A Chime for These Hallowed Bones (Chapter 11, Part 3)
Yadleen didn’t give Rajeev a chance to lunge at Akal again. With a tinkling command upon her cymbals, she superimposed the warrior-wight in front of herself and Akal. The wight raised its stave to crack Rajeev’s across the ribs.
Rajeev’s whole body relaxed, but his narrowed eyes made it clear that he wasn’t backing down yet. He studied the wight. Slowly, casually, he produced the tube.
The warrior-wight remained still.
“Interesting,” Rajeev muttered, turning the tube over in his hands. His gaze flickered to Akal. “Well, whether or not you recognize this can hurt you, at least I know the dead don’t.”
Yadleen sighed. “Put away that … whatever it is.”
“A flare. Think of it as alchemical fire, on demand. Perfect for signaling over long distances. Even better at inflicting wounds that a rakshasa can’t erase via shapeshifting.” Rajeev held the flare loosely in his hand, as if it were a pen, and waved it in Akal’s direction. The warrior-wight remained still.
“We just established that Akal is not a rakshasa,” Yadleen said coldly.
“No. You pointed out how unlikely it was before threatening me. Then he spelled out a perfect scenario for a rakshasa to disguise itself as a necromancer.”
“Are all alchemists this paranoid, or does it just run through your branch of the family?”
“A little paranoia would have kept Dadiji from being Unnamed. It would have kept the Great War from happening in the first place.” Rajeev took a slow step to the side.
Yadleen raised the cymbals. “If you keep testing the warrior-wight, I’ll just order it to subdue you.”
Rajeev stopped. “Contrary to whatever you’re thinking right now, I’m not some crazed maniac, Yadleen. I’m thinking of Dadiji. You should think of Babaji. All the secrecy thus far is pointless if we get ratted out by an agent of the Hegemony now.”
“This isn’t the Empire. No one’s spying on us.” Yadleen insisted.
“Oh, the Hegemony is absolutely spying on you. They just aren’t as polite about it as the Inquisition are,” Rajeev corrected her.
“Are you earnestly –”
Akal laid a hand on Yadleen’s shoulder. “Listen, I’m enjoying this debate, but I’d prefer to keep packing. So, if I may, I’d like to offer a solution for you both.”
Rajeev looked incredulous. “If you had some way to prove you weren’t a rakshasa, surely you would have offered it by now.”
“Oh, no, you’re right. I have nothing.” Akal sidestepped from behind the wight, giving Rajeev a clear run at him. “You caught me. I’m a rakshasa. A shape-changing daímōn, child of the Nameless One, keeper of harmony within this free and just Hegemony. Forgive me for not changing forms now to prove it. The name of Akal Baig is the only one I have the right to use.”
Yadleen scowled. “Mocking him isn’t going to help, Akal.”
“Oh, he’s being sincere,” Rajeev said. “I can tell.”
“You just think that because he’s telling you what you want to hear.”
Akal laughed. “I am sincere, Yadleen.”
“You’re not helping!” she snapped.
Akal spread his arms wide and dropped to his knees. He gazed up at Rajeev and asked, “Will this make it easier for you?”
Rajeev had the good grace to look unnerved. “I’m not bluffing.”
“I’m sure you aren’t. Well, get on with it … if you’re sure I’m truly a rakshasa, and not your cousin. You are certain, aren’t you?”
The alchemist opened his mouth, only to hesitate.
Akal smiled. “Oh, well. Do you at least have a plan for if you’re wrong? I hope you’ve thought through what you’ll tell Babaji, if nothing else. He won’t take it well.”
“I could tell him that you gambled with your life by being flippant. That thing will be my witness, won’t it?” Rajeev jerked his head at the wight. “Plus, Babaji knows what’s at stake for everyone if we get caught using Dadiji’s bones. I’m willing to roll the dice on him being as paranoid as me right now.”
A shadow rolled through Akal’s blithe expression. He glanced at Yadleen. Then, his eyes flashed, and he smiled more broadly. “How do you think Babaji feel about killing an innocent, whether human or daímōn, to keep a secret?”
“No servant of the Hegemony is innocent.” Nevertheless, Rajeev’s gaze also flickered to Yadleen.
“Except not all rakshasas serve the Hegemony, do they? You’ve heard of the Anonymous, right?” Akal asked.
Yadleen didn’t know whether to feel relish or pity at the grimace that danced across Rajeev’s face. Clearly, he hadn’t just heard of those rakshasa monks. He’d probably been ambushed by one of their street preachers when he entered the city.
Akal caught the expression, too. “Good, you know. Then you also know that you don’t know I’m a Hegemony agent. All you really think you know is that I’m a rakshasa who’s squatting in the High Necromancer’s property, stealing the identity of your cousin, and performing back-alley necromantic research. Not exactly an honorable individual, but …” Again, his looked to Yadleen. “… we know how Babaji feels about killing over honor. How would your grandmother feel about it?”
The silence stretched. Rajeev closed his eyes. With a heavy sigh, he hid the flare away once more. “All right. Get up.”
Akal’s grin widened even further. He sprang up and embraced Rajeev. “We truly are related, Cousin. You’ve got that Baig family morality running through you.”
“No. He finally accepted that he’s wrong,” Yadleen scoffed.
“Neither.” Rajeev heaved Akal off himself. “If you saw Yadleen’s memory at the Well, then either you’ve been a rakshasa this whole time, or you ripped the memory out of the real Akal. Either way, you’ve had enough time to expose us. There’s no point in killing you.”
Akal clasped Rajeev’s arm. “In all earnestness, Cousin – no hard feelings. I’d do the same, if I were in your shoes. One can’t be too careful about rakshasas.”
“Don’t encourage him!” Yadleen signaled the warrior-wight to stand at-ease.
Throwing his arm around Rajeev’s shoulder, Akal said, “Don’t take Yadleen’s skepticism personally, either. She plays by the rules, after all. Rakshasas slip right by people like her.”
“Excuse me?” Yadleen spluttered.
A small part of her whispered the Akal was just toying with Rajeev, to keep the alchemist from whipping out the flare again. That didn’t excuse him smearing her to do it. She noticed rakshasas are readily as anyone else. It wasn’t like they concealed their identities.
And I need to play by the rules, Akal. One of us needs to think about how our actions affect Master Baig.
Rajeev shrugged off Akal’s arm. “All right … Cousin. You made your point. Now, you said something about packing, didn’t you?”
“And once you’ve gotten all this rubbish out, you can bring the equipment we’ll need in. It’s the least you can do,” Yadleen snapped.
Akal winced. He offered Yadleen an apologetic smile, as if he thought that would be enough to undo his dismissive comments. When Yadleen glowered back at him, he wheedled, “Yes. Certainly. I’ll need to bring Cyrus over here anyway to haul all the cages out. Won’t be any trouble at all to bring a bigger maceration vat and better wires while I’m at it. Will that suffice?”
“It’s a start.” Yadleen spun away at swept down the stairs. At the top, she paused and added, “And while you’re at it, repair the labor-wight we brought with us. I want to get my deposit back.”
Before Akal could make any more inadequate peace offerings, she stormed out of the townhouse.
Thank you for reading! Chapter 12 Part 1 arrives November 13th!
If you’d like to learn more about the Kimian Empire, you can find more stories here!