Age of Ash by Daniel Abraham

Author:Daniel Abraham [ABRAHAM, DANIEL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

The yearly rituals that followed Longest Night took up the palace and most of Green Hill. The great families had their turns hosting the prince Byrn a Sal and his retinue, and in return the palace was opened for the private rites and observances of the brotherhoods. Crystal lanterns hung at the street corners, and music filled the galleries and temples. It was a seventh year by the reckoning of the Clovas brotherhood, so its members were out in masks and rags, giving out charms and bits of sage-scented candy. Tregarro had heard that the apparent charity led to a vast orgy on Tenthday, but he’d heard similar rumors about the Daris that he knew from experience to be false.

Andomaka was out among the celebrations somewhere, standing for the Daris Brotherhood and Chaalat. The double duty meant that the little time she could spend at the brotherhood’s house was in its public halls and temple. On Sixthday, Byrn a Sal himself came to the house with Halev Karsen at his side, and Andomaka had welcomed them both as if there were no dark war between them. It made Tregarro’s neck ache.

There were rumors of unrest. The quarantine in Stonemarket set a nervousness about the season, and Byrn a Sal did little to reassure people. There were stories of him drunk and shouting in the palace, as if his unclean conscience haunted him. Maybe it did. But the most dangerous animal was a cornered one, and if the prince lashed out, he would do it with the force of law behind him. Tregarro was pinned to the brotherhood’s house, protecting not Andomaka but the boy who had been Ausai.

That one kept to the most private rooms of the brotherhood’s house, sitting in the temple itself for hours playing a game with red and white glass beads on a complex board. It was one Tregarro knew, though he wasn’t expert at its strategies. Sometimes, Ausai would play against himself, shifting one red bead and then a white with equal concentration. Other times, he would invite Tregarro to take a color. They sat across from each other, passing the long, anxious hours, and vying for position on the board. Sometimes, they drank beer. Sometimes, they talked.

“I keep wanting to call the palace guard,” Ausai said, taking one of his beads to a corner spot where it could shift to a different circle. “It’s habit, you know? I haven’t been cut off from my guard for… well, for a very long time. It chafes to think Byrn has their loyalty and I don’t.”

“You should have,” Tregarro said. “You will again.” He reached for a white bead, ready to block the corner transit, but stopped himself at the last moment, pulled his fingers back. The corner move was a trap. He chose a different bead on an inner circle.

Ausai smiled mirthlessly. “It’s a dangerous moment. I hate relying on stealth. Give me a chance to open a few necks, and I’m fine. This… waiting? I feel the risk in every minute of it.

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