The Fire Sword Read online

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are products of the author’s imagination.

  The Fire Sword

  Book Two of The Secret Journey

  © 2018 by Colin Glassey

  All rights reserved

  For

  Xenophon,

  Feng Menglong,

  Charles O. Hucker,

  and F. W. Mote

  But look around you…

  Death and Light are everywhere, always,

  and they begin, end, strive, attend, into and upon

  the Dream of the Nameless that is the world,

  burning words within Samsara,

  perhaps to create a thing of beauty.

  —Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light

  Table of Contents

  The Secret Journey

  The Story Thus Far

  Chapter One

  Poison

  Chapter Two

  The Towers of Heaven

  Chapter Three

  News from the Eight Roads

  Chapter Four

  The Red Swords

  Chapter Five

  Ceremonies

  Chapter Six

  Upriver

  Chapter Seven

  Ghost Wolf

  Chapter Eight

  Miri’s Story

  Chapter Nine

  Why Fight

  Chapter Ten

  The Battle of Devek

  Chapter Eleven

  The Radiant Prince

  Chapter Twelve

  Into the Flames

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lords of Serica

  Appendix

  People, Places, and Things from The Burning Tower and The Fire Sword

  Acknowledgments

  My love and thanks to my children, to my parents, my extended family including my brother, sister, and their families.

  Special thanks to Mia, without whom this book could not have been written.

  This book has benefited greatly from the work of several talented people:

  Editing by Kelly Cozy (www.booksidemanner.com)

  Cover illustration by Fiona Jayde (www.fionajaydemedia.com)

  Production by Tamara Cribley (www.deliberatepage.com)

  Maps of Serica by Matt Hinshaw (skullsmithy.deviantart.com)

  Maps

  Plate 1: A map of Serica and Surrounding Lands

  Plate 2: A map of Central Serica

  Plate 3: A map of most of the known world, called Kuavos

  Plate 4: A map of Kelten and parts of Fiodroch

  The Secret Journey

  The Story Thus Far

  Sandun Eiger is a native of the kingdom of Kelten. He is a master at the Royal Archives, where he has worked for a bit less than a decade. In the course of his duties, he discovers a map to Serica, a land that has been out of touch for about three hundred years. Sandun is given the task of finding out if the map is real and if there is a passible route to Serica from eastern Kelten so that trade can be established. Sandun is not sent alone; he is accompanied by his old friend, Basil Vuno, an expert hunter. In addition, he has a military escort of ten men led by a knight of the realm, Sir Ako.

  After some adventure, the Archives Expedition reaches the town of Sirosfeld, where they pick up Kagne Areke, a guide who is highly knowledgeable about the lands of eastern Kelten (called Erimasran). Kagne and Sandun were close companions for more than half a year when they both were young men living in the capital city of Kelten. Kagne swears an oath to help Sandun on his mission.

  A battle with a deadly raiding party from the land of Issedon results in several dead and injured men, but the trailhead is discovered, and the reduced expedition continues into the Tirala Mountains. The Tiralas prove difficult to traverse, yet the expedition makes its way forward against many obstacles.

  During their crossing of the Tiralas, they discover a city inhabited by the fabled Piksies. Basil gives the Piksie leader his farseer (a spyglass) and in return is given a magic sword and a magic dagger. Basil gives the sword to Sandun. Both weapons have the remarkable power to cut through metal as though it were made of cheese. Basil’s dagger also has the property of being able to cut through stone. Secondly, they encounter a city of ghosts that they courageously resist; consequently, they pass the dead city, unharmed.

  Nearing the end of fall, the expedition reaches the city of Gipu. This city is not in Serica proper but has long been part of a trade network that connects to Serica. Exhausted from their journey and beguiled by the welcoming arms of the locals, the Keltens stay the winter in Gipu. Most of the Kelten men take up with local women, following the curious customs of the city—though not Basil, who is carrying on an affair with one of the soldiers, Olef, a woman who has been serving in the Kelten army disguised as a man. Olef becomes pregnant during the long winter months.

