The Dukes of Odwego finds Astra (secret necromancer, former nun, and displaced librarian of Qordashi) drifting ever farther from the only life she knew and deeper into a world she never expected to see. The powerful, winding Hoshikwazu river leads her, her injured best friend Traz, and the ever-enigmatic Xavai to a city that glitters with wealth but reeks of corruption. Within its walls, sour magic whispers, alliances shift like silt, and every kindness hides a price. To save the people she loves, Astra must rely on her wits, her courage, and maybe, maybe, a little necromancy.
Previously: Astra sent for help...
Once the ghost had left on her mission, Astra coughed loudly. Traz cried out loudly and collapsed, ending up his performance. It was an old, practiced game between them, because while Traz was always the better thief, he was also the one who was willing to get into trouble for being difficult. Astra had helped him “liberate” a number of Zochur’s pastries with such a trick until the crafty old chef (warrior? Astra still wasn’t sure) figured it out.
The soldiers shoved him back into place and the annoyed “priest” restarted the ceremony. Hosea tried to get up again, but the soldier slapped her back down. The ritual fortunately still had a ways to go, and if he was doing most of it wrong in different ways, he still knew the basic liturgy well enough to fake it. By the time he was done, Riki’o was a shaking mess, her fingers spasming around the bag, her eyes bloodshot from crying.
Khossa knew he had the upper hand and smiled at her with narrow, beady eyes. He led her over to the ceremonial wagon, where the demons waited. Astra had the horrible suspicion that the demons would put Riki’o and her family to death for the transgression, no matter what they promised, if only to punish was as left of the true Duke Fari’o’s soul. Tapping her fingers against her thigh, she turned to look out of the square. Where were those dogs?
The thin curtain was pulled aside and Khossa pushed the doctor up the steep, rickety stepladder. She fell to her knees before the dais, and the demon in Duke Fari’o’s body looked down on her. “Give me back what’s mine.” She held out her hand.
The crowd seemed to hold a collective breath.
Sobbing, Riki’o took the beautiful sculpture out of the bag and, with a shaking hand, moved to pass it over. Astra was struck by the idea of how doing something so monumental would do so little—nothing would change in Odwego, except for the worse. If she was right and Riki’o would be the first executed, the city would lose its best doctor. The demons would still be in control of the dukes, whatever their reasons, and Khossa would still be ruling by fiat. The useless priest would never bring blessings from the Gods because he was not consecrated, or even competent. And she along with Traz and Xavai would be dead. She balled her fists.
“Stop!” She yelled out, and Riki’o started so hard she nearly fell over.
Everyone turned to stare at Astra, the closest guards bristling, already primed by Traz’s earlier staged outburst.
Astra turned to face the crowd. “You are being lied to! Your people killed for no reason! Khossa has tricked you all!” She shouted it out.
“Kill her now,” Khossa snarled, with a wave of his hand directing the guards, who drew their swords.
The crowd was uneasy, stirring with confusion and fear as the leader of Khossa’s own guard approached her with a vicious look in his eyes. Xavai immediately tried to push Astra behind him, but they were surrounded and shackled. Another guard simply yanked her by her arm and pushed her towards the leader. Khossa was smiling and Riki’o looked stunned, but the expression of the dukes had not changed.
“The dukes were possessed by demons years ago! Khossa made a deal with them so he could rule in their stead!”
“By the Gods, Astra, shut up!” Traz cried out.
But Astra’s words had stirred the crowd, people starting to talk among themselves. Astra realized with horror that it would not matter, though, as the leader of the guard easily raised his arms to deliver a deadly blow.
He fell down with a sharp cry as a dark wind slammed into him.
Ruby stood over him, growling, her black eyes endlessly deep and her large, sharp yellow teeth bared as she growled at him.
The crowd erupted in yells and screams, everyone falling back from the scene. The guards all stood ready for an attack but were obviously unwilling to approach the mythical beast. Duke Fari’o dashed forward to grab the sculpture out of Riki’o’s hand, but the doctor rolled backwards out of her reach all the way to the edge of the platform and off of it, landing with a harsh thump on the ground. Before the demon could follow and attack, Emerald bound out from the crowd and leapt up onto the wagon, causing both dukes to pull away, hissing like snakes. Emerald grumbled at them then jumped down to the ground again. He approached Riki’o, who laid on the ground frozen in terror, then took the crypt-keeper out of her frozen hand, holding it gently in his mouth. He pranced over to the compass stand, dropped the dolphin on top of it and sat down, ignoring the high-pitched screams of the priest who ran away to hid behind a guard.
