here.”

“What’s the deal with the weird Scim?” Jason asked.

Prinel bristled. “You forget yourself, human. Show the proper respect. Would you care to be sent back to the human lands?”

Madeline gave him a warning look, but Jason put his hands in his pockets and said, “I’ve lived up to my end of the agreement. It never said I had to be respectful of the Elenil.”

“You agreed to be in service to us,” one of the magistrates hissed. “Respect is demanded as part of your service.”

“Nope,” Jason said. “I never agreed to that. I’m here in service to Madeline.” He bowed his head in her direction. “All respect to you, milady.”

A moment of furious whispering broke out among the magistrates. “Show us your bracelet,” one of them said.

Jason pulled up his sleeve, and a magistrate studied his tattoo carefully. “The boy speaks the truth. No pattern here suggests the Elenil are even mentioned in his terms.”

Break Bones laughed heartily. “Oh, how I like you, Wu Song. It pains me that I have promised to deliver your friend’s corpse and utterly destroy you.”

“Promised to what?” Madeline cried.

“Long story,” Jason said.

“Hanali will face brave punishments for this unorthodox recruiting,” Prinel said. “Thenody, what say you?”

Jason racked his brain. He remembered the name Thenody. Hanali had specifically said to remember that one because . . . Oh yeah. Because that was the archon’s name.

“Enough,” Archon Thenody said from beneath his golden sheet. “I have said it once, will you make me say it again?”

All fell silent.

Thenody sat down in a high-backed chair. “Bring Hanali forward.”

A door opened in the floor of the tower, and Hanali ascended to the platform, followed by the Knight of the Mirror. Jason got the idea that the knight’s presence was some sort of threat. The knight’s sword was buckled to his belt . . . No one else in this place carried a weapon. Hanali wore a slight, peaceful smile on his face. Beside them came a small girl, no more than eight years old, who wore a ragged dress and a long swath of cloth wrapped around her eyes.

Hanali turned his face toward Jason so the other Elenil could not see him, gave a fierce, furious scowl, and mouthed, Say nothing.

Hanali bowed. “Your most august Excellencies.”

“You are young,” Thenody said. “But surely not so young that you would bring a human into the Sunlit Lands without professions of loyalty.”

Hanali’s gaze flicked to Jason. “An oversight, Excellency. It shall not happen again. It must be admitted that he is, at least, entertaining?”

Thenody sighed. “Perhaps he does bring the frustrations of childhood into our presence once again, after all these centuries.”

Prinel spoke up again. “We have heard rumors among the people that this girl, Madeline Oliver, has been prophesied to bring justice at last to the Scim. Is this true?”

“True that you heard it, my lord? I can only assume yes.”

“Do not play games, Hanali. It is well known that you invent prophecies for your recruits.”

Hanali flinched as if struck.

“Please,” Prinel said. “Spare us the theater. How many girls have you brought to us saying they were messiahs or saviors, warriors or soldiers, who would bring justice to the Sunlit Lands?”

Hanali studied his gloved hands. “No more than ten.” An outraged gasp came from the magistrates. “Ah, wait. I’ve forgotten the twins from the Congo. Twelve, then.”

Jason said, “What, only girls can save the Sunlit Lands?”

Hanali’s eyes bugged wide, his scowl sharp enough to slice a cement block in half. He mouthed, Be silent.

Prinel, sarcasm dripping from his voice, said, “Hanali. Twelve is the full number, I assume. You did not do the same thing with your male recruits?”

“In my defense, Your Grace, you did ask how many girls . . .”

“Very well, how many boys have you brought and done the same? Said they were the ones who would save the world? Or bring justice to it?”

Hanali cleared his throat. “Thirty-eight.”

“That’s fifty,” Jason said.

Hanali gave him an exasperated glare.

Madeline said, “So there’s not a prophecy about me?” She looked relieved. Almost ecstatic. But Madeline had told Jason the storyteller had prophesied the same thing.

