“Um,” she started to say.


    “You’re trying to escape to the Nexus and rejoin your people.” And it almost sounded as if he were smiling. “Are you aware I would be in a terrible position if you were successful? I just named you my successor in front of another Archon.”


    Her gut plummeted, and she wasn’t sure why. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”


    “Oh, no, Hawk. You think beautifully. I should have thought of this, and either closed off an escape or offered it to you without the deception.” The ivory mask turned towards the door, as if he were studying it. Then he nodded to himself, and closed the gap between himself, Hawk, and the lock.


    “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t think—”


    “As am I. I also did not think. Here.” And he reached out, iron key in hand, and unlocked the door. “I shall have to find an acolyte to punish. So careless, leaving the door unlocked. Go ahead.” He even pushed the door open, a bit. Wind immediately began whistling through.


    “Why?” she said.


    “Because I should have thought of it. I have been racking my brain ever since you arrived to think of a safe way to give you access to the Nexus. The problem is that I was seen bringing you into the Temple.”


    “By your own people,” she said.


    His voice turned tight and quiet. “Half of them are spies, and half of the remainder are criminals who pled sanctuary. Any one of them would tell Earth what I have done. But this…you will flee unseen by all but the Hares.”


    “Is that what you call them?” she glanced at the horse-rabbits.


    “When I am polite. Now, listen to me. You may not be able to climb the Nexus…or you may choose the wrong one. I have brought a few of your things with me.” He offered her a sack of white canvass. “Is any of this capable of aiding you?”


    The climbing rope and hooks would have, if she knew how to climb. The stiffest hikes she ever took were into the few fertile valleys of the desert, the better to hunt down Honeypots. But her fingers closed on her radio, and she suddenly had a plan. “I may not be able to reach them, but I can for sure call them on this and give them an update.”


    “Good. Give yourself two hours, to get there or to turn back and come here. I will be able to stall for two hours—possibly for the full day, if I had better stores, but that’s not a tale for your ears. If you come back to the Temple in the next two hours, I’ll be able to explain it. We could even push for four. After that, however, we would be at the Earth Archon’s mercy.”


    She nodded, hands clenched on the radio. “What kind of mercy does she have?” She asked.


    “Precisely as much as her God: None whatsoever. But trust me, Hawk-of-the-West, I would rather be at Earth-Archon’s mercy than at the feet of Earth herself. And I shall soon be at those most holy of feet.” The word holy was the only trace of bitterness the Archon seemed to expose…but it was a sucking black hole of it, a resentment so profound you could drown in it. “I cannot spare myself. I would like very much to spare you.”


    Okay. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself…and then, impulsive, threw her arms around the Archon. He smelled the way she expected him to, of herbs and cedar boxes and lanolin. She clenched his robes tightly and, after a moment, he gingerly returned the embrace.


    “Thank you. For everything.”


    He stepped back and placed his hands on her shoulders, as if to hold her there. “It is said that an Archon is to be defined by their goodness, their kindness, and their mercy. As I have no god, and therefore little power, the best I can do—”


    “—is be a good man,” Hawk said.


    The Mask dropped for a moment. “You see me so? Truly? A good man?”


    “What do you think you are?” she said.


    “A contradiction. I don’t know that you can be a good man, and also be a good Archon.”


    “You’re proof of it,” she said, then turned to the doors. “Well. Hopefully I won’t be seeing you in two hours.”


    “Hopefully. I give you leave, Hawk-of-the-West, albeit with the most bitter of regrets. For you are a good person, and I will miss the light of your company.” He turned, started to walk away, then paused. “I will leave. Wait until the doors have closed, and then make your way to the Nexus. And be well, Hawk-of-the-West. Be well, for all manner of times and things.”Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    “Right back atcha,” she said, with a regretful smile.


    She watched as he made his way across the stable. It was a short walk, and she watched as his shoulders slowly seemed to diminish as he walked. As if he were taking off one role—the benevolent priest—and putting on another—the beaten man. She wondered what he was risking, letting her go, and what retribution these frightening people would draw from his hide.


    Then she told herself that it wasn’t her business and opened the door…only to find herself looking out over a seeming thousand feet of darkness and air.