Ruby let go of the guard who had meant to kill Astra and went over to her, circling her once before she, too, sat down. Astra gently patted her head.
No one else moved.
Astra loosened her shoulders, put one hand on the back of Ruby’s immense head, and again tried to channel the power of her mentor, Naboch. She raised her other hand and pointed at Khossa. “This is his doing! His greed has brought evil to Odwego!”
What was left of the crowd around them gasped again, although there were a few exclamations of approval. He had very few friends, clearly.
“He used the priest, who is a magical transistor, to open the hearts of the dukes to sour magic and steal their souls, leaving only enough for the demons to live on!”
Riki’o cried out in grief, her face in her hands. Unguarded, her children moved to cluster around her.
That was the thing that broke Khossa out of his shock. He stopped staring at Emerald and turned to his guards. “She lies! Grab the doctor!”
But even his own personal guards had been affected by Astra’s words and the presence of the temple dogs. “My Lord,” one said, shifting further away from where Emerald guarded the compass. “I don’t think—”
“You don’t think! I think! I am in charge!” Khossa spat. “Those strangers are stirring up trouble and need to be executed immediately!”
“What of the temple dogs?” Riki’o called out. “What of them? They would be at the heels of Priest Olta if he was consecrated!” She turned to face the crowd. “Let the pilgrim speak!”
The crowd starting calling out “Let the pilgrim speak!” but the dukes stood up and approached the edge of the wagon, stopping there as if hitting a wall.
“You will be silent!” The dukes spoke together, their voices both high and low, rough and smooth — entirely, unmistakably unnatural. Even the soldiers physically recoiled, but Astra clutched at the fur in her hands and faced them.
“You do not scare me, demon. I have seen worse exorcised from pigs. I have heard the call of snow dragons attacking Qordashi!”
Gasps of horror went up through the crowd. Xavai raised an eyebrow at her, but she ignored him.
“You cannot fight me, human. Your gods do not care.” Fari’i pulled a knife from his robes. “I will gut you and your blood will feed the temple dogs.”
“You can’t get near me. Even if you tried, the temples dogs would rend you limb from limb. If you could kill me, you would have already.” Astra pointed out what she hoped was the truth. At the very least, the dukes were not getting off the wagon, so there was that.
“We have fixed the compass!” Traz broke in. Astra turned at him, as did all the onlookers, most of them in confusion. At some point he had snuck away from them and pulled Hosea over to the compass stand, which she had indeed reoriented. The sculpture holding most of Duke Fari’o’s true soul still sat on it.
Emerald looked at Astra like she was stupid.
“Oh. Alright then.” Astra walked over, hampered by the shackles but keeping one hand on Ruby’s neck. Next to her, Xavai quickly grabbed one of the guards, knocked him unconscious, and then stole both his fighting staff and the keys to their chains. He must have been keeping his eye on that one guard from the start, Astra realized. The other guards posed backed away from them, glancing between her and the temple dog at her side.
Astra focused on Khossa when she got to the compass. “What did you trade?”
“You kept your own soul and traded theirs! Didn’t you?” Riki’o spat at him. Two guards moved behind Khossa. Astra wondered if it was to protect him or, possibly, grab him if he tried to flee.
“None of you know what is going on. None of you have any idea!” Khossa spat. “Years we have waited for the Dragon’s Grail to arrive! Years! And no one can touch it but a demon. We are ready.” He turned to the crowd. “We are ready! When the Dragon’s Grail comes to us, we have demons who can master it! We will be the most powerful city from the Gilded Plateau to Tox!”
People mostly looked confused at the proclamation, but some were curious.
“Your power, you mean! You want it for yourself! You took the soul of my beloved and trapped it away for your schemes!” Riki’oyelled, her voice harsh and ragged.
