Dauntless, p.1
Dauntless, page 1
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To Isa. Be dauntless.
CHAPTER 1
The valiant who met Seri at the entrance to the command hall was a woman. She was on the short side, energetic, with close-cropped black hair. Her name was Raya, and her armor—heavy, dark-colored, and decorated with several menacing spikes—seemed entirely at odds with her cheerful personality. There was a mark on her face just below her right eye, the symbol for courage in the face of danger. She eyed Seri with no small amount of skepticism as Seri stammered out an explanation for why she was there.
“Yes,” she said, when Seri finished. “Captain Turi said something like that in his reports. You’re the new aide.”
Seri nodded slowly. She clutched the wooden chit the captain had given her in one hand, feeling the edges press into the skin of her palm. She had no idea what she had done during the journey to make the captain think she was worthy of this role. All she’d done was keep an inventory of their supplies, and she had a feeling they’d only assigned her that task to keep her out of the way.
“Turi had good things to say about your work.” Raya watched as Seri shifted uncomfortably on the platform outside the door, still dressed in the damp, mud-spattered clothes that had seen her through five days in the rainforest. “Come in. The commander’s office is this way.”
The headquarters was simple as far as buildings went, but after five days in the wild, it seemed an unimaginable luxury. Seri’s mind was spinning, trying to make sense of rooms and structure and not the chaotic tangle of trees, roots, and vines that made up the world below. She was sure she was staring and quickened her step, not wanting Raya to think she was dawdling. If Raya had noticed Seri’s lapse of attention, she didn’t show it, opening the door to a room at the end of a hall and stepping back to let Seri peer inside.
The room smelled strongly of ink and the oil the valor used to tend to their armor. Inside it, Seri could see a low writing desk with a well-worn cushion placed in front of it. A cot rested in the corner of the room under swathes of insect netting, neatly folded and put away.
Seeing Seri’s gaze drawn to it, Raya spoke up.
“The commander’s using the office as her quarters at the moment. We haven’t gotten around to building the barracks yet, and the valor wouldn’t hear of her sleeping outside. Don’t worry, though. With as little time as she spends in here, you’re not likely to bump heads.”
“Um…,” Seri said. Her mouth was dry—she wondered if she should have stopped to get a drink of water before racing all the way up here. “What exactly am I supposed to do?”
“Turi didn’t explain?”
Seri shook her head. “He said that Commander Eshai”—even saying the name out loud did not help any of this feel real—“that the commander needed a personal assistant. And he thought that I would be a good fit.”
Raya frowned in thought, cupping her chin. “Hmm. Well, you’re to help the commander keep herself organized and on schedule and help her with anything else she requires.” She inclined her head toward the writing desk. “The commander should have a list of things that need doing somewhere in that mess.”
“Where is she right now?”
“On patrol. She should return soon. I’ll leave you to it, but I’ll be outside if you need anything.”
With a nod, she left, Seri lingering in the doorframe. Seri took a deep breath to steady herself before walking forward, feeling the gentle give and sway of new flooring beneath her feet. She dropped her pack and knelt beside the cushion, not wanting to dirty it with her traveling clothes. The desk was made of new wood, like everything in the settlement. She could still smell the resin and sap.
Less than a week ago, she had been a nobody in her home village, just another face in the crowd when Captain Turi and a few other valiants had come through. It was the last stop on their tour of the border villages, looking for volunteers willing to settle a new spreading tree. Now, she was sitting in front of Eshai Unbroken’s desk. Eshai Unbroken, the youngest person in history to command an entire valor. A whole company of valiants, sworn to protect the People. The girl who had slain a legend.
Seri pinched herself, but when the world failed to dissolve, she realized she wasn’t dreaming. Feeling oddly disrespectful, she reached out, sorting through the scraps of rough-pressed paper and the wooden chips the valor favored for their expeditions, before finally pulling out a string of small boards, each one with writing on them. They were tasks, as Raya had promised. A few looked simple enough—“Set up platforms for the settlers,” “Name the settlement,” “Arrange patrols.” Others looked a little more complicated—“Found provisional government,” for one. Another was simply labeled “Turi???” Some of them had been scratched through with what looked like the point of a knife, in a vicious way that suggested satisfaction. Many of them—most of them—looked untouched.
She was still sorting through them, letting unfinished tasks dangle from her fingers, when she heard someone clear her throat from the doorway. Seri startled and dropped the boards, letting them clatter onto the desktop.
A girl stood at the door. She was young, somewhere in her late teens, and taller than Raya. Seri wouldn’t have immediately called her pretty, although she was striking in her own way. If Seri had seen her out on the street, she might have marked her for a valiant, but not for a hero. That was, of course, if Seri hadn’t seen the pale, milky white of her armor, the marks that snaked their way up what was visible of her arms, marks of excellence and leadership and resourcefulness in battle that stood out sharply against her brown skin.
