Page 170 of Of Empires and Dust

“A record of those of us who are left…” He looked down at the journal, his expression growing sombre. “Nine thousand three hundred and forty-six in full health – mostly. Two thousandone hundred and eleven children in that number. Another three thousand two hundred and seventy-one injured, maimed, or ill. There are more alive, I’m sure, somewhere within the mountain. Some spies have given word that Hoffnar has prisoners, but the majority were executed. The early warning saved many of us… but far from all.”

“Oleg…” Kira didn’t have words. Before the Lorians had attacked Belduar, the city had been home to over two hundred thousand souls. Almost three quarters of that number had been evacuated to the Freehold. Near enough a hundred and twenty thousand. Hoffnar wasn’t fighting a war, he was committing genocide. Kira couldn’t help but think if she had done things differently, perhaps all of this could have been avoided. If she’d agreed to help retake Belduar… perhaps all those lives would not have been lost for nothing. Perhaps Elenya would still draw breath.

A sad smile that seemed more habit than anything else settled onto Oleg’s features. He shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking. Don’t. We’ve all made the mess that we’re floundering in. But what’s done is done, and we can only look forward as we flounder together.” Oleg tapped his thumb off the black leather. “You’ve always been clear and honest with me, my queen, and so I will be the same. Your sister has told me what the Portal Hearts can do. When we repair it – if wecanrepair it – I wish to send my people through. They’ve had enough hardship. Lost their homes, their loved ones… everything. I do not wish this mountain to become their tomb. Before you say anything, I will remain behind with Lumeera and half our fighting number. Near enough three thousand. Four hundred former Kingsguard. When Pulroan had us by the throat, you came. I would not have it said that we didn’t do the same. But I need to send the others through with the children, elderly, and infirm. They won’t survive otherwise. I’ll send them to Salme to rejoin withDahlen and the others. I know it’s not what you would want, and by rights as your vassal, I should be asking rather than telling, but…”

“You’re doing what a strong leader should do. You’re looking after your people.” Kira stopped. Her legs begged for rest, but that was not why she stopped. “Oleg, there is no peace in what happens next. This mountain will run red. I cannot simply walk away after what has happened. I just can’t.” She licked her bottom lip, trying to decide how honest she wanted to be. “I don’t know if we can win… If you take every Belduaran through that Portal, I will hold no ill will. This mountain is my home. It’s all I know. If I die here, I die in the arms of my ancestors. If you die here, you’re just another corpse.”

Oleg had been the Belduaran emissary to the Freehold for almost twenty years. In that time, he’d always been polite, accommodating, and what her mother had described as ‘a little goofy’. Ankora had always had a soft spot for Oleg. And she didn’t have many soft spots. But the word ‘goofy’ had never seemed further from apt than that moment right then. The look in Oleg’s eyes was steel.

“Durakdur and Belduar have been allies since before my father’s time,” Oleg said, “and his before him, and so on, and so on. I will not be the one to break that bond. I’ve spoken to Lumeera, and she has spoken to the guard. Many of them have no family left. Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters – all dead. Their closest friends – those not already dead – are the men and women at their sides. And all of them, every single one, lay the blame at Hoffnar’s feet. They want blood. They want vengeance. It’s all they have left.” Oleg twisted his mouth and for a second, Kira thought the man’s eyes would water. “I never married – as you and everyone else well knows. Not many women’s ideal man is one with a bald head, a patchy beard, too much bread around the waist, an attention span asfleeting as good luck, and a fixation on dwarves and everything dwarven. But when my brother’s heart gave out five years ago and his wife was taken by Heraya in the last famine, I took in my two nephews. Fourteen days ago, they were decapitated in Durakdur’s central plaza, taken prisoner while they played with my friend’s daughter. She wasn’t spared either, neither was her father. A hundred thousand Belduaran bones rest beneath this mountain. If I die here, I will die in the arms of my ancestors as well.”

That night,as Kira lay in her bed, footsteps echoed along the corridor and her sister entered the chamber, a glowing lantern of Heraya’s Ward in her hand.

Kira pushed herself upright in the bed, resting her back against the cool stone behind her. She gestured towards the chair by the wall. “Sit.”

“I’m fine standing.”

“If I told you to breathe, you’d suffocate yourself, wouldn’t you?”

“Likely. But if you asked nicely, I’d only suffocate you.”

Kira laughed, coughing as she did. Erani leaned against the wall, resting her lantern on the chair.

“The last few days are a blur. I’m not sure what I’ve said, but thank you… for coming for me.”

Erani stared at Kira in disbelief. “Do you honestly think I ever would have left you there? You’re my sister. You’re an arrogant, self-important kerathlin-fucker, and you said things you’re going to spend a long time apologising for, but you are my sister. My blood.”

“I don’t want a fight, Erani.”

“Well too fucking bad.” The gold and silver rings in Erani’s hair gleamed green and blue in the flowerlight as she pushedherself from the wall. For a moment, she looked as though she were about to launch into a tirade fit for the bards’ tales, but instead, she sat on the edge of the bed, resting a hand on Kira’s knee. “My little sister. My only kin.”

“Well, there is uncle. And our three cousins.”

“Stop interrupting. I left. I stand by my leaving. I made strong allies in the Rolling Mountains. And after mother died, I just couldn’t look at Durakdur anymore. But I should have written, should have come back sooner. And for that I’m sorry.” Erani turned so she faced Kira fully. “But don’t ever even dream of a world in which I wouldn’t have come for you. If anyone is going to kill you, it’s me.” She paused for a moment then gave a dramatic head bow. “My queen.”

“Understood.”

“Now, to what do I owe this summons?”

“There is a house in the western section of Durakdur.”

“There are many houses there, sister. This is not news.”

Kira glared at Erani but continued. “I need you to take me there.”

“Take you there? In this state? The pair of us just stroll through the streets of Durakdur while Hoffnar hunts our blood? I can ask Vikmar to send someone. What is it you need that’s so important?”

“No.” Kira pushed herself further up the bed and pulled her legs from beneath the sheets. “I’m not some broken doll.” She pressed her hands against the wall and stood. Her legs trembled beneath her as she rose, but that was more from exhaustion than anything else. “This must be you and I. Only us. It is too important to place our trust in any other.”

Erani stood slowly, searching Kira’s eyes. “What is it? What other secret have you kept from me?”

“Rockblood.”

“Virtukshit. That was all burned eight hundred years ago as part of the accords…” Her jaw slackened, head tilting to the right. “Wasn’t it?”

“King Baldrik was not a trusting dwarf. And the prominence of the bersekeer blood in our lines grew that distrust tenfold. We had the most to lose. He assumed the other kingdoms would betray the accords eventually, and so he kept a patch of Rockblood for when that day occurred. This knowledge is passed only from ruler to ruler through the rites of passage.”

Erani turned her head, shaking it as she stared over at the lantern of Heraya’s Ward. “Kira, the Rockblood almost destroyed us. It is known for generations.”

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