Convergence

Ntoza sighed. "I shall tell you of the history of this place. A history that your father would never tell you, and likely does not even know. One thousand years ago, these Nubic people were ruled by demons called the Clover Princes. Their noble clans are an artifact of that age. Though many choose to forget, each clan traces their line back to a royal demon's consort.

"The centuries of rule by the Clover Princes was the golden age for the Nubic people. It was then that they developed their cities, their language, their brassworking Casters' Guilds... they dominated everything from the forest to the southern plains.

"Since they overthrew their demon rulers, these people have known nothing but fratricidal war and infighting. The same demons they fear and despise were what made them great."

Hunger and nervousness gnawed at Zhura. She shifted, her chain clinking softly. "Why are you telling me this?"

"In hopes that you will finally realize you've taken the wrong side. It makes no difference, of course. Your fate is already decided. But perhaps wisdom will one day give you peace."

"I see," Zhura said. "So you terrorize and murder people for their own good? For the right reasons?"

Ntoza ignored the jibe. She paced, looking casually around the little chamber. "This is Bouda," she said, gesturing to the bajari. "You will be given to Bouda's cackle as a breeding slave. Your blood is so strong, Zhura! You will bear strong offspring, and they will no doubt prove to be wiser than you have been."

Zhura glared at the demon. "I will kill Bouda," she said, simply. "If I fail, my friends will. Or I will kill myself."

Bouda made a soft giggling noise, showing a mouth full of jagged teeth. "I'm going to enjoy this one," xhe growled.

"I have heard other troublesome Thandi make the same brave vows," Ntoza explained. "The truth, Zhura, is that without wards on your wrist and a belly full of cum, you are but a normal human being with illusions of your prowess. Bouda's demons will break you more quickly than they have many others."

Ntoza paused. She beckoned to the bajari. "We both have important matters we must attend," she said.

Ntoza opened the grate and she and the demon stepped through. As she closed it behind them, she looked through the cross-hatch bars. Zhura looked away from the woman's mesmerizing gaze, afraid to reveal the tears that welled up again.

"Once you are properly broken, you will beg to be bred, again and again," Ntoza said. "It will be all you have left. Remember that I told you this."

**

She dreamt of Keya. They lay on soft furs, with the priestess straddling her belly. Keya's skin was like ivory, so translucent that blue veins were visible in her arms. But it was the priestess's hands that made Zhura marvel. They were as soft as a baby's.

In the village, no one had hands or feet like Keya's. Not a market-woman's daughter, or a chief's son. Her touch was as gentle as evening sun dappling forest leaves.

Zhura awakened on the damp, chill floor of her cell. As her eyes adjusted to the weird, glowing light, she remembered where she was and what had happened. How long had she been here? A day? Two days? If they had truly lost to the Thandi, what would happen to the others? Would her companions be expelled from the city? Would her father seize Keya in an act of desperation? The worst part of getting herself captured was that Zhura was powerless to help her friends.

A young woman was sitting beside her.

Zhura gasped.

I'm losing my mind.

The stranger had mischievous brown eyes that watched Zhura closely. She was unchained, resting her head and hands on one steepled knee. She flexed long, nimble fingers and tossed about a mass of twisted black hair. She wore a slightly translucent dress, nearly as thin as the vellum Keya wrote upon. Apparently, that was all she wore.

"By all the dreaming gods, it is you," the woman announced, elation ringing in her voice. "Do you know who you are?"

Zhura sat up, slowly, giving ample time for the apparition to go away. But the stranger remained as solid and present as she had been. The grate still appeared to be closed. When Zhura craned her head, she could see a long-haired, scarified guard, outside the cell.

Maybe if I speak to it, this illusion will disappear.

"What do you want?" Zhura said, her voice a hoarse rasp.

"I want you, Zhura," the woman grinned, cheerfully. "Just like everyone else does."

Zhura swallowed. Her mouth and throat were bone dry.

"Let me explain. My name is Whisper. I hate these gods-damned Thandi bitches with a boiling passion. I think we can help each other."

Zhura waited. She looked the bizarre woman over once more. "I don't think I can help anyone, just now."

"But you are a great warrior. The daughter of a great warrior. Anathe, the forgotten hero now redeemed. Riddles are so much more satisfying once you've figured them out." Whisper said, grinning.

