Shattersteel

The sight of a hound bounding toward her is not quite what Nuawa expected when she comes to the palace gate. The animal lopes with such vigor and strength that it drags along its master, a broad-chested person in uniform with limbs like trees. He is older, gray-haired, a fact that comes as a surprise—she assumed all glass-bearers would be like Lussadh, well-preserved, nearly ageless. But perhaps Captain Durgesh was discovered late in life, or else the mirror shard doesn’t necessarily hold mortality at bay in all bearers. He is laughing, good-natured, jogging to keep up with the dog.

He reaches her. Unclips the hound’s leash and motions it to run, before saluting Nuawa. The laughter has disappeared. “Lieutenant Nuawa. I’ve heard much about you. We haven’t met.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Captain Durgesh.” Not a governor but commander of the garrison in Jalsasskar, modest in title and status among senior glass-bearers: by choice, she hears. “It looks like we’re all here.” Of those that have been summoned—she knows a few bearers have been left out, for reasons discernable only to the queen.

Benjanun Sriduangkaew has been nominated for the British Science Fiction Association Award and the Campbell New Writer Award (since renamed Astounding Award for Best New Writer). Having lived in Jakarta, Hong Kong, and Bangkok, her worlds are informed by Southeast Asia and post-colonial lenses. She is the author of the fantasy Her Pitiless Command trilogy and the space opera Machine Mandate series.
 For more information visit beekian.wordpress.com.