The magistrates clumped together in a tight group, murmuring among themselves. The strange Scim stood to the side, keeping a careful eye on Break Bones. Hanali folded his hands across his stomach. The magic bird fluttered over to the girl with the blindfold and whispered in her ear. The Knight of the Mirror produced a small handheld mirror from somewhere and gazed at himself with rapt attention. Wow. He really was conceited.

“If there’s no prophecy,” Madeline whispered, “maybe they’ll let us go home. Maybe they’ll still let me breathe and send us home.”

Hanali raised an eyebrow. “The Elenil follow their agreements to the letter, miss. They will not return you before the human year passes.”

“Are you in trouble, Hanali?” she whispered.

Jason snorted. “These people can’t get dressed for a party without talking to a prophet. Hanali will be fine.”

Madeline punched him in the arm. “Show a little compassion. He could really be in danger.”

The magistrates straightened and resumed their places. Archon Thenody spoke first. “Before the magistrates take further action, Hanali, son of Vivi, we shall consult with an oracle.”

Jason felt smug. “Told you.”

“However, we will not allow Madeline Oliver to be bid upon tonight. We have . . . certain concerns that our friend Sun’s Dance has brought to us.”

Hanali inclined his head. “I eagerly anticipate hearing his thoughts.”

The strange Scim took hold of his lapels with two massive grey hands. “I have heard a rumbling among my people —the Scim in this city. It is said the Black Skulls seek a human girl who cannot breathe. It is said they wish to remove her from the Court of Far Seeing.”

Break Bones spit at Sun’s Dance. “Traitor.”

Prinel sneered at Break Bones. “Traitor? Because he has walked out of the darkness and into the light? Because he has left behind a life of poverty? He rejected the foolish excuses of your kind and became something better. Do not judge him for it.”

The girl with the blindfold spoke. “Did I hear Break Bones threaten Madeline Oliver? Is that sufficient evidence the Scim seek her death?”

Break Bones laughed. “That is a promise I made to Wu Song and has nothing to do with my people.”

Madeline raised her eyebrows and looked to Jason. He laughed nervously. “Long story,” he said again.

“A story we must needs hear,” Prinel said.

Jason sighed. This whole not-telling-lies thing was getting him in a lot of trouble. “I snuck in through a magic door and talked to Break Bones. He said he would kill Madeline before he came to kill me.”

“How did he know of Madeline at all?” Hanali said, his voice high and tight. His eye twitched. Jason hadn’t seen that before, and he thought he had angered Hanali in every way possible.

Jason blushed. “I told him I’d come to the Sunlit Lands to protect someone. He asked her name, and I told him.”

Break Bones roared with laughter. “He is a strange little beast, is he not? I shall raise a glass in his honor when he is no longer in the world.”

Madeline’s hands curled into fists. “Wasn’t your promise that you would kill me first?”

Break Bones grinned. “Indeed. I told him I would bring your lifeless body as a warning that his own time had come.”

Madeline put her arm around Jason. “Then he doesn’t have much to worry about, because a miserable, sad little ogre like you won’t stand a chance against me.”

Break Bones roared with laughter, rattling his chains. Sun’s Dance yanked on the metal collar around Break Bones’s neck, choking him into silence. “You see, my lords. We cannot trust my countrymen to behave like civilized people. They do not know any better. They are uncouth and vile. They know only darkness, and is it their fault? No, for they do not know the Majestic One, having heard only the corrupted tales of our kind.”

Archon Thenody raised his arms, lifting his golden sheets as if he were a kid on Halloween trying to scare his friends. “It seems clear we cannot risk the girl in the Bidding. What if the prophecy is true? No, even Gilenyia would not protect her well enough for my peace of mind. I think she must come to the Seat of High Seeing and serve in my household.”

Hanali swooned with excitement, and Jason grabbed him by his jacket to hold him up. Hanali said, breathlessly, “Of course, Your Greatness, if you think it best for her to serve in your estate, we would be only too happy. She is quite fair for a human and could even pass for an Elenil. More than one Elenil has mistaken her for one of us. See how pale her skin is? And her hair, like gold. She’s quite lovely for a human.”