Zhura gaped in confusion. "Anathe was a great warrior. She won every battle. But she also lost everything that was precious to her." She slowly searched for the words. "I am not a warrior. I'm just an herb-witch who... who occasionally knocks people on their asses."

Whisper nodded. "Just so. That works, too." She glanced around the cell. "They've left you in here hoping for your strength to fade before they move you. If I free you, give you your strength back, put wards and weapons in your hand, Ntoza and Bouda need good ass-knockings."

Zhura nodded, humorlessly. This couldn't possibly be real. "You're locked in here with me."

All fluid movement, Whisper sat back. Zhura noted the stud that pierced the woman's left nipple, outlined clearly through the dress. Curved, it appeared almost serpentine.

"It will be a journey," Whisper grinned. "But Adder and I know where they are going. Chide will be tricky, but I have a talent for getting into and out of tight spaces-"

"Wait. What are you talking about? What journey?"

"Ntoza and her pet fled this afternoon for Chide."

"Fled?"

"You'll still do it, right?"

"No! Look, I don't even know who you are. All I want is to live in peace with my friends and the woman I love. Can you help me or not?"

Whisper sighed. She swept to her feet in one lithe movement and crept towards the grate to peer through. Maybe it was the odd light, but when it hit her skin from that angle, it almost looked like the woman had tiny scales.

"You're not human," Zhura gasped.

"Neither are you, daughter of the Demon Queen. You only look human. Perfectly so. For that you are blessed." Whisper chewed on her lip, considering. "Do you know what the Thandi do with demons?"

Zhura thought about Blossom and Talek, about their fear of the covens and the summoning stones. "I have an idea what they do," she said.

"The bajari serve the Thandi willingly. The Scarred Women bind more independent-minded demons with their little wooden cocks. The thrice-damned bitches did this to one demon from Morore that I have a particular attachment to... for reasons you might guess."

"I'm sorry," Zhura said.

Whisper ran a hand through her thick locks. It was almost comical, her standing there, locked in a cell, bargaining with a chained prisoner. "Why should I free you for nothing in return? Even what I've already told you has a price."

It was then that Zhura remembered where she'd heard the name Whisper. "Marble worked for you."

"You know Marble?"

Zhura nodded. She suspected Marble was aiding the Thandi, but said nothing of it.

"Is she well?" Whisper asked, concern etched on her youthful features.

"She was the night I was captured. She is clever, that one."

Whisper breathed a soft sigh of relief. She turned towards the entrance. "Five hundred Sung and House San mercenaries arrived in the city yesterday to support your father. Ntoza and her allies from Chide have given up on a siege of Morore. She herself has already left. If she was still near, I wouldn't have dared to come in here."

"How did you find me?"

"I'm good at getting into and out of tight spaces," Whisper repeated, absently. It wasn't clear if she meant the cell, or somewhere else. "The only people left in this old copper mine are some of the Thandi families and the slaves. A few of Bouda's bajari will escort them and you out. Which is why we don't have much time."

"Hold... what slaves?"

"Time's up," the guard said from outside.

Whisper planted her back alongside the grated entrance to the cell. An index finger to her lips, she flashed Zhura a conspiratorial grin.

What in hells was going on?

"Breeding slaves," Whisper uttered in hushed tones. "The bajari captured dozens of people in the Lower City during the last several days, and they're marching them to Chide. Well, they're going to try." She pressed back against the red rock.

A bajari prowled past the guard with a set of manacles jangling in its claw. "Get her out," xhe snarled. "The last boat is ready."

Whisper emerged from her concealment beside the grate. The demon could clearly see her looking out, and Zhura farther back along the wall.

"Gods' balls! Who is this?" the hyenoid demon growled to the guard. Xhe glanced down at the single pair of restraints xhe carried. The Thandi guard approached as the bajari neared the cell.

"The answer to that question," Whisper said to the demon, "is going to cost you."

The guard, walking up smoothly behind the bajari, thrust a slim blade into its back. The ichor-streaked point poked out through the creature's belly. The bajari growled, twisting to face the attack. With a second, shorter blade, the guard slashed the demon's throat. The growl turned to a gurgle. Black blood pulsed from the wound. The demon slid to the floor and stilled.

Zhura had seen Ntoza's ritual scars up close. Very close. The guard's scars didn't look quite right. The spots that ran up the neck and along the shoulder above the collar of the tunic were well shaded, but completely flat. Paint, perhaps.

