Those Who Walk the Flame Road
The evening wind played over Hugo’s face as he stared out at the sea. He let out a long sigh, feeling suddenly like Ryuan was with him even though that was impossible.
Hugo rubbed his eyes, but he could still see her standing next to him when he looked again, pointing ever northwards with her pale index finger. Her hands were pruned from doing washing, just as they’d been on the day he’d seen her last.
The months and years that followed his parting from Ryuan were a jumbled mess of violence, hatred, and self-discipline. He found Oru Zan again and underwent training in the army to become a Talsh taku--a spy, though the word in Talsh meant ‘hawk.’ He’d risen so high in the army that he now served Second Prince Raul himself.
Hugo was helping Prince Raul plan an invasion of the northern continent. Looking back on his life, this outcome seemed impossible. But Hugo had learned a great deal during his experiences in the army. He’d learned about governance, human nature, and betrayal, and understood that Yogo had been done in by the greed of its rulers and the meekness of its people. It had been conquered by Talsh manipulation and tactics, yes, but that wouldn’t have been possible if Yogo’s rulers and people had stood firm and united.
So Hugo no longer blamed Talsh for the destruction of his home. Or at least, not only Talsh. The world was more complicated than that. He’d learned from Ryuan that there was a world that most people couldn’t see. He could see less of that world than she could, and that lesson made him look for the unseen in the ordinary world. There was so much that was not just unknown, but unknowable.
However, Hugo was encouraged by the idea of going north. The changing tides Ryuan had told him about so long ago were reaching out to pull him in, and he didn’t plan to resist. Resisting a tidal wave or a whirlpool was fruitless: he was just one man. He’d live longer and discover more by going along with the flow than he would by fighting it.
He had also lost his taste for violence and destruction over the years. What he saw in war zones now was potential: broken walls could be rebuilt, fallow fields could be planted with new wheat, and children could be born as a new generation that knew nothing of the terror and senselessness that came before. People could not be as neatly replaced as a wall--Hugo knew that as well as anyone--but, having lost the most important relationships in his life, he’d been compelled to seek out new bonds and allegiances. That they weren’t as deep as important as the ones he’d lost was irrelevant.
Hugo stood on the ship’s deck, impatient to get moving. The third messenger hawk that the ship was waiting for was coming from Kanbal, but it was possible that the snows had already started on the northern continent. Kanbal was known for its long winters. If the bird was caught in a blizzard, that would explain the delay. Perhaps the hawk wouldn’t return at all.
He thought about Crown Prince Chagum as he’d last seen him and shook his head. He’d hoped to use Chagum as a seed to plant his own plans... and it was still possible that Chagum would serve that purpose.
I’m sure the hawk will return.
If anyone could reach the northern continent on his own, it was Crown Prince Chagum. And if anyone could find him after that, it was Balsa--the bodyguard his mother had hired to protect him as a boy. She was still alive, as far as Hugo knew, and everyone on the southern continent had heard the story of the bodyguard and the water spirit.
What do I do now?
He couldn’t face Prince Raul now. He’d allowed Crown Prince Chagum to escape. He would be imprisoned and tortured, like before, and he might not even live through it this time.
The thought of that didn’t worry him very much. He should be dead several times over. If he was meant to survive, he would.
There was a flash of light like fire streaking across the sky. Startled, Hugo looked up--and then smiled.
They were shooting stars. “Urora sura,” he muttered in his native language. The light partially illuminated the many sandworms that swam in the wake of the ship’s passage. He followed the trail of light and saw the outline of a very large fish in the far distance.
Only... was that actually a fish? It had legs and arms and was suspiciously human-shaped.
Taramu were drawn to the heat and fire of the stars falling. Hugo saw a few of them near the ship. “Taramu...” Hugo wondered if Crown Prince Chagum had seen them, or if he could. Maybe they would help guide him to safety, like they’d helped Hugo once. Even if the taramu didn’t help Crown Prince Chagum, Hugo was determined to keep the path to the north open to him.
The figure of Ryuan was still there next to him, wreathed in pale fire that didn’t burn. Hugo felt the warmth of Ryuan and Yoar’s care for him even from the great distance of space and time.
Hugo turned his back to Crown Prince Chagum as the sun crested the horizon, burning a white halo of light in the eastern sky.
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