6. Us Against Them

Marili stepped from her hiding place surrounded by shadowed shrubs. The Tamli kings looked up with a smile, bags of money around their shoulders.

“How could it be,” Beeris said as he bowed, “your beauty never ceases to amaze me?”

“I have little time. Ashorra will notice I’m gone,” she said.

The other kings also bowed to her. Marili looked sour.

“Why are you acting so stupid?” she sneered. “No, sorry, that’s mean. It’s me. Me. Cute Marili.”

“We are simply preparing our behavior,” Beeris said, “around the woman who will soon be queen of Schola.”

Queen? Soon? Ashorra was healthy and barely an adult. It would take centuries before—

She narrowed her eyes and whispered: “What … are you suggesting?”

Are opened the bag of money to reveal it didn’t contain money at all. He gave her a glass vial containing an odorous liquid. “Oh dear, poison such as this could end someone’s life quickly. It comes straight from the Poison Belt, source of the Poison Explosion. Let us hope it does not accidentally end up in someone’s dinner.”

Marili’s shaking trunk accepted the vial. Did she really want this? It would solve a lot. But—

The kings studied her, confused.

“Is this not what you wanted? Your messages told us Ashorra had gone completely mad. That you were nearly driven mad yourself!” Beeris pushed his head against hers. “Don’t tell me now that it was dramatic speech from a girl with a broken heart.”

Are pressed the poison more firmly into her grasp. “We had a vote, Marili. Gupra’s actions had impressed the Tamli. A leader prepared to fast until his subjects have eaten? We agreed that cooperation with the Gupramils might be the best move anyway.”

“Until your message came,” Beeris said. “We could have worked together with Gupra. Ashorra the Insane has to be removed instantly.”

Removed? Her heart pounced and her voice thundered across the clearing. “This is my husband you’re talking about.”

Yes, Ashorra had become more cruel. Especially without tiger Mero to keep him in check. But she still believed in his sweet heart, one that would make her happy. She didn’t know if it was true or if she was scared of the consequences if she broke her promises now.

The kings stepped backward. “We are sorry. We thought you still cared about your own folk, the Tamli.”

Marili studied the bags that did contain money. She hadn’t seen that much money in all her years with the Gupramils. Gupra had lived off almost nothing; whatever he had was distributed to the inhabitants of the city. She had only lived there for a year, but was already used to a much simpler life—the life of everyone who wasn’t an obscenely rich rhino trader.

“I care about the Tamli! You before them,” she said bitterly. “But why don’t you share your wealth? Why must so many animals in Schola die of hunger, while you literally play with your piles of gold?”

Candya shook with laughter, as his massive body was prone to do. “Crazy Marili. No rich without poor!”

Are supported him, tapping his own money. “You want this? You can have it, no problem. But not more, because then I think Candya is richer than I am, and I would never—”

“Garbage kings!” Marili yelled. She threw the poison vial back. Beeris caught it dangerously between his jaws, incredibly lucky to not break it and die himself.

She turned around. “Give that bag of money to the poor who can’t eat. And the next bag of money. Maybe that will help me believe you are better than the Gupramils.”

“As I feared,” Beeris said with a growl. “Each moment near them makes you more like them, and not one of us.”

She ran away—but they didn’t let her go. Beeris blocked her path forward, the other kings her exits to the side.

She jumped into the bushes. The kings dove after her.

They struggled in the dark. Branches and horns took turns pressing into her sides. Frustrated yells mixed with tired groans, until they were all drown out by a deafening boom.

The fight stopped. They looked to the side, to a pinprick of light that had appeared at the clearing. Somebody had shot a fireball at them, aimed at their precise location from several heartbeats ago, which now set the entire clearing ablaze.

The next assassination attempt directed at the Tamli kings, thwarted by shear luck. Stupid luck. Suspicious luck.

Marili grabbed the poison vial in her trunk and fled.

Ashorra stood with Ardex on the city walls. Since he knew that the ghosts represented someone’s Death, he could recognize them more easily and connect them to the right person. It made him less scared, for these Deaths were not his own. However often he looked over his shoulder, though, he could never see his own shadow.

“When you are born,” Ardex said, “a second creature is always born with you. Your Death or Deathmate. They’re everything you’re not. That’s why men have a female Death, and strong creatures have a weak Death.”

“But why?” Ashorra returned to the palace. He wanted to surprise Marili by coming home early for once and spending the night together. They shared so little time and he wanted to make up for that by giving her many kisses.

“Why? Well, because my parents, the Chiefgods, decided it was so. It’s a law of nature. Like gravity, or light, or—”

“You’re the God of Death, Ardex. You must have an idea?”

Ashorra walked through the streets in full armor, head high and eyes forward. Soldiers saluted him; merchants stepped aside. Finally, respect, as he always desired. Paid for by fear. But he’d be the one to unite Schola and take revenge against the Tamli.

“My parents,” Ardex said, “are also opposites of each other. One can only create, the other only destroy. This is similar. Whenever the universe creates life, it must create an equal amount of death, otherwise there’s no balance. So your Death is always with you. And the closer your Death gets …”

“Can I talk to my Death?”

Ardex shook his head. “I’m surprised you can even see them. You must be a descendant of Asha, who always had such gifts. But no, I don’t think you can talk to your Death, not until you truly understand her.”

They stepped through the palace gates. “Marili! I’m home!”

His voice echoed through empty halls. He trumpeted loud enough to startle Ardex. No response.

“If the Tamli did something to her,” he mumbled. “I’ll crush them. All of them!”

He ran up the stairs to their bedrooms. His guards lazily clung to the door, bored. A good sign or not?

He pushed aside the bedroom doors.

Marili stood in the center of the room with a bright red face. She placed some vial with a liquid on the table and used her tail to close the window.

A burden fell of his broad elephant shoulders.

No, no, don’t show that. You’re king! She’s just a pretty elephant.

“Marili, why did you not respond to me?”

“I’m tried.”

“You’re always tired.”

“Good night, sweety.” She fell onto a large, soft square in the floor that they called an elephant’s bed.

Ashorra was tempted to pull her out of there, but kept his calm. “Tomorrow you stand next to me on the battle field! As the king’s wife ought to do!”

She spoke softly, eyes cast downwards. “Yes, my king.”

“I’m sharpening our plans. The Tamli should feel our revenge in their bones!”

“Revenge will never amount to anything,” Ardex said, flames visible in his eyes.

“We are at war!”

“Wars only exist because stupid animals like you want revenge for everything! Because everyone thinks it is us against them.” Ardex turned away. “Everyone in Schola descends from the same handful of hunter gatherer tribes, like Asha. You are all family. But you … you draw a random line in the dirt and decide to kill each other over it!”

Candles in the room burned brighter in his rage. The shutters burst open with a clang.

Ashorra ran from the bedroom, to the war room, to sharpen those plans. But he secretly returned outside the room to eavesdrop.

Ardex spoke softly with Marili. “If I … if only I had a way to stop animals from thinking it’s us against them.”

“Stop that, sweet Ardex. You can’t solve everything. You already do the right thing by not interfering too much and not abusing your powers.”

“My parents called me the coldest demigod. Sometimes I’m afraid I will only prove them right.”

Oh Ashorra, they have become quite friendly, haven’t they? Ardex is going to steal your wife.

Don’t lie to yourself. If you anger Ardex, he’ll just kill you in your sleep, no effort needed. That god is the biggest threat to your life now.

Ashorra forced the thoughts to disappear. He’d forbid Marili from talking to Ardex ever again, but for now he had a Schola to unite through blood and weapons.