She wore her hair long, which was a vanity Seri wouldn’t have expected. Black as night and straighter than Seri could ever hope to get hers. It fell to the small of her back, cutting through the white of her armor.
She realized she was staring and scrambled to her feet, thrusting her hands behind her. The valiant tilted her head to the side, unamused.
“So, you’re the one Raya and Turi decided to foist on me. What was your name?”
“S-Seri, Commander.”
The valiant sighed, stepping into the room. She loosened the ties on her gloves, slipping the armor off her hands. The name-mark on the back of her right hand read ‘star.’
“There’s no need to call me ‘Commander.’ You aren’t part of my valor. I’m Eshai. But from the way you’re acting, you’ve figured that much out already.”
Seri nodded, her heart thudding. She hoped her nerves didn’t show on her face. Eshai put her gloves down on the desk, flexing her fingers and gently rotating her right wrist. Seri wondered if something was bothering her. An injury?
Noticing her gaze, Eshai gave her a chagrined smile.
“Hurt it in a training session. Most of the valor fight well enough to keep me on my toes. I hope that doesn’t disappoint you too much.”
“N-Not at all.” Seri looked away. “I didn’t mean to stare.”
Eshai sighed. “It’s fine. If we’re going to work together, you can stop being so skittish. I don’t bite.”
“Yes, Com—” She caught herself, her face warming. “Er, ma’am.”
Eshai rolled her eyes, but the gesture was almost fond. She slid her gloves back on without looking at them. “Well, come on. I’ll give you a tour of the settlement. If you’re going to assist me, you should know what we’re up against.”
* * *
The settlement—Seri’s new home—was in rough shape. The spaces where the settlers were supposed to make their homes were nothing more than naked platforms suspended among branches in the spreading tree, the bridges rickety, makeshift things that swayed alarmingly when Seri walked on them. Eshai didn’t even notice, leading her across the bridges as if they walked on solid earth, but Seri held on to the rope railings with a death grip. The town hall, a large structure in the central square, had four walls and a roof but was otherwise bare on the inside except for a serviceable kitchen. For all the comforts they had, they might as well be camping out in the rainforest.
But the air was cleaner and cooler up here. And if the civilian architecture was roughshod, anything belonging to the valor was solid. The barracks hadn’t been built yet, but a platform had been designated for the purpose, and there were tarps spread over it to keep off the rain. Although there weren’t many buildings, there were ballistae, great huge bows that fired arrows as large as spears, mounted so that at least two of them could be trained on any enemy that approached the village at any time.
It was necessary, Eshai explained when Seri stopped to stare. They were in the borderlands, and while the innermost parts of the known world had mostly been cleared of any beast too dangerous, the same couldn’t be said for this place. A lone beast wouldn’t be too much of a challenge, but they tended to hunt in packs. In that case, winning a battle became a question of speed.
“You may think you understand beasts, but the beasts of the known world are tame compared to what’s out here,” Eshai said, her expression growing distant as she looked out at the endless expanse of green. “There are beasts here straight out of children’s stories, beasts with power no one in the known world has ever seen. If you want to survive out here, you need to remember that.”
Seri nodded, her stomach churning at the mention of strange beasts. She knew all too well how true that was.
Eshai looked at her, and might have been about to say something more, but a valiant who Seri didn’t recognize leapt from one of the nearby branches with inhuman agility, landing on their platform. Seri stumbled, nearly falling over from the impact. Eshai barely moved, turning her head toward him.
“Commander,” the valiant said, not sparing Seri a second glance. “Zani and I found something while on patrol. Something that we think you should see.”
“Danger?” Eshai asked, one hand already reaching for the long spear strapped across her back.
“Not at the moment. It’s just odd. And closer to the settlement than we’d like.”
Eshai’s fingers still hesitated over the shaft of her spear, but as Seri watched, she relaxed them, letting her hand fall back to her side. “Is it on the ground?”
“Yes, Commander.”
“All right,” Eshai said. “Lead the way.” To Seri she added, “You might as well come along. This could be educational.”
There was something in the way she said educational, something wry and sarcastic that had Seri’s stomach twisting itself into knots all over again. But she nodded, trailing along behind Eshai as the valiant led them both away.
* * *
The thing in the woods was a carcass. Not a beast carcass—Seri wasn’t sure she could have handled seeing that—but a monkey. It was curled around itself, its throat torn out. It looked like it had been there for a few days at least, and it stank. Seri coughed, turning her face away as she felt her gorge rise. Eshai spared her only a glance before walking toward the animal, her other two valiants close behind. They looked troubled, casting the trees around them a dark look. Seri didn’t understand why they were so bothered by a dead animal, but their unease was catching. She knew valiants were used to fighting beasts on the ground, but she wasn’t a valiant. Valiants had armor to protect them, armor that made them incredibly powerful in close combat. Seri had the clothes on her back and no weapon.
She stayed close to Eshai, keeping one hand over her nose and mouth.
