Page 141 of Earthbound

‘And the peace treaty?’ she asked tentatively.

‘Peace is all I have ever wanted, but the other chieftains were hard to convince. Now the fae are refusing to engage with us at all,’ Malak said.

‘Where are the other chieftains?’

‘There was an outbreak of the wasting pox, and sadly the three chieftains were the first to get sick. They’re being sequestered until the disease passes.’

‘The wasting pox?’ Lettle instinctively cradled her left arm. ‘There was an outbreak?’

‘Yes, sadly it struck Mosima too.’

Lettle’s grip tightened on the wrinkled flesh above her elbow where the disease had eaten away at her muscles.

Malak’s hand went to his shoulder, removing a speck of lint from his uniform.

The half-moon seeks to own the night.

‘Those wearing the Waning uniform–they’re your personal army?’ she said.

‘They’re part of the Waning army who report to me, if that’s what you mean?’

Lettle leaned back and crossed her ankles. ‘You may have played Yeeran like this, but I’m not my sister.’

Malak laughed but didn’t answer.

This is all a game to him.

She knew then that Malak was far more dangerous than he seemed.

Candles, like the ones Namana made from beeswax, burned low on the desk in front of her. She reached for one, dipping her fingers into the warm wax–knowing the pain that would follow but deeming it worth it for the sensation.

‘You don’t use fraedia?’ she said.

Malak scowled, and it completely transformed his affable face into something bitter.

‘Fraedia? Fool’s gold. It is tainted by the blood of so many.’

Lettle was surprised. ‘An end to poverty. An end to the war. Food and peace are what we fight for,’ she chanted Salawa’s old mantra.

Malak’s scowl only deepened. ‘Fraedia was just a front for Salawa’s greed. Motogo’s too. They wanted the Bleeding Field because they wanted to own the land.’

Once again, Malak had surprised her. ‘Yet you are a soldier, laying siege to the fae for their fraedia.’

He shook his head. ‘No, I told you, I want peace. War has taken everything from me.’ He looked to the painting on the wall, then away again.

‘Then end it.’

Malak’s eyes flashed. ‘It’s not that simple. I am one man.’

‘From what I can see, you’re staging a coup.’

Lettle gathered from his expression that he didn’t expect her to have worked out his plans so quickly. But it was obvious once she had seen it.

Malak stood up and walked to the painting made by his son. He didn’t speak again.

‘If you don’t tell me what your plan is, then I won’t be able to support you when I talk to Yeeran–which is what I assume you want from me?’

He turned and looked to her, and she thought that this was the first time she’d truly seen the real him. His eyes were alight with a fevered glory unique to those with unmatched ambition. His smile was wide but touched with a mania that reminded Lettle of the many soldiers she’d seen affected by war. Then he spoke and her stomach sank. ‘Mosima must join the Elven Lands.’