Warsinger by James Baldwin (most important books of all time txt) 📕

You and she have already laid all the groundwork for her training. She’s fast, she’s strong, and she seems to have already absorbed some combat savvy from you. Her mental skills need more training than her body does. The Baru path requires two things: speed and wisdom. She is well-endowed with the first and rather lacking in the second.”

“Yeah,” I said. “My fault.”

“Everyone has weaknesses.” Vash absent-mindedly shrugged, and winced. “Ah-ta-ta, that smarts.”

“And you’re sure about this?” I crossed my arms.

“Absolutely. I’m not letting you idiots run off on your own. You’ll get yourselves killed.” Vash paused, and cleared his throat. “I may need help getting on Karalti’s back. And by that, I mean you will need to carry me onto your dragon like a blushing bride. Think you can do that for me, dog?”

Chapter 35

4 Days later: Dalim, Dakhdir

As we came in over Dalim, the City of Bridges, I finally understood what Suri had meant when she'd told me the nobility of Dalim never walked on the ground. The city was a geometric artwork from the air, an intricate flower of white marble and brilliantly colored tile blooming out of the desert, surrounded in three directions by a patchwork quilt of awnings and adobe rowhouses and slums. It reminded me of Vegas, in the way that it was plunked down in the desert like a great gaudy middle finger held up to Mother Nature.

Suri and I stood together at the rails of the ship, listening to the distant ‘hyah!’ of Karalti’s shouts as she got in some last-minute training with Vash on the starboard stern of the Tellak, the Dakhari cargo ship carrying us in berth. We weren’t headed to Dalim as nobles. After a terse meeting with Ignas and Ebisa in Taltos, in which we discussed the assassination attempt and its implications, we unanimously decided it was too risky for Suri and I to travel as the Voivode and Voivodzina of Myszno on a Vlachian charter flight.

“You know, on Earth, it took millions of years for scorpions and cactuses to find ways to flourish in the desert. But somehow, humans just come along one day, vomit a city onto the sand, and somehow make it work,” I remarked to Suri, watching the city grow closer from the deck of the airship. “Which is why I really believe we can beat the Drachan. There's nothing in this fucking universe scarier than human beings, Suri.”

“Too right.” She gazed out over the view with a complex expression: part longing, part loathing, part nervous anticipation.

The Sultir's golden palace sat at the heart of Dalim like a great starburst. The inner walls of the city unfolded around it like the petals of a massive, multilayered lotus. The city reminded me a bit of the old Final Fantasy 7 capital, Midgar. It was built off the ground and had different levels, with the palace and other major buildings connected to the rest of the city and each other by a network of graceful bridges. Hanging gardens waved in the hot desert wind. Artificial waterfalls tumbled into beautiful, clear mosaic canals that ran alongside or under the roads. But under the brightly colored paths and bronze-clad minarets, the ground level streets receded into shadow.

“It’s a beautiful city,” I said.

“Yeah.” Suri sighed. “Like a pretty mask clapped over a rotten mouth.”

“If I'm reading this right, the upper castes literally live above everyone else?” I tried to follow a network of paths from the palace to a big domed complex I was pretty sure was a temple.

“Sure do.” Suri sketched out into the air with a finger, marking the roads I was looking at. “They all live within the city walls on the uppermost level, which we called Meega Shahar', Cloud City. Under that is the Dappled City, named that because the whole place is shadowed from the city overhead. Most of the middling classes live there, merchants and townsfolk and whatnot. Now, what you can't see too clearly from here is that the Dappled City is also elevated off the ground, and beneath THAT is the Gadada Sha', the Undercity. The Undercity is the ground level, where all of the structural stuff that supports the rest of Dalim is mounted. One guess where the lower Castes and the Fireblooded live.”

“If the whole thing's raised off the ground, surely that's not defensible?” I said. “You drop bombs on that from the air and the whole thing would come down.”

“Rumor has it that Dalim can throw up some kind of magic shield around itself,” Suri said. “Like the Caul of Souls, but just for one city. They - they being the guys I hung out with at the Tiger's Den - might have been talkin' out their arse about that, though. Dalim hasn't been assaulted in going on a thousand years.”

“A city on stilts, rotting from the head down.” Vash, who hadn't been at my elbow five seconds ago, suddenly remarked from my right side. Even with my crazy Trial of Marantha-vision, I hadn't seen him come up on us. By the way Suri jumped, neither had she.

“Jesus!” I scowled. “Don’t do that to me, man.”

“You need to pay more attention, Dragozin. If I was an assassin, I’d have been able to poke you right in the ribs.” He jabbed at me with one metal finger. “Right here.”

I grumbled, and swatted at his hand. “How’s Karalti doing?”

“Breaking planks. Not the planks to the deck, fortunately. She’s picking it up as quickly as I expected, though her lack of wisdom is proving to be an issue. The key ability of the Baru Path is Dark Focus, which she struggles with,” he said. “She struggles with focus in general, actually. Every seagull that passes by is of sudden and complete interest to her. It’s like trying to train a kitten into being a guard dog.”

“Sounds like my Tidbit,” I replied.

“She’s sheltered, Dragozin.” He gave me a sidelong look. “Somehow, you managed to emotionally shelter this awe-inspiring apex predator as