Out of the crowd a few elders appeared, their stations clearly marked by their jewelry and the way the people around them gave way to let them pass. They said nothing, though, the three of them only standing in front of the crowd.
“You are a fool,” Astra said. “The demons cannot control the Grail, only eat its power. Have you never read the texts of Nyoko the Elder?”
It was Khossa’s turn to look confused. Angry, but confused.
“Of course you have not! You were never trained to your role! You claim to be a magistrate but lack any knowledge of the classic texts!” Astra pointed at him. “Nyoko made it clear that the Grail is of pure, unspoiled magic, that should demons touch it the power would overtake them and grant them endless power, pulling it from the Grail and destroying it an bringing ruin upon the lands! She knew more about the Grail than any scholar of her age!” Astra was fairly certain that Nyoko was wrong on some points, but it was actually what the great philosopher had written, so no one could challenge Astra on that, at least.
“Who are you?” The demon in Duke Fari’o snarled.
There was another pause as everyone turned to face Astra, awaiting an answer. She straightened up again and lifted one hand up, pointing North.
“I am Ashatur t’Bu of the North Ward, Keeper of the Tiered Library, Consecrated to Bu of the North! By the authority and blessings of the Gods of the Four Winds and Sibling Superior Naboch of Qordashi, I order you demons to give up your mortal skins and leave Odwego!”
A long, pointed silence fell over the square, everyone staring at Astra. Traz looked impressed, which was hardly a comfort.
“You consort with the demon beasts!” Khossa yelled desperately.
“They are temple dogs, and you will show them respect!” Astra shouted. That, at least, caused everyone, including the elders, to back up a step.
The crowd in the square shifted around but kept quiet. Astra stood up as straight and tall as she could. “Odwego has sheltered us. We protect this town, in the names of the Gods of the Four Winds. Mamum’s heart beats here.” She pointed at Duke Fari’o. “But you, demons, will leave.”
Several people in the crowd thumped their fists against their chests, the sound deep and rhythmic like a heartbeat. Duke Fari’i stood up, opened his mouth, and screamed. The sound was akin to a bird of prey’s screeching noise, a sound no real human could ever make, and it filled the entire square with his rage. Duke Fari’o joined him, the horrific cry going on, and on. Even some of the soldiers had crouched down in fear at the scream, and everyone around Astra had fallen to their knees. Some were calling out for mercy. Astra clutched the heavy fur in her hand and kept her posture, watching them, feeling the power held in their human bodies stretched thin.
And still, they did not leave the wagon.
Because, Astra realized with surprise: they really were trapped.
Were they screaming for help? Or out of frustration?
She turned and put her hands on the sides of the compass box. The screaming abruptly stopped and a cold, hard silence came over the crowd.
Traz leaned close to her, whispering. “Have you got a damn clue as to what you are doing?”
“No. Now shut up.”
Astra felt safe with both dogs on each side and Xavai at her back, but she knew that the situation was still treacherous. What if she were wrong?
What in the six hells was she doing?
The soul dust of the duke throbbed in its crypt, sitting over the heart of the compass on the thin sheet of glass that protected the sacred needle below. Four points marked the directions, with a black arrow pointing north. There was a reason Astra had been consecrated to Bu of the North, the highest of all the directions, the sharpest of talons, the quadrant of wisdom and philosophy, and that was because she knew when to ask for help.
“Doctor! I need your magic here!” She called out, hoping her instincts were correct.
“A reinstatement?” Traz hissed. “You of all people cannot do that spell!” He pitched his voice so low even Xavai, next to them, could not hear. He was speaking in Deshilli anyway, but it was habit for them to never refer to Astra’s magic openly.
Riki’o approached slowly, eyes on Khossa, who looked thunderous. He faced the elders. “She lies! You were here when the dukes took the heavy magic into themselves! You know the truth!”
One of the elders, tall and old with a shock of wild, gray hair piled up in complex braids on his head, pursed his lips. “I remember we were told it was for the safety of Odwego. More than that, I cannot say.”
A short, stout woman next to him, whose hair braids were so high they nearly matched the height of the man, nodded. “I do not remember it well. We’re we under attack?” She turned to the other woman with her, who shook her head. The woman turned to Riki’o, who was in front of the compass and clearly unwilling to get anywhere near the temple dogs. “You were not here, correct?” The elder asked.
