Page 39 of Scorched Earth (Dark Shores #4)

TERIANA

Teriana had slept poorly, but as dawn rose, she had a plan. Astara and Kaira might not be willing to help her, but she had other allies. Holding the gold coin that Nic had given her above Quintus’s barely awake face, she said, “Let’s go into Aracam and spend this.”

His eyes focused on the gold. “It’s awfully early. But I suppose we don’t have anything better to do.”

He took her to one of the finer establishments in Aracam, which of course meant that it was full to the brim with off-duty legionnaires—in this case, Forty-First. “You sure this is wise?” she asked, surveying the tables full of men drinking and playing cards, barmaids and prostitutes moving among them.

“Better them than the Thirty-Seventh,” he said.

“They’re still quite testy about you being the cause of Marcus’s disappearance, and they’ve taken to heart his decision to give you the cold shoulder.

The Forty-First is mostly interested in lying low.

Also, they are worse gamblers, which means we might come out ahead. ”

Sighing, Teriana went to the bar and waited for the owner to notice her.

The building was made of stone, as were all the structures in Aracam, the roof low enough that anyone much taller than her had to stoop.

The walls were stained with soot from the poorly vented hearth in the corner, and Teriana didn’t fail to notice the pale rectangles on the wall that had obviously, until recently, born hangings.

Likely depictions of the Six, removed at Titus’s behest. The owner finally took notice of her and approached.

The woman was tall, her silver hair shaved at the sides and back, the rest gathered in a long tail. “Two things,” she said in Arinoquian, placing the gold dragon on the bar. “The first is that drinks are on me until this is spent. The second is that I want to get a message to Ereni.”

Quintus made an aggrieved sound but otherwise held his tongue.

“The alliance is broken. Their commander”—the bar owner jerked her chin at the off-duty Forty-First—“broke it. The Cel showed their true colors. They don’t want alliances and trading partners; they want to possess everything on Reath.”

“I’m not asking to speak to her on behalf of the Cel,” Teriana said. “I want to speak to her on behalf of the Maarin.”

The woman shrugged. “I’ll let it be known, but Ereni answers to no one.” Then she lifted her voice and spoke in broken Cel, “Teriana of the Maarin is buying you all the drinks tonight.”

Heads turned in their direction, the legionnaires lifting their glasses and cheering her name.

Quintus led her to a table, the men making room for them, and she fell into the old rhythm of life with the legions.

Laughing and drinking and gambling, but it felt as though she were outside of herself watching a performance, her mind all for other things.

Even so, Teriana could see the changes in the Forty-First. They had an edge they hadn’t before, more scars and eyes that had seen too much and would see plenty more.

She could tell that Titus’s death weighed upon them, and though she wanted to ask how they felt about Felix taking on the role of legatus, which was not how things were done, she kept her mouth shut.

Though it was only late morning, they grew rowdier with every passing hour, the doors flung open to allow in a breeze lest the smell of men grow overwhelming.

She and Quintus both won more than they lost, amassing coin but keeping favor by buying food because their companions were testier than she remembered about losing, aggressive and accusatory, though the tension didn’t seem specific to her and Quintus.

They were in the middle of a game when Quintus abruptly rose. “I need to piss.” He leveled a finger at her. “You don’t leave this room.”

She nodded, but once he was out the front door, she folded. “I’m getting another drink.”

Moving to the bar, Teriana leaned her elbows on the polished wood, glad for the shadows of the corner in which she stood.

Then a familiar voice said, “You’re back.”

Ereni rested her own elbows on the bar next to her, silvered blond hair falling around her stooped shoulders.

“Bold,” Teriana murmured. “They all know your face.”

“They know the warrior’s face. The imperatrix’s face.” Ereni lifted a walking stick. “Not the old woman’s face. And old women aren’t threats.”

“That’s not been my experience.” Teriana took a sip from her drink. “I’m sorry for what has happened. It’s not what I intended.”

“Isn’t it, though?” When Teriana didn’t answer, Ereni added, “You brought them to these shores, girl. Have aided them at every turn in their conquest, and now you weep when you see what your actions have wrought? You let the beast out of its cage with delusions that you could keep it on a leash, and now that those delusions are shattered, you say ‘this was not what I intended’?”