Eshai used the shaft of her spear to turn the animal over, letting off a wave of noxious gas that made Seri’s eyes water. The wound was infested with maggots. She looked away, unable to watch. The ground squelched as Eshai bent down.
“A natural predator?” Seri heard her ask.
One of the valiants, the one that had approached Eshai, shook his head. “Predator would’ve eaten it, Commander.”
“Only a beast kills like this,” the second valiant said. He was an older man, his black hair streaked through with gray. Seri assumed he must be Zani.
“Monkeys usually manage to get away,” Eshai said. “Could this one have been slow? Or injured?”
Zani shook his head. “Blood on the branches. It was killed in the trees. And fell.”
Eshai’s gaze shifted from the creature to the trees, and with a sudden terrible certainty, Seri understood what the problem was. Beasts didn’t climb. They couldn’t. Shouldn’t. That was why the spreading trees were safe. The teachings echoed in her head.
The beasts roam the forest paths. Be cautious, child of the People.
“Double up patrols for the next three days,” Eshai said, her voice carrying the clear tone of command as she looked back at the other two. “Search for any evidence of this beast. Work in pairs—no one leaves the settlement alone. Inform the settlers of the extra precautions. If we’re lucky, it’s already decided to pass us by, but I’m not taking any chances.”
“Yes, Commander,” the valiants said, touching their hands to their hearts in salute.
* * *
On the way back to the settlement, Seri kept her eyes on the trees, unable to shake the feeling that they were being watched. Eshai kept her gaze fixed ahead of her as she walked, calm and confident. Seri didn’t know how Eshai could be so calm. The tension coiled inside her so tightly she thought she might burst. When she couldn’t take it any longer, she opened her mouth.
“There couldn’t possibly be a beast in the trees. Could there?”
“I’ve seen a lot of things that shouldn’t be possible out here,” Eshai said. “And beasts do occasionally get into the spreading trees. Sometimes they get desperate. They’re poor climbers and any valiant worth their armor would shoot them down before they made it halfway, but…” She shrugged, as if to say, things happen, but Seri wondered if a clumsy, desperate beast would have been able to kill something as nimble as a monkey.
She shivered, thinking back to the settlement, to the platforms open to the air, no walls yet, nothing but tarps to keep off the rain. “The settlement—”
“If you’re afraid, you can sleep in the command hall tonight. I’m probably going to work late, so I might need you.”
Relief flooded her, relief she immediately hated herself for. How could she feel relief at being able to rest within the safety of four walls when the other settlers would brave the open air? And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to turn Eshai’s offer down.
“We’ll have the other settlers stay inside the town hall for the next few nights,” Eshai said, as if reading her mind. “There will be guards on watch until we’re sure it’s safe. Take note of that in case I forget.”
“I—yes, ma’am,” Seri said, her fingers itching for something to write on. She made up her mind never to report to work without a writing board again. “I’ll remember.”
“Good,” said Eshai. “Ivai and Zani should be relaying my orders as we speak. I’ll address the valor during the evening muster. And you and I have work to do.”
She changed direction quickly, making Seri stumble to keep up.
“Work, ma’am?”
Eshai nodded. “I’ll be teaching you how to operate the ballistae. If you’re going to be at my side, you should know how to defend the village. What would you say to noon tomorrow? We should train when the light is best.”
The ballistae. Seri’s mind flashed back to those killing machines. And, as always, she thought of blood. Blood, on the grass, on her body. On Ithim.
Her stomach lurched, but she nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.”
CHAPTER 2
“Wake up, sprout. We’ve got work to do.”
Seri groaned, rising from a dream of running through the rainforest. She could still feel soft earth beneath her hands, smell rain on the air. Another one of those dreams. They had been coming to her more often since leaving the village. She shoved the thoughts away, rolling over onto her back. The floor was hard beneath her. At some point, she must have rolled off the pallet she had made up in the corner. She blinked up at the unfamiliar ceiling above her, momentarily confused, and then she remembered.
The settlement. They’d arrived. She was in Commander Eshai’s office.
Seri sat up, eyes wide, but Eshai was gone. Her cot was still there, tucked into a corner, but there was no sign of her. Instead, the same valiant who had met her yesterday stood before her—Raya, Seri remembered. Raya cocked her head to the side as Seri stared at her.
“Come on,” Raya said. “Up, up. You’re helping me fetch water.”
Seri rose, her legs a little unsteady. After five days of hard travel, her muscles were stiff and sore. She bent down to rub some life back into her limbs while Raya watched impatiently.
“I—I think I’m supposed to be helping Commander Eshai.”
Raya grinned. “The commander’s busy. And if you’re going to stay with the valor, you’ve got to work. Everyone does.”
Before she smiled, Seri would have said she had a face like a doll, heart-shaped and perfectly framed by short hair, a darker shade of brown than her skin. Adorable. When she smiled, Seri quickly revised that concept. Raya’s smile was like a panther baring its teeth.
