There Will Come a Darkness Read online

  The butcher sneered, closing his hand around the money. “You refugees think you can get by on our charity forever.”

  Hassan seethed. A small part of him wished he could reveal who he was to this butcher, to publicly castigate him for saying such things to the Prince of Herat. Instead, with a smile fixed in place, he said, “Your charity inspires us all.”

  The butcher’s jaw twitched, like he wasn’t sure if Hassan was mocking him or not. With a grunt and a nod, he returned to his stall.

  As soon as the butcher’s back was turned, the boy spun away from Hassan.

  Hassan caught him by the shoulder. “Slow down. We’re not done here. You weren’t really confused by the coins, were you?”

  The boy looked up sharply.

  “It’s all right,” Hassan said gently. “I’m sure you had a good reason.”

  “I wanted to get it for my mom,” the boy said. “Lamb stew is her favorite. But we haven’t had any since … since we left home. I thought if I could make it for her, it would make her feel like we were back there, and maybe she wouldn’t cry so much.”

  Hassan couldn’t help but think of his own mother, who was back home, though he would give anything to have her here with him. To comfort her, the way this boy, barely older than ten, wanted to comfort his own mother. To tell her everything would be all right. Or maybe to have her tell him that. If she was even still alive. She is, he thought. She has to be.

  He swallowed, looking down at the boy. “We’d better get this back to her, then. You’re in the camps, aren’t you?”

  The boy nodded. Together, they set off, Hassan’s anticipation growing as they trekked up the final stretch of the Sacred Road. The High City of Pallas Athos had been built into a mountainside, three tiers stacked on top of one another like a towering crown. The Sacred Gate welcomed them to the highest tier, upon which the agora spread out, overlooking the entire city.

  Above, the marble edifice of the Temple of Pallas gleamed, grander than any of the temples in Nazirah. Broad white steps led up the hillside to the temple portico, bracketed by rows of columns. Light spilled from the massive doors like a beacon.

  This was one of the six great monuments of the world, where the founder of this city, the Prophet Pallas, had once given guidance to the priests who ruled, and spread the word of his prophecies to the rest of the world. According to The History of the Six Prophetic Cities, people from all over the Pelagos continent used to come to the agora on pilgrimage to the City of Faith, to consecrate themselves with chrism oil and leave offerings of incense and olive branches on the steps of the temple.

  But no pilgrims had set foot here in the hundred years since the Prophets had disappeared. The structures of the agora—the storerooms, public baths, arenas, and acolytes’ living quarters—had begun to crumble and grow over with weeds and tall grass.

  Now, the agora was brimming with people and activity again. In the two weeks since the coup, Herati refugees had gathered here under the protection of the Archon Basileus and the Priests’ Conclave of Pallas Athos. This was the reason Hassan had left the villa—to finally see with his own eyes the others who, like him, had escaped Nazirah. People like this boy.

  The earthy scent of woodsmoke filled Hassan’s nose as he and the boy passed through the Sacred Gate and into the makeshift village. Tents, lean-tos, and crudely built shelters crowded the spaces between the weathered structures. Scraps of cloth and debris littered the dirt-caked ground. The wails of crying children and the brusque tones of argument punctuated the air. Straight ahead, a long line of people spilled out from a colonnaded structure, carrying jugs and buckets full of water, moving carefully to ensure that not a single precious drop was wasted.

  Hassan stopped, taking in the sight. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find in the agora, but it wasn’t this. He thought shamefully of the pristine gardens and palatial rooms in his aunt’s villa, while here, just over a mile away, his own people were crammed into crumbling, ramshackle ruins.

  Yet even in the overcrowded disarray, Hassan felt a pang of familiarity. The crowds were made up of dark-skinned desert settlers, and sun-bronzed delta folk like himself. He was struck by the thought that he could never have walked so casually into a place like this back home. There were celebrations like the Festival of the Flame and the Festival of the Flood, of course, but even then Hassan and the royal court were removed from the chaos and crowds, looking out from the palace steps or the royal barge on the Herat River.

