The Child Who Saved the Caliphs
Rabin Caliph.
The lovely little boy, half Baden and half Sabrina, set out alone on a distant road before he was even three. At the time the Mariner family insisted they had nothing to do with the murder of the Caliph heir, but the circumstances left no real doubt that it was their doing. The trouble was that, without solid proof, no formal accusation could be brought. It was from that moment that the conflict between Caliph and Mariner, already centuries old, grew past any hope of turning back.
"The Mariners have coveted Caliph land for a very long time. Unlike the fertile Caliph territory, Mariner Territory is terribly barren."
People are made to hunger for whatever they lack—and all the more when someone living in plenty stands right beside them. At first the hyenas wanted only the rich earth. Somewhere along the way they began to envy the tigers for possessing what they themselves did not, and in the end they wanted everything the tigers had.
By wiping the tigers out entirely.
"The conflict started to explode after Father and Mother were married."
"...Why?"
"Mother's family, House Frost, is the only tiger beastkin family that possesses an Authority."
At Shirca's explanation, Bariya's eyes went wide.
"An Authority?"
"Yes. As the Mariners' interference crossed the line more with every passing day, Caliph and Frost entered a political marriage. House Caliph carries no Divine Beast blood, so they gained an Authority through the union with Frost."
Was she supposed to be shocked that Sabrina and Baden were a couple joined by political marriage? Or that they had gone so far as a political marriage simply to obtain an Authority?
"Not a single hyena family has Divine Beast blood mixed in. Naturally they have no Authority either, and from then on their hatred of the Caliphs only grew fiercer."
Because the Caliphs had once again gained what the hyenas lacked.
"In the end that hatred became a blade and stabbed my brother, who was only two."
Shirca let out a bitter sigh.
"Mother was carrying me at the time. After I was born, she roamed the Caliph territory to protect me and killed every hyena beastkin who had infiltrated the domain. I had a stronger Authority than my dead brother."
To the Mariners, Shirca was a sharper thorn than the dead Rabin Caliph had ever been. But the fury of a mother who had already lost one son was greater than any volcano, and not one of the hyena beastkin who tried to assassinate Shirca ever returned to Mariner.
"So, little one."
Shirca met the eyes of the child he held so carefully.
"You saved the Caliphs."
Bariya's eyes flew wide.
"Parents who had nearly lost a son all over again. A son who had nearly driven a stake through his parents' hearts. A retainer who failed to protect his master, and a master who failed to answer for his retainer. You saved all of them."
Bariya had not saved only Shirca and Jake. She had saved Baden and Sabrina too, and every soul who lived on this land. She had saved them all.
"Thank you, Bariya."
Shirca smiled at her, bright and unguarded.
"I'm so glad I brought you to the Caliphs. It's the best choice I've ever made."
They were words she had never heard in her life, and Bariya's lips only parted soundlessly. Thank you? Glad she had come to the Caliphs? For so long she had been locked away in the darkest, deepest place in Mariner, and all of this was strange to her.
"...I—I didn't do anything."
The only words that left her open mouth were the same denial as always.
"It wasn't me."
"All right. If that's what you say, then that's what we'll say."
And though he knew the truth perfectly well, Shirca willingly went along with her.
"But remember this much. Bariya, you are our benefactor, and we will protect you from those hyena bastards no matter what. So don't worry about a thing."
"..."
"All you have to do is grow up big and strong enough to thrash those hyena bastards. That's the only thing we want from you. Promise me."
Shirca held out his little finger. After a moment's hesitation Bariya shyly offered hers, and the two hooked together perfectly.
"Thank you for saving me today. Truly."
"...I told you, it wasn't me."
"Yes, yes. I know."
Shirca laughed and tousled her hair, then turned away, saying she must be tired and that they ought to get her to bed. Bariya quietly leaned into the arms she had grown used to in only a few days.
So the Caliphs already have an Authority. Then they won't covet me the way the Mariners did.
She had no sense that she had done anything so great, and the denial had come out of her by reflex. Just that one thing. She had learned only that the Caliphs already possessed an Authority, and yet her heart felt unbearably light. Perhaps that was why a drowsiness she could not fight began to roll over her.
