Mortal

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

SLEEP CAME WITH DIFFICULTY for Roland that night. When his dreams finally shut out the world they were filled with images of death. Of Corpses and Dark Bloods swarming the earth in search of those few remaining Mortals left in the wake of a misguided promise of dominion.

Before returning to camp, he’d spent another half hour with Rom, stepping through the path that might lead to Feyn’s acquisition. The plan was fraught with madness, but no more than going directly after Saric or staging a coup of the Order itself-notions that had surfaced in Roland’s mind in his most far-reaching moments.

Which was more often than he cared to admit.

But a conflict with Saric would cost many Mortal lives. And though a coup might secure power in the Citadel, that power would require force to maintain.

In the end, Rom was right: the best-if not the most likely-path for Jonathan’s ascension to power would be through Feyn’s resignation of her seat. Or, failing that, some kind of irrevocable agreement granting Jonathan power in her stead. In either case they would still have to contend with Saric and his Dark Bloods, but doing so from a seat of political power would be much easier than as outcasts.

How exactly Rom planned to maneuver Feyn into agreement once she was in his grasp Roland wasn’t sure, but his insistence that they had nothing to lose held merit. If the ploy failed they could resort to more hostile measures.

But none of these thoughts were what kept him from sleep for a full hour as he lay alone in his personal quarters. He owned three yurts-one for his two concubines who’d been chosen for their fertility and health to bear heirs; one for his wife, Amile, who had given him two girls and wore her status as the sole wife of Roland with supreme pride; and one for his position as ruler of all Nomads.

He’d retired to this last yurt and reclined on a mat in the early morning, mind still circling this revelation from the Keeper about Jonathan’s blood.

Around him the rest of the camp was bedded down, oblivious to the truth-as they must be for now. If word leaked…

No.

The greatest strength of any Nomad was his resolve to independence. Generations of separatism had bred deep loyalty to their own. Now, having woken to raging passion and ambition, their desire to consume the world knew no bounds.

Life-as Mortals fully alive-was the cornerstone of their existence, and his people were determined to experience it as none else on earth could. As a race of humans who would live for many hundreds of years without subjugation. And now the Keeper seemed to be suggesting that the very source of that life was slowly waning.

Roland still couldn’t fathom the full implications of the Keeper’s news. What bearing it might have on Jonathan’s rule. How it might affect the rise of Mortals or the overthrow of Order’s oppressive regime that had squashed the world with fear. Fear of failing Order in this life. Fear of questioning truth. Of breaking from the status quo. Of veering from perfect obedience. Fear of death because in death all who failed in any way found only Hades. And everyone knew that everyone failed.

Many things were unclear to Roland, but the destiny of Mortals was not among them. Their race would throw down Order and live free from fear. Free of restraint. And he knew, too, that the task of ensuring that destiny fell on his own shoulders more than anyone else’s-including Jonathan, the vessel who’d brought them life.

All these thoughts circled relentlessly through Roland’s mind even as he slept. When he woke with the first sounds of a stirring camp outside, he ordered Maland, the longtime servant who kept guard outside his yurt, to find the Keeper and bring him immediately. Under any other circumstance he might go to the Keeper himself, but the chance of running into Rom or any other council member might undermine his intentions. He had to speak to the man without anyone’s knowledge.

An hour passed. Roland glanced over at the door flap. Heavy and set into a frame, it was made to withstand severe weather so that even in the midst of a storm, it only seemed to breathe like a diaphragm with the wind. This morning it was utterly still, a faint ray of sunlight filtering down to the yurt floor from the small wheel-like opening at the top. The yurt was furnished with a couple thick rugs and the mat he had tossed and turned on the night before. A goblet and plate of dried meat and wild plums sat atop a trunk that held several items of clothing-those that were not hung on the inside lattice of the yurt itself: several hand-beaded coats and tunics made by his wives and decorated by Roland himself. Three compound bows, including one more than three hundred years old. Several curved swords and knives, including three swords from the Age of Chaos-relics carefully preserved as reminders of the tenacious Nomadic heritage passed down over the centuries for this day.

Roland would not fail his race.

Knuckles tapped the door’s wooden frame.

Finally.

“Come.”

The door swung wide and the Keeper stepped in wearing the same robe he’d worn last night, hood over his head. It was easy enough to guess by the circles under his eyes and the sagging at the corner of his mouth that he had slept far less than Roland-if at all. But it wasn’t so much the fatigue in his eyes as the tortured questions in them that told Roland all he needed to know.

He closed the door, threw off his hood, and regarded Roland for a long moment without offering any greeting.

Roland nodded at a chair by the trunk. “Please, sit.”

The Book looked at the chair but shook his head.

“I can’t stay. I have to get back,” he said.

“To what? More testing? To be certain that our world is crumbling as we speak?”

The man said nothing.

“Did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Test his blood again with your magic vials.”

“It’s not magic. The darker the blood turns the solution, the more potent the life within it. But yes.”

“And?”

“The color grows lighter every day.”

But of course. The Keeper was meticulous and sober-more so as of late, only rarely venturing out to join the celebrations around the fires at night as he used to. He had laughed often when he had first become Mortal, but that mirth had since been replaced by the growing burden of securing the same Mortal destiny Roland was committed to. Roland had always respected the old man; as with Nomads, the Keepers had clung to their own way of preserving the promise of life through the centuries. Two orders, Keepers and Nomads, now one: Mortal.