  Exhilaration and a strange sense of trepidation washed over him. This wasn’t just the first time he was seeing his people since the coup—this was his first time seeing his people as one of them.

  “Azizi!” a frantic voice broke through the din of the crowd surrounding the fountainhouse. A woman with plaited dark hair came rushing toward them, trailed by a silver-haired woman holding a baby at her hip.

  Azizi ran at a tripping pace toward the black-haired woman, who was clearly his mother. She wrapped him up in an unrestrained embrace. Then she pulled away and began yelling at him, tears in her eyes, before sweeping him up in another tremendous hug.

  “I’m sorry, Ma. I’m sorry,” Hassan heard as he approached. Azizi looked plaintive.

  “I told you not to leave the agora!” his mother scolded. “Anything could have happened to you.”

  Azizi looked like he was struggling valiantly not to cry.

  The older woman sidled over to stand at Hassan’s shoulder. “Where did you find him?”

  “In the market, just outside the gate,” Hassan replied. “He was buying lamb.”

  The woman made a soft noise as the child in her arms tried to squirm away. “He’s a good kid.” Then abruptly, she asked, “Are you a refugee, too?”

  “No,” Hassan lied quickly. “Just in the right place at the right time.”

  “But you are Herati.”

  “Yes,” Hassan said, trying not to rouse her suspicion. “I live in the city. I came here to find out if there’s been any more news out of Nazirah. I … I have family there. I need to know if they’re safe.”

  “I’m so sorry,” the woman said gravely. “There are too many of us who don’t know what’s happened to our loved ones back home. The Witnesses have stopped almost all the ships going in and out of the harbor. The only information we have is coming from whoever’s managed to escape east, to the desert and the South Sea.”

  Hassan knew exactly how that felt. In his bedchambers in the villa, he had a leather-bound notebook filled with every measly piece of information he’d gained about what had happened to his city. He still didn’t know what had happened to his parents. He wasn’t sure if this was because his aunt Lethia herself didn’t know, or because she was protecting him from the truth.

  He didn’t want to be protected. He just wanted to know, one way or another. He steeled himself as he asked, “What about the king and queen? Has there been any word about what happened to them?”

  “The king and queen still live,” the woman said. “The Hierophant has them captive somewhere, but they’ve been sighted in public at least twice since the coup.”

  Breath gusted out of Hassan’s chest. He felt faint. He had needed to hear those words so badly. His parents were alive. They were still in Herat, though at the mercy of the leader of the Witnesses.

  “There’s no word about the prince,” the woman continued. “He hasn’t been seen in Nazirah since the coup. He’s completely vanished. But many of us think he survived. That he managed to escape.”

  It was only by chance that Hassan hadn’t been in his rooms when the Hierophant attacked the palace. He’d fallen asleep down in the library over a volume of The Fall of the Novogardian Empire, and he’d woken to the sounds of shouting voices and the smell of acrid smoke. One of his father’s guards had found him there and snuck him out over the garden walls and down to the harbor, telling him his mother and father were waiting for him on one of the ships. By the time Hassan realized the guard had been lying, he was already s
ailing away from his city and the lighthouse that stood like a sentinel at its harbor.

  “What is the Hierophant doing with the king and queen?” Hassan asked.

  The woman shook her head. “I don’t know. Some say he’s keeping them alive to placate the populace. Others say he’s using them to demonstrate his power—both to his followers and the Graced in Nazirah.”

  “His power?” he echoed, sensing she meant something more than just the command the Hierophant seemed to have over his followers.

  “The Witnesses claim that the Hierophant can stop the Graced from using their abilities,” the woman said. “That simply by being in his presence, the Graced are rendered powerless. His followers believe that if they prove themselves, the Hierophant will teach them to wield this power, too.”

  Hassan’s jaw clenched. The thought of his mother and father being subjected to such a demonstration made Hassan feel sick with anger. He couldn’t help but picture it—his mother, proud and tall, refusing to bend. His father, gentle and thoughtful, hiding his own fear for the sake of his people. The Hierophant, standing before them both, his face concealed by a gilded mask.

