Oszin

I guess I just wasn’t all that surprised when Izeria showed up to my cell the morning I thought we were traveling north. She had a few very muscular guards behind her, but they hung back. The queen seemed to enjoy taking care of business personally.

“So,” she said. “You tried to talk to Seron. You tried to remind him about Queen Himika, didn’t you? I know it must have been you. Do you think that letting you out of here wasn’t a test?”

“Do you think I cared?”

“I had to throw the strongest stuff I had at Seron to get him under control. He wouldn’t sleep with Emiri despite the heavy influence of the kulum mist. Who is this queen of yours that you don’t want other women? But when I cast a spell on him to twist his feelings against the person he loves the most, it was your king he mentioned, not the queen. The king stole his throne from him, and made him share his woman, yet Seron still loves him more than anyone. That makes no sense to me.”

“Then, you don’t understand any of them very well,” I said. “From what I know of Aurekdel and Seron and Himika…they’re much stronger together. Aurekdel never stole anything from Seron. Aurek never knew Seron was the real king.”

“Oh, I highly doubt that. When people need power they will always choose that over love.”

“That’s not true.”

“You’re very trusting,” she said. “But that crafty king planned it. He’s a good liar. He lost his sight, what else does he have to fight with?”

“I guess if you want to think that, who am I to stop you?” Now I really saw why Ezeru was so slow to trust. Yeah, no one around here trusted each other at all.

“Well…lucky for you. The mist I gave Seron will turn his love to hate. He will kill Aurekdel. Yes, actually, it makes sense that his mind would target Aurekdel, because there is plenty of reason for love to turn to hate there. Maybe he will spare Himika. You will have to pray that is true.”

I guess a part of me thought Seron was invincible. I thought if I told him Himika’s name, he would remember his love for her, and he would find some way to break out. Then, it would all be worth it, even if something happened to me. I had some kind of dumb faith that good would prevail in the end or something, even though Himika’s father had already been killed. I really should know that sometimes, you can’t make it out.

Izeria was staring at me. I remembered, suddenly, that something was going to happen to me.

“What do you love more, Oszin? Your eyes, your hands, your tongue, your cock?”

“I need some time to think on that one,” I said. I don’t know how I managed to be so light-hearted when I knew it was all over. Now I realized it was the end, so…might as well, huh? This was a horrible, horrible failure and I felt oddly calm.

“If you can’t decide, I’ll take all four,” she said.

“My—tongue,” I said.

“All right,” she said softly.

I mean… At least I could still protect Himika and love her. If she’d have me, like that. I needed eyes and hands and a cock, for sure. Aurek managed to protect her all right without eyes, but I wasn’t Aurek.

The guards grabbed me and pulled a hood over my head.

My thoughts were getting very garbled and stupid. Moth is going to be really furious if I come home without a tongue. Would she say I should have gone for the eyes instead? But…no. They’re not even going to be nice blind eyes, they’re going to be gouged out or something. Wait, but Aurek said that the dragons make very realistic glass eyes too, so there’s that. Or are hands better? Nah. Not hands. Hands do all sorts of useful things. And definitely not the cock.

What hurts more, I wonder?

Gods…please. Please. Spare me.

At least help me not to scream too loud.

Could I fight? Could I kill myself somehow?

Is that better?

Holy shit. I’m actually thinking this through.

They dragged me into the throne room just like they’d done to Ijaru’s father, but I didn’t hear all the murmuring court. The room sounded pretty empty. I heard a few sets of footsteps shuffling around. It sounded like maybe there was one rock dragon slave scurrying around, and perhaps a few onlookers or guards. I didn’t smell any mist either.

“Come, Tanu,” Izeria said.

“Yes, my queen.”

I heard Seron stepping out of the shadows. His voice sounded dead. With the hood on my head, he wouldn’t recognize me. They had really fucked him up, somehow or other.

“Hold him tight,” Izeria said to the guards. “He said he wants to lose his tongue.”