Madeline was watching Hanali as if he were a refugee from a mental hospital. “What if I prefer not to go with Archon Thenody?”

Hanali’s eyes flew wide. “A joke!” He laughed uncomfortably. “A joke, Highness. Ha ha.”

“I am serious. What if I prefer to enter the Bidding? I would rather go with Gilenyia and learn the art of healing.”

“An art that could be learned in the house of the archon as well as in Gilenyia’s,” Hanali hissed.

Thenody stood. From the look of things, he was trembling beneath his robes. Jason guessed it was a big insult to reject his offer of living at his palace. Some people are so sensitive.

“You will do as you are told,” Thenody said, his voice shaking nearly as badly as his robes. “Or you will face the consequences of breaking your contract!”

He made a twisting motion beneath his robes and reached out to Madeline. She gasped and took a wheezing breath. She fell to her knees, struggling to breathe.

“What is wrong with you?” Jason shouted. “Let her breathe!”

“It’s her own fault,” Thenody said. “Disrespecting me, the leader and head of the Elenil! Speaking back to the archon! She has forfeited her agreement! She cannot treat me thus and expect our magic to treat her well.”

Jason knocked Hanali aside and advanced on the archon. The Knight of the Mirror did not move to intervene. His eyes flickered toward Jason but then returned to his mirror. Jason grabbed hold of the golden sheet with one hand and swung his other fist at the general location of the archon’s head.

Thenody stepped back, pulling his sheet out of Jason’s hand. He pointed at Jason, twisted his arm, and said, “I will remove your magic as well!”

Jason punched Archon Thenody in the midsection, and he flew backward, landing in a heap on the ground. “Now you’re stealing my chocolate pudding?” Jason shouted, and leapt toward the pile of golden sheets.

But a stunningly fast Elenil in light armor intervened. He threw his arm in front of Jason, catching him just below the neck, and drove him onto the stone floor of the tower. With a two-handed shove he threw him back against Break Bones. “If you strike the archon again,” the Elenil said, “I will run the girl through with my own sword. I swear this on my name, Tirius, and on my title as polemarch and commander of the armies of the Elenil!”

Archon Thenody rose, his golden robes disheveled, and moved toward Madeline, who was gasping, her face bright red.

Hanali fell to his knees and bowed his head. “My lord. Surely she has learned her lesson.”

“Not yet,” the archon said, his voice expressionless. He turned toward the knight. “What of you? You did not move to protect my person?”

The knight didn’t look up from his mirror. “I am sworn to fight the Scim. I do not fight my own kind.”

The archon drew a furious breath and unleashed a torrent of abuse on the impassive knight. Madeline lay on her back now. Jason had to do something. The archon was going to let her die like a fish, flopping around on the ground, breathless. He couldn’t attack Archon Thenody, not directly, because Tirius claimed he would kill Madeline himself if Jason made a move.

He heard the guttural laughing of Break Bones close behind him. He turned away from the furious monologue of the archon. “What are you laughing at, Break Bones?”

“Your friend dies, and the Elenil war amongst themselves. They brought me here to show you the terrors of the evil Scim, and instead they entertain me.”

A way out, or at least a chance at a way out, opened up to Jason. He would have to play it just right, though. “I took you to be a person of honor. How disappointing to be proved wrong.”

Break Bones stopped laughing and leaned his wide face closer. His rotten breath, hot and foul, washed over Jason’s face. “What mean you by this brave insult, Wu Song?”

“You told me you were going to kill Madeline and bring me her body. But here you sit, letting the Elenil make a liar of you.”

The smile faded from Break Bones’s face. He glanced at Madeline with sudden concern, then to the archon. He shook the chains on his wrists. “These chains prevent me from my oath.”

Jason frowned. “I didn’t realize the word of a Scim was worth so little.” He pulled the dial out of his pocket. “I’m wondering if this magic dial works on people.”

Break Bones grinned. “Ah, boy, I will rue the day I feast upon your bones. But do not use the magic upon my flesh, but rather these chains. I will save the girl, so that I may slay her later.”

