Page 141 of Scorched Earth (Dark Shores #4)

TERIANA

With the aid of the greater ocean paths and a stiff wind supplied by Baird’s mark, the Quincense made good time crossing the world, and it was not long until they were anchored off the coast of Bardeen and heading inland for a meeting with the rebels.

It seemed a lifetime ago that she’d been in these forests with Austornic and the Fifty-First, but the oppressive feeling of being watched by the enormous redwoods was the same.

“These trees have eyes,” Bait muttered. “I swear it.”

“More like there are eyes in the trees,” Teriana answered. “The rebels know we are coming, and they most definitely don’t trust me.”

“Us, you mean?”

“No.” She looked up into the shadowed branches, which were de void of the sound of life. “It was me they saw with the Fifty-First. They know my role in all of this, so it’s me they have cause to doubt.”

Cause, even, to kill, but Teriana didn’t allow herself to dwell on that fact.

The meeting had been set up via the network of merchant connections the Maarin had throughout Bardeen.

For all her people were the enemy of the Cel, the legions who policed the province showed Teriana and her crew little interest. Not only were the Maarin not considered a threat, Cassius had named them a conquered people.

So as long as taxes were paid and laws abided, no one caused them much trouble.

Yet notices were posted in every port that Maarin births were to be registered, and that child tithes of second and fourth born sons were to begin.

Over my dead fucking body , had been Teriana’s thought as she’d cemented the arrangements to form an alliance that would ensure the Empire would never dismiss her people again.

The deal was that the rebels would meet with Teriana and one other from her crew, all bets off if she brought more reinforcements, so she and Bait walked alone down the little-used road, waiting for the rebels to make contact.

“What if they don’t come?” Bait muttered. “What if they aren’t interested?”

“When it comes to striking a blow against the Empire, there is nothing they’re more interested in.” Teriana remembered the reports that had come Marcus’s way. “Trust me.”

Then an arrow struck the ground at her feet, forcing her to slide to a stop.

Out of the trees, dozens of Bardenese warriors appeared, their clothes dark browns and greens that blended into the landscape. But Teriana’s eyes were all for the woman at their head.

Perhaps a few years older than Teriana was herself, the young woman was beautiful beyond measure with her rich brown skin, large eyes rimmed with long lashes, and full lips.

Her dark hair was long and woven into a braid that hung over one shoulder, but it was the gladius at her waist that told Teriana she’d found who she was looking for. “You’re Silvara.”

“My name matters little,” the young woman answered, keeping a cautious distance between them, though Teriana had no doubt Silvara was the more dangerous fighter.

“Your messenger said you wished to speak of an alliance between the rebellion and the Maarin. Out of courtesy to your people, I have come, but only to tell you that I’ve no interest in an alliance with a Cel puppet who wants revenge over a broken heart.

Go back to the sea where you belong.” Then the woman turned and walked away.

Teriana’s cheeks burned with embarrassment, but the anger that roared in her heart was louder.

“Agrippa told me to tell you that he’s sorry.

That it took him a bit of time to figure things out, but that he’s now fighting on the right side.

He hopes you’ll join him on that side, for I do not offer an alliance with the Maarin, but with all who oppose Celendor’s oppression. ”

Silvara froze in her tracks. “Agrippa is dead. Drowned.”

“No, he’s on the far side of the world by way of the same xenthier stem that the legions now use to reach Arinoquia.

He could have rejoined the Thirty-Seventh, but instead he fights for those who stand against them.

” She rattled off a description of Agrippa, concluding with, “He can’t say more than a handful of sentences without cracking a joke or insulting whomever he’s speaking to. Sound familiar?”

Silvara’s hand rested on the pommel of the gladius, toying with the 37 marked on it as she whispered, “Agrippa is alive?”

“Yes. And he told me about you two, so I think it’s the pot calling the kettle black to name me a Cel puppet who only wants revenge for her broken heart.”

Silvara didn’t answer. Didn’t turn around, only stood in place, finger tracing the 37 on the gladius.

“A war is being fought in the West,” Teriana said.

“And the side of good is very much on the back foot. If they lose, all of Reath will fall to the Empire and its dark ally. We have one chance to stop them, but we can’t do it without help from those who war against the Senate in the East. Your help. ”

“The war in the West has been a boon to us,” Silvara answered.

“The Dictator’s eyes, as well as the eyes of his Senate, are fixed on those distant nations, and they have weakened their defenses in order to send more and more legions across the seas in pursuit of conquest. If it continues, we’ll have the opportunity to liberate Bardeen.

As will Chersome and Sibern, who have rebellions of their own.

