Will Wight - Of Dawn and Darkness

To Ian, who first asked me when the book was coming out.

Welcome, Reader.

Right now, youre reading the second book in the Elder Empire series.

But its not the only second book.

Of Dawn and Darkness was written in parallel to Of Darkness andDawn, which takes place at the same time from a differentperspective.

If youve read Of Sea and Shadow, then Im sure you already know howthese books work. In case you dont, Id advise you to back up and readthe first story in this series.

And now that you have

Welcome back to the Elder Empire.

Jyrine Tessella held her fathers hand as they walked down the street.Shed never been to this city before, but she didnt think she likediteverything smelled like fish, and the people didnt know how to walk.An old man passed them, covered in a full-body cloak of burlap, limpinglike his left leg was broken. Every time he took a step, something wetslapped against the pavement. She pictured him wearing fish on his feetlike shoes, and she giggled.

The town was in even worse shape than its citizens. Each building hadbeen cobbled together from driftwood and parts scavenged fromshipwrecks, so Jyrine and her father walked between walls of warped woodand crusty ropes. Many of the houses had collapsed or sunk down into theearth, but someone else just built another one on top of the pile. Theresult was an entire town that looked more like a model built by alittle boy out of scraps he gathered in his back yard.

Strangest of all was the way they treated gold. They weighted theirfishing nets with mismatched golden idols the size of her fist, and goldstatues of the Emperor sat on boats as anchors. Half-clothed childrenran through the mud in a ditch, tossing golden pebbles at each other.Thousands of goldmarks worth of precious metal, treated like trash.

Its not real gold, is it? Jyrine asked, looking at a woman sweepinggold flakes out of her doorway.

Her fathers tattooed cheek crinkled as he smiled. Just because itsvaluable to us doesnt mean its worth the same to everyone. Gold, onits own, is worthless. Only a few things have real value. He rubbed herhead, and she smiled back, because she knew he was talking about her.

His tattoo was far more complex than hers, a squirming web that coveredthe entire left half of his face and rolled down the left side of hisbody, wrapping his whole leg. Hers stretched from the bottom of her leftear to her ankle, telling the world the history of their Vandenyanfamily.

Shed asked him once why his was so much bigger, and hed laughed.Secrets take a lot of ink, hed said, which in her opinion didntanswer the question.

A cloaked figure stepped out of an alleyway and blocked their wayforward, so quickly that Jyrine instinctively moved to stand behind herfather. The fish smell was stronger now that this manat least, sheguessed it was a manstood so close to them. He breathed too loudly, asthough he sucked each breath through clenched teeth.

You are Larrin Tessella. That was her fathers name, but the manpronounced the words all wrong, like he was choking out a demand insteadof asking a polite question. She wasnt sure he meant it as a questionat all, and he hissed in and out after each word.

Her fathers hand tightened slightly on hers, but he forced a smile. Iam. What may I call you?

The man jerked his head to one side, limping away, his burlap coveringdragging in the muck behind him. There was a lump like a camels betweenhis spine and left shoulder, though it squirmed as he moved. Sheimagined him hiding a cat under there, and she almost laughed.

Her father didnt seem to find the man funny. He pulled her closer tohim as they followed the man deeper into the town.

The farther they went, the worse it seemed to get, though that couldhave been the dying light. The sun was going down, so the light wasworse and worse with every passing second. Light and shadows playedtricks on her eyes, which was no doubt why some of these people lookedlike they had webs between their fingers. And why some of the childrenwatching her from open doorways had eyes that reflected light like acats. A few times, she heard what she thought was the call of a distantbird, followed by what could have been screams or loud laughter.

She drew so close to her father that she was almost hugging his leg.

Finally, the hunchbacked man stopped at a towering gold temple that roseabove the surrounding. He bowed them forward like an usher bowing theminto an opera, though Jyrine couldnt see if he was smiling or not.

She knew it was an old temple because it looked exactly like thepictures in her schoolbooks. Made of almost pure gold, the temple wasblocky and fluid at the same time, like some architect had tried tobuild a rearing snake out of bricks. It was adorned by dangling flags ofevery color, on which were written words she didnt understand.

Her father pulled her inside, though she was more interested in staringat the entrance. They passed between two statues that looked like theycould have represented the Emperor, except they each had a snakes headresting on a mans shoulders. As far as she knew, the Emperor had anormal head.

Fires burned in braziers standing against the walls, lighting their wayin and filling the air with a more pleasant smell, almost like pine andcinnamon. They only walked a short way before her father unlocked aperfectly ordinary door, which opened onto a much larger chamber. Astrange golden statue stood against the far wall: most of it looked likea snake, though it had the tail of a scorpion, the head of a lion, andthe talons of a huge bird. She supposed it must be a Kameira of somesort, but she couldnt tell which one. She hadnt studied naturalhistory yet.

In front of the statue, gathered around a fire-pit full of stacked,unlit wood, were five figures in hooded robes. Other than the hoods,none of the robes had anything in common; one was black and plain,another blue and richly decorated, and she was suspicious that a thirdwas really just a bathrobe with a cowl sewn on. At the sight of herfather, the bathrobe man lowered his hood and grinned. He was a veryordinary-looking old man, obviously older than her father, with a red,round face and a ring of wispy white hair.

And the cavalrys here! he shouted, spreading his arms wide. Lightand life, Larrin, its been an age! Worms take me! Were getting readyto begin, just waiting on you, but weve got a little time. Why dont

He seemed to notice Jyrine for the first time, and he leaned down to puthis hands on his knees, looking at her on her level. Im sorry, littlelady, they say manners are the first thing to go. What is your name?

Jyrine, she said, happy to meet a normal person in this town.

You must be hungry, Jyrine. Why dont you get something to eat? Hegestured over to the wall, where a perfectly ordinary service table hadbeen set up, carrying all the bite-sized delicacies she would haveexpected to see in the Capital. It was bizarrely out of place here,something from polite Heartlander society over here in the middle of awilderness temple off the Izyrian coast.

But she was happy for a meal, so she looked up at her father forpermission.

I tell you what, he said, amused. Why dont you have a seat overthere? I want you to watch what we do tonight, but just to watch, okay?Eat what you want, but dont make a sound.