“It only works on animals, you know, not on chains,” Jason said. But he touched the dial’s casing against the chains and turned the dial to the right. The chains grew larger, and Break Bones slipped his hands free. Jason looked at the dial and the newly gigantic chains. “Huh. What do you know?”

Before standing, Break Bones slammed one massive fist into Sun’s Dance’s knee, sending him sprawling to the ground. He leapt to his feet with astonishing speed, and bounded to Thenody’s side, wrapping his great, tattooed hands around the archon’s neck. The sheet bunched above the archon’s head, then flared out over his body, making him look a lot like a badminton shuttlecock. The archon’s tirade cut off mid-word.

The Knight of the Mirror drew his sword.

“Ah, have a care, Sir Knight, lest I squeeze the archon in fright,” Break Bones said. He shook the body beneath its golden sheet. “Release thou the girl, O valiant soul.”

The archon, trembling, twisted his hands. Madeline gasped as air flooded her lungs again.

“Leave the magistrates unharmed, and I will allow you a five-minute lead,” the Knight of the Mirror said. “Then I must follow and destroy you.”

“Sporting, sir,” Break Bones said. “Sporting indeed. In five minutes I could not even exit this grand building. No, I think another plan will be necessary. First, throw your sword from the tower.”

The knight hesitated, then did as he was told. The sound of metal clanking against stone echoed up to them as the sword bounced against the tower, and then silence. “Nothing can be taken from my hand unless I allow it,” the knight said. “It is a boon granted me some years ago.”

Break Bones nodded. “I have heard tales of that magic.”

“I give my word I will escort you safely to Scim territory. I will put my hand upon your arm. Your life will be in my hands, and none but I could take it. Only release Archon Thenody.”

Break Bones grinned. “Your word I trust, sir. And Wu Song’s. Perhaps the girl, should Wu Song vouch for her. The rest of these here —I would sooner trust a hungry wolf to guard my pigs. No, I have a plan in mind that will serve me better.” He pulled the archon close against his chest, and there was a distressed yelp from beneath the golden sheets.

Madeline, still gasping and on her knees, looked up. “What are you going to do, Break Bones?”

Break Bones looked to the knight. “Give me your word that neither you nor any here shall leave this tower until I am safely outside the city walls.”

“You have it,” the knight said. “So long as you promise, on your honor, not to murder any citizen of the Elenil nor any human on your exit.”

“Done,” the Scim said triumphantly. “Now, Wu Song, lend me that bird you have shrunk, that I might send word when I am safe.”

“It’s not my bird,” Jason said. Jason noticed Tirius shake his head, fast, when Break Bones wasn’t watching. Tirius was meant to be the head of the Elenil army, but he hadn’t done anything to help so far.

The bird said, “I will not help you, Break Bones. Indeed, as soon as you leave this place, I will fly to find the guardians of the city, and we will fight you from here to the city wall. If all goes well, you will be in chains again in an hour’s time.”

“I feared you would make some foolish speech,” Break Bones said. “So I am forced to make a hard choice.” He looked around at the gathered magistrates, the archon struggling weakly in his massive hands. “Are there no healers here on this tower top?”

The girl in the blindfold spoke. “None, save Madeline, and she has not been trained.”

Break Bones turned his back to the Elenil, and with swift motions he folded Archon Thenody in unnatural directions, snapping appendages and collapsing ribs. He dropped the magistrate’s still form in front of Tirius.

Jason’s stomach lurched. He was thankful, suddenly, for the sheet, but even so he could tell what lay beneath was piled in a horrible shape. A keening cry came from beneath the golden covering.

“He will not die,” Break Bones said, “so long as the bird goes for a healer rather than for the army. So I have kept my word.” He bowed to Madeline. “You I shall see again.” Then to Jason, “You have the heart of a Scim warrior. I give you humble thanks for my release.”

He leapt from the side. Jason ran to the edge in time to see Break Bones grab the tower, his thick arms straining as they arrested his descent. He climbed down with unbelievable speed then loped across the plain below.

“Fly and warn the army,” Tirius shouted to the bird.

