Yohshin exploded from the Pathways and into the sky over Higo. The sun sat low in the eastern sky like a watchful eye, unblinking and judgmental. “What are you looking at?” Baiyren grumbled, staring at the round orb as if daring it to comment on his return. Grudgingly, he turned his attention to the planet below.
Higo was the last place he wanted to be. He cursed the fate that wouldn’t bring him peace. We have to scan the area for a Portal. The Riders might be close.
Yohshin gazed at a squad of mah-kai approaching in a tight formation, hugging the Rake’s massive peaks. Haven’s forces are two thousand feet below and seventy miles east, it said.
Why aren’t they trying to hide? Baiyren frowned, Yohshin mimicking the movement behind the faceplate. This feels like a trap. We must have missed something. Eyes closing, he thought back to the Portal.
He saw the eastern sun but nothing else. Widening his search, he scanned Daidara, Higo’s largest and most populous continent, home to both Castle Tallaenaq and Lord Zar Ranok’s church at Haven. Yohshin’s thoughts overlapped his and together they pushed farther west, passing high peaks and desert sands. Finally their twined consciousness reached Kaidan’s fortress of Tsurmak. The massive tower of reinforced iron and steel turned his stomach. What church needed so much firepower and why?
The caverns below hold a far more dangerous weapon, Yohshin warned, probing the depths.
Do you think it’s awake?
Yohshin shook its head, its oddly human gestures always surprising. I would know if my twin was awake. The mah-zhin’s search reached a high-ceilinged cavern where a presence much like Yohshin lay entombed. Zuishin remains dormant.
Baiyren frowned, hating himself for getting sucked back into Higo’s troubles. And the Riders? he asked.
Retreating to Tsurmak.
He mulled that over. They have what they want, he thought bitterly. Can we get to them before they reach the fortress?
Unlikely.
Baiyren seethed at that, but he was out of options. Let’s go, he said.
“Incoming communications from the Nan-jii,” Seraph called.
What did the royal spy network want now? Regan punched a control. “I’m a little busy.”
“Yohshin and the prince plan to attack Tsurmak. You need to set up a blockade and stop them.”
“You’re sure?”
The Nan-jii grunted. “He’s afraid Kaidan will do whatever he can to take the Heartstone, even if that means harming the Earth woman.”
Regan considered that. “Kaidan has royal blood,” she said. “He might be able to seize and use it.”
“Royal blood isn’t enough. The stone has to let him possess it. Unless it does, the pendant will protect the wearer as well as it can.”
“How do you know?”
“I am Nan-jii, Regan.”
“Maybe we should let Baiyren attack; he can deal with the problem once and for all.”
“We can’t do that. The people would never allow it. Right now the division between the royal family and the church at Haven is little more than disagreement. If we let Baiyren do as you say, the people will think he’s the aggressor. He will lose what support he has and hand the high priestess the moral authority she needs.”
“So it’s either let Yohshin stop the war and lose the planet or stop Yohshin and lose the advantage.”
“Advantage comes and goes. Legitimacy does not. You face two bad choices. One is clearly right, the other undeniably wrong.”
“Understood.” Regan cut the connection and opened a new one to her troops. “Change in plans, Gunnar,” she said to her second in command. “This is no longer a welcoming operation. Move all mah-kai into a blockading formation west of Yohshin’s current position. Power your weapons, but don’t attack. We want to stop Baiyren, not provoke him.”
“Yes, ma’am. May I ask why?”
“The Nan-jii believe Yohshin is heading for Tsurmak. I need you to delay it until I get there. I shouldn’t be long.”
“You know we won’t stand a chance if it decides to fight?”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Regan said.
Yohshin flew west over the Rake. Mah-kai ahead, it reported.
Baiyren peered into the distance. A line of mah-kai approached cautiously. He recognized the silvery figure leading the phalanx. Leaf-shaped plates overlapped its arms and legs, a wide collar and matching shoulders protecting its upper torso. The head within the armored ring resembled a cylindrical spearhead.
“Gunnar,” he whispered. Stand down, Yohshin. Those are the Royal Guard. Let’s hear what they have to say.
They’ve trained their weapons. Until they power down, they’re a threat.
They’re not a threat to you. Give them a chance to explain.
Ignoring him, Yohshin drew its mace.
Stop, Yohshin; you have to listen to me! Don’t you remember what happened the last time?