The Dictator will come to regret his over ambition. ”

“Will he, though?” Teriana asked quietly.

“The West cannot win this war. The enemy is too strong. Within months, if not sooner, the Empire will take control. Will bend the nations of the West to its will, assimilating them and stealing their children to populate its war machine, and how long until the Dictator has the power of a god?”

Silvara twitched.

“You might reclaim Bardeen for a time while they are distracted, but if you allow them to grow stronger on the backs of their conquest, how long until the heel of Mother Empire comes crushing down, more punitive and crueler than before? If you really want to throw off the yoke, you need to strike not just a blow for Bardeen but a blow for all of Reath.”

Silence.

Wind moaned through the branches of the trees, the dapples of sunlight dancing across the dirt. Then Silvara said, “Walk with me, Teriana of the Maarin.”

Teriana started after the other woman, and when Bait made to follow, she said, “Wait here.”

Silvara led her deeper into the forest, the other woman moving silently as any predator, her eyes always roving the shadows, whereas Teriana tripped over roots and crunched branches beneath her boots. “Sorry.”

Silvara gave a soft laugh. “I’ve never been on a ship. I’ve heard the motion is so terrible it drives grown men to vomit.”

“You adapt.”

“When your silence means your life, you also adapt.”

They reached a clearing, and Silvara sat down on a rock, motioning for Teriana to sit on the one across from her. “It’s true then, that you were Marcus’s lover.”

Teriana brushed dirt from her sleeve. “He was my lover, if you must know.”

Silvara laughed, the sound like silver wind chimes, beautiful and haunting.

“It’s good that you can laugh. It took me a long time to be able to laugh after—” She broke off, shaking her head.

“They get under your skin, Empire boys. The good ones, at any rate. So wonderfully fierce and dangerous, yet so incredibly sad and broken. Impossible to resist, though Marcus…” Silvara gave a shake of her head. “That, I can’t quite understand.”

“You ever meet him?”

“Yes. He was perfectly courteous and entirely terrifying.”

“I had the same initial impression. Though he had hidden depths.” Teriana’s chest tightened. “Or at least, that’s what I thought.”

“I think falling for them is setting yourself up for heartbreak, because you’ll always be second to their brothers.

And none of them are right in the head, not really.

How can they be, given the Empire turns them into killers when they are just children?

They have no hope, and neither do those who love them. ”

Teriana considered what Bait had told her about Agrippa, as well as her own impressions, then said, “Agrippa seems to have broken out of that cycle. Although to be honest, he made some unfortunate decisions before he got on the right track. He… He met a girl, married her, actually, and I don’t think there is anything he wouldn’t do for her, including fight the Thirty-Seventh. ”

Silvara was quiet. “It shouldn’t hurt, but it does.

To know that he had the capacity to choose me over the legions but didn’t.

” She made a strangled noise, then pressed her hands to her face.

“It’s been years, and I’ve had other lovers since, but there’s something about your first. Something about Empire boys that latches onto your soul and never lets go, no matter how much time passes. ”

“Yeah,” Teriana said, because there was no other response to the truth Silvara had delivered. Her truth. And, Teriana suspected, her own truth as well. “Do you wish it had gone differently? That it had been you he’d chosen?”

“No.” Silvara smoothed her hand over her stomach, revealing that it was curved with early pregnancy. “I found the sort of love I needed. Someone who loves Bardeen just as much as I do and who will help me fight for the future of our nation. And the future of our child.”

They sat in silence for a long time, both contemplating the past, and then Silvara said, “I joined the rebellion because I thought it was the right thing to do. That the best way I could live my life was fighting against those who oppressed my people, erased our ways, and forced us to be like them, and in doing so, made us serve them. To put my head in the sand when others face the same threat, even if they are strangers without names on the far side of the seas, smacks of hypocrisy.”

Teriana blew out a long breath, then shook her head. “It’s been lifetimes since someone has taken the fight to Celendor. It’s risky beyond measure, and I can understand if that’s not something you want to involve your people in.”

Silvara looked up at the sky, then said, “Tell me your plan.”

It was so simple that the telling took only a few moments, yet when Teriana finished, Silvara smiled.

“Agrippa always wanted to be famous. To have a statue in the Forum for winning a battle, and for better or worse, I dream of the same. Of being the one to strike a blow against the Empire that will be felt for generations. I think, Teriana, that this is the moment to lift my weapon.”

“So you’re in?”

“Bardeen is in.” Silvara’s eyes met hers, beautiful in their defiance. “Fuck the Empire!”

Teriana smiled. “Fuck the Empire.”