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.’‘Do you think they’re finally going to tell us if the rumour is true or not?’ I wondered aloud.Eighteen years ago, the first peace treaty in known history between Kaya and Pirenti was drawn up.Ten years after that, a rumour started.I had no idea where it originally came from, but it had seemed like an incredibly nasty rumour.A cruel whisper that no one could believe: that there might, somewhere, be a way to break the bond.As the rumour grew in strength, Kaya began to crumble.The very idea divided the regions, rekindling the oldest argument – was the bond a gift or a curse? Should we treasure it, or fight to survive it?I wanted to know the answer more than anyone, because if it was true, and there was a way to end the bond for all Kayans to come, then I was going to be the one to break the curse once and for all, and no warder’s magic, no army of berserkers – nothing at all in the entire world – would stop me.At the end of the public square was a raised wooden plinth.This was where they held award ceremonies and punishments.I’d seen a Pirenti man get hanged there, but that had been a long time ago.No one had been hanged since the peace treaty had started to properly take effect about ten years ago.Now the square was mostly saved for fairs and markets and performances, the countless swinging corpses of war just an unhappy, ghoulish memory that haunted the cobblestones.I fixed my eyes on the stage and begged the gods to let whatever was happening start soon.The sun, which I normally welcomed like a lover, was starting to become the worst kind of nightmare, seeping into my head and making it throb with blinding light.‘Can we go?’ I asked.‘This is stupid.’‘It’s your own fault,’ Jonah repeated.‘What’s my fault?’ I snapped.‘The sun? All these people? This stupid announcement?’‘No, drinking too much and acting like a sourpuss.’‘Sourpuss,’ Penn agreed with a secret giggle that nearly made me crack a smile.Just then the horn blew, and I groaned aloud in gratitude.Several men walked onto the stage.The first man was the army general, Brathe.He was taller than most Kayans, and so bald that it hurt my eyes to look upon the glaring surface of his skull.Next came Sharn and Valerie, the two royal informants of the Emperor.They were always dressed the same – in the gold of their eyes when they looked at each other.For eight years people had protested the fact that a bonded couple were the two royal informants.It was unsafe.But the Emperor had never done anything about it, which had fuelled the rebels’ excitement about a world designed on the survival of the bond.Next came the head warder, Lutius.He was terrifying as always, though at this moment his eyes and skin were a normal colour.And lastly was a man who didn’t fail to grab everyone – everyone – in that square’s attention.I could feel the rustle move through the large crowd, the whispers and the fidgeting and the general disbelief.Because here – striding out onto the raised plinth for everyone to see – was a giant of a man, and he was unquestionably from Pirenti.There’d been no one born in Kaya who had ever looked like that, not since the dawning of the world.There was fear, then.Indelible fear.We weren’t ready.They should have warned us.Too many had died at the hands of the Pirenti pigs.For too many years we had fought in the wars against them.Even for those of us like Penn, Jonah and myself – who were too young to have seen any violence there was still a bone deep awareness of danger that came with seeing the northern giants.Parents and grandparents had been killed.Cousins and aunts and uncles.No family had been spared the savagery of the Pirenti.And not even peace, which was a constant relief, could erase the fear and the grief.He was a monster of a man.The second tallest man on that stage only came to his shoulder, and just barely.He must have been seven foot tall, at least.His chest was an enormous barrel, his arms muscled like tree-trunks.He wore his hair shaved very short, like all Pirenti soldiers did, and his skin was pale and ghostly as a Kayan’s would never be.‘Doesn’t the sun shine there?’ Jonah had asked a very long time ago when we’d been four or five years old.‘It’s hidden behind all the blood,’ my ma had replied.Beyond that I couldn’t see him very well, but there was something about him that made me forget my headache.‘Greetings!’ Sharn called to the assembled crowd.The public square was full – whatever news was announced this morning would be spread throughout Limontae by the time the sun went down.Of that there was no doubt – we loved to gossip, we Kayans.A shout of response came from the crowd – a gathered ‘Ho!’ that made Sharn grin.She glanced at her bondmate and whatever she saw there made her curb her smile [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]