flames, then raised his hands again, and the sen'ants began to throw the
pages into the fire. parchment darkened and curled in the suddenly white
flame. "Piny embers flew out into the air, glowing and going dark,
fireflies at sunset. The horror of it all closed his throat, and with it
came a strange elation.
A hand touched his arm, and Utah looked at the Galtic general. 't'here
were tears in his eyes too.
"It was necessary," he said.
The night candles were burned down past their first quarter before Utah
found his way hack to his rooms. Kivan was already asleep, her face
smooth and peaceful. He resisted the urge to touch her, to pull her
awake and hope that some of that calm might come with her. It wouldn't.
Ile knew that. Instead he watched the subtle rise and fall of her
breath, listened to the small sounds the tunnels made in the darkness,
the soft flow of air. Ile thought of crawling in beside her, still in
his robes, pressing his eyes closed until forgetfulness took him as
well. But he needed to perform one last errand. He rose quietly and left
by the hack passage, down deeper into the earth.
The physician rose when he caught sight of Utah, taking a welcoming pose
so quietly that the rustle of cloth in his robes seemed loud. Utah
replied with one that asked a question.
"I le's well," the physician said. "The poppy milk makes him sleepy, but
it stops the cough."
"May I?" Utah asked.
"I think he'll never rest unless you do. But it would be best if he
didn't speak overmuch."
1)anat's room was warm and close. The night candle fluttered and glowed
in its glass case. Great iron statues of hunting cats and a hear risen
on his hack feet radiated heat from the fires in which they'd been kept
all through the day. His boy sat up unsteadily, smiling. Utah went to
his side.
"You should be asleep," Otah said, smoothing the hair from Uanat's brow.
"You were supposed to read to me," the boy said. His voice was scratchy
and thick, but not as had as it had been. Otah felt tears in his eyes
again. He could not bring himself to say that the hooks were all gone,
the stories all made ash. "Lie back," he said. "I'll do what I can."
Grinning, Danat dropped to his pillows. Otah took a long, unsteady
breath and closed his eyes.
"In the sixteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Adani Bch," Otah
murmured, "there came to court a boy whose blood was half Bakta, his
skin the color of soot, and his mind as clever as any man who has ever
lived . . ." I)anat made a small sound of pleasure and closed his eyes,
his hand seeking out Otah's fingers.
Otah went on as long as he could before his memory failed him, and then
he began to invent.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An Autumn War is the third novel of the Long Price Quartet by Daniel
Abraham. The first two are A Shador" in Summer and A Betrayal in Winter.
He has published stories in the Ianishing Acts, Bones of the IW'oorld,