ONC 2024 Shortlister
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Just one week before his marriage with a chief bloodshaman of the Kurat's army, young surgeon Genul sees his wife, Kenit, die under his care after a terrorist attack launched by the neighboring nation.
As o...
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He couldn't win, Genul realized. A naturally strong opponent, playing on a known field and seeing dozens of moves ahead of Genul, the regent was practically invincible to him.
Genul had remained in the bushes long after the regent had abandoned the fighting square, crestfallen and his knees pressed on the ground. One of the lanterns bordering the square still burned, drawing shifty red shapes on the ground where Genul's gaze lost itself. His mind was tangled in an infernal loop, trying to find a solution, thinking and rethinking, but always finding holes and mistakes in the schemes he drew.
If he was successful in fleeing the Jyrhill, he could find an anonymous life as a Lyr in Lomu. But that would rule out all his chances of ever entering the palaces again. He could wait for an attack on the regent's convoy when he came to visit the city of Lomu. But that was putting too much faith in the when. As such, it was a wish, not a plan. And a daring plan to make when Fate seemed to have a twisted pleasure crushing his hopes. He could still play the regent's game and kill him tomorrow when he went to prepare his bath. By drowning him in his tub and then stabbing him. But where would he keep the blood preserved? The regent had found his Oluva pouch in the forest...
"You'll remain there for the whole night?" Lady Kashira asked from behind him.
Genul had been so lost in his thoughts that he had not heard her approach.
"How can you let your compatriots be imprisoned by the enemy and die in such barbaric conditions?" he asked images of the spy in the underground of the great dome flashing in his mind. "Instead, you entertain the regent's sadistic schemes. Are you here in the royal fields of Lomu for the good reasons?"
Lady Kashira paced around Genul and halted in front of him. She crouched, her eyes locking Genul's, then she turned to her thick sleeves, touched them gently, and began rolling them up, revealing the intricate patterns of the occult, powerful fleshpaths that consisted of a tangle of tattoos spanning all over her arm. Complex, yet unmistakably clear.
"I am a Sister of the Congregation of Fate. Was one, if you want to be strict about it. Born Kuratian like you, I made many bloodshamans even before my preparation to become a High Shaman. And all it took was one drop of blood, using one drop of human blood one miserable week before I obtained my official status as a High Shaman, and I passed from a great asset for the army to a dangerous witch condemned to be beheaded. Unlike you, I didn't have a diplomat's daughter to help me cross the border. I struggled for long weeks evading the forces of orders before I could get to Lomurat. I know hunger and thirst."
Genul shook his head. "This is revenge then?"
"Take it how you will, Genul. But it stands that when I was debilitated and emaciated, the same guards captured here in Lomu while working under the orders of Governor ApLeni are the same ones who would hunt down a Sister of Fate wrongfully accused of using human blood."