“Shame,” the knight said. “Shame on you and all the magistrates if the life of one Scim is worth more than the life of the archon, first among equals. The city will hear of this. They will speak of it for decades to come.”

Prinel put his hand on Tirius’s arm. “It is true, Tirius. The archon must come first.”

Tirius shouted in rage. Break Bones was nearly to the exit now. “A healer first, and then the army. Fly with all speed, bird!”

The bird fell like lightning from the tower, then extended its wings and flew.

“Now there is nothing to do but wait,” Prinel said, crouching beside the archon. He reached out a hand toward the golden cloth, then withdrew it.

Hanali cleared his throat. “If I may be so bold, it makes a great deal of sense to me that Madeline Oliver go to live with one of the nine magistrates.”

Tirius barked a laugh. “Will you send the human traitor with her too? He released a Scim upon us!”

“He was killing my friend!” Jason shouted. He wasn’t going to let that happen. He wasn’t going to stand by and wring his hands when Madeline was in danger. If that meant folding the archon down small enough to fit in a suitcase, so be it. If that meant unleashing Break Bones on the world, that’s what he would do. He didn’t regret it for a moment.

“He is the lord of the Elenil and thus, your master. He can do as he pleases,” Prinel snapped.

“My master?” Jason stalked over to the pile of golden sheets and, before anyone could stop him, grabbed hold of the fabric and prepared to yank it off. “I’m not anyone’s slave! I’ll throw him off this tower before I’ll —”

“Jason, stop!” Madeline shouted.

Her voice stunned him. Her face was pale and creased with worry. He wouldn’t really have thrown the archon off the tower. At least, he didn’t think so. He had been doing the right thing, protecting Madeline. It infuriated him to have that questioned. He wouldn’t have thrown him off the tower, though. They shouldn’t have said the archon was his master. He wasn’t some slave. He wasn’t here to serve the Elenil. He was here for Madeline, pure and simple. But it was Madeline telling him to stop now.

He dropped the sheet. “He’s not my master,” Jason said. “Also, he better turn my pudding delivery back on, or I will drop him off a tower.”

“Well,” Prinel said mildly. “It seems clear the archon’s estate will not be a safe home for these humans.”

Tirius watched Jason closely. “He could not have harmed Thenody much. He has the anger of a warrior. Perhaps I will take him on, train him together with Rondelo.”

The girl in the blindfold spoke. “The Scim will target Madeline, this much seems clear. To put her with the magistrates increases the risk to her and to them. The Knight of the Mirror should take her. Nothing can be taken from his hand unless he wills it. She will be safe in his household.”

Tirius rubbed his chin. “An elegant solution, and delivered by a seer. What say you, Sir Knight?”

The knight gazed into his mirror, murmuring to himself. After a long moment he turned his attention to the Elenil. “I will take the girl under my protection. She will serve out her contract with me, in obedience to the Elenil and according to the terms of her bargain.”

“And me,” Jason blurted.

The knight shook his head. “You are too unpredictable and unwise. I cannot take you into my home.”

The blindfolded girl tugged on his sleeve. He leaned down, and she whispered in his ear. His face, stony and impassive, did not change when he straightened. “I will take the girl,” he said, “and also the fool.”

Jason sputtered. “The fool?!”

Hanali whispered in his ear, “Bow, fool, if you wish to stay with Madeline.”

So Jason bowed, and Madeline curtsied, and just then a healer came rushing up the stairs, and the bird told them the Scim warrior had left the city much faster than the city guard could be alerted. Released from the knight’s agreement with Break Bones, Hanali grabbed Jason and Madeline by the arms and pulled them to the winding stairwell that led down alongside the outer wall of the tower. Hanali went first. Madeline descended holding her skirts with one hand and Hanali’s shoulder with the other to keep herself from being pushed off the stairs by her voluminous dress. Jason followed.

“That could have gone worse,” Hanali said when they were at the bottom, mopping his brow with a handkerchief. He gave Jason a dark glare. “It also could have gone much better.”

That seemed like a fitting motto for Jason’s entire time in the Sunlit Lands so far.