  Hassan had never laid eyes on the man who had taken his country from him, but others told of the mask he wore—gold with a black sun carved into the center of its forehead, obscuring his face and identity.

  Over the past five years, reports had built a picture of the masked man. A foreigner, preaching through the eastern regions of Herat. A skilled speaker, able to silence a room with a gesture or incite a riot with a word. It was said the Hierophant had once been an acolyte of the Temple of Pallas, but had turned his back on the Prophets and begun delivering his own message. He taught townsfolk that the powers of the Graced were unnatural and dangerous, his message gathering a following of others eager to blame the Graced for every ill suffered in their own lives.

  Hassan could still remember how troubled his father had been as accounts of violence against the Graced poured in from every corner of the kingdom—and even from within Nazirah. In every attack, the perpetrators said the same thing. The Hierophant had told them to desecrate the village temple. The Hierophant had told them to burn down the healer’s home. The Hierophant had told them they were purifying the world of the Graced.

  The Hierophant.

  “You should talk to the Herati acolytes,” the woman said, nodding toward the Temple of Pallas. “They’ve been aiding the other refugees. If your family made it here, they’ll know.”

  Hassan opened his mouth to thank her, but a bone-shattering shriek cut through the air. The people around them froze. Without pausing to think, Hassan sprinted through the crowd toward the temple. Two boys clipped past him, running in the opposite direction.

  “Get the Sentry! Get the Sentry!” one of them yelled.

  His alarm growing, Hassan pushed himself faster until he reached the steps of the Temple of Pallas. A crowd of people had formed there, as if waiting to ascend.

  “Step back, old man!” a voice barked from the steps above.

  Hassan craned his neck to see who had spoken. About two dozen men stood along the temple steps, holding hammers, sticks, and cudgels. They wore robes patterned with black and gold around the sleeve cuffs and hem, their hoods pushed back to reveal close-cropped hair. The one who’d spoken had a short gray beard.

  Witnesses—followers of the Hierophant. Just the sight of them made anger roil in Hassan’s stomach, and he found himself pushing through to the front of the crowd. At the top of the stairs, an old man, dressed in the light green and pale gold chiton of a Herati temple acolyte, stood facing the Witnesses.

  “This temple is a holy refuge for those in need,” the old man said, his voice quieter than that of the bearded Witness. “I will not allow you to desecrate it in the name of your lies and hatred.”

  “The only people seeking refuge here are the Graced,” the bearded Witness hissed. “They taint the sacred energy of the world with their unnatural powers.”

  These last words seemed to be directed at two of the other Witnesses. They were younger. One, short and round-faced; the other, tall and gaunt. The short one clutched a pickax in his shaking hands. He almost looked frightened. But the tall one beside him looked eerily calm, except for his gray eyes, which gleamed with excitement. Instead of a black and gold robe, each wore a white cowl. Initiates, rather than full-fledged members.

  The rest of the Witnesses seemed to be waiting for them to make their move.

  The bearded Witness’s voice grew louder as he continued. “This city is proof of the corruption of the Graced. The men who call themselves priests spend their time indulging their carnal vices and demanding tribute from the people of this city. A Graced killer is running rampant in the streets, taking lives. And now these cowardly Graced have come here, fleeing from the Immaculate One and his truth.”

  The Immaculate One. Hassan knew that phrase. It was what the Witnesses called the Hierophant.

  “The Reckoning is coming,” the bearded Witness said. “Soon your corrupt kings and false priests will fall, just like the abomination who sat on the throne of Herat. And the Immaculate One will reward his followers, even his newest disciples. Those who prove their commitment to his message earn the honor of wearing his mark.” The Witness pushed his sleeve up. Burned into the back side of his varicose hand was the symbol of an eye with a black sun for its pupil. “This is your chance to show him your devotion to our cause and earn your mark. Make these abominations fear his name. Show them the truth of their corruption. Show them all so they cannot look away!”

  The other Witnesses followed the man’s lead, pushing up their sleeves to reveal the same mark burned into their skin.