  In late winter, a caravan of traders from Serica arrives in Gipu, and Sandun discovers, to his dismay, that Serica is riven by civil war. More accurately, it is in the throes of a revolt against a foreign power and embroiled in a civil war at the same time. The foreign power that conquered Serica is called the Kitran Empire, a powerful warlike tribe of Sogands who are hated and feared by the Keltens, though they have had little experience with them as the Sogands live far to the north of Kelten. Having traveled so far, the Kelten expedition is unwilling to give up and go back home.

  Needing help with the language of Serica, Sandun brings his paramour from Gipu, Ashala, with him on the journey, with her father’s reluctant permission. She is a good linguist who is happy to travel with the Keltens to Serica, a land that she has never before visited. On their road east, they encounter a stranger from Serica who wishes to accompany them to the city of Tokolas. The man goes by the name Valo Peli, but his real name is Arno Boethy; he is accompanied by his student, Lathe Ruppe. Sandun agrees to let the two men join them on their trip and, after a difficult battle against a band of Kitran warriors, they become friends.

  Arriving in the city of Tokolas, the Keltens are treated with respect as an embassy from the nearly legendary land of Kelten and given a large house to stay in. Sandun meets with the ruler of Tokolas, Jori Vaina. Lord Vaina not only is the ruler of Tokolas, one of the biggest cities in Serica, but he is also the ruler of a sizable chunk of land surrounding the city, the province of Kunhalvar. Lord Vaina is fighting against the Kitran Empire and is also at war with the Iron King, the ruler of the Dombovar province.

  A few days after their arrival in Tokolas, Sir Ako meets with a young lady, Russu Ti Tuomi, also a stranger to Serica, from the southern kingdom of Rakeved. He saves her from an attempted assassination by people from her own country; fearing more threats against her life, she stays with Sir Ako in the Kelten embassy. As it happens, she is a member of the royal family in Rakeved. Although her presence in the Kelten embassy is anomalous, there is no official diplomatic delegation from Rakeved in Tokolas, and no one who cares can do anything about this situation.

  Three weeks later, another war starts when General Tuno, the new ruler of Vasvar province, attacks Kunhalvar with a large fleet of river ships. Seeing the Keltens as a brave group of warriors, Lord Vaina asks them to help defend his city from the attack. Sandun agrees and convinces the other Keltens to agree also, promising them they will be knighted by Lord Vaina in exchange for their efforts.

  The day before the Vasvar fleet arrives, Sandun is featured in a large assembly of Lord Vaina’s army. During the assembly, he uses his magic sword and—by means of pyrotechnical effects created by Valo Peli—it seems tha
t his sword is on fire. As the wielder of the fiery sword, Sandun himself becomes known as “the Fire Sword.” Around this time, Olef gives birth to a healthy baby boy, and Basil names the boy Niksol.

  When the fleet of Vasvar arrives at the city of Tokolas, they begin a bombardment of the city walls using ballistas mounted on their boats. During the night, Lord Vaina leads his bodyguards and the Keltens through a secret passage to a lighthouse beside the city’s harbor. The Keltens, using exploding arrows designed by Valo Peli, destroy a number of the Vasvar ships and cause the enemy fleet to retreat in disarray. During the battle, the lighthouse comes under heavy bombardment, but it is protected for more than an hour by the efforts of two men, called krasuth, who have the uncanny ability to both summon and control wind and fog.

  One of the krasuth elects to stay at the top of the tower while everyone else escapes. Before Kagne leaves the summit of the tower, the krasuth directs Kagne to “seek the True Master.” Although the tower collapses, the Keltens survive thanks to the krasuth. Lord Vaina’s army and navy win a major victory while the defeated Vasvar fleet retreats downstream, carrying General Tuno with it.