Huh.
Just before she slipped under, her eyes met those of Rabin Caliph in the portrait. A little boy with a far gentler face than Shirca's. And yet something was strange.
He doesn't feel... unfamiliar.
Was it because he looked like the three Caliphs?
"Yaaawn."
But she was far too sleepy to think about anything else. Leaning against Shirca, Bariya soon fell completely asleep.
While Shirca went to tell Bariya the truth and set her heart at ease, the Caliph Estate was turned upside down.
"...Something like that really happened?"
At the news that he had nearly lost a son all over again, Baden's fury rose. Seated on the living room sofa, Sabrina—who had just told him everything that had happened that day—nodded, exhaustion plain on her face.
"It hit harder than it did with Rabin. I had sworn I would never live through something like that twice."
Sabrina pulled the wine cork out with her bare hands and drank straight from the bottle in long, gulping swallows.
"Those bastards still haven't given up. Now they're after the little one and our son at the same time."
A sickening crack.
From Baden's clenched fists came a sound that was anything but ordinary, and blood dripped steadily down. Sabrina watched in silence as her husband's blood soaked the floor.
"If something had happened to Shirca, I wouldn't be standing here now either."
"Sabrina."
At those words Baden opened his fists at once and dropped to his knees before his wife. He reached for her hand, then stopped when he saw his own, slick with blood.
"All I could think was that I had to get my son out of that damned poison as fast as I could. Being poisoned along with him, taking revenge on the hyenas—none of that even crossed my mind."
Baden's face twisted. He had nearly lost not only his son, but his wife as well. There was no pain greater than being left alone.
"If not for the little one—if not for Bariya—it surely would have ended that way."
"Did the little one use an Authority?"
"Yeah. She tried to hide it, so I couldn't ask what the ability was, but it was her. She came down with Authority Fever."
It was the violent fever that struck a young beastkin who had pushed too hard on an Authority they could not yet control. It had subsided quickly, but there was no mistaking it. They had seen it more times than they could count while raising Rabin and Shirca.
"We owe the little one a debt."
Sabrina let out a sigh. The shock had been so great that her hands were still trembling.
"I wondered why I'd grown so fond of her. It must have been because she was the child who would save us."
She did not believe today's attack had been solely because of Bariya. Those bastards had been aiming at the Caliphs since before Bariya was even born. If Shirca had never brought her here—if Sabrina had failed to notice her the first time she ran and had simply let her go—if they had released her without ever making a contract—that poison would someday have swallowed Shirca and killed them all. The mere thought was horrifying.
"This isn't a simple contract anymore. For our own sakes, we may have to beg the little one to stay."
"You're right. She is the benefactor who saved you and our son."
Baden hesitated, then rested his cheek against Sabrina's knee. She did not bother to push him away. His shock would be just as deep.
"I'll be staying at the estate for a while. Of course I'll still go out now and then to check whether those hyena bastards have crossed into the territory again, but otherwise I mean to remain here. I'm worried about Shirca, and about the little one."
Baden had been steadying himself on the small warmth she allowed him. At those words his head came up sharply.
"Truly?"
"Have you ever heard me talk nonsense?"
"No. That is not the kind of person you are."
Baden leaned against Sabrina's knee once more. A smile bloomed again over the face that rage and anguish had twisted.
"The little one truly is our benefactor."
Baden and Sabrina had entered a political marriage for the sake of an Authority alone. The difference was that Baden loved Sabrina, and Sabrina did not love him. Day after day he had been steeped in longing while she roamed beyond the estate, and now, at the promise that he would be able to keep seeing the wife he loved, he could not hide his joy. In every way that mattered, Bariya truly was a blessing.
The next morning, while Bariya was eating in the dining room, she heard shocking news from Baden.
"Little Blessing, I mean to hold a banquet soon—to proclaim you an honored guest of House Caliph."
What was a little blessing, what was an honored guest, and why in the world were they throwing a banquet?
Struck dumb with shock, Bariya was too flabbergasted to say a word for a long while.