    Chapter 12: We All Fall


    The rear of the stables, Hawk realized, was part of the Temple’s outer walls. Now she looked down from a terrible cliff of that drab and dreary gray stone. Milk-crystals glowed here and there down its length, and in those bright glowing places, she caught glimpses of white leafed plants, even the shadows of a few flying things, as shadows crossing over the light. Far, far below, she saw ghost-shapes that could, possibly, be farm land. They were laid out and she was pretty sure they, too, were green. The Temple of Light must have been the only light-source for miles, at least. Hawk couldn’t see another day-bright object. And, she thought, it was connected to the pylons. It must be getting some sunlight.


    There was a small ledge, just big enough for a person to walk on, that lead to the nearest pylon. She wouldn’t have enough time to route around to any of the others. She had one guess, and she supposed it had been made for her by simple proximity.


    She’d gotten her radio out of the bag. Maybe, if she could get high enough, she’d be able to talk to the guys, at least. Tell them that they needed to be careful. The people down here were, in her experience, divided between the Archon of Light and his gentle authority, and the Archon of Earth, who scared Hawk the way her husband’s father, Baylor West, had scared her. She would never have admitted it to Alex, but the one time they’d met—Baylor shouting on their porch while Alex watched him stoically—Hawk had sat on the top of their stairs in hand, waiting for an excuse to call the cops. Funny, that Earth’s Archon should make her think of Baylor. She’d done her best to avoid his memory, and had been successful for the last few years.


    The ledge wasn’t so narrow that she couldn’t simply walk across it. One hand on the wall’s smooth, cool side, lean hard in that direction so if she fell, it’d be into the wall, and walk. Slowly, but not so slowly she’d spend all her time walking. It felt like hours, but was probably only minutes before her fingers touched the cool milky length of the pylon, which seemed fully ablaze with cool, rippling light.


    The join between the wall and the pylon wasn’t smooth. Hawk was able to climb up onto its bulk with relative ease. And here she had to pause. The pylon wasn’t that steep, but neither was a playground slide. It was smooth and it was angled, and it wouldn’t be too hard for her to slide off…or down.


    And there was another problem she hadn’t thought of until right now: the Shadowbeast might still be up there. And while she wasn’t going to buy its fabled connection to this world’s devil-figure…that was one hell of a thing to try and get around when you were an unarmed human.


    She suddenly longed for all the climbing equipment she’d left on the stable floor. But she’d left it because she didn’t know what to do with it, and hadn’t been shown. It wouldn’t do her any good here. She racked her brain for any memories of climbing; the best she could come up with was crab-walking up slides as a kid.


    So that’s what she did.


    She faced the Temple, her back to the Crystal’s uppermost facet. Fortunately for her, it sat on the top of the whole mess. She took off her shoes, guessing correctly that bare feet would have more traction, and carefully stepped into the crystal pylon. It didn’t feel any different than smooth stone, albeit slightly warmer than the walls and the rest of the Temple. There must have been some kind of reflection or refraction system to take and magnify the light—and then she felt stupid, because of course there was: The Prism itself, which made up the holiest of holies in the Temple of Light. That must be how they took the fragments of sunlight that tracked through the Nexus and the Pylon and magnified it.


    She sat on the crystal, planted her hands and feet firmly on its surface, and began to push herself up.


    Step-step, and then push with both arms and legs. She gained a few inches. Step step, push, and she gained a few more. But, heartbroken, she realized she wasn’t going to make it there before she was halfway through the Archon’s deadline…which, she suspected, would mean death. Not from him, of course, but the cover he had chosen for her was that she was his trainee-replacement. There had to be some pretty heavy oaths involved. Step, step, PUSH. And either she was violating them by fleeing, or he was violating his by lying. And she remembered quite clearly what the Earth-Archon had said about mercy. I have exactly as much as my God: none.


    Push by push. Hawk wouldn’t even dignify her progress by calling it “crawl”. Up this high, there was wind. It wasn’t too bad, but she was holding on by the literal skin of her hands and feet. Fingernails would be an upgrade, but here they wouldn’t find purchase. She’d chosen to back up the crystal instead of going face forward because she knew, in the pit of her stomach, that she wasn’t making it to the top. She’d need to be able to slide back down, and that was best accomplished by not turning around.


    The wind got stronger and less pleasant when she’d climbed for an hour. It was far less progress than she wanted, but it was, she had to admit, as far as she was going to get. She also had to remember the Shadowbeast’s presence, and her ability to fight that thing on this slick a surface…no. She’d reached her limit. And hopefully it wasn’t at the limit of her radio.