“No. I was in Tsaka, attending to my medical studies. When I returned it had been done.”
The elder grumbled. “Perhaps we were all bespelled, then. Can anyone vouch for the magistrate’s word?” She called out. No one answered.
Astra eyed the dukes, who had gone mute and were staring back at her with no emotion whatsoever. “Why can’t the dukes get off the wagon, Khossa? Why have they not tried to stop me, themselves?”
He blanched, his eyes wide. The dukes turned their attention to him, watching him coldly.
“We have the compass, and the crypt-keeper, and the body there.” Astra nodded toward Duke Fari’o. “But to put a soul back into it’s body, that is not something I can do. That takes healing magic.”
Riki’o nodded, but her expression was unsure. “What if I am not strong enough? What if the demon won’t leave?”
Astra considered that. “Ruby, don’t kill her but go bite Duke Fari’o and hang on.”
The dog dashed away and suddenly everyone was screaming and yelling like a wind had broken through a blind, sending everything into an uproar.
“What have you done?” Riki’o shouted at her.
“Put your hands on the dolphin!”
Riki’o paused but then did as asked. Astra thought back to the many, many lessons Naboch had given about the proper liturgy when conducting rites. Every nun at Qordashi was de facto the equal of any priest, in fact far more educated and trained than most, but Astra had not practiced performative liturgy in years.
“Hosea!”
“Yes, sibling nun?” Hosea approached respectfully.
“You have completed the Eight Steps of Insight?”
“Yes. I have also read for the Four Leaps of Faith but not undergone testing yet. Olta…was reticent.”
Astra snorted. “I’m sure he was. Come here and perform the Reinstatement Incantation for Duke Fari’o.”
Calm and steady, Hosea stepped up the Eastern point on the compass, took a deep breath, and linked her hands together with the four fingers of each to make the sign representing the Eight Teeth of Jaga. She then began the liturgy flawlessly.
Most rites needed very little external consecrated by a Superior, so Astra kept her own powers down low in her belly as Hosea went through the traditional rite for reinstatement. It was nothing more powerful than a marriage rite, usually something done to ward off a minor hex or clear the directions in a person’s soul.
Astra was praying for more than that.
“Focus on your duke, Riki’o. Focus on reinstating her soul back to her!” Traz said, at Riki’o’s side, his own voice hoarse and exhausted.
Astra had never been more grateful for her brother’s sharp mind.
Hosea finished the simple rite and…nothing happened. Panicked, she looked up at her mother. Riki’o’s hands were tight around the dolphin sculpture, the soul dust trapped there and agitated by the rite but unmoving. It needed to be free. With a sigh, Astra lifted one hand and placed it over the doctor’s, opening her own magic enough to brush against hers and pushed gently in the way that was starting to become familiar. She pushed again until the soul dust broke free. Only Riki’o could compel it to heal and not flee, but only Astra could free it to follow that call.
It was not like the freeing of a soul from its deathbed, though. This was not a grateful release, it was more like the feel of an arrow being let fly. Riki’o gasped and almost let go of the crypt-keeper, but Astra pushed her hands down. It needed the power of the compass, it needed to be guided in sending the soul dust of Duke Fari’o in the right direction.
Astra looked up then, and saw the gruesome sight of Ruby fighting a bright orange demon, pulling it out of Duke Fari’o’s body as a butcher might pull meat off skin, and with as much blood if the spray of it on the wagon was any indication. Instinctively, Astra lifted her hand. The moment she did, the doctor fled and ran up the stairs to the wagon, grabbing the duke’s body and hauling it to her while Ruby continued to pull the demon free.
The demon kicked Ruby aside, its being made more of flame and limbs than body, scuttling across the wagon but was unable to leave it, wobbling as if drunk. Soldiers reached in dragged both the duke and Riki’o out, carrying them away from it. Duke Fari’i, still held fast to his own demon, had not moved.
Unsettled and dizzy, Astra stepped backwards into Xavai’s arms. It was done.
She wasn’t sure what would happen as she watched the fire demon begin to burn everything around it on the wagon…
…but it was done.
Next: Released
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