Zhura wouldn't have even noticed if she hadn't watched this person stab a demon in the back. The guard stared at Zhura with narrow-eyed intensity.

"Zhura, this is Adder," Whisper said. "My enforcer."

"It's time to go," Adder said. "Someone else will come, looking for this one."

Whisper pushed the grate open. It hadn't even been locked.

"You know my father is the king," Zhura said. "If you free me, he will be grateful."

"That's something," Whisper acknowledged. She held up a finger, glancing back. She disappeared from view in the outer chamber. "Now that his heir is his rival, conspiring with Vong Clan, your father might actually be able to hold onto his throne. His wife's Clan wouldn't dare to get rid of him."

Adder crouched, relieving the demon's corpse of a large key and a long knife and harness. The dark blade was curved like a claw, with the creased surface of obsidian or some other stone. Adder entered the cell, wrap skirt swishing around lean legs.

The lithe enforcer's brow furrowed with concern. Adder bent to unlock the manacles. Though Zhura had assumed Adder was a woman, now she wasn't so sure.

"Can you use this?" Adder asked, handing Zhura the knife.

"Not any better than anyone else," the herb-witch said. She could see how razor-sharp the stone edge was. She stood up slowly, and realized she barely had the strength to do that from lack of food or water. "No. Definitely worse than anyone else."

"Drink this," Whisper said, reentering the cell. She wore a plain dress now and carried a ceramic vial and a pair of sandals for Zhura's feet. Thinking it was water, Zhura twisted the wood stopper and tipped her head back, downing it.

Smelling more than tasting it, she almost immediately choked at the pungent bitterness.

"No," Adder seized the herb-witch's shoulders with surprising gentleness. "Don't spit it out."

Zhura gagged it down. At least her mouth no longer felt dry. Warmth and strength quickly rushed through her limbs. She slipped on the sandals. "What was that?" she asked, still choking a little.

"A draught commonly harvested and stored by the Thandi. It isn't as good as bush-butter sap, but it is a lot quicker. I suppose you can figure out what it is made of," Whisper said.

Zhura grimaced. She knew the safu, the bush-butter fruit, but had never heard of the sap. "Bush-butter sap?"

Whisper's look was torrid, causing Zhura to blush. "Perhaps you and I will share bush-butter sap one day, Zhura of Boma. Just now, you have good deeds to do."

Outside the cell was a small room with other cells attached. All were empty, except for one, where a dead Thandi woman lay. Zhura guessed that was the guard Adder had replaced.

The enforcer led the way out, swiftly moving through winding passages. The strange lights clustered on the ceiling of the tunnel, lighting their path like a night sky of aquamarine stars. Shards of clay and bits of raffia fiber were strewn about, as if the mine's inhabitants had fled in a hurry.

Zhura felt disoriented, as much by her strange new companions as by the turns and forks in the mine shaft. She had the distinct sense that they were going down, rather than up towards the surface. "Wait," she said, stopping. "You haven't explained where we are or where we're going."

Adder paused and glanced back at Whisper.

"And I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me," Zhura crossed her arms, eyeing them both.

Whisper sighed, hands on slender hips.

"Try to be kind," Adder admonished her.

"We're in a mine that has been abandoned - by humans, anyway - since the days of the Clover Princes," Whisper said. "Until the Thandi migrated here from the south, before you or I were born, and began using it as a secret lair. We're the better part of a day's walk south of the city ancestral wards."

"Why does it seem like we're going deeper into the mine?"

"First of all, because the Thandi have escaped this way." Whisper pointed further down the tunnel. "Which means that the other way is probably booby trapped, and I don't care to find out by getting poisoned, impaled or dumped down a bottomless shaft. Secondly, they took their captives this way, and I may want to talk to those people."

"I told you, I'm not going to Chide-"

"We're not going to Chide," Whisper huffed, gesturing impatiently. "But if we don't move quickly, we may end up stuck in here. So, can we please?" Whisper looked at Adder. "Kind enough? Gods-damn it," she muttered.

Zhura rolled her eyes. They continued on. The tunnels were nearly round, and Zhura imagined them having been made by a great worm burrowing deep into the earth. She began feeling cooler air, and heard a low roar, reminiscent of the waterfalls of the Little Mongoose.