  Before the Keltens are knighted by Lord Vaina, an assassination attempt on them is made by a gang of hired killers recruited from soldiers of Vasvar who surrendered. The Keltens defeat the assassins. Under questioning, their leader states that he and his men were hired by Nilin Ulim, the warlord of one of the Kitran Empire’s armies. The surviving Keltens are knighted by Lord Vaina, but their celebration is overlaid by the question: Who is Nilin Ulim, and why is he trying to kill them?

  Chapter One

  Poison

  The Kelten knights often walked the main thoroughfares of Tokolas dressed in their new armor, attracting appreciative notice from the soldiers though few others paid them much heed. Two weeks had passed since the Keltens were made Knights of Serica by Lord Vaina. Sir Gloval, posthumously granted knighthood, was now buried in the small graveyard behind the temple of Sho’Ash in the mighty city of Tokolas. The Knights of Serica were down to eight in number: Ako (knight commander of the new order), Sandun (vice commander), Padan, Farrel, Damar, Wiyat, Basil, and Kagne.

  Since the ceremony—really, since the night of the burning tower—Kagne had not been himself. He had become moody, withdrawn, and prone to fits of silence that lasted for a day. Sandun thought this odd and a matter of concern. However, it is quite hard to talk to someone who does not wish conversation, and Sandun had many other claims on his time.

  In his new role as an advisor for Jori Vaina, the lord of the city of Tokolas and governor of Kunhalvar, Sandun was frequently invited, requested, or summoned to attend on Lord Vaina, who every day wanted suggestions, information, and often just company as he ran what Sandun thought of as a small kingdom, beset on nearly all sides by war. Lord Vaina’s constant demands and interruptions left Sandun little time to spend on Kagne.

  As for other needs, money flowed into the embassy like a wave, thanks to Valo Peli, the former civilian commander of the Kitran Empire. While the Keltens were strangers to Serica and its complicated forms of governance, Valo Peli knew everything, having served for twenty-five years in the Kitran government. He spoke to the right people in the civil administration and in a week, all the Kelten knights had been given paid official appointments within Lord Vaina’s government. Sandun learned that they were now all members of the Transport Office under temporary assignment to the Ministry of Rituals. In practice, this meant that they were given money every month but had no actual duties.

  Valo Peli was also given a position, though his job involved real work as he oversaw the production of lopor, a black powder that exploded with overwhelming force when set on fire.

  Back home, Sandun was familiar with ceremonial positions. Perhaps the most famous sinecure in Kelten belonged to Baron Walden, lord keeper of the Great Seal. Baron Walden controlled a sizable amount of farmland north of the Vasten hills. For services rendered to the king during the campaign that ultimately resulted in the death of the usurper King Oniktes, Baron Walden was given a prestigious title and a yearly income of 840 crowns. Yet what did Baron Walden do? Once a year, the baron rode into Seopolis and carried a silk pillow with the newly blessed Great Seal of State from the Great Temple to the king’s palace, a distance of no more than a quarter mile. His duties done, the baron returned to his hunting and hawking.

  By contrast, the man who actually kept the Great Seal of State ready for the king of Kelten to use was an egg-faced fellow who Sandun knew by sight. He was, confusingly, called the “keeper of the Great Seal.” While the “lord keeper” received enough money every year to hire a company of soldiers, the man who did the majority of the work had a salary comparable to Sandun’s as master at the Archives. It amused Sandun to learn that Serica’s government behaved in a similar fashion.

  After they had been granted the title of Knights of Serica, Sir Ako required that the men wear tabards bearing the sign of the order whenever they went out into the town and that they went armed. The symbol of the burning tower became known throughout the better parts of Tokolas. Starry-eyed boys often followed the knights around.

  Lord Vaina was pleased, as he told them when he dropped by for an early-morning visit.

  “Many young men from good families have joined the army within the last month. Most talked about wanting to become opmi like you: Opmi of Serica! A year ago, such young men would all have wanted to become civil officials and wield pens instead of swords.” Lord Vaina smiled as he continued, “Naturally, my officials are annoyed by this change in attitude, but there is a war, so what can they say? Just last week I created five new opmi for heroism during the recent attack by Vasvar.”