“Nothing else?” Roland asked.

“I tested my own blood as well.”

“And?”

“It hasn’t deteriorated.”

Roland stepped to the trunk and picked up a plum, offered it to him. When the old man refused, he bit deeply into it himself. The tart juice pricked his taste buds, firing awareness of the new life in his veins. It never failed. He closed his eyes. The senses had always been celebrated among Nomads, even without emotion, but Jonathan’s blood had turned sensory experience into a wildly extravagant and life-affirming affair. Next to the pale sensory comforts they had known as Corpses, these vibrant pleasures threatened at times to be almost too much. A sensory experience speculated to be far greater than any known even in the Age of Chaos, before death came to the world.

The first time Roland made love after coming to life it had so fired his nerves that he’d begun to panic, sure that he was in the throes of death rather than quaking pleasure. But he hadn’t died. He’d lived and been pulled into the hot sun of raw, living bliss. When his wife had welcomed new life into the world nine months later, he’d named the boy Johnny in honor of the life that had facilitated his conception.

“Tell me something, old man,” Roland said. “What would your founder, Talus, the one who first predicted that life would come again in the blood of one child, say your chief charge is?”

The man replied with marked hesitation. “To ensure that life is not suppressed.”

“And where is that life now?”

“In Jonathan. But you know this as well as I do.”

“Humor me. I’m a Nomad, not a Keeper. We may share the same resolve and blood, but our roles in this world are different.”

The aged eyes beneath the Keeper’s wrinkled brow did not offer agreement or disapproval. Roland pressed.

“There are twelve hundred Mortals now. Would Talus demand we preserve life in all twelve hundred, or would he suggest we sacrifice some to ensure Jonathan comes to power?”

“Both.”

“I agree. And I remain fully committed to this end. But now my question is this: how many should we be willing to sacrifice to ensure Jonathan’s ascension to power?”

The Book’s response came slower than the last. “That isn’t for me to say.”

“Yet you recognize the question that falls on my shoulders. And so I’m seeking your advice. How much bloodshed is acceptable to this end? Ten of my men? A hundred? A thousand? Tell me.”

“As you said, this falls on your-”

“Please don’t patronize me.” Roland realized he was squeezing the plum in his hand; juice dripped from his fingers onto the floor. “I want to know how you feel about the shedding of this precious blood that now flows through our veins. How much should be spilled?”

“As much as necessary.”

“To the last man if necessary?”

The Keeper’s left eyelid twitched. “I don’t think-”

“Just answer. Please.”

The Keeper’s frown deepened. “As much as is needed.”

“So you disagree with Rom on this matter?”

“No. Rom would agree, I’m sure.”

Rom might indeed agree. But not to the same extent as many Nomads. The zealots, he knew, would go to any measure to protect that life-including a preemptive strike of any magnitude that best facilitated victory. He let the matter slide.

“Then tell me this: the life foretold by Talus… In whom does it now reside?”

“In Jonathan.”

“Not in you?”

The old man stared him down for several long moments. Then he began to turn, as if intending to leave.

“My loyalty to Jonathan is unshakable, Keeper. I would cut any throat to save him-don’t mistake me. He must come to power for the sake of all Mortals. But I need to understand that path.”

A slight tremor shook the Keeper’s old fingers. He was sleep deprived, but there was more here.

“Please. Where does that life reside?”

The old man glanced back at him. “In all of us. To be protected at all costs. How is not my concern. I’m a Keeper of truth, not a maker of history. That responsibility rests on other shoulders, as you said.”

“But the rest of what you said is also true, no? That your blood-my blood-is now stronger than Jonathan’s. And as such you are a maker, if not of history then of life. As am I. A maker of life perhaps more powerful today than Jonathan. Is this not now a part of the truth you keep?”

“There’s more to the boy than his blood,” the Keeper said, warning in his voice.

“I’m no longer talking about Jonathan. I’m talking about a race of Mortal makers full of life-giving blood. Is this not the blood that will save the world?”

The Keeper was silent.

“And if it is, then we must take whatever steps necessary to protect not only Jonathan, but the Mortals who will become the makers of the world.”

“Perhaps.”

“And if it comes down to a choice between Jonathan’s blood and your blood? His blood and mine?”

“Pray it doesn’t.”

“I do. I will.”

The Keeper turned to go.

“Does Jonathan know?”

“No,” the Book said, his back to the Nomad.

“You took another sample this morning.”

“I did.”

“How fast is his blood reverting? I need to know how much time we have.”

The Keeper’s voice held a tremor. “At this rate, his blood may be that of a common Corpse by the time he ascends to power.”

Roland blinked, mind vacant. So fast! He had no idea. Still reeling, he spoke the first words that rushed to fill it.

“What power? How can that happen now?”

“He has already given us his power,” he said. “Use it wisely.”

Without another word, the old man left the yurt, shaking his head like a prophet who has lost the voice of his god.

Roland stared at the door after it had fallen back into place. So then the matter became clear. He would do as Rom asked and make the play to acquire Feyn. But he wouldn’t trust the fate of all Mortals to a single course of action.

They had to dispatch fighters far beyond the perimeter immediately with orders to take captive any Dark Blood they encountered. They had to find Saric’s stronghold.

They had to prepare for the worst.

Roland strode to the door, threw it open where Maland waited outside.

“Get me Michael. Now!”