“Don’t forget that you agreed to the alliance with them,” Teriana answered softly. “Were happy to allow them free rein if they deposed Urcon. So are your tears worth any more than mine, Ereni?”

“A mistake I will never forgive myself for. Life was hard beneath Urcon. It’s worse now.

So many succumbing to injury and illness bred by the Empire, more still to hunger, for there are no healers left, no tenders.

Faith in the Six diminishes, and with its loss, the gods give no marks.

Titus’s men pulled down the god towers in Aracam and Galinha, destroyed the shrines in every village where they found one, and threatened to cut out the tongues of anyone who invokes the gods.

” Her mouth twisted. “But the Seventh’s tower remains, lording over our skies.

I think that tells you all you need to know and more about who these men serve. ”

“They serve no gods, Ereni, you know that.” Teriana couldn’t keep the frustration from her voice. “That’s why they tore them down in the first place. They’d have taken the Seventh’s towers down as well if they could figure out how. Only they’re too strong.”

“And why is that?” Ereni plucked Teriana’s glass from her hand and drained the contents.

“The gods’ strength comes from the faith of the people, Teriana.

You know this. The Seventh’s strength comes from those who look into darkness to achieve their ends.

These boys may not see themselves as serving a god, but they serve evil and that feeds the Corrupter. Look around. Can’t you feel it?”

Teriana’s skin crawled as she looked around the bar, the Forty-First not seeming happy with their hours of leisure but sullen and angry.

In the corner, two men began shoving each other, only the bellowed threat of a centurion keeping it from coming to blows.

She’d thought the tension the result of Titus’s death.

Except what if she was wrong?

“I’m running out of options, Ereni.” She swiftly explained her people’s worsened situation. “Gamdesh has no interest in helping me, and I think you have no interest in helping me, either. Which means, in order to save them, all I have left are these legions.”

“I will not help you if it means aiding the Empire’s conquest,” Ereni said.

“The inlanders, who we once conquered, have set aside old animosities because they know much of Celendor from one who walked the paths before. They say that the Empire must be repelled at all costs or it will destroy all that we hold dear, and there is no denying the recent proof of that claim.” She was quiet, then added, “I think Marcus understands that the alliance between us and his legions is burned to ashes, and that is why he’s not bothered to make overtures. ”

That, or he hadn’t thought of it. Teriana wasn’t sure which was worst.

“I wish I had an answer for you,” Ereni continued.

“I wish I saw a way to free your people that was worth the cost. But I do not. It may be time for you to concede that you have lost that battle and look toward winning the war for all the other Maarin who live free in the West. For in continuing to give aid to the Empire, you put their lives in jeopardy.”

“You want me to just let my imprisoned people die? Let them hang, despite being wholly innocent?” The faces she’d left behind in the prison marched across her mind’s eye, and Teriana’s chest tightened so painfully that she couldn’t breathe. “You want me to abandon them?”

“Sometimes the hardest choice is the right choice.” Ereni squeezed her arm. “I grieve for you, Teriana. Truly. But you cannot win this.”

Hefting her walking stick, Ereni stooped across the bar toward the exit, none of the legionnaires paying her any mind. Not even Quintus, who passed her on his way in.

“I want to go to the beach,” Teriana said to him. “I need to be in the sea.”

He shrugged. “All right. All the gold is spent, anyway.”

They wove through Aracam and then down a well-traveled path to the beach. Teriana pulled off her boots and stepped into the warm white sand.

“You doing all right?” Quintus asked, scanning the sky. “You got awfully quiet.”

“Fine.” A lie, but she didn’t want to tell him about her conversation with Ereni. “You heard anything about Miki lately?”

“No.” He kicked the sand with his toes. “I was going to try to bribe one of the sailors that makes runs to the island to deliver a letter, but I can’t afford the going rates. It’s gold or nothing, apparently.”

She rounded on him. “Why didn’t you tell me? You could have used that gold dragon Nic gave us. Instead, you let me spend it entertaining the Forty-First.”

Her friend shrugged, eyes again on the sky, not even the obvious heartache that was plaguing him distracting him from his duties.

“Was yours. It’s fine. I’ll win some more at cards.

It’s my own fault for spending it all. Bad legion habit to spend it as soon as you get it, because you can’t spend it when you’re dead. ”

That made a painful amount of sense.