Heirs of the Blade_ Shadows of the Apt_ Book Seven - Adiran Tchaikovsky [275]
And far away, in a direction that had nothing to do with the compass, she felt him answer.
‘Come to me,’ she whispered into the blood-spattered helm. ‘Come now to me, great killer. I, Seda, call to you. I have your blade, your Weaponsmaster’s blade that is more a part of you than it is the smith’s art. I have your heritage embodied in this shell of steel and chitin. I have the blood of royalty for you to drink. Come to me, speak to me. Serve me.’
The armour moved and, despite herself, she took a quick step back. At first it was a subtle shifting of the plates that could have simply been the old metal settling on the stand, but then, and without any definite, identifiable motion, something about it had changed irrevocably, and it was no longer a lifeless object but a man standing, faceless behind the helm.
She was very aware of the blade, the same blade that had shed the blood of so many of her father’s soldiers, that had broken the Shadow Box and killed Uctebri, and condemned her to be what she was now.
‘Look upon me,’ she instructed it. ‘See what I am. I am the heir to the old ways. I am the successor to the Masters of Khanaphes. I am old magic’s envoy in the world.’
Its reply chilled her when it came, in a voice like the rustling of old leaves, the creaking of branches.
One of them. You are the second I have met, to bear that mark.
Something hard crystallized in Seda, a seed of anger and jealousy. ‘Do not fear that. It will not be for long. So, the Beetle girl has sought you also? Well, no matter. She is not so free with the blood of others as I am. She lacks the qualities to command one such as you. Serve me, Mantis-kinden. Tisamon of Felyal, I name you, Weaponsmaster, gladiator, slave and killer. Serve me, be mine.’
And why? came that cold voice once again.
‘Because where else would you find a fit mistress for one such as you, save in me?’ she replied. ‘Because I shall let you fight, and I shall give you blood. Because you shall be the champion of an Empress, her executioner and her blade. But, more than this, you shall serve me for the same reason your living kin here also serve me.’
And what is that?
‘Because I shall bring them all back, those days that you yearn for, the elder days of magic. I am the immortal magician-queen of the Empire, and I shall remake the world in my image, the Apt and the Inapt both. Where your kind’s old masters, the Moth-kinden, have tried for five centuries to turn back the clock with spells and potions, I shall usher in a new age with armies and conquest. The Days of Lore will return, the days of darkness and fear, and I shall rule over them, and you shall be my right hand. Serve me.’
She watched and waited, and saw his blade quiver and flex. Eyes glittered suddenly in the empty night of the helm.
Tisamon nodded.
Glossary
Characters
Aarth – Wasp merchant in the Principalities
Achaeos – Moth-kinden, Che’s lover, killed in a ritual
Alvdan II – former Emperor of the Wasps, Seda’s brother, killed by Uctebri’s magic
Alvric – first Emperor of the Wasps, Seda’s grandfather
Amnon – Beetle-kinden, former First Soldier of Khanaphes
Angved – Wasp engineer
Ang We (‘Angry’) – Grasshopper bandit chief
Avaris – Spider fraudster and bandit
Barad Ygor – Scorpion bandit
Brugan – Wasp general of the Rekef
Cheerwell Maker (‘Che’) – Beetle-kinden, Stenwold’s niece, now Inapt
Chevre Velienn – Dragonfly noblewoman
Dal Arche – Dragonfly bandit chief
Dariandrephos (‘Drephos’, ‘the Colonel-Auxillian’) – halfbreed Master Artificer, leader of the Iron Glove
Emon – Bee artificer with the Iron Glove
Ethmet – Beetle First Minister of Khanaphes
Feass