The Way of Thorn and Thunder: the Kynship Chronicles by Daniel Heath Justice

Author:Daniel Heath Justice
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: heroism, magic, hero, mystery, adventure, fantasy, novel, fiction, Old World of the Western Hemisphere, Native American, culture, landscape, mythical, Aboriginal, philosophy, epic
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Published: 2012-12-10T00:00:00+00:00

26: Ghostlands

The news of the Oathsworn’s betrayal swept through Sheynadwiin like a brushfire. Few knew how the news reached the city before the airship arrived, but there were rumors that strange Ubbetuk machinery helped to relay the message. It didn’t take long for two large crowds to gather at the landing dock in anticipation of her arrival. The first was an armed group of Shields and their supporters, thirty strong, with a fitted carriage and four swift horses waiting to bear the Oathsworn to safety. They stood nervously against a much larger group of at least two hundred angry Kyn and Tetawi from across Sheynadwiin, who milled around in agitation. The Shields were closest to the landing, but they weren’t the only ones with weapons. The air was hot with rising rage; one stray spark, and an inferno would erupt.

It was early evening when the great wasp-faced Dragon emerged slowly from the storm-torn sky, gears whirring and bellows groaning from the exertion of the long journey. It hovered for a while over the ground, its four great metallic wings moving with slow, rhythmic precision, finally descending on the dock’s far edge, where a dozen Ubbetuk swung on ropes from the upper deck to finish mooring the ship. When all was secure, the gangplank slid to earth, and Neranda Ak’shaar emerged alone, her head held high, her face pale but proud. Three long red scars burned on each cheek. No one else exited the ship with her, but the plank remained lowered.

“Shakar!” someone hissed, and others took up the chorus. “Traitor!”

The Shields closed the circle tighter around the Lawmaker, holding their ornate bladed staves and pole-arms against the crowd. No one tried to break the circle, but the chant grew in intensity even as the numbers of the opposition swelled. “Shakar!”

Neranda stared straight ahead at the carriage as she walked. They would not break her poise. I did only what others were too cowardly or foolish to do. We had no choice. One day they will see this, and they will honor me. They will understand. It was why she returned to Sheynadwiin, even knowing that her life was likely forfeit—she would help them to understand why she had to make this difficult choice. She wouldn’t hide in the shadows like the others who remained cringing in the ship but would instead face her people proudly, defiantly, and they would see that she had no alternative.

She moved forward with renewed determination. The voices of her enemies faded beneath this certainty. She’d been preparing for this moment ever since leaving for Eromar City, speaking the words to herself over and over until they became a sort of armor, pushing away the nagging fear that clutched at her vitals, the memory of the Dreydmaster’s chilly smile as the she-Kyn Lawmaker took the quill in hand and signed her name to the Oath of Western Sanctuary. There was poison in that smile, and it burned deeper with every remembrance.

We had no choice. They will understand.

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