  The old acolyte stepped up to the round-faced initiate. “You don’t need to do this,” he said gently. “The Hierophant has preached lies to you, but you don’t need to listen to them.”

  The round-faced initiate tightened his grip on the pickax, his eyes darting from the ringleader of the group to the crowd behind him.

  Beside him, the tall, gaunt initiate sneered at the acolyte in disgust. “Your Prophets were the ones who preached lies. I will show the Immaculate One my devotion.” Without another word, he stepped up to the acolyte and struck him across the face. The blow was hard enough to send the old man to his knees.

  The crowd cried out. Hassan’s blood surged in his veins, spurring him up the steps toward the Witnesses. The gaunt initiate turned and spat on the acolyte. Fury overwhelmed thought as Hassan seized the initiate by the cowl and punched him squarely in the face.

  He heard the crowd gasp as the initiate stumbled back.

  The bearded Witness stepped in front of him, whirling on Hassan. “Who in the Hierophant’s name are you?”

  “Someone you shouldn’t anger,” Hassan replied. “But it’s much too late for that.”

  He was aching for a fight, and the Witnesses seemed ready to give it to him. They were kin to the zealots who had taken his kingdom and imprisoned his parents. And they were as close as Hassan was going to get to the Hierophant right now.

  The gaunt initiate stepped up to him, lip curled in a snarl. “More Graced scum lording your ill-gotten power over the rest of us. Your Prophets cursed you when they gave you Grace.”

  Hassan flushed with rage—and shame. Because Hassan was not Graced. Though that fact did not lessen his rage at the Witnesses and their warped ideology. He wanted to correct the initiate—and, at the same time, he wanted to be feared by him, to be thought of as one of the chosen Graced.

  In the Six Prophetic Cities and beyond, the Graced were revered for their abilities. The first of the Graced had been given their powers by the Prophets. Though there were only a few thousand Graced born every year, many of them occupied positions of power.

  Every queen and king who had sat on the throne of Herat so far had possessed Grace. Hassan had spent much of his life wishing for one of the Four Bodily Graces to manifest in him. To be able to heal with the Grace of Blood, or scry wi
th the Grace of Sight. To be like his father, with the Grace of Mind, able to create objects imbued with sacred esha, capable of wondrous things. Or like his mother, whose Grace of Heart made her as strong as an ox, as fast as a viper, able to see in the dark and hear a heartbeat from a thousand feet off.

  As the years passed, Hassan’s longing had grown more and more desperate. While Grace was known to manifest in people as old as seventeen, his parents and grandparents had discovered theirs before they were twelve. Now at sixteen, Hassan had long since shut away any hope that he was Graced. The initiate’s words had brought all of that childhood shame bubbling back to the surface.

  Hassan lunged at the gaunt initiate, his body acting out of pure fury. His arms reached out, hands flexed and ready to lock around the initiate’s throat. But something collided sideways with him, and when Hassan turned, he saw the short, round-faced initiate above him.

  He swung at Hassan again. Hassan ducked, catching himself on one knee. When he looked up, he saw that the tall, gaunt initiate had seized the old acolyte’s robe.

  “The Immaculate One will know the strength of my devotion!” the gaunt initiate cried, reaching for his belt and pulling out a glinting knife. “The Prophets are gone, and the Graced will follow!”

  “No!” Hassan cried, leaping toward them. He shoved the acolyte hard, out of the way, and dove to tackle the gaunt initiate. But the initiate sidestepped and turned toward Hassan, blade flashing in his hand.

  Though Hassan lacked her Graced speed and strength, his mother had taught him how to defend himself. He pivoted on his heel and flung his arm out toward the knife. The blade caught him just below the elbow, slicing into the flesh of his bare arm. Pain seared into him, but he did not let it jar his focus. With his other hand, he reached for the knife and forced it away from his body.

  The gaunt initiate and he were in a deadlock, their grips pushing against each other, forcing the knife high. Warm blood dripped down toward Hassan’s shoulder, his whole arm pulsing and hot with pain. He looked into the initiate’s wide eyes. The deep, burning rage that had been left to fester for the past two weeks coursed through Hassan as he tore the knife away.