  Turning to Valo Peli, Lord Vaina said, “Here is an odd coincidence for you. You told me about the time of opmi in Serica more than a thousand years ago. I asked my historians to find out more details and—like a fish rising to greet the dawn—one of scribes in the Ministry of Construction is an expert! He left the Iron King several years ago over some insult and joined my administration as a junior paper pusher. But now he reveals that he carried with him a sizable collection of writings on the deeds of Mairen Pal, the Lord Sakel, Mar Raddi, and other heroes I’ve never heard of. Well, I asked him to write some of the stories, but not like the official records. Instead, like the storytellers in the market. He said he had already been working on just such a project in his spare time! What do you say to that?”

  Valo Peli replied seriously, “Truly it is said: heaven watches all, and the right man will appear when needed by the just ruler.”

  “Hah!” Lord Vaina laughed. “Next you will be telling me you have seen a Silan flying over the palace. I asked the scribe to recite one of his stories at the grand teahouse near the palace in a week’s time. I think I will attend, as that might draw a larger crowd. I hope the reading encourages young men to join my army—telling stories about war heroes from our past can’t hurt.”

  “In the early days of the Water Kingdom, I read a memo about military officers who worshiped Lord Mairen. General Arna Frostel was perhaps the last chief commander to do so openly,” replied Valo Peli.

  Sandun had no idea what the two men were talking about, and so he left them to their obscure discussion and went to the market with Ashala.

  “It’s curious, isn’t it?” Sandun said to Ashala as they walked through the stalls. “Having come so far, all we do is hide in our house, playing cards and singing drinking songs. It’s as though we are exhausted from the journey, the battle, the strangeness of Serica, and we are still recovering.”

  “Let’s go outside Tokolas,” Ashala replied. “We can ride south a little way, see the country. It’s a lovely day today.” Sandun happily agreed.

  Ashala was not a steady rider, as horses were not common in her homeland of Gipu, so a very gentle mare was found for her at the stables adjoining the palace. Sandun borrowed a fast gelding, spotted white a
nd tan and eager to gallop. He kept a tight rein as they passed through crowds near the South Gate, though the horse snorted with displeasure at being checked.

  Beyond the gates, Sandun let his horse run a bit, but he turned back when he heard Ashala’s faint calls of dismay. An hour later, Sandun and Ashala were several miles outside the walls of Tokolas, wending their way through a forest. Very pleasant, reflected Sandun. Not a cloud to be seen but not hot amid the shade trees.

  Another hour of leisurely riding brought them to a pomegranate orchard in a small valley. A weathered farmer greeted them, inviting them to try some of his fruits. Sandun bought a sack of the heavy round fruits, ripe and reddish pink. Dismounting, they sat under one of the pomegranate trees and ate the fruit, prising off the thick peel, revealing the juicy seeds underneath like a dark cobblestone street. Soon their fingers were stained purple-red.

  “These are a rare treat in Gipu,” Ashala said happily. “I am like a rich merchant’s wife, eating pomegranates in an orchard of fruit trees, enough here to feed half the women of Gipu.” Sandun smiled at her and whisked away a fly with his riding crop.

  Ashala brought out the food they had purchased in the market: dried meat and sticky rice balls. The buzzing of the cicadas was the only noise; everything was peaceful. If he closed his eyes, Sandun could just about convince himself that he was in a fruit orchard south of Tebispoli and that the events of the last eighteen months had been but a dream.

  Ashala, leaning against him, asked, “What is love?”

  “Hovath. Or toni if you are speaking of an old married couple.”

  Ashala giggled and poked him playfully. “No, not the Serice words. What does it mean—to you?”

  “Well, er, a man and a woman…they love each other. They get married and raise children together.” Sandun trailed off; he knew Ashala lacked the complex words used by Kelten scholars to describe love. And even if she knew them, how could anyone put love into words? It was too big, too basic. Also, why was Ashala talking about love? That was odd.