The passage opened into a broad cavern, with a ceiling that yawned high above, alive with glowing light and a chill mist. A stream flowed through the cave, cascading out of a hole near their entrance. The stream ran in a narrow channel through the length of the cave and out through a tight shaft at the far end.

There, a Thandi woman and a few men worked. The boat was tied up beside the stream. It was secured by another rope to a line that appeared to run along the top of the shaft, and they used the rope to haul the boat into the water.

The Scarred Woman spotted Adder and Zhura as they entered the cavern and returned to the task of loading the boat. Then she did a double take. "Where's..." her voice trailed off as she realized she didn't recognize any of the strangers running towards her.

She threw a basket at Adder. With the help of the others, she pushed the boat over the water's edge.

Zhura raced past Adder. The obsidian knife wouldn't do her much good for protection. But she didn't want to be trapped at the bottom of an abandoned mine, either. She snatched the securing line, just as the Thandi woman slashed the rope tying the boat to the edge.

The current pulled at the boat. Zhura fell backward, her sandaled feet planted against creases in the rock floor. Palm fibers bit into her skin as the weight of the small craft tried to haul her into the water. Too late, she realized that the witch had stepped to the rear of the boat, and the arc of her machete was swinging towards Zhura's outstretched arms.

Steel clashed as the blade struck Adder's, and the enforcer stepped in to shield Zhura. The witch matched Adder stroke for stroke, but her movement rocked the boat beneath her feet. The men held onto the edges as the craft tipped dangerously.

Whisper ran up alongside Zhura. She grabbed the rope, and gave it a savage jerk. She was stronger than her slender frame suggested.

As the Thandi dueled with Adder, she took a misstep. She tumbled overboard, between the boat and the edge of the channel. Frantically, she gripped the sides of the boat, causing the boat to capsize entirely, dumping the three men and their cargo into the water.

The Thandi and one of the men were swept into the tunnel. The other two managed to grasp a shelf of rock on the far side of the stream. They dragged themselves out of the water as Zhura and Whisper hauled the boat upright, and began shipping the water out.

The men glared at Zhura from across the stream. They weren't armed, and they wore only breeches. The shelf of rock was isolated, and there was nowhere for them to escape to.

"Leave them," Whisper said. "We only need the boat-"

"Zhura??"

The voice came from behind them, from the cavern entrance where they'd arrived. It was a voice Zhura feared she might never hear again.

The herb-witch turned to see Keya barreling towards her, faster than she thought the priestess could run. Keya slammed into Zhura, clasping her in an embrace. The impact would have surely sent Zhura into the water, had she not drunk the Thandi potion.

"I thought I lost you," Keya moaned.

"I thought you did too," Zhura whispered back.

As she stepped back, Keya returned to the center of the cavern, where she'd dropped a length of wood. It was Zhura's staff.

"You came through the mine alone?" Whisper said, incredulous. "I told your people to go over the canyon!"

"I didn't come alone. Blossom got us past the pit traps near the entrance." Keya huffed back. "The others went over the canyon."

Noting the faint whiff of jasmine, Zhura scanned the cavern. She saw the starlit demon, hanging above, nearly invisible amongst the lights. Blossom, eye patches aglow, showed her a mouthful of needle-like teeth.

If Whisper and Adder noticed or cared about the demon's presence, they didn't say so. "Let's go, then," the enforcer said. "The boat can take the four of us easily."

They held the boat steady, climbed in, and hauled off. The two Thandi men watched them miserably from the far bank of the stream. Blossom seemed content to look on from above.

"These are the types of haunts Blossom favors," Keya said in a hushed voice. "With the Thandi gone, xhe is at ease."

"And healthy, I am happy to see," Zhura replied.

She immediately saw why the boat was tied to a line overhead. The brisk current might have otherwise dashed them against the sides of the tunnel. There were paddles hooked to the sides of the boat, but they were hardly needed. They floated swiftly through the tunnel. Daylight greeted them gradually, like the sun at dawn.

The tunnel emptied into another open cavern. The overhead line ended, stopping their forward movement, and they were able to pull themselves to the side, where several other boats were piled.

This cavern was also large, but its exit broad and opened on daylight. The stream flowed out that way, into what appeared to be a canyon. Adder and Whisper climbed out of the boat first, hurrying across the rock floor. Zhura came next, helping Keya out of the rocking boat.