Paradise Tales Read Online Free PDF Page A

this side of the valley as well, forming a natural amphitheatre. Sounds boom and roll or seem very close to your ear.
    The air smells of mud and sweat and smoke.
    Kai shudders, then chuckles, and stands up. “There’s no magic here.”
    From out of the houses creep people with terrible broken teeth, spots, and age marks. The younger and more able-bodied of them stand with swords that look like pig iron, cast once and never smelted. Some of the men bear flint scythes that will shatter at the first blow.
    “Hello,” they say, glumly. “What do you want? We’ve not got much to take, we can tell you that for free.”
    Kai smiles with inner peace. “We want to see your machine.”
    They grin. They need dental magic urgently.
    They lead Kai to a stone wall that shores up the cliff face. The whole village is in imminent danger of collapse.
    Far below is a circular valley, where perhaps once a whirlpool wore away the rock. In that cavity, as red as tiles, a huge coiled tube stretches at least two hundred arm’s lengths across.
    “You’re welcome to try to loot that,” the locals say.
    “Please,” adds one of them, and they all laugh.
    “Turning the thing off would be a start,” one of them mutters.
    The machine is smooth and huge, like a serpent that has swallowed its tail so that both ends merge. There is a series of bolts closing what look like long sideways windows. From this great height, Kai can see that along the top, one window has been left open and unbolted. What look like stars dance over the opening.
    “It’s never been properly turned on,” says one old man.
    “Don’t give him any ideas,” grunts a younger. He uses the tip of his little finger to pump out gross amounts of pus from his ear.
    The air and the distance all whisper like defeat.
    Kai slumps to the ground. “We can’t move it,” he says. “We can’t take it to fight the Neighbors.”
    It is a year to the day since he set out on his quest.

    Do whatever is necessary

    At the gates of the royal palace, Kai hugs another Neighbor. He burns the man right through the middle.
    This time Arun maintains his countenance. “Almost surgical,” he says.
    Kai’s noble followers dance through the gates more silently than settling dust.
    Two court officials approach in deep discussion, wearing purple cloth with gold-embroidered flowers.
    With a whisper, swords slip through them. The cuts are so thin that blood seeps slowly. The bodies are arranged on cushions to look as though they are still in conversation.
    Kai and his men whisper into the Sycophancy Salon. The Staircase of Effective Entrances sweeps up to the Royal Chambers.
    Two strong Sons of Kambu guard the top of the steps.
    Kai somersaults up the staircase, gathering speed like an avalanching boulder. He rolls to his feet and elbows their swords out of their hands. He holds his own sword close to their throats. He has lost focus, and the sword, even its handle, glows cherry red.
    “You are Kambu,” says Kai. “We don’t want to hurt you. We are here to defeat the Neighbors. To do that we must get the King out of their clutches. Are you with us?”
    They say yes. All Sons of Kambu, they say, want the King safe from influence and out of Neighborly attention.
    The noble warriors surf up the balustrade of the staircase.
    Among them is Arun. “I’ll take that,” he says and relieves one of the Kambu of his fine imperial sword.
    A sword must be either inherited from a master or taken in battle. Arun grins and licks the sword’s black laminate.
    “Now, Master,” he says. “I look to you for training.”
    In the royal apartments, the rooms are stuffed with foreigners—Neighborly advisers who run things, observers who write interesting reports, or guest troops who kill the enemy, i.e., the Sons of Kambu.
    Kai and his ten are like a bladed whirlwind. They spin through the rooms, harvesting heads.
    When they are done, five of the Ten stand guard outside the main doors.
    Five plus Arun and