Hearts in Zenith (Four Husbands and a Lover)

47. Scorched by the Sun

Parneres, I had finally found Parneres! This thought bounced in my head all the way to the outskirts of Tongola—Bhar's capital. There, on an empty lot, my three thousand troops labored to set up a proper military camp. The air was desiccating. The heat was oppressive. As much as I wished to remove myself into shade and dream about what I would say to Parneres, I dismounted and walked through the lines of tents, calling out encouragement. Fine dust that rose from every step taken and every peg driven into the ground filled my lungs until my voice collapsed into a cough.

My High Scribe, half-mummified by age already, seemed the only woman impervious to heat. She sunk her crooked fingers into me, eager to explain what the Queen had meant and how our situation in Bhar was particularly delicate.

"Phedoxia, we're foreign mercenaries crashing a nationalistic rebellion in the name of the Imperial Crown. I don't expect to be showered with rose petals." I unhooked her from my cloak digit by digit. "If the Divines are willing, the Queen's agent will lead us to the Scorpia Cult's secret hideout and we'll be done before the ground burns under our feet."

"And if we are not so lucky in our allies?" Phedoxia eyes burrowed into my face.

If we were very, very lucky, the agent was Parneres, and I was about to kill his cousin for good--but, naturally, I couldn't confess this to Phedoxia.

"If not, we set the ground on fire under their feet." I squinted at the white disk in the sky, coated in the shimmering daze. "Unless Tashaya's sun gets us all first."

Phedoxia scoffed. "I wouldn't count on it, Commander. Bhar is an ancient land accustomed to both Tashaya's wrath and favors. They are tenfold harsher on us."

I breathed air shimmering from heat and surveyed the terrain more closely. Phedoxia wasn't wrong. Tongola was built in praise of Divine Tashaya. The stark shadows of Their sunlight enhanced the geometric patterns on the mud-brick houses of the living. The blackstone pyramids of the dead Queens and the temples across the least expected river in the world--the mighty Jteru--boasted their perfection of form against the backdrop of cloudless sky. The crystal obelisks between them turned sunlight into multicolored rays, shifting in response to Tashaya's progress to form more and more patterns.

The countryside didn't expend the same monumental efforts to serve their patron Divine, but was in its own way adapted to Their excesses. Patches of green still clung to crevices of the rugged hills and deeply incised valleys left by the flash floods, but mostly I saw brown, beige and rust. The houses sprung haphazardly around the spider webbing canals and fields of barley. My scouts would have no problems hiding, but neither would our foes.

"Tashaya would be harder on us," I said with a sigh. "Did you obtain the maps with the locations of all the water wells from the Queen's Scribes?"

Phedoxia nodded. "Yes, but I don't trust this Queen or her Scribes."

"Surprise, surprise," I muttered. "If you find any concrete evidence of foul play, I want to know."

She saluted, and I ducked into the largest tent with the Deadhead Company standards in the front. Inside, the heat was a fraction less oppressive than out. And a rust-colored cat stood at attention in Ondrey's lap. It opened its mouth wide and hissed at me. Ondrey scratched one sail-like ear. "Hush, this is my wife, Killer. She won't eat you either."

To confirm his words, I ignored the cat and pounced on the cup waiting on the table instead.

"Thank you, sweetheart," I said after draining the tepid wine he set out for me. It was barely diluted, for safe water was more scarce here.

Being born on the shores of the Shining Gulf, I didn't deal with thirst well. I could go without food for days, but lack of water made me ill in a matter of hours. I prayed for Phedoxia to secure a plentiful water source before I drank myself into madness. Licking the last of the grape's sour moisture from my lips, daydreaming of chilly clear water, I murmured, "You got a cat. Of course, you got a cat."