Kalimpura (Green Universe) by Jay Lake

Author:Jay Lake [Lake, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: 2013-01-29T06:00:00+00:00

You have not been gone three days and already there is being a new stir in the city. Someone has arrived seeking the twins who so troubled you this past season.

A man has come to the Temple of Endurance asking after you. We have not said much, other than what is already known—that you have left. Everyone who cares to think of it can tell your destination.

His name is “Mafic.” I believe he comes from the Saffron Tower, the source of so much of your recent troubles. A tall man, and smoldering as if he carries a fire within.

I fear for you, Green. If this Mafic sails on toward Kalimpura to challenge you, that will lead to greater troubles even than those twins you fought against. And for your goddess there as well.

There is too much of this violence around you. If you would lay down your weapons, others would stop seeking you. I counsel on behalf of Endurance that you take up a long and peaceful life.

It is to be wishing you well.

Chowdry, of Endurance

The Saffron Tower. We had heard rumor of the apostate Red Man and his apsara. My need for them was much stronger now.

This had to be bound up in the taking of Corinthia Anastasia and Samma. Certainly Iso and Osi had been part of Surali’s plot before, as she worked against the Lily Goddess through Her now-slain sister goddess Marya. What I could not see was whether this Mafic was another part of Surali’s schemes, or if he was seeking a separate vengeance on the part of the Saffron Tower for the fate of the twins. Surali was acting through the Quiet Men now, it seemed, not through her erstwhile allies.

Perhaps the details did not matter. In either case, the outcome was the same to me.

“What news?” asked Ilona, having seen me lay down the sheets of the letter and stare at our empty counters and tabletops. Mother Argai watched me in shrewd silence.

“Chowdry writes of a new agent of the Saffron Tower pursuing the fate of Iso and Osi.” I sighed heavily as I described the import of his letter. Then: “I had thought their threat settled. Now another seeks them and through them seeks me.”

“We do not yet know the fate of the Red Man,” said Mother Argai.

“He would be a valuable ally.” I passed the papers to her—Ilona could not read Seliu, so there was small point in handing the letter that way. “I would give much to have an hour’s honest conversation with the Red Man and his apsara.”

Ilona reached into the heart of the matter. “What does this have to do with finding my daughter?”

“I cannot say,” I confessed. “But the Saffron Tower was bound up in the original kidnapping through Surali’s plotting. If this Mafic who pursues is cause or consequence, I cannot say. Chowdry did not know to tell me. My heart believes these things are connected.”

“Chowdry writes of events in Copper Downs, weeks’ sail away,” she pointed out.

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