The first two guards were holding my arms already, and now a couple more guards piled on, lifting the hood enough to grab my jaw and pry it open. I tried to twist and bite. They shoved something in my mouth so it couldn’t shut anymore. I struggled and someone slugged my stomach. I vomited painfully, unable to shut my mouth. I thought I would choke. I couldn’t see anything that was coming. Even when I retched on them, the guards didn’t let go.

I’d never been so scared in my life.

Izeria walked over to Tanu. “I want you to do it. Show me your strength.”

Truly, there was nothing I could do, because there were too many of them, and if I couldn’t speak or show my face, I knew Seron’s spell would hold. Even if Seron hesitated at the idea of cutting out my tongue, one of these other guards would do it. Izeria told me she wouldn’t kill me. But now I wished she would.

Just end it. Gods, just end it.

But even then, I thought of Himika’s face in tears. I suddenly knew that even if I was maimed, she would still love me. She would be gentle with me. I didn’t want to cause that dear girl any pain, when I had stood beside her for years of her own crippled bones and seen her cry and then pick herself up again.

Gods, lend me strength.

A big hand grabbed my tongue.

“Go on,” Izeria said.

“Why—am I doing this?” Seron asked. I heard a little glimmer of him fighting through the spell.

“Because this man is a spy for the high dragon king. We don’t want him to be able to talk anymore. He’s already said enough.”

Still, there was hesitation.

“How do I do it when he keeps moving around?“

“Best to just do it quickly,” one of the guards said. “And then we’ll cauterize—”

A door burst open, just as I thought I might shit myself. All the descendants of Kamiri slaves know, there is no dignity in torture and pain. My grandfather used to say it will strip a strong man down to nothing. He said he could never forget the sight of his own father being lashed by Gaermoni guards until his back was turned to battered meat and rivers of blood as he cried for mercy. I never really even knew what he was beaten for.

“What are you doing?” Rothair asked.

“Punishing this young man.”

“Zeze, we need to go. I have everything arranged. The wagons are waiting with the attu harnessed. The people are standing around with bags in their hands and babies on their backs. And you’re in here messing around. What is this about?”

“This man is a spy and a traitor!” she said. “Don’t call me Zeze.”

He walked up to her. “I think you’re just upset that Ezeru isn’t here. Is that it? But we don’t need him. I have all of this under control. Very good things are happening.”

“But—”

“You don’t need Ezeru,” Rothair repeated.

“But he was…he was my son.”

“He’s a rock dragon,” Rothair said.

Izeria swallowed heavily. “He’s not just a rock dragon.”

“He is far too much of a rock dragon and the sight of him disgusts me,” Rothair said in a louder voice.

“You were heartless. Just like our father. You could just throw him away like he was nothing to you. I thought I needed to be heartless too, just to toughen him up, and instead all I did is make him hate me, the way I hated Father.”

“Zeze, Father wasn’t heartless. Didn’t he toughen you up, after all? Or maybe not. You were just a girl then and you’re acting like one now,” Rothair said. “Grow up. You’re better than this. You became a queen. Be proud of yourself. You don’t need some rock dragon to be strong, all you need is us. I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long, but I’ve been building the alliances we need with the human mages. And now we have a job to do. First of many. Cutting out the rot, one by one. And then we’ll rule the world. But we don’t have time for this. We have to move right now, and it’s going to take too much time to tend the wounds. You can get this done when we get to the northern gate. Anyway, the court will feel cheated if they don’t get to watch.”

As they talked, I looked at Seron. I tried to find the man I knew. There was that glimmer, and then it was gone. He was a husk of himself. When someone dies, the light goes out of their eyes. He was like a reanimated corpse.

Izeria hurt him this badly… She spared nothing.

She sounded exhausted as she said, “All right…fine, but…this is my kindgom. I am the queen. I could halt everything if I wanted to. I could make them all wait for me.”

“Well, I would hope you are a wise queen who realizes we need to get going,” he said. “C’mon, Tanu. You can walk with me.” Rothair clapped my shoulder and I flinched head to toe. “And you get a break, human. Enjoy your tongue this week.”