Ice met Baiyren’s words. You believe your friends are here to greet you. What if they’re Riders? The only way to know for sure is to disable and capture the pilots. Alive if possible.
Overhead, a Portal opened in a blur of blended color. A solitary mah-kai dropped between Yohshin and the Royal Guard.
Baiyren glowered at it. “Get out of my way, Regan,” he called. “And tell the guardsmen to lower their weapons.”
“We prefer to stay armed.” Seraph’s head shook, the golden circlet glittering in the morning sun. “I know what you’re planning to do,” Regan said. “Higo’s changed; your brother’s increased his power, and not just militarily. He has the church on his side, and with the king sick, the people are turning to him. They’re praying for a miracle.”
“I don’t care about anyone else. I promised to keep Juno safe. She’s all that matters. She’s the last chance I have to do something right.” Higo needed someone better than he was. Someone like Regan.
Seraph stiffened. “Your friend is safe,” Regan said. “The Heartstone won’t let anything happen to her. Come back to the capital. You can see your father. He doesn’t have much time.”
Baiyren’s mouth went dry. He didn’t want to go. Guilt was easier to live with when he didn’t face it; he could ignore the feeling, pretend the past didn’t exist. Earth made that easy. There, he had no history, only freedom and a fresh start. Returning to Higo took that from him.
“He’s asking for you,” Regan said softly. “He sent me to find you.”
“I’ll only disappoint him. I can’t be the man he wants me to be. I’m not a leader.”
“Your father doesn’t want to see the prince. He wants to see his son.”
“He has two sons.”
Seraph moved closer. “We sent a royal envoy to Kaidan four weeks ago with news of your father’s illness. We haven’t heard from them since.”
Baiyren went cold. “Accidents happen on the road to Haven.” The defense sounded weak, even to him. A royal envoy could leave Sahqui-Mittama, the capital city, and reach Hidari, Higo’s great white sand desert, in a few hours. From there, they’d have to land and use the east-west road to approach the Yadokai. The immense but fragile forest in the desert wasn’t far enough away to take four weeks, especially if they flew. Haven lay at Yadokai’s exact center, a sprawling compound dominated by the church’s massive basilica and Kaidan’s more recent fortress. Reaching it from the jungle’s outskirts took a matter of hours. The envoy was gone, either killed or imprisoned.
Yohshin rubbed a hand over its eyes. “All right, Regan. We’ll do it your way.”
Nudging Yohshin to the end of the line, Baiyren waited for the rest of the guard to pass before joining. Higo flashed by beneath him, and before long he spotted a thirty-mile gap in the Rake. A large, circular lake spread out between a break in the towering mountains, ringing the Ridderroque, Higo’s tallest peak, like an enormous moat. From above, the slender spire seemed to pierce the heart-shaped foundation like an arrow.
Yohshin gazed at the towering rock, and Baiyren detected a slight stiffening in its body. Before he realized what had happened, Yohshin peeled away and dove for the Ridderroque’s feet.
What are you doing? he gasped, bracing himself against the fall. Yohshin? Answer me!
But Yohshin didn’t reply; it simply plowed on to the Ridderroque like a wayward comet.
Cursing, Regan punched her communications array and opened a channel to Gunnar.
“I see it,” he said. “What are your orders?”
“Same as before. Return to the city and secure the castle while I deal with the prince.” Cutting the connection, she sent Seraph into a steep dive. The wind howled around her; her stomach threatened her ribcage. Only a determined effort kept its contents from rising along with it. Klaxons sounded in the cockpit, harsh, loud, and insistent. The noise alone should have kept her awake, but the punishing drop, the abrupt change in gravity from Earth to Higo, and the fatigue of a prolonged battle conspired against her.
Through the view, Higo looked like a fresh painting left out in the rain. Colors bled, and shapes lost their edges. Seraph called to her. Gunnar too. They sounded alarmed. That should have worried her, but her mind was foggy. She drifted in and out of consciousness, and though her mind knew she was falling, time seemed to stop.
She looked past the Ridderroque and into the pristine moat at its base. Her first memories, though hazy, were from here, from the time she wandered over the peak’s lowest shoulders. That was when a pair of monks found her and brought her back to Haven. She didn’t remember much of that time and nothing of the time before. The only solid memory she had of this place was when she